New Year - Writing Round-Up

I did not post as much as I ideally would have liked in 2009, but it was still more creativity-oriented effort than I've ever engaged in before except perhaps the headiest days of my fanfic-writing days. I did write more non-NaNo original fiction than ever - two connected short stories, some more UFPE, and some RP with an original character of mine I've had in the back of mine for forever now. I've got a much better handle on her now that I've been forced to write her interacting with people and doing things. I may have written other things too, but those are what stand out - again, aside from my two fanfiction pieces, one revived and one started for a friend's birthday.

So overall, I count this blog a success! I'm not going to make a formal resolution on the subject because that's probably the best way to make me procrastinate, but I'm going to try very hard to write more in this blog and more in my Creativity folder in My Documents. My main ideas for this year are: more UFPE and a new story, which is currently called "Alien UN story" in my head.

UFPE: There's so much to do! Perhaps my most important goal is to figure out exactly what tone to take with this burgeoning epic. I have enough genuinely cool things that I want to write it as at least a halfway serious story, but the whole point of the UFPE originally was to indulge in the kind of overwrought prose I do so love writing. That has been a lot of fun! If UFPE were too serious, I might have to spend a few less paragraphs (that is mild exaggeration) describing A's color-changing eyes and Z's long-winded affections. That would be a tragedy.

I want to re-write the first volume. I have to re-write it at least to add a lot more punch to the opening scenes and to improve the pace of the story generally, and I might have to re-think the story extensively because I want a posse for A to travel with, at least for awhile. There's just too much internal monologue, even for a Parody Epic. I should sketch the other characters more fully - I know A and L pretty well, I know Z less than I should, and the others (aside from the Prince I interviewed on this blog) remain foggy figures. In fact, I should sketch more characters period, especially a posse for A. She does have that nymph who appears periodically, but she's too flighty and alien. Hmmm.

I also want to write some short stories set in the Ten Free Cities. I had a wonderful time naming and describing the Ten Free Cities in a notebook, along with the central character in each city that the short stories will revolve around. Each is based extremely loosely on an existing city. I have to say, my excitement for writing fantasy has jumped with my reading of the latest "Wheel of Time" volume, which encompasses both the excellent and the meh in fantasy.

Alien UN: this story was first inspired by my viewing of the first season of "Babylon 5." I want to create something like a United Nations of aliens, except it's completely useless. Okay, more useless than its critics today say. They're purely a figurehead so the powerful races can wreak havoc and the weak races can feel like they aren't total chumps. Except one day, for reasons I've not yet fully comprehended, they suddenly are forced to become relevant. Do I know where this is going? Not really. But I love the idea, and I really want to try my hand at some original science fiction. I also have a character, the RP character I mentioned earlier, who's been in my head for years but unable to find her own story. She would not be one of the diplomats; I think she would be first mate on a spaceship run by a shady bounty hunter. I think there's going to be a huge disaster, natural or otherwise, that wipes out a LOT of the races' leadership, and the Alien UN are so desperate for info/communication/travel/whatever that they basically commandeer this bounty ship. Wacky antics ensue! I don't even know where the focus of the story will be; it could even be several interconnected tales.

So those are my goals! I'm not sure which is my priority, but I should poke myself to post something here once a week or so and to write... well... more often than I do now.

Contest - legal fiction

From an email in my school inbox (edited):

To Whom It May Concern:

Following are particulars of this year’s NYLJ Fiction Contest:

• National contest is open to attorneys, law professors & law students.

• Prizes: $1,000 (first place), $500 (second place), and $250 (third place). In addition, first place manuscript to be published (one time only) as special feature of the New York Law Journal edition of Friday, Dec. 4th, 2009.

• Manuscripts of 500 to 5,000 words must be works of fiction, set in the legal milieu, or with attorneys, law professors or law students as principal characters. A manuscript may be either a short story or a chapter(s) from a novel in progress.

• Deadline is Friday, Nov. 6th, 2009. Mail five hard copies of manuscript—along with author name, address, telephone number(s) and e-mail address—to (...)

• Ten finalists to be short-listed for judging. Finalists’ works to be published at NYLJ/NYLawyer.com on one-time, unpaid basis.

• Top three winners from short list to be selected by an independent panel of judges (to include author/attorney Linda Fairstein).

• Winners to be honored with surprise announcements during reception for all entrants, to be held at New York City Bar Association headquarters (42 West 44th Street, NYC 10036) on the evening of Thursday, December 3rd, 2009.

• Entrants subject to contest letter of agreement covering eligibility and author warranty of originality of fiction, and warranty that manuscript does not defame or libel real life individuals or institutions.


I can do this! Deadlines are my best friends, when it comes to writing. I'll think about this more when I'm not working.

Story idea - questions

The two followers of this blog both know why I haven't been posting lately. My creativity took a crash after recent events, and it's only recently begun drifting back in. Yesterday in my Professional Responsibility class, something my professor said sparked an idea. It's still very rough, and I have no idea where it's going, if anywhere. I typed up these questions in Notepad when I should have been taking notes, and now I'm posting them without further comment.

As I attempt to return to the normal routine of my life, I'll be posting more and more here again. I do miss it. Copied and pasted, these are the questions that came to mind:

What would a society look like where something like a lawyer represented both sides of a dispute?
Would the sign of a really good lawyer be that the decider of law, fact has a really hard time deciding? But this is just as possible with really bad as really good representation.
What is the goal of this lawyer? What incentives are there to uncover all the facts, law?
Lawyer could (and probably should) still act zealously, but what about loyalty and confidentiality? Loyalty to whom?
What are the values of this society?
One positive aspect is that, if there are sufficient incentives to unearth all the relevant info, the lawyer would be an expert in the case.
How do they assure that lawyers won't be swayed by own opinions, interests toward one side or another?
Another positive aspect is that a single case could have several sides, instead of the X v. Y model and multiple trials.
Is there any way to retain the "adversial description" of this system? Intuitively, I'd say no.
What would make people in general agree to this model?
What would this model say about society?
This puts lawyer (need another word?) in a despotic position; who can restrain lawyer in investigations?

Short story - summary

No post yesterday (counting this day as finished when I go to sleep) and no substantive post today, but I have an excuse - I've been writing the short story of Jemma and her unhappy adventures. I meant to post it to the workshop page today, but alas, my connection makes these things difficult. It is the roughest draft I have submitted to the group, and so I am more than a little nervous to put it out for their collectively keen and critical eye. But these things must be done, and I do embellish the critique for dramatic effect. It's invaluable criticism, even when I disagree with one point or another.

The story took a couple unexpected turns, but I was generally able to keep it within the very rough outline I had envisioned. I am least happy with the ending, but I cannot see how to change it without drastically altering the story - and adding far more to the end than I like. Not only does the ending make me nervous, but the style is much different from what I'm comfortable with. I'm trying to write suspense, and suspense does not come naturally to me.

Rough draft, I'll tell myself through gritted teeth as I smile through my flensing. Rough draft.

Game - If

Yesterday I said I would write a more substantive post today, but I had an unexpected opportunity for a free (and what turned out to be lovely) dinner tonight, and as lovely dinners so often do, it went very long.

Instead of any updates on the rapidly expanding world of the UPFE or other stories, I've decided to open a book I received for Christmas and answer a few of the questions. It's at the outer bounds of what this blog is for, but I believe that thinking in new directions counts as creativity. The book is called "If... (Questions for the Game of Life)."

If you could become famous for doing something that you don't currently do, what would it be?
Finish full-length novels? That was a joke. Work in the field I'm studying for? Another joke. This is proving challenging! I suppose I would like to be famous as someone in the Obama administration of twenty years in the future, but in a relatively minor role. I'd still get my name in the papers, and I'd be smeared in political blogs of the future, so that must count for famous.

If you could choose the very last thing you see before death, what would it be?
This question cuts a little closer to home than is completely comfortable, but I'll go with it. The softly smiling face of my beloved is the most obvious answer. But if I don't have a beloved then, maybe my giant collection of penguins. If I could be cuddling one of them, that would be nice. What a morbid fancy.

If you could solve one unsolved crime, what would it be?
I'm afraid I'm not up on my crime history. It would be fun to solve one that occurred here in NYC - I'm sure there are millions of them. The closer to home the better, for the sake of the historical curiosity, but not TOO close to home.

if you had to have your mate get a part of their body pierced, exactly where would you want it to be?
I wonder if this question is aimed at my future theoretical spouse or just anybody I happen to be romantically involved with at the moment. Either way, I think men look dashing with a tiny sparkly stone stud in one ear. I don't care which one.

If you could eliminate one thing you do each day in the bathroom so that you never had to do it again, what would it be?
How funny. My mind immediately went to brushing my teeth because I generally have to drag myself to the bathroom to do it, morning and night. I suppose I could eliminate, ah, eliminating, but it would be weird to be the person who never eliminates.

Good enough for today. Tomorrow night I have plans, so I might not make a substantive post then, but I should be back with something worthwhile (for me, at least), this weekend.

This was fun. Until next time!

Story Building - Another Short Story

I started the UFPE short story last night, and I like where it's headed. I need to work on the descriptions, which is funny considering that I usually have to restrain myself from letting description take over a story. I fear that I've restrained my sense of description so much that I've (temporarily, reversibly, I hope) stunted it a little.

That is not, however, the point of this entry, though I may address that in a future entry. Until an hour or so ago, that would have been the subject of today's post. I've had another idea for a short story, and I want to expand upon that instead. It came up during the discussion of a favorite novel of mine, speculation about how the state of things in that world came to be. The specifics are not important, but it got me thinking about an idea that could be the foundation for an original work of fiction.

The idea is this: a typical fantasy world eventually grows beyond its sword-and-spear level of weaponry technology, first to guns and then to bombs of increasing destructive capability. Pure practitioners of the magical arts look down upon these crude tools, of course, but there are always shills willing to sell their skills to the highest bidder. While the military has used magic in the past to enhance their weaponry, someone has the brilliant idea to create something along the lines of a magical atom bomb - technology and magic fully integrated to create a sort of deathly synergy.

R&D for this weapon starts to unravel tiny threads in the fabric of reality, perhaps interfering with whatever it is on the quantum level that allows magic to exist. It's not like real world physics, where an atom bomb isn't an atom bomb until the necessary pieces are put together; each piece of destructive magic created and tested bores little holes. On the level of killing individual people, even of razing a small village, these little holes are papered over in the grand scheme of things, perhaps by equally powerful acts of creation. But where the magic reaches further and further, with the idea of annihilating millions of people, the effects start to reverberate.

Meanwhile, a lowly graduate student at Magical Princeton is keeping an eye on boring experiments and starts noticing weird blips. Maybe these correspond to strange events happening in the real world. S/he eventually follows up and investigates and after much exhaustive research, not to mention ridicule from colleagues, traces it back to Magical Area 51. S/he confronts the military scientists with these findings, and...

Threats? Untimely death? Untimely death but not before Graduate Student has left incriminating notes behind?

I like to think that things become progressively worse and worse in this world, so clearly the military cannot take Grad Student's advice right off. Of course, the military must have good reasons for doing what it does; it has access to resources beyond Magical Princeton's, and perhaps it sees a threat even worse than its own assault on reality. Are Elder Ones from the outer reaches reaching their squamous tentacles toward Magical Earth? Or are the bad vibes the military is getting actually stem from the shocks of what they are undertaking now? Somehow both?

So how does the story end? I'm currently discussing this with that same friend. Okay, I have it settled. It ends with an article, of the WWN variety. It's a morbid ending but also a little bit funny and ultimately ambiguous. Does anyone take these guys down? Or do they successfully cover it up and laugh it off?

Game - Free Association

I've been thinking about this blog off and on all day long. While I can't imagine my enthusiasm waxing for much longer, this must be a good sign. I thought of and scrapped about a dozen ideas for things to post about today; I'll be wishing for this good fortune again in a week when the tumbleweeds are rolling through my barren brain.

I finally settled on a fun game: free association! Two minutes of typing with eyes (mostly) closed, then I will construct a little story out of my lists.

Blue:
Sea, salt, water, blue, blue, neon, yellow, sign, flickering, alley, shadow, dumpster, garbage, cardboard, rats, tail, twitching, waiting, breathing, whoosh, air, breath, breeze, sun and clouds, yellow, buttercup, daisy, meadow, green, waving grass, shhhh, sleep, cottony, downy, comforter, warm, heavy, hot, red, stifle, can't breathe.

Wisp:
cloud, cold, ice, crystals, clear, shiny, melt, droplet, tiny, splash, circles, pond, mirror, reeds, toads, croak, night, warm, scented, humid, sticky, mosquito, candles, yellow, flicker, wax, sizzle, cooking, garlic, savory, green, rich, savory, warm, aroma, cinnamon, cardamom, chai tea, milk, honey, clouds

Bread:
wheat, yeast, fluff, oven, rise, steam, cut open, slice, serrated, glint, silver, blade, gleam, blood, shine, run, drop, pool, sticky, hot, garnet, reflection, shadows, ruffle, wave, tide, crash, foam, retreat, sand

The broad themes I can see here are: ocean, kitchen, danger, springtime. My spur of the moment, rough little story follows.


Her knife sliced through an onion, creating a disorganized pile of pale half-moons on the chipped chopping board. With every slick slice, the aroma of the onion drifted up toward her. Water pricked at her eyes, and she blinked hurriedly. Across the kitchen, in the little living room, a window admitted a brisk, salty breeze off the ocean, and it was to this window that she strode, hoping that the fresh air would soothe the affliction.


The air tasted heavy and wet in her mouth and delivered a tang of ozone to clear the savory, raw smell of the onion. She sniffed, once to refresh her nose and again to explore the familiar aroma of an oncoming storm. With her free hand, slightly sticky from the pungent juices the onion and garlic, she pushed the window further open and leaned her head outside. In the west, shrouding what should have been a brilliant sunset, dark clouds gathered. They hung low in the sky, indistinguishable from the shadow they cast across the beach.


As she gazed out the window, thinking about someone who should have been returning from that direction any moment now, she caught a whiff of onion. She frowned down at her hand and left the window in search of the sink and soap. On her way, she pressed a button on the long, low radio that hunched in one corner of the countertop. Static crashed out of the speakers for a moment before the signal established itself.


She continued chopping as the disk jockey suspended the play of light jazz she was trying to grow to like. He informed his listeners that the National Weather Service had issued watches and warnings for the area, and she tried to remember which was the worse one. The voice coming through the speakers sounded so serious.


The aroma of onions lingered as she finished chopping and scraped the piles on the board into a pan, slick with hot oil. A pleasant hiss briefly filled her ears, and in spite of her growing concern for the man who should have been arriving for his dinner, she smiled, just a little. The radio repeated the watches and warnings – and now sightings, as the food cooked and the aroma in the kitchen softened. Sightings sounded worst of all.


She left the stove to return to the window. The air was suddenly stifling, so still and wet and hot. She leaned outside and squinted into the distance, but when she saw jagged slashes of furious light in the distance, she slammed the window shut and hurried back to the kitchen. Her hands moved by their own accord, boiling water, shaking salt, twisting the pepper mill, as the slashes of light flickered behind her eyes.


She ate, but everything tasted dim. She lit candles, but they danced so strangely. Dishes piled up in the sink, leftover food cooled on the table, and still the slashes flickered. Her hip creaked as she let herself fall into a pillowy armchair. She did not want to see the bright, vicious forks of lightning, but she could not allow her eyes to close until he came through the door.


The rumbling, rolling, crackling, and cracking thunder should have kept her awake. But her body, exhausted by her day’s labors, and her eyes, still tender from the defenses of the onion, betrayed her as the lightning split the clouds above the sea. She slept, and the candles burned out, and the door was still.


And so - a story. I'm not sure it means anything, but the neurons that spark and spit out these things require exercise.

I'm having second thoughts about not sharing this blog. I would welcome other ideas of creative games and topics and posts, and I'm more likely to get them from people directed here than from people who somehow stumble upon this rambling. Perhaps, perhaps.