This is my blog…
While there are many like it, this one is mine…enough channeling Full Metal Jacket. A short project update. I’m currently writing the 28th story in my “500” series (it has a proper title, but I’m keeping it secret because I’m paranoid someone will steal it and my luggage, if I had any). The topics continue to be disparate, rangy and downright random. New topics include drug crazed kidnappers, bestiality (one of the funnier stories), witches, a succubus tale, a sexy siren, hoarding and a reimagining of a topic from my novella, versing. Average story length has swelled considerably, from 520 to almost 800 words. The application of icepack might get it down to 700 words. The project got so unwieldy I created a spreadsheet to track topics and writing styles. I was on a 1st person present tense kick, and now I’m on a run of 3rd person past tense tales. Some stories, I realized, are neither past nor present tense but a modified tense (typical of narrated tales where the narrator slips in and out of talking about current and past events).
In other news, I have submitted my novella (packaged with three short stories to flesh out the length) to a publisher in the UK. Perhaps they’ll be more amenable to my unorthodox style. USA publishers and agents, so far, have given Tetraminion the cold shoulder based on single chapter samples. I’ve read my fair share of novels and can say without fear of contradiction that the majority aren’t “amazing” out of the gate. The literary world is sadly short “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” beginnings. Here, for the first time anywhere in a public forum, is the first sentence of Tetraminion:
“Delivered from his cocoon of isolation, Bill plunges out into the sultry night, neck bowed to the shiny, damp pavement, ever vigilant and on the eye for blurry arcs of gold and Vaseline smears of red, purple and green—markers indicating refueling stations where Bill can load up on the surplus calories required of his McRecycling habit.”
It has changed since the 1st draft, but the basics remain intact. I think it sets the stage nicely. Character, setting, and conflict all established with strong visual cues in 57 words. I know that the masters have managed that in fewer words, but I am not them and they are not me. Just as this is my blog, this is my vision not theirs, nor am I predisposed toward emulation, which is a good jumping off point for all writers, but makes a piss-poor excuse for a long term writing strategy, if one can imbue a strategy into such a solitary enterprise as writing.
I don’t do segues, although I actually saw mall cops riding Segues on Monday and could barely suppress roaring with laughter, so I will end on an anecdote about my best friend’s father, who, upon seeing my beard, commented about a friend whose facial hair went completely “blond” in a year. He substituted blond for gray, which my beard is streaked with and is steadily becoming the predominate color scheme. Whatever. Grow old or die. As limited a pallet of choices as any on earth.