NaNoWriMo

Yep, it’s that time again. For those who don’t know (and I can’t imagine there are many these days), November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), wherein writers (published, unpublished, under-published, and wannabes alike) set a goal to write a 50,000 word novel inside 30 days. It begins tonight at midnight, and ends at midnight on November 30th.
Personally, I’ve tried this three times now. So far the best I was able to ever do was about 15,000 words. Usually, November seems to be that month that bites me in the ass with all kinds of uncontrollable distractions. I start strong, but as the month wears on, things happen, and I just cave under the pressure. To be honest, I doubt this year will be any different.

However, I am ok with this. For me it’s not about finishing the project. I am still learning the craft of writing well. So, to me the important thing is to get quality stuff on paper. Other writers have a different philosophy. Some feel that it’s important to get the words out there and polish them later. And that is perfectly fine. If it works for them, bully! But, with my writing and storytelling abilities being where they are…well, no matter how much you polish a turd, it’s still a turd.

Therefore, my personal goal is to write something that isn’t a turd. If I manage to make it to 50,000 turd-free words, that’s bonus! Otherwise, I’m usually happy with getting something started that I can chip away at in the future. Something that may only be a beginning, but in the end will turn into something good. I don’t want to be one of those writers with a hard drive full of un-publishable material. I want everything I write to be publishable. And since I am not making my living from writing, I can afford to take my time to ensure that.

The question is, what am I going to write? Normally I try to sketch out at least a basic premise and a rough outline. Usually that amounts to nothing more than a “back cover blurb” with a description of the ending tacked on. I’m not one for real outlines or long synopses. Which, as I’m sure I have stated before on this blog, may account for why I have never finished anything of novel length.

So, during my various bits of spare time today, I will brainstorm some ideas, and see if I can come up with something usable.

How many of my loyal minions out there will also be trying their hand at NaNoWriMo?

Film-making Dreams

Last week I watched a movie on NetFlix that I had been eyeing for some time. Hunter Prey (2010) is a low-budget sci-fi film that is surprisingly good. Although it does seem to combine elements (both visual and story) from other films, it does so with a flair of originality and a couple of surprises. If you get the chance, I highly recommend seeing it. It’s currently available on instant view and DVD.

But, that’s not what I want to talk about today. What I want to talk about is film-making. Watching this film made me recall a dream I used to harbor. Many moons ago, I had aspirations to become a film-maker. I read books on the subject, watched featurettes, and basically tried everything I could to learn how to do it without 1) actually doing it, and 2) going to school for it.

I have to say, if I hadn’t gotten married at 19, I may very well have pursued that dream. But, as it was, having a new family and being rather naïve to the ways of the world, I decided that I had to just give up that dream and concentrate on other, more practical things.

Well, I didn’t actually give the dream up. It just sort of got put on the back burner indefinitely. It would resurface every now and again. Once I even started planning and writing a film based on a short story a friend of mine wrote. Like Hunter Prey, it was to be a (extremely) low-budget sci-fi movie. It never got past some initial writing and concept sketches. But it was still fun to think about.

I think what I really liked, and what really grabbed me about Hunter Prey, was the production values, and how good they were on such a small budget. The alien make-up was top-notch, and looked as good as anything George Lucas ever did. In fact, there were many elements that were reminiscent of the original Star Wars film. The equipment was extremely well-done. It had that functional, well-used look, without being cheesy.

And this all appeals to the closet Cosplayer in me. I have never Cosplayed, and have never owned a good costume of any kind. But I have always wanted one, and have spent many hours planning and designing costumes that I would like to have and wear. One day, I will go to a geeky con in a costume that will have people asking for pictures all day. That would be sweet!

So, anyways, back to film-making. With the advent of digital cameras, and film-editing software, the prospect of doing a short film is probably more feasible now than it ever has been. Who knows, maybe I will make a dream come true in a small way. After all, I used to dream about getting published in Weird Tales magazine, and I have two stories that should see print there next year.

Blood & Thunder Writing

After a recent discussion on the Sword & Sorcery League’s Facebook page, I have determined that a new term should be used to describe what many refer to as “old school” Sword & Sorcery. I guess we could just go ahead and call it Old School, but that gets so overused in so many different contexts these days. No, what we need is something that is evocative of the genre itself.

Now, when I say “Old School” I am referring to a specific type of Sword & Sorcery writing that is slightly different than what is commonly seen these days. These stories were high on action and intrigue, with detailed descriptions of spilt entrails and split skulls. Typically, the protagonist is a warrior, often a barbarian or one with barbaric tendencies. Now this image should immediately draw in your mind Robert E. Howard’s Conan. And for good reason. REH is almost solely responsible for pulling this image from myths and legends (such as Beowulf) and planting him firmly in the minds of modern readers.

For decades, Conan was the archetype of this kind of hero, especially in the 60’s and 70’s after his resurgence in popularity thanks to the Lancer/Ace paperbacks. However, since Howard was long gone from this world, and unable to fill the need people suddenly had for more of this type of action-oriented fantasy, others were called upon. What ensued was a plethora of Conan knock-offs (some call them “Clonans”) seeing print. Gardner F. Fox’s Kyrik and Kothar, Lin Carter’s Thongor, and John Jakes’ Brak were some of the more noteworthy endeavors. Like the tales of Conan, these stories were filled with action, perpetrated by barbaric warriors. And they were wildly popular.

However, in recent times, the genre of S&S has undergone some changes. The plots have become more nuanced and detailed. The characters are often less brawny and more brainy. Many feel that the modern incarnation of S&S has more in common with High Fantasy (minus the elves and such). It could be argued that the older stories were able to support such linear plots and action-oriented characters due to their short lengths. The Clonans of the 70’s were often no more than 150 pages long, and usually much less. The novels of today generally range in the 300-350+ range. This gives the author a lot more room to explore various aspects of the characters, introduce subplots, and have more non-action storytelling.

The question becomes then, what do we call these quicker, more brutal stories? One term has been bandied about for some time, in various contexts, but is sometimes associated with S&S fiction. “Blood & Thunder.” According to Phrase Finder, the basic meaning is “An oath, alluding to mayhem and bloodshed.” Sounds pretty apt to me. And that may be why noted Robert E. Howard Scholar, Mark Finn used it as the title of his biography of the man.

There you go. In my mind, Blood & Thunder succinctly describes these stories of barbaric violence and mayhem. So, from now on, I will refer to such tales, including anything similar that I may write, as “Blood & Thunder Fiction.” No idea if it will catch on, but who cares? I know what I mean. And I’m sure that, in the context of any given conversation it comes up in, the listener/reader will probably know what I mean as well.

Now, the other question: Is there still a market for Blood & Thunder?

Change I can believe in!

As most of my friends on Facebook probably already know, I recently had a story accepted for publication by Weird Tales magazine. Now, most of you who read my blog should already know the significance of that particular title. For those who do not, let me sum it up: Robert E. Howard published his Conan tales (among many others) there in the 1930’s. Yes, this magazine has been around, in one form or another, for that long. As a huge fan of Howard, and an admirer who would love to follow in his literary footsteps, there is a certain amount of extra pride in the fact that my first professional fiction sale is in that particular magazine.

The details of the publishing of this story are not yet set. It looks like possibly April of 2012. And word has it that it may be part of a Sword & Sorcery Special issue. I know of several people who write in that genre that have recently had stories accepted. We’re all part of a Facebook group called the Sword & Sorcery League. Fun stuff. And I will be in good company.

But there’s more! The editor loved my story so much that he said the only thing he didn’t like was that it ended. He asked if there was another story that continues the adventures of the character. I responded that I did have a sequel done, but that it needed a lot of revision. He said he would love to see it too. So, chances are I may already have two sales under my belt to Weird Tales! Needless to say, even though I have months to get him the second story, I have already done revisions and editing, and am currently awaiting feedback from alpha readers. I suspect that I will be sending him a copy within a week or two.

(Incidentaly, it should be noted that Weird Tales recently underwent a change of ownership, and the new owner is still in the process of changing things over.)

Indeed, these are exciting times for me. But I’m not alone in my house.

My wife, Michele, is starting a new phase in her professional journey that just excites me and leaves me in awe. She is an amazing person, and her ability to do what she sets out to do astounds me. I know I don’t have the kind of dedication and discipline she has, naturally. But there’s something about her success that is infectious, and I find myself looking to her example, and having more confidence in my own abilities.

She’s also brilliantly intelligent. She is currently double-majoring in Poli Sci and Economics, all while being a full-time hairdresser, amazing mom and the best wife I could have ever asked for. And, if that weren’t enough, last night she proclaimed that she would like to write a fantasy/romance story, and that she may try her hand at NaNoWriMo again to that end. Maybe, if she is willing, she can do the first draft, and then I can take a crack at it, and we could end up with a collaboration of sorts.

Yeah, things are looking up for us. I have a steady job with good benefits and a decent salary. She has a career with a high potential for financial success. The kids are all healthy and happy. My daughter, who has had her share of hardships and troubles, seems to be doing wonderful, and is on track to having a wonderful life herself.

All-in-all, life in the Doolan household couldn’t be much better at this point. So, I am taking this time to help spread my joy. I have friends who are going through rough times. And though I can’t do much more than be there for them and lend them support, I will at least do that much to my utmost ability.

I just want the world to be as happy as I am. Is that so much to ask?

Lost tales…

It happened again. Only this time, it happened in a different way. I’m talking about losing a writing file that I had done a lot of work on. In the past, I had lost files due to actually losing the method of storage, as in I lost my old flash drive. On that one were many writing projects that I lament. One was a Doc Savage-inspired pulp adventure, and the other was a story of an ogre who saves a human girl from orc assassins. That last one was actually really good, and I want to almost cry when I think about how much work I put into it. Then there was the Sword & Planet story, the Military Sci-Fi story…

But today’s incident was different. I opened my Orc story of Mahak and found nothing but little squares. 20 pages of them. No formatting, no paragraph breaks, no weird symbols. Simply a 20-page string of squares. This also happened to another document. The only things relating these two docs was that 1) they were on my flash drive, and 2) they were last modified on Friday, here at work. Nearest I can figure our system did something to MS Office during the afternoon (which seems like it would be par for the course here), and it messed up those two files, as they were the ones open during that time. Every other file, Word or otherwise, is fine.

I’ve tried everything I can find from online sources to friends’ advice, but to no avail. There are some programs that supposedly can help, but I can’t install third-party programs here at work, so I will have to try from home later. But, the general consensus is that I’m SOL.

So, when this happens to you, when you lose a file for good, what do you do? Do you painstakingly re-create it in the hopes that it will be as good (or maybe even better) the second time around? Or do you abandon the idea and move on to another?

In this instance, I’m inclined to abandon it. I liked the Mahak story, but I kept getting the feeling that it was missing something. That it didn’t flow well. That the whole thing was trash and would have been a huge headache for poor Scott to edit into something resembling a decent story.

Unfortunately, that option leaves me with nothing to submit for the anthology. And though no deadline has been mentioned, I can’t imagine it will be established too far from now. So, I need to get busy. Either re-creating Mahak, or starting fresh.

Hmmm…what to do…?

Back to Orcish Fantasy

Apparently my watching The Hobbit the other day (which Connor now wants to watch all the time) was enough to stave off my Space Opera jones, and place my creative urgings squarely back in the fantasy realm.  Only now, instead of Sword & Sorcery, I am looking at more "Epic" fantasy.  What's the difference, you ask?  Well, maybe you don't ask, because chances are, if you read this blog, you already know.  However, I will tell you (from my perspective) anyways.

Epic Fantasy has two main qualities that distinguish it from S&S; 1) non-human races like Elves, Dwarves, and most importantly, Orcs; and 2) magic is much more prevalent, and often used by the "good" guys.  There is a third element that is often used, the scale and scope of the story.  However, both genres tend to occasionally cross this line, so I can't really classify it as distinguishing figure.  Ok, in thinking about it, there are other defining characteristics (such as character archetypes, morality, etc...), but in the interest of staying focused, I'm going to ignore those for now.

Anyways, so my musings are on Epic Fantasy.  And I know this will come as a shock to some of you [/sarcasm], but my focus is on...wait for it...ORCS!!!  As you may recall, I'm working on a story for an anthology about Orcs being edited by Scott Oden.  However, I thought maybe I would produce my own, similar anthology for eReaders.  To make it interesting, I thought I would invite all of my un(der)-published writer pals to contribute.  However, I currently have nine stories of my own in various stages (two complete, one fragment, and six ideas).  Regardless of how I do it, the theme will be "Orcs across realities."  Basically, the stories can be from any genre, but the protagonist (or at least one of the main ones) has to be an Orc.  Scott's anthology has the same basic rules, but he also has a bevvy of professional and published authors contributing (in addition to little old me).  If I open my idea up, it will only be for writers who have yet to be published, or have only published a couple of low-profile stories.  I dunno, I think it will depend on how much interest anyone else has in it.

The cool thing is, even though my current mood is Fantasy, with this premise, I can work in just about any genre (I even have a "modern" setting for Urban Fantasy) I want to.  So, the odds of me actually doing it are pretty good.  Well, good for me, anyways.

Now, of course, some of you are probably rolling your eyes.  "How many projects are you going to dream up and then leave moldering on your shelf, Tom?"  The answer is 972.  This is only #353, so I have some wiggle room.

Also, this:

The Greatest Adventure

When I was a kid, watching movies on TV was a special thing. Aside from the made-for-TV movies, seeing films on TV was usually something that you planned around. Among these were the standards like The Wizard of Oz and Miracle on 34th Street. They came on annually, and were kind of a family event. But for me, I always looked forward to one movie; Rankin/Bass’ animated production of The Hobbit.

Years before I had ever heard of D&D, I was enamored of the tale of Bilbo Baggins and the thirteen dwarves. I was both scared and excited by the old wyrm, Smaug, the Spiders of Mirkwood and the Dwarf-eating Trolls. I loved Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, and Glamdring, the Foe Hammer, and Black Arrow. I wanted to be Bard the Guardsman.

My mom owned a set of books that included The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. At the time I was too young to really be able to read them (I didn’t develop the necessary reading skills until sometime around junior high), but I used to look at the cover, with its image of Bilbo floating down the river on a barrel, and wonder what it would be like to live in that kind of world.  The covers of the other books were equally enchanting to me, particularly Fellowship, which depicted Hobbiton.

Then, in 6th grade, I was introduced to D&D. And the spark that Rankin/Bass had ignited was fanned into a blaze that burns bright to this day. Suddenly I could be Bard. I could wield magic weapons and slay dragons. I remember in those first years of playing the game, I always imagined the adventures looking like The Hobbit, and narrated by John Huston (who provided the voice of Gandalf).

This past weekend, on a lark, I dug out our DVD of the movie and watched it with Connor. He was somewhat interested, and paid some attention. Oddly, the scenes that most caught his attention were with Gollum. And while I was watching it, I was totally taken back to my youth.

As a kid, my life was not very easy or pleasant at times. But the music and adventure in this movie always transported me away. If I could go back, I would make my young self read The Hobbit earlier.

Suffice it to say, I am very much looking forward to Peter Jackson’s new movies. I absolutely love his version of LotR, and have watched all three extended cuts in one sitting (that’s about 12 hours of movie) on more than one occasion. And I am looking forward to being transported to Middle Earth yet again.

I have also been struck with a wonderful idea for a collector's edition of The Hobbit.  If it turns out to be somewhat doable, it could be a great gift idea for some of my fellow geeks.  More on that later, if it materializes.