Random bits from conversation with voidmonster prompted me down this trail... Sharing shiny information can lead to more material for your own hind-brain and the next story. 

• The Computer Chaos Club Guide to lifting and faking fingerprints:  (I heart the CCC, proper hackers, them)
  http://www.ccc.de/biometrie/fingerabdruck_kopieren?language=en
• Armadillo Aerospace's News Archive: Amatuer rocketry projects since 2000 from John Carmack (yes, that JohnC)
  Start at the beginning for a soup-to-nuts progression of  tech exploration, struggles and triumph.  Was four guys, a girl and a armadillo, but they've since expanded.
  http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home
• A new site I picked up, Ben Saunder's North Pole Speed Record: (solo trek to the North Pole, carrying all his supplies)
  http://north.bensaunders.com
• For a smorgasborg of technical security email lists check out: http://seclists.org/
  
  • Full Disclosure has a high noise to signal ratio, but is exactly what channels are like when dealing with InfoSec.
  • NMap Dev is a great list for getting the feel for a OSS project as it is improved over time.
  • The rest, just set down and sample away... just never subscribe, at least until you understand the implications of giving thousands of security geeks your email address.
    
• Terra Nova, a website dedicated to computer gaming and world concepts, from an academic bent:
   http://terranova.blogs.com/
• I've mentioned it before for sailormur and gregvaneekhout, but I've found Build It Solar as a great first tier starting point for energy-related home improvement and cost-savings.  
  http://www.builditsolar.com/

Let me know if any of you have interesting or new resource that prompted something inside your brain.

 

[I will not obsess over agent feedback, I will not obsess over agent feedback...n+1]

No, really, I shouldn't but it gives my lil beasties something to do while I struggle with the Body Mod. Instead I think I have to weed and do yard work tonight for house inspection on Friday. I need to stop whitewalling, but I'm still futzing around with "what happens next", even though I know structurally what does. The difference between plot points and story, I suppose. And then there's the revamp edit of the current query to the next round of agent subs.

We will not speak of the financial world, other than to say I'm a wound enough dynamo to power a small house.  This crud cannot end soon enough for me.

.. and onto more fun things!

Congrats to jenwrites  for her shout out at John Scalzi's "The Big Idea". That should drop some nice traffic Helix's way for Unwelcome Bodies (and hopefully more sales).

[Bad username: ]

We need a better vocabulary in the writing world. Hell, maybe even in the entire creative expression world, because I see these battles come up in all of the arts I've ever involved myself in. I'm sure I'm putting my foot in on this one, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This month has seen a lot of discussion regarding the classic "literary vs. genre" battle. This time around there appears to be a lot of
grumbling from both sides of the discussion. I find it somewhat bizzare to hear sff and other genre writers get so up in arms about "literary writing", when sff in particular is often all about "other" and playing with previously fixed forms of address, style and characterization. Likewise, I've never really understood why "literary" writers take issue so strongly with the diversity of forms in our shared art.

I think a lot of the discussion is that people have a view that works created for commercial purposes cannot be crafted with the same care and eye for tone and pace as another work, created in a market vacuum. I really wonder if all "high art" writers think that people write genre fiction just to be published for commercial success/popular acclaim. I submit that there are just as many people trying to craft the perfect hero's journey or noir mystery as those struggling with a stylized interpersonal family dysfunction drama. I just don't think commercial success/popular acclaim is a motivating factor for a majority of writers of any ilk. A secondary motivator, maybe, but unless they have their head stuck someplace without a 'net connection, odds are they know the stark reality of a writing career. People just want to write the best story they can. I understand that once established in a market, the game changes, but I'm talking about getting into writing in general. Maybe I'm hopelessly naive.

Regardless of the roots and definitions of the crisis, I do find something really troublesome. That is amazingly creative people of all stripes treating the act of creation in a particular portion of the creative spectrum somehow diminishes the potential energy and value left for their portion of the creative spectrum. Creative expression is not a zero-sum game, people. In fact, it is more likely to create a multiplier effect amongst the creators and purchasers of that content.

The larger the "surface area" of presented creative expression each person experiences, the more likely they are skitter across the "surface" trying out different forms of creative expression.

A thought experiment:

• There are ten different markets available in the creative writing space. A reader will make some number (for our example let's use 3) of attempts to find a market that fits their interests and world-view, after which they might give up on a particular market. The marketplace in this case is highly stovepiped/segmented. There's a total thirty different purchases each reader can make before they have exhausted the possibilities in that space.
• Instead, posit a marketplace that has a hundred markets. A reader will make the same number of attempts to find a market that fits their interests and world-view. In this case, the marketplace is diverse enough to support multiple forms of segmentation, which means it takes longer for our reader to reach a market equilibrium. using the same requirements to "dry up" a market, the reader will have to have selected 300 different books in the marketplace.

So outside of the fixed number of hours someone can pursue and a fixed budget, the more diverse the marketplace is, the more likely people are going to be running into your writing. Afterall, how many markets can you think of that only two or three authors represent the entire pipeline? The more diverse the marketplace is, the more likely someone can also create a comparison that is favorable to you. "She writes like him, but with a bit more plot focus over characterization." Not to mention tastes change over time, and people develop new interests as they age and experience new things in life.

Realizing why you detest or what bugs you about a particular style can be very informative about your own creative process. Mine are all related to force-feeding during high-school and college. Poetry? Ruined by Dickenson/cummings zealots. Lit-fic? Pretty much ruined for me by guerrilla writing fans. Short fiction, shoved down my throat by every English and creative writing instructor I had for credit. These are my hang ups, and I'm slowly training myself to let go of my gut reaction to them. I think my writing is improving because I'm now starting to look at those forms with a critical eye towards craft and less emotionally. Phew, it is hard to de-tune that gut reaction, but the writing is improving by my exposure to it.

Maybe we/I need to look at how we define things and work outside of the publisher's definitions to determine the quality and type of prose. Maybe now is a time for creative tolerance and civility, an acceptance of the differences in personal taste.

• So instead of "I hate XYZ", I hope I can find a term that equates to "I don't find XYZ compelling because I orient along plot - emotional transformation axes instead along language use - style axes".
• Instead of "ABC is boring" it becomes something that denotes "I find ABC ineffective because the use of second person present tense is confusing or hard for me to keep track of."
• "MNO is ridiculous" could become a term that means "I'm a big fan of fictional realism above all else."
• "My art is 'high art', and yours is 'low'" can become something that encompasses "I wish readers and publishers valued my creative expression more and allowed me the kinds of monetary remuneration I see other artists receiving"
  

I'm the wrong guy for wordplay and knowing all the academic terms (infosec terminology just doesn't fit), so suggestions on good ways of phrasing things are welcome. Goodness knows I need all the help I can get with good terminology.   Maybe there's a academic resource or journal that covers these things in simple language for the layperson.  I'd love to know if there is.

I'm not saying people shouldn't have their own preferences and tastes. Just that the shortcuts of rating entire segments/genres of material in creative expression can often create some ill-will between parties. People get defensive when you denigrate their hard-wrought work. What I'm asking everyone to consider is to visualize yourself in the shoes of three other creators (especially in markets you don't write in), and get to the root of what you don't find compelling, and address that instead of making a blanket assertion.

I'll be doing the same... modulating my irritations and figuring out if there might not be something in a particular genre or market that I might like or could learn from.  Being mindful, but I know I need to work at it myself.

I realize I'm probably only addressing the winds in the cave, but I thought this was worth a stab. Wish I could cross link all the threads I'm pulling these reactions from, but swamped at work. Comments welcome and encouraged. 

Well, I will say this of having to stay at home for most of the weekend: It gave me plenty of time to do some writing (2K+, yay) and let the story demons simmer around some. I pushed Martin further up a tree from a sideline character/issues that I thought was going to be tertiary. How cool is that?

Struggling a bit with how to handle chat/IRC type communications. Guess I'll just be consistent and fiddle with it later in the process for now.

I'm abusing the crit group a bit as I start out, because I'm stitching stuff together and giving them a bit more raw material than normal, but I need some push-back on a couple chemistry bits from each scene, and don't want to travel too far with out feedback.

It's been a real struggle with first person, not so much as keeping with the character, but I find myself slipping into present tense with it too often. I think the present tense might work alright for thoughts and character asides, but not for action and normal observation. What do you folks think? I do love present tense, but only when well crafted, and I know it is a huge turn off for most people, so I'll steer clear where possible.

I'm really irritated with the Mega-D worm/botnet/spam vector. I've been getting close to an additional 500 spams a day with it, and I think I may have missed communications from some peer/mentors that I sent out about the agent search. So frustrating. I can't noodge, that'd be too rude, but it is so hard to tell if people got your email and responded when you've got over a thousand emails in your spam filter. Grr.

In other news, could the Superbowl ads for that sales place get any more racist? Ranks them right up there with the Go Daddy morons.

Random question for the week: Anyone know what the wordcount requirements are for ANY YA sf imprints? I'm drawing a complete blank.

Back to my addled consumption of hot medicinal beverages.

[[EDIT: Also saw an extended trailer for Jumper. Yay! Looks like tasty fun.]]

Just re-learning more of my VPX lessons again.

Popped open my folder of The Body Mod snippets, teasers before I knew what was going on 100% in the story, and wow I really cannot tell the awesome craft day from the "in a rush and just pounding something out" or "I hate this I hate this it is crap writing".

So the instructors were right on two counts.

You can't tell which day was which well after the fact (2 months)
AND
Your voice is what happens when you write. It just comes out.

Sometimes you have to travel down the path a few times to really understand the trip. Freaky that something can still have this kind of impact, over a year and a quarter later. Sort of like creativity-PTSD.

Back to humility and some more BIC time this afternoon to get things arollin'.

Right.  In my cleverness of putting together the process for whowants10, I realized I got in front of myself a bit in terms of process.  Sort of jumped the queue, and forgot that I should be using any of my resources that I could.

I'll put it plain and simple.  Does anyone know of an agent in the sff market who is open to both YA sf and non-YA sf?  I'd like to find someone who could handle Flight and not be turned off by my other novels.

Not asking for a recommendation or a contact (I wouldn't turn them down, mind you), but I just want to know if I'm missing anyone in the space that ya'll can think of.  I'm constantly amazed by who everyone knows, so I figure some of you might have an opinion.  I've got a pretty short list of possibilities from the pretty extensive mining of the Locus sales sheet, and want to make sure I'm not missing some bleedingly obvious choices.

Thanks in advance.

Well the good news is that I had a relatively fun vacation period with family and friends and that overall I've enjoyed my time away from work. The bad news is that in the course of visiting with all said family members I picked up a bug which effectively killed my "by myself" vacation time in which I was going to do some more writing.

I did manage to get an amazing blocking session in for _the Body Mod_, so I'm now very energized about it. I managed to block out the gross linear weave for the plot while in Malibu. Getting away from sameness sometimes really does bring out the beasts to play.

In other news, I should be able to post more on whowants10 about the summary and agent search. I managed during one of the more clear moments of the sleep and medicate haze to filter through a huge list of agents down for _Flight_. The target for the new year is at least one agent per week on average.
--

Which brings me to an impromptu question for you novelists:

How many scenes on average would you say you novels are? Not chapters mind you, unless your chapters are scenes, in which case chapters are allowable.

--
Oh, and saw the latest trailer for _Jumper_. Man does it look rad (oh man, I just said rad), and likewise like a moderately good transfer between mediums. Neat website, even if it shoves way too much flash down your throat.

Goodbye 2007, Look out 2008!

What did ya'll want to know about the Sydney trip? I'm still planning on the trip-tales, but never know what people like to read about.

Still haven't finished tagging the images, but at least got them sorted folders now.

More updates coming soon!

Pictures, videos, captions, tagging (possible geo-tagging if/how one does that)

Verbal hand-waving of happenstances including, not limited to:
Cockatoo (eaten by)
Burning, hand of
Gun Ownership, discussion of with cabbie
Beer, unexpected masses of
Preferable Pigeon Analogues
20's-60's social indoctrination programmes
boors in every culture
spatial mapping referents

I'm currently really struggling with my current novel.  I just cannot seem to get in a "yeah, this is going to work/be fun/be interesting" mood with the actual scenes.  I know at least a third of the plot points now, most of which are the pivot points of the story.  I just feel really dissatisfied with something about the story or process, and I cannot put my finger on it.

Maybe it's trying to do too many things at once in a story.  I'm working with first person, instead of third.   I'm trying to make sure my storyline merges towards the asymptote of feasibility.  I'm trying for a less juvenile tone.  The story is fully in my brain, so it isn't the issue of something else burbling more noisily at me.  I just cannot seem to get going on this.  I'm not having any trouble generating prose in first, that doesn't appear to be the real issue here.  I want this story written, so what's the problem?  Why do I feel blah when I should be putting in my daily 500?

Has anyone managed through this process before?  How did you escape?  I'd like to actually write this dang story, and it is driving me nuts that I feel so lethargic when contemplating writing it.  I typically feel rather jazzed about a story, at least once I start writing it and it unfolds for me.  I really like the world.  I like the characters.  I like the rocks I'm throwing at them.  Why the heck can't I get jazzed about writing the scenes?

I don't mean to whinge, I'm honestly in a situation that is new to me, and am wondering how other people deal with the situation.  Do you just soldier on, churning out prose regardless of your feeling about the story?  That was what I was trying to avoid by not working in NaNoWriMo this year.  I've felt/seen how I feel after a month of churn prose.   Are there trick/tips that you participate in that help keep you invigorated?   

Links, tips, suggestions, probing questions all welcome. 

Mur's "Playing for Keeps" is now up and running.

Base Site: http://www.playingforkeepsnovel.com/
and
BoingBoinged Entry from Cory: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/01/playing-for-keeps-mu.html

Wow. Imagine my surprise today when I actually learned something useful from a /. (slashdot) poll.

I think somewhere, an alternate reality line collapsed into a tangle of improbabilities.

http://www.tutorgig.com/ed/List_of_fictional_companies

This isn't even a complete list, but dang if it isn't hugely useful for my backup braincells for ensuring my fake company names haven't already been used or are similar to other fake company names.

Plus, it makes me want to go out and read/watch/play a whole slew of books/movies/games.

Project C's corporate name is now almost completely cemented.

Really interesting discussion over at Whatever and at B^2.  I know most of you've already seen them, but hey.  I think this has implications for the novel world as well.  I need to sit down and wrap my brain around this some more.

[ETA: Context:  short fiction publishing decline and what to do about it and how people currently view the print short fiction world. ]

Just a quick note for everyone. I've posted my latest installment in whowants10. It deals with the first draft protoquery, so feel free to take a gander. I'll be posting a revised version in short order.

Perhaps it's the one year anniversary of VP:X, perhaps it's lack of daylight hours or not enough A&D, but I'm feeling this rather significant level of ennui when it comes to sff/specfic.

I just can't bring myself to get new books at the store, since most of the blurbs do nothing for me.

"Colony ship crashes/finds itself in unexpected situation"
"Unlikely scion becomes ruler of nation at risk"
"Transhumans threaten normal human survival or vice versa"
"Out of sorts/plucky kid finds himself the recipient of great powers"
"Chaos in Virtual world/Synthetic reality, psychopath hunts the innocent"
"Authorial scion continues long series legacy"

and shoot me now if someone else releases a "hardboiled urban magic detective series with sexy vamp/mage and cast of wacky characters"

Maybe it is just bad back cover copy, but I'm feeling like so much of what I can find on the shelves sounds like a rehash of something I've already read before. Perhaps it is more of a self-selection issue: I'm only seeing what is on shelves right now, and what's on shelves is not representative of "interesting to Dru".

Which makes me wonder if my writing is fresh enough to make it past the back cover blurb blahs. Especially since in the next couple days I need to generate hook, short synopsis and longer synopsis sheets for _Flight_.

For those of you who've written query copy, synopses or back cover blurb material, how did you structure things? How did you come up with what you were finally satisfied with? How did/do you make the advertising angle "pop pop pop"?

I wander through old query analysis in the Snark-ives, AW or any of the other editorial blogs re: querying. I feel so used-car salesman when I think of trying to pitch _Flight_ as "like $bar but with $foo". Yes, the novel should sell itself, but there's also a moderate contingent of agents out there that are saying the pitch/query/synopsis is equally important for first time authors.

I guess it really is two issues, but they are so intertwined. Usually I use good writing to feel really energized about the genre, and by extension, my ability to bring something to the table as a sf/specfic writer.

Anyone got a simple process that they've found useful or energizing at least? Or a method that did "So not work" on their novels? Got links/resources of note?

Got clue for Dru?(tm)

PS. In one small note, the pace of "thing in 150" is definitely working for me, even with the ennui and angst about PoV.

[ Final Authorial Aside 9/29 -- Touched base and clarified my intent a bit with Tobias.  Keeping the other asides.  Feel free to comment here or mail me via LJ if you have any comments.  I fully expect at a later date to compose something a bit more cohesive as an essay. ]

[ ETA 4 9/28:  Visitors from other sites:  Please read the entire post and thread.  If after that you feel like I still had my head screwed on sideways that day, fair enough.  It was a shitty, artistic self-doubt kind of day, but I won't go back and edit out what I said.   I'm willing to take my lumps for my frustration that day. ]

This has been a hard month for me.  There's been a lot of personal stuff going on, and a lot of hectic activity at work as well.  Still, I've been struggling with something that's really been bothering me recently.

...

One of the things has really has me down at the moment is the flow of discussion from the IBARW activities and postings on Tobias Buckell and John Scalzi's blogs.  mac_stone also has a continuation of her thoughtful essays  on "other" on LJ. 

[ETA 9/27: I should have originally been more explicit in this paragraph.  I was/am referring to a few select few posters across all these threads that in my reading, where re-iterating a prohibitive writing meme that "white writers should only write white".  I in no way meant that Buckell, Scalzi or Stone in any way were endorsing those opinions in any way.  ]

[ ETA 3 9/28: I was taking the comments from a few select posters, predominantly in Scalzi's blog the wrong way evidently, but I never took Buckell, Scalzi or Stone's comments in any way to be prohibitive in nature, quite the opposite.  I was just aghast that specific readers might feel that way, and concerned that I might fail as a writer in reaching them for something that is impossible to control.]

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach as a writer.  All these people who are saying what I have to do to write other cultures and societies, races and religions, and how if I don't get it right it's worse than if I just didn't do it in the first place. 

I mean if feel like the sentiment from people is that if you're a white male in a normative social clime, there's no conceivable way you can actually write fiction that is "true" to the discomfort and difficulty of "otherness"

I mean, WTF?!

Isn't fiction the projection of our own observations of the human condition into a alternate realm of reality (sometimes something as simple as a fake place and name), that either: educates, illuminates, informs, entertains or transports the reader?

As a writer, is my skintone and upbringing so much more important to these readers than whether or not my prose is effective in actually moving them through the world I am drawing for them? 

That I can't possibly know about the real hardships and struggles of the disenfranchised of a society when I'm automatically "clear of struggle" if I'm a straight white male?

That my projections of future societies are somehow karmatically bankrupt because I'm not suffering for my art in some authorial version of method acting?
 
I'm kind of confused, because last time I checked, history was/is full of societies on all parts of this globe where skin tone had squat to do with social ostracism, regional/provincial attitudes, sexual mores, economic barriers to entry and the struggles of the downtrodden. 

I don't mind if people end up pointing out that an aspect of _Flight_, _Arik's Tale_, _Risky Thoughts_ , or  _the BodyMod_ don't reflect what they understand human nature to be or that the work in ineffective, but the thought that the situations therein are invalidated by people because of who I am instead of what I write really pisses me off.   

[ETA 9/27:  I recognize the irony of this, since this mindset is exactly what minorities of all kinds face in everything they do. ]

It feels rather like another form of intolerance perpetuated via current societal expectations on worlds or environments that are decidedly based off   a speculative "what-if".  Look at the social changes within Japan and Europe in the past 30 years, fer goodness sakes. 

Otherwise the only "true" fiction will end up as twists on autobiographical observations.  And personally I find life histories duller than dirt.

Well, that's my current frustration.

I finished up the last of the edit/revision bits of Flight last night. I have the vocal read-through to finish, but since I've done that once already, I don't think I'm going to stumble too much. I'll be aggregating the edited portions back into the cohesive document and then triple checking for stupid errors.

I'm still trying to tackle the bane of my existence, the word count:

• MS Word sez: 61K, kiddo
• 250-Courier sez: try 78k, freakboy
• me: o_O /sigh

athenais  helped me realize I really am a guy in search of an agent during one of the group's writing sessions. I get too fussy when having to deal with minutae that I think I might burst something important if I didn't have someone in the trenches working for me. Let the professional do their job of facilitation and locating while I work on the prose bits.

I have a question or more correctly: a series of questions. Do any of you future novelists think it would be useful to share my process and progress with the agent search? Either for a closed LJ group or for the writing community in general? A log that chronicled steps: 1..(n+1)? One of those things that drives me nutty about the publishing business is how arcane it feels (perception over fact). I'd obviously obfuscate a few facts if it was public, but other than that, what do ya'll think?

Well there was a much more coherent post in here before the magics of Cntl-X and Cntl-V went astray.

/shakefist

Where was I? Oh, right.

I am a bad man. I was holding out starting book seven of Harry Potter until I finished my edits. I erm, slipped. I got through my consolidation edits last night and decided that I needed a tasty distraction.

I am now 11/13ths of the way through my edit cycle.

I got to visit with Harry and crew for a couple hours before I had to put the book down. I have the finale to revise and tweak, and then the read-through of the consolidated piece over the next couple of days (it takes a while to read-aloud 50-70K).

And after that begins the pitch process. I am enthused about that project. O, hear my enthuse, it is mighty. Mighty is the joy of introverted self promotion, hear me now. Or watch and giggle. Your choice.

Still, lovely to frolic with Harry and crew for a little while before I take up the revision pen. Well, after work and parental re-invasion activities tonight.

Onward!

[Cross-posting to AW Room 50 and LJ]

This is primarily for Barbara and Cal, since I know they are in progress/process with one or more novels, but I'll open this up to the rest of the community.

I'm about to enter the novel subbing world (got to or Lucy will flog me on a bi-weekly basis ). That, and it's time to set _Flight_ free.

I've noticed both of you have (not sure of Barbara's current search status) have elected to pursue applications to houses that allow unagented submissions. Is there a tactical reason for this? Are the houses that you've subbed at been primarily the first choice for the story?

I'm curious because from what I can see of the major and middle houses, there are relatively few that allow for unagented MS subs. Also, once someone does accept a MS, you still need an agent, so I'm very interested in what the advantages you see in working through the unagented houses versus the agent hunt are.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on the matter since I'm about to start stabbing at the dark with a penlight and could use all the guidance I can get.

If anyone else is in the novel sub boat, please feel free to chime in as well.

Well this is awesome. You're all so well behaved that nobody's gone and babbled about DH over and over. I'm going to be a week or two behind everyone (writing/revision takes priority over joy-read). So thanks to everyone for being super awesome on keeping the comments and whatnot behind the cut.

/wombles

I'm now 5/13ths [six comment distillation sections, six distillation edits, and one final vocal read-through] of the way through the edit cycling of _Flight_. I'm now in awe of how productive I can be when I'm left free to my own devices. Mostly this is because I'm not sharing space with the parents, there's nothing on TV and I want to move onto _BodyMod_. The mixed blessing of being single, I suppose.

Anyone got recommendations for sites/books that are good distillations of interesting subcultures? I need to swim in new waters. It could be sugarglider racing, culinary guerrilla art, or backyard genetic decoding.

I love my parental units immensely, but I have to say having them out of the house for 11 days is a really nice feeling. I finally made some progress on getting _Flight_ finalized. I've got 6 major chunks of editing, each between 10-12K (Word) long, and I think I can actually finish the edit prior to their return. I don't know how you people with gargantuan families or even just one other significant other manage. I am in awe of your concentration and determination prowess. I feel so much more creative and energized now that I can wander around in the house freely.

So: Finalize _Flight_ prior to parental return. Then comes the query hell, which I will badger (oooh a snake) you all for help and assistance as much as possible. Since I'm pretty much stuck with the agent search, I need to make the query super sexy. Oh, and make sure I have a decent synopsis/summary/outline doc for requests. I can feel the submission pathologies readying themselves. Wheee!

--

One area I've been struggling with mentally is on Project C. For something interactive and serialized, how often should I update Project C? I have finalized on a FIFO (First In First Out) structure for action/commands from the participants.

Once I have a submission batch, should I then cycle through? Or should I keep to a simple schedule?

I was thinking that if a high enough percentage of submissions were completed by a certain point, then I could cycle faster. Say 75% of participants performed their actions, then I could then kick off the next "chapter".

Or I could just keep to one regular schedule. If that was the case, what would be a frequent enough cycle that would bring you back to a serialized interactive story? Weekly? Bi-Weekly? Semi-weekly? I know I cannot possibly manage updates on a daily basis. My baseline inclination is weekly, but I wanted to see what you all thought.

[Cross posting this in LJ and AW-Room 50, if possible use LJ]

I'm posting this open question to my VPX and other writing peers, because so many of you are involved the process of creating worlds and also experimenting with form. I'm keeping the exact details a little generic because I have not yet finalized some things, and because I would like some input.

Over the past six to twelve months I've been kicking around a idea: let's call it Project X. Project X may take the form of an interactive fictional collaboration between myself and participants in the Project (a). However, I want to ensure the world and characters of Project X (the universe if you will) still remain in my creative control (b).

That is, I don't want someone diluting the Project name / universe by haring off and creating a "Project Z" that uses the contributions of myself and the Project X participants without my or their consent (c). Especially if "Project Z" is generating income for said person (d).

What I'd like feedback on is ways of structuring a terms of service/participation that is not onerous, but at the same time protects me (as principal) and the other Project participants (e).

The structure of Project X will most likely encourage the submission of enhancing media to make the Project X more real to the participants (f). In other words, participant submissions may be incorporated into the Project X universe. However, I think need a creative structure that allows those submissions to be used (with attribution) for purposes of the Project (g).

This becomes further complicated if I attempt to put out a busking hat/ tip jar: How would I resolve the issue of generating funds (however small) while incorporating other's work (h)? However, this Project will be work and non-insubstantial amounts of time invested. Plus it may be the best gauge of interest in the project.

What I don't want to do is:

Not be clear about how and where I may or may not use submissions to the Project (i)
Use other's creations without permission (j)
Lock people's submissions into the Project with onerous terms of service (k)

Now for the disclaimers. The Project may fall on its face. Participants may decide not to submit items to the Project. No revenue may be collected.

Here are some other projects that triggered my questions on these matters:

http://www.whirled.com
http://www.secondlife.com
http://www.ifcomp.org
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com
http://creativecommons.org/

What do you think? Do you have suggestions about license models? Creative models? How to work with people collaboratively on this type of thing? Is Dru just whacked out of his skull? Some of you have experience with these things, so I'm very curious to see what you think and where you think things can go horribly wrong. I'd rather kick the tires now than have something unexpectedly blow up in everyone's face later on.

I'll have the LJ version open to comments from outside parties, if you think anyone else you know might be interested in the discussion of the issue.

[ETA:  To help clarify, a lot of this is still undecided in my mind, I'm opening up the discussion because I'm curious about the issues you see with the idea.   There may be issues that simply kill the submission idea... there may not be, I just want to think this through and have an informed position and stance prior to trying to kick anything else off.  ]

I am super frustrated with a new scene I'm injecting into my WIP. Mostly, because I think I'm at the zenith of my "this is shit" cycle with the WIP. I need a break from it, but I'm so. damn. close. to. an. end.

I'm battling with flow and execution with what I'm trying to accomplish without making it more involved than it really is in the grand scope of the piece. That and balancing the sensory details with keeping the action moving forward bit. I know-think that the scene will kick once I can poke it into place. I just want it bright and shiny RIGHT NOW.

Grumble grumble grumble. Does anyone ever think they were a magpie, a sloth and a bear in a previous lives?

The good news is that in the way these things work out, I do actually have a fun story now. Or will once I'm done kicking the changes into my prose.

Time for caffeine and threat analysis.

I get to work, and there's some noxious odor permeating the building.  I ask around and no one has a clue what it is.  Smells like burnt PCB, and gives me insta-headache.  People finally leave the building in case it's something toxic.  Turns out to have been a shorted central HVAC unit fan, which the brilliant building engineers decided to vent to the building to 'clear things out'.  Now everything smells like tun solder to me and I'm wandering around rather poleaxed.

In other news, I'm one major sub to my writing group away from having finished the second draft of my YA WIP.  Unfortunately for my anxiety level, said sub will be the hardest one to pull off.  Endings really are a huge PITA.  I almost have sympathy for Stephenson's complete suckage at them.  Almost.

The last sub goes out, and then I sweep through with the line and other point edits from the group.  And the out-loud read-through.  Then I start in on query-craft and beta readers.  At least I'll have something to do during the dry entertainment season.  I can be neurotic about all the submission stuff instead of neurotic about my plot and characters.

And I owe two different people crits for stuff!  I feel horrible for not getting done sooner, but the family move-in and finishing the WIP have pretty much absorbed all the creative analysis time.  Does anyone else notice the difference between group crit feedback and one-off feedback/ beta-reading?  I feel so awkward about it all, but double or tripled when I do a one-off.  Like I'm crushing people's hopes and dreams if I run into issues with a piece.   I think most of that goes away once you've built up a crit-conversation with someone, but even now with my group I sometimes feel like a big meanie when I give feedback. 

Getting a box of writing implements should not make one so supremely happy.

I have a lovely container of [uni-ball Vision Exact (micro)]s sitting at my desk at work. I'd run out a couple of weeks ago, and never gotten around to re-ordering or hitting up the office supply store. The exec admin on my floor knows I love these style, and since no one else uses them, she dropped them off with me. My last stash lasted me about a year.

I love the ability to write more clearly, thicker ink tends to make my letters blur together. Also, the ink flows rapidly enough that I can sketch plot outlines, diagrams and doodles as quickly as my scurrying brain comes up with things. If only they came in a wider assortment of colors; I could then use them for crit work. Black on black is great for the notes and brainstorming, and my own markups. Wouldn't it be killer if the pen could adjust pigment on request?

Sign #281 I've been bitten hard by the writing bug:
I *heart* my writing implements.

We won't even talk about the particular nature of graph paper in the creative process.

What you can do when trying to avoid the complications of a parental invasion of one's home, complete with attendant cat additions.

• Start a read-through of "Experimental Permits for Reusable Suborbital Rockets". .
• Contemplate voice recognition software and utility of said software in developing better "between moment" creative work. Aside: Does anyone have any suggestions on good hardware/software that would allow me to dictate words while I'm away from a computer? I guess this would fall in the arena of asynchronous dictation/transcription.
• Further work out details of interactive writing/collaborative storytelling concept that's been rattling around in head for past 9 months. Requirements already identified: submission of data, collaborative workspace for "players", limited graphical and or audio display capabilities, ability to curb spam or inappropriate submissions.
• Revise YA novel for writing group, followed by release to beta readers, then onto agents for consideration.
• Work on security hackery project for $work, incorporating newly identified metrics and requirements from team.

Spent the day at a Habitat for Humanity build site as a part of my year overdue employee orientation. Fun in the way manual labor can be. There was the ditch digging and then the ditch filling in. I had the joyous moment of water main discover via shovel. Luckily, it was a resolvable issue when the jet of water went shooting up into the air.

There was also installation of insulation, with and without proper attire. Nothing like inhaled glass shards. All together an enjoyable experience, though I've been through the routine before. It's just a bit hard to socialize with the bigoted workmen, but they mean well, so whattaya going to do?

I re-discovered muscle groupings that'd been lost in the cube exercise routine. Thank goodness for the hot-tub. Now I just need to make it to dinner.

Then I can prep for the parental and cat invasion tomorrow. Oh, in other news, one of the other cat rescue ladies took Lilly off my hands. She was really cool about my spaz level on getting her delivered. She seemed really down to earth on the introduction issue for Lilly so I think everything will work out.

I'm also almost done with a beta for Greg and my second section re-write for _Flight_. Yay for sunshine and productivity.

Ok, time to collapse.

I've finally had a nice sit down with one of my friends on the whole XSLT thing, and am now slowly stumbling around the topic. And thanks to everyone else who helped out. I needed some face to face time to stumble around. I now know enough to be dangerous for myself.

The good news is that overall, I can probably do what I want, once I figure out the normalized database setup for the data I have. I think I will be able to manage the mapping and security information framework project into something that is truly useful for the enterprise this year. Neat stuff. At least three different security tools, corporate application maps and information on what data is where.

In other news, I now have a working title. I think the seeds of it come from avocadovpx and my hind brain. (Thanks Dip!) I was going to say I have a working title for Jonah, but I've decided that the luggage of the namesake it too large for this story concept. Jonah's new name is Cole. Strange, but it came to me in the middle of a shower, and I was: "Oh, oh yeah, that WORKS".

I've been involved in a fit or renaming. A large majority of the cast and organizational names have also been altered to be less "extruded sf-material" ( damn you Cory Doctorow for that meme :) ) I've also been stripping the role capitalization errors from the text.

I appear to have a four to six month fermentation process. If I wait that long for a story, I can re-approach it with fresh eyes. Anything under a couple of months and it is too familiar in form. All in all, I've been managing about five pages a night. At current word-count, that should end me up done with the revision at the end of May. One new scene, with at lest two more planned, with optional ones standing around in the wings. Then it goes off to the betas for any and all feedback.

Oh, and the parental invasion commences in... 10 days.  Whee!

Lilly has a new home. A woman who's been thinking about getting a companion cat for hers decided to adopt her. She seemed nice and thoughtful. Hopefully the issues of adopting a rescue cat will work out over time. Well equipped to have a talkative kitty as she has a Tonkanese at home. She promised pictures and calls as soon as things settled in. Thanks to everyone for the crossed digits, well-wishing and general helpfulness. Now I just have to de-"rescue room" the rescue room for the impending parental unit plus cat invasion in April.

Got into $work today and had a nice surprise. My boss was back and evidently we were due for a chat about my performance over the past year. Got some feedback (don't be so honest about flaws in review process, duh.) and also got a nice bonus. This is a big change from $previousemployer who was rather parsimonious with acknowledging work. So it looks like I might get the replacement fencing and window-jazz (guy response to word 'treatment') stuff I need to do this year for house stuff. One set of projects per year is the capital expenditure rule.

$boss has been out of the office for a couple weeks, so that's what ate my time recently. Amazing how unresponsive people are when they know your backing is out of the office. Grr, stomp.

You know that Tarot thing everyone was meme-ing with last week? The Gemini in me made me take it a couple times to test the validity of my general responses. I kept coming up The Hanged Man and The Lovers. You know that starting line thing: way too shy to share at the moment... which is why I've been quiet for a while.

On the writing front I'm still struggling with the revision thing for Jonah. How do you folks do it? I'm just having a hard time, staring down at comments from $instructor|peer and then working out where to take the revision. Do you do it page by page, section by section or chapter by chapter? I feel paralyzed: what if I make it worse, etc. Especially from the line edit side.

I did find the revision sheets from the instructors BTW. As Dip said, it was in the last place I looked, the least obvious location: the box for all things Jonah-related. I took to re-reading Pilot's Choice by Lee and Miller as a restorative agent (comfort book). The avoidance behavior has to stop, so I'm buckling down.

Anyone have a good Korean girl's name or nickname for an opportunistic con-artist? Nothing from my name books or flipping through resources has really drawn my eye, but I need to carve out the old name. This is just one of three names that must be search-and-replaced.

Aiiee aiiee aiiee!