Woohoo, Chris. Keep 'er going! :)
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last night I finished a 4200 word short story I knocked out in 2 days.
Jim
I hadn't thought of submitting it to a contest. It is a fictionalized version of a scenario I ran in a A Traveller Role Playing Game (Traveller is kind of a Science Fiction version of Dungeons and dragons.)
I was cleaning up some old computer files and came across my notes for the game and said to myself, "Self, that might make for an entertaining story." My thinking was just to submit it to an on line magazine for the game. A lot of the action and terms are very game specific, but the story could be understood by anyone who likes SF. (I hope)
Right now I'm gonna stay away from it for a few days and go back and give it another polishing.
Jim
I have started my novel. Again. I think this makes the 5th attempt in roughly 10-15 years. Vastly different story line than the first few editions. I started writing when I my view of fantasy was fairly limited in scope. After a few 100 fantasy books later...I'm hopefully using a different system of magic than has been done before. Its presence is important, but it use is muted, if that makes any sense. (not as muted as ASOIAF, maybe less or on par with AWOT, for popular reference)
I think I may even have a semi original plot! Way better than my first drafts so many years ago. I'm not exactly sure what sub genre it would fit in. Certainly some amoral protags, conflicted antags, very dark and dreadful and full of death and despair. No hero farmboys, or young maidens in distress. I'm still figuring out if there is going to be a "dark lord" or not, or if I'll just keep it with "dark sub-lords". I honestly dont think I have the chops for "epic fantasy" with all its prophecy and the like. I am just trying to figure out the main antag and make sure he is "dark lord" enough but not Sauron or "the dark one".
Today, I finished a 2,500 word prologue. I'm concerned there may have been too much telling and not enough showing, but I always find that difficult when "summing up" the previous several months of adventures. The prologue is set roughly 100 years in the past (of my chapters) and sums up the previous 4 months of that timeline, and in those 2500 words I pretty much kill off the establish magic system with a plague. Here goes nothing!
Enjoy the ride, chinookpilot77. See ya on the other side. :)
I've been away for a little bit... had a deadline and now finally, I've managed to complete my final edit and shoot my ms to the publisher. Done and done. Elflings out at 93.5k. Due out in December!!!
Now I can relax! (and keep working on the next book... my home made, just for fun, book teaser, maybe some short stories... oh, and amongst all that now I'm 17 weeks pregnant, working on our first baby too)
So what can I say? Life is good. :)
Sold an article to my favorite, best-paying magazine. Got all Textbroker articles accepted by the clients, five in total. Now I'm only waiting for the last two article to be reviewed by the staff. I'm allowed payout now. That's rewarding.
chris
I'm 4,500 words into a short story, which is functionally complete. I'm making a couple rounds of edits in the next few days, and then sending it off to a competition here. Pretty pleased at my progress, I've just got to stay disciplined and keep at it every day. :)
Just uploaded my book, The War Gate, to Amazon Kindle. This is the first time I've ever self-published a book, out of the 17 I've written. I'm nervously awaiting for it to show up, and I've been told this can take some time. I can't believe I've done this. I had help with the formatting and the cover was donated to me. Truly blessed by these people.
chris
I'm about 28k into a new WIP which is pretty much writing itself so far. It's... different.
Finished my book teaser for Elflings... so that was fun. You can check it out on my link through my blog (on sff world), or you can go to my website google mlsawyer (be aware that there is also a M Sawyer who writes lesbian... not quite my style).
Always looking for feedback.
Working on book 4 (upteenth draft) and book 6 at the same time - the very first draft).
First draft for novel "Tracks" (American fantasy) completed. Refined plot synopsis for second draft completed. Embarking on second draft to sew things together nice and tight.
Kerry
Good luck Kerry - sewing can be painful!