Feedback from Multiple Angles

First bit of feedback came from Angie. She finished reading Vitamin F over the weekend. She knew what decisions were going to be made, but the way that scene came about didn't quite happen the way she imagined. Angie didn't feel an epilogue chapter was necessary, which is good. The more I think about it, the more I see such a thing takes away from the story.

This is good news. One of my readers has read Vitamin F. Now if I could get a couple others to that point--Hi Dan! Hi Lyndsey!--it would be awesome. Speaking of which, I need to get some reading to a couple of others. I've got to live up to my end of the bargain.

Next bit of feedback is about my thesis. Apparently, Scheibe has a few comments already and he's going to have full comments for me within 10 days. Maybe it's lip service, maybe not, but it's better than nothing.

Finally, I heard something odd from my Mom earlier. Someone at church asked her today if she's ever going to get a daughter-in-law. And Mom decides to fill me in on this to. My response was simple: If I could fix that, I would, but I should be a certified "Boyfriend Detector." If I like a girl, there's a good chance she's already got a boyfriend.

I do understand that a lot of my ideas and motivation come from my perpetual lack of female companionship. I'm not so foolish as to let a real opportunity pass me by anymore. But those opportunities are few and far between. Anyway, I've got other matters to deal with right now.

Low Productivity

I haven't gotten much done over the past few days. Sure a good friend of mine was back in town and we hung out some, but I still could have gotten more done.

I have managed to write out a lot more of the scene I previously mentioned. The extent that I went to--heavily pressured by the secret theme of Mind & Machine--managed to set up the climax of that book, as well as give subtle hints to its sequel. I also figured out a weird quirk the villian of the second book has: he obsessively reads Danielle Steele novels. I just thought it would be something interesting for a pyrokinetic to do frequently.

I also managed to find two more people wanting to read Vitamin F. No teeth-pulling involved. Both of them actually approached me and let me know they'd like to read the book. I guess I should contact them and give them some reading material.

I'm trying to let people know that I'm still doing things with this page, that I'm still trying to say something while reporting on the various creative discoveries I might make.

About twenty minutes ago, I read an e-mail from my professor saying that he's made a few comments on the current draft of my thesis and that it is on "the top of the pile." We'll see how long that lasts, but for now, progress.

I haven't done any more editing to Vitamin F. I haven't really typed in a week probably. I did finish reading Count Zero by William Gibson. A fair bit of cyberpunk, although it was a bit mild on impact. I might be about to jump into another Star Wars campaign, this one based on the campaign that I ran a few years back.

Secret Meanings

A friend once told me that every book has a message built into it, even if the author wasn't consciously aware of it while writing.

I've been picking apart Mind & Machine trying to figure out what part of it I need to work on. I was developing a scene where Commander gets interrogated and blacks out. In his blackouts, he finds Kathryn and she starts questioning his loyalties--he starts his crusade trying to rescue her, after all.

Now, Commander's nuts about Kathryn. He can't do a damn thing about it. All he can do is the traditional suffer in silence. During his quest, he does find a distraction in Sandra Bright. So he becomes torn--does Commander renounce his feelings for Kathryn or does he dodge his promise to find Bright again once the battle is done?

Commander's quest is outwardly a big battle. The real nature of the beast is that he has to fight his inner demons and contemplate the question, "What do you do when you can never tell someone you love them?"

I know I've discussed my intermittent battles with unrequited love in the past. My past history is a big influence on Commander, so I figure I'd put my past misery to work for me.

It's Only a Matter of Time

I reached an odd juncture in refining Vitamin F. The next chapter I had to give to Angie was traumatic for me as a writer to look at, not so much on quality of writing, but on the grounds of content. I also got to the big twist in putting together draft two at the same time.

My dilemma was in looking at the two most difficult parts of the entire book at once. Imagine Stephen King having to work on decreasing te number of characters in The Stand while at the same time, figuring out how to wrap the whole thing up. I can only imagine how mind-blowing it must have been. It's what caused him to start taking his regular walks.

Anyway, I didn't want to ruin my forward momentum, but I didn't want to upset Angie with what she get to read next. I decided at first to print out two chapters for her to read, then thought about the entire circumstance and decided to print everything she had left to read, a total of 7 chapters.

So it's a matter of time until someone--other than myself--knows what's going on in Vitamin F from start to finish. I'm a bit nervous about it, for good reason.

Views from Mind & Machine

I'm not putting as many images up as I wanted to, partially because I had to fight for so long to get the ones I've gotten on here. First comes the antagonist of Mind & Machine, Der Former. He has a brown cape and gold armor. He also has the distinction with being the only character in the book that can truly fly under their own power.

Next is Sandra Bright. She's got long blonde hair with a pair of braids crossing over the crown of her head. So far, she runs around in a red gown, although, I'm thinking about changing that up a little now that I've come back to writing the character. Bright is a source of information and inspiration to our protagonist, Commander. She may not be the supreme allied commander I thought she was a few weeks back, but Bright is definately the one character who is the most in control of her own powers. She also knows the most about what's going on.

I might try to get the color versions up at some point. Also, I'm going to "try" to get images going of the other characters as well.

Before I forget, I've got to find a name for a demon character. This demon is partially human (as are most in The Golden Hollow), has a gnarled, withered appearance, and rules over his particular group of demons. Any input will be appreciated.

Finally, I just wanted to say that I've gotten to Chapter 7 of the second draft of Vitamin F. I'm also taking advantage of the process to write an extensive synopsis. I'm going to have to do it sooner or later.