CampNaNoWriMo

I validated my word count today because I saw I was over the 50,000 on Neferseshotep - and the novel is far from over!  So I might have plenty to write in September too.

This might also be a project that needs more time because it has big concepts.  It might be I put this down for November's NaNoWriMo to write a sequel to The End of the World Sucks and then stay working on Sucks II before picking Neferseshotep back up after it's sat for a while.

I have caught little errors as I'm writing now - but NaNo's about the writing, not the editing and rewriting - so I might be feeling a little down for not conceiving of all logistical problems as I wrote the initial draft.  How could I flood New York City and forget to turn the electricity off?

The other night I was trying to spell out some basic themes in the book - it's not just a bunch of people get together and set off on advenure (but that does help it keep moving).

If I just gave them some superpowers and problems they handled easily, that's boring.

I recall the Ancient Greeks gave their gods weaknesses and stories to make them human-like, but their problems were so much bigger.  Scooping cat litter - that's nothing, you hear about Hercules and those stables?

I am also revisting a theme from Sucks.  Everybody knows the difference between wrong and right, but what if the other guy's right is different than yours?  Vanna can't kick anything's ass, so the similarity stops there.  Here, as with Spiderman, with Great Power comes Great Responsibility - what is that responsibility?  The huge hint is all the central characters in Neferseshotep have something to do with death - death happens, people die all the time.  Would any of them feel inclined to save someone's life?  Do they even value their own lives?  And with a Valkyrie,  if you're of the Norse persuasion, the end of the world is one great big fight that we're going to lose - woo hoo!

There's also the issues of belief, not believing, and also conflict regarding that.  Then there's the possibility of conflict between the 'holy roller' types.  Just because someone looks like they have cooler powers, doesn't make their god(s) better.  There's also the groups that work based on faith alone - God/their god(s) don't need to prove anything, that's because they're God/god(s) and without Him/him/her/them you wouldn't exist.

I have to be careful with that last part because I'm not writing this to insult anyone, though I may do some additional reading about why some beliefs are labeled as 'cults'. 

Review: Demon's Night

Demon's Night by Guido Henkel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I enjoyed Demon’s Night very much – despite my Kindle app dropping the book from my library numerous times – I kept remembering to go back and pick it back up.

This is old school, black and white horror that isn’t trying to gross the reader out. I can go both ways with that, but Guido Henkel is working against the current trend of guts, disgust and foul language.

Fast paced with lots of action that doesn’t sacrifice the characters for the sake of action.



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Writing Progress

An August CampNaNoWriMo update -

Just a little past the halfway point in terms of days, and almost to the halfway point in terms of words.  I'm clocking in at a little over 22,000 right now.

The news is mixed because I know I'm not even at the halfway point of the plot so I have a lot more writing to go, but that also means you'll have plenty to read when it's finished.

A couple things in the back of my mind as I write

• I have too much fun writing miscommunicating dialogue.  Creating a character who speaks in tongues and also detects lying - still impossible to get a straight answer out of a teenager.
• Am I writing enough action?  My critique buddies should let me know - yet, I don't think this story's about the action.  When there's characters that are all-powerful, I want to dig into what makes them more human.
• Some of the characters need fleshing out since they're kind of cardboard placeholders at the moment.  I think that'll improve in editing as I follow each one's path.  The omniscient viewpoint should help me convey info to the reader without creating an every-being-for-itself atmosphere.
• Why did I want six sort-of-main characters in the first place?  That is a good question and I'll give that some more thought.  
• Neferseshotep is the title character, but alone he's not so interesting.  He seems powerful, but there are flaws.
• My 'from the real world' character might be too much, but I patterned her whiny self-centeredness on Sarah from Labyrinth.  I might change her name to something even more obnoxious sounding like Bettina.
• Am I doing justice to six different characters in terms of growth?  Do they all need to grow? Or better yet, do they grow in different ways? 

Enough teasing?

Anyway, you can also enjoy this sort of thing and at the best time of year - November.  November is National Novel Writing Month  It's more fun in November because the regional groups are operating so there will be a kickoff party, write-ins, encouragement, and an end of the month party.  There may even be a cake challenge in your region.  There's even a buddy system so you can take a quick look at others - including those not in your region.

It's August and I'm talking about November?  Preparation is key to accomplishing 50,000 words in 30 days.  Turning on your preferred word processing program on November 1st and staring at the cursor is not a good start.  Outline a plot, get some character names together, write some back story for them, do some research, interview your character after the end of the book.  There's all sorts of things that can be done beforehand that don't include actually writing the text of the novel.

Review: The Silver Collar

The Silver Collar by Kate Policani

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



A very nice short story.

I thought of instances within it for possible violence, yet Kate avoided them all.





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Review: The Falcon and His Desert Rose

The Falcon and His Desert Rose by George R. Lasher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I’m going to give this four stars for the premise and parts of the plot.

At times the story moved too fast to get a feel for the characters. I do enjoy characters that are neither white hat or black hat. Though Horus/Horace’s moral compass was a late bloomer due to the restrictive environment he was raised in, I hoped for better. More time with any of the three main characters should have added depth, rather than shadowing a superhero/villain relationship origin story.

The not-too-distant future was not well received. It may be because I don't care about reminiscing about any Red Sox victory, or the exciting advancements regarding cell phones and cars.

I would not discount the stars based on minor details, but I'm an obsessive type so there were some trivial things that caught my attention that should have been caught in editing.  An average height woman does not weigh 78 pounds.  If it was a mistake between kg and lbs, 78kg = 172#.  I think the old adage should be adhered to - never inquire after a lady's weight.  I also recall the mention of Safeway supermarket near MIT (Boston MA).  I don't know why I focus on store names, but Safeway is not in the New England area, or even the mid-Atlantic.  Some people are fickle about their grocery stores - like Alec Baldwin's mom refusing to move away from Wegman's.



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Review: Speed Dating with the Dead

Speed Dating with the Dead by Scott Nicholson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Speed Dating with the Dead has a King/Shining feel to it, even though it’s during a ghost hunter convention. Besides set in a hotel, I think it’s because the main character is an alcoholic who falls off the wagon due to demonic stress.

Other than the reliance on the alcoholic trope, everything else about this novel was very nice. It takes the modern fascination with ghost spotting, along with the equipment and assorted people that are in ‘the biz’, and puts them somewhere that they can have real experiences so they can react based on their backgrounds and beliefs.




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Review: Atticus for the Undead

Atticus for the Undead by John Abramowitz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



A good genre blender that moves quickly. The legal bits don’t drag out the story.

Insertion of a mix of supernaturals in the real world is something I find enjoyable. The author does not waste time redefining how his vampires/zombies/witches are different. Where there’s differences, the readers are told up front, when they need to know it.

Characters have a trope feel (the boss blind to his assistant’s crush on him), but not overly so.




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