Wilson's 2015 Motivational Novella Challenge

N. E. White said:
Neither of us was around.

Plus, we would rather that you all settle things among yourselves/ourselves. :)
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We were trying but, clearly, not doing as well as we could have. I could certainly have done more :(

But, as KatG said, let's get back to writing now.
 
Holy crap. How about this? As I am clearly part of some sort of 'old guard' here (err, really??), I will go my own way. I am astounded at my supposed intent being written out for me without my knowledge. I'll think about that the next time I try to help writers with their motivation, or helping them as I can to write more words. I've never seen anyone get offended by a challenge they are under no obligation to join (and a writing challenge for writers, at that).

I am shocked that motivation to writers to help them write more is being attacked on a writing forum. Nowhere did I attack Luka or his idea for novelettes, and nowhere did I state, "my way or the highway." I made it more than clear on the idea thread that you were more than welcome to disagree with me and do your own thing.

There is no malice here. Just disappointment, at the moment.
 
I think this is an inherent problem of the internet.

A casual comment is taken the wrong way. The (unsuspecting) offending person leaves for an extended weekend and the offended party is free to let their imagination run wild.

Sadly, it has happened to all of us at some point or another.

But we're all past that now.

Let the challenges begin!
 
Wilson Geiger said:
H As I am clearly part of some sort of 'old guard' here (err, really??), I will go my own way. I'll think about that the next time I try to help writers with their motivation, or helping them as I can to write more words.
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I for one am going to need you to not go your own way, and to continue to help writers with their motivation and word count. Please.
 
I read over the last 1/3 of the novella I want to rewrite, as well as the few pages i wrote way back when on a sequel. It kept me up later than I had wanted and taught me a few things in the process:
  1. The story is good, but the writing sucks. I definitely need to rewrite this story if I want to do anything with it.
  2. While the magic system is different than my Halloween series of novels, the characters experience of it is rather similar. This is not too surprising as I initially developed the stories within a few months of each other. However, the novella will have to change. I'm not certain yet how to do that.
  3. I have no idea what I was thinking to do with the sequel story. I have ideas for writing a series of novellas in this world and a concept of what the overall plot should be, but no idea how to proceed after the first story, because...
  4. The two individual stories I have thought of, especially the sequel, feel very D&D-ish. OK, so the first one (the complete one that I'm rewriting for this) is not too much this way in my mind. But the second one...oh yeah! And while there is nothing wrong with that, it was and is not what I am trying to do with this story.
 
My primary focus for the rest of the year will be my Strife novels, but I'm going to try to make room for a novella. It will very likely be at least loosely based on a couple of short stories I wrote a few years ago, but I think both have some potential.

I think right now the early leader is an urban fantasy short story, where a retired sneakthief is forced back into the game of corporate espionage. The magic system needs a little tightening, but basically the talented among us have the ability to see symbols in their mind's eye. They can string these symbols together into combinations that snap together like a chain, resulting in magical effects.
 
SPOILERS? @Wilson Geiger
Was that your story about the guy who caused chaos in a diner before stepping outside to be picked up in a limo (against his will)? I remember a woman interrogating him and pressuring him into a job. He goes straight for their HQ (or something) and has to deal with the surveillance system in a way before getting the ultimate payback with a huge identity twist at the end?
 
Bodhi said:
SPOILERS? @Wilson Geiger
Was that your story about the guy who caused chaos in a diner before stepping outside to be picked up in a limo (against his will)? I remember a woman interrogating him and pressuring him into a job. He goes straight for their HQ (or something) and has to deal with the surveillance system in a way before getting the ultimate payback with a huge identity twist at the end?
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I really liked that story and look forward to reading a longer incarnation.
 
@Wilson Geiger, I remember that story too. It was very cool and I always expected there was more to it. Maybe now we're going to see it!
 
I've got a couple more short story submissions I'm considering this summer, and then it's all long-form after that. I'll be doing some heavy lifting on the Norse werewolf series, in hopes of getting that publication-ready by the end of the year, but I also want to make time to get the urban fantasy novella spun up as well. I'll only be aiming for 40k words at most on it, so it should be doable, as I've already got a lot of the research and world-building done.

What's everyone else up to? Any ideas? Updates? Outlines?
 
I am thinking of switching to a different, totally new story from the one I described before. I dreamed up what I think is a rather cool setting several months ago and, then, while on vacation earlier this month I wrote out an idea for a story in that world which follows cartographers on a grand expedition. I've still got some critiques to get back to people, as well as critiques of my work to go over and work on before I can get to this novella. So, like you, @Wilson Geiger, I'm looking to work on it more in the Fall than right now.
 
I've made a very modest start to the novel/la mentioned previously. Prologue written (and before someone points me at that thread, yes, clearly I am pro-logue) and I'm happy with it.

It's prologue in the vein of that first scene in Fight Club (the movie anyway, I forget if the book is the same), starting you off with a context-free moment of significance before winding back to start laying the groundwork. In my case it's an overwhelming crisis halfway through ruining London and killing all the cockneys, lords and ladies, to be followed by a six months earlier chapter one; except rather than jumping back from the end I'm jumping back from the middle.

However, the MLS story contest ate up my last week and I want to try and write another short story I thought up while working on that, so I might not get to this until this time next. I also have little bits of paid writing to get out of the way, but my big holiday starts August 14th so I definitely want to have some stuff down before then because the rest of the month will be a creative loss.
 
My desk is currently in shambles but somewhere among all the papers are random notes for my novella project. I'm hoping to at least find them tomorrow.
 
Yeah, I think I'm going to abandon my cartographers idea. It was a journey/quest story and the discussion we had about it has shown me that it is a much bigger project than I can do right now. And probably something, knowing me as I do, that I would turn into a series or a trilogy at the least.

But I've had two awesome ideas in the last week and a half. One is a post apocalyptic fantasy and the other is a YA scifi. I'm not sure which will win out. The post apocalyptic scifi is from a really vivid dream I had (sights, colors, music, everything!!) while the scifi one is an idea I had coming home from work last week. I'll say more once my muse decides what to do.
 
My novella is off and running. I spent the past couple of days plotting, and wrote a short intro to see how it sounded, and I'm digging it. The hardest part may be layering in the necessary background, since I've only got 40k words to work with.

Here's a brief, basic synopsis:

Tiernan Lasarian is a soldier of the Core, a galactic empire at war with the Spanner worlds. Savage and cunning, the alien Spanners have fought the Core at every turn, even as they lose world after world to the PostHuman might of the Core. The Core is working to reclaim the worlds it lost over a century ago to the Spanners, and to eliminate them as a threat to humanity.

But what will Tiernan do when he discovers that the aliens aren’t quite as alien as they appear?
 
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