Friday, September 2, 2011

not a lot for the updating

between work and other issues, the writing has slowed considerably, but the ideas are getting down. I've been working on shoring up a few details for things like Under the Fairy Tree that, while I don't intend to do anything with just yet will be impactful. Likewise, Faceless has a few plot points added. I'm trying to ignore the stress of work currently so I can get some quick design sketches in for Cherry Blossoms, mostly figuring on the creatures more than anything. One detail I am trying to sort out is the dwarves, in that I want them to feel real, not a carbon copy of other accepted fantasy concepts. Dwarves are typically depicted as miners, and while that is an endearing image, I do not like it. I've come up with something which has traces of that fantasy heritage, but isn't bound by it and certainly won't be the major characteristic. Likewise a new naga/siren design is in the works but those are for later. I think I've simply lost a bit of the mojo for the moment and need to really kick myself back in gear. hopefully that will be soon.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

life has a way of interfering...

I have been both "relaxing" and dealing with having plumbing pipes explode so writing has been a bit difficult to indulge in, but I've now gotten back into the bios. For the moment, I'm going back and forth between the locations and creatures, though I still have several "miscellaneous" things to write out. I think the biggest issue at the moment is less the actual writing as it is the details. I'll be creating an initial culture for the Fiorin Tygons, the mynobbs, and several other worlds and histories. These will be expanded on later, but for the moment I do want to concentrate and make sure I have the initial details in a way that I like and coincides with how I want the stories to flow eventually. Even though I know I can always change it later, I prefer to make it as close to right here and now rather than years from now.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Saturday, August 6, 2011

bios begin

I took a short break to mentally recharge then began working on some paintings of some of the characters (almost finishing the design of So'glin). Today though, I decided to get underway on the underlining biographies of Cherry Blossoms. It is slow going, requiring a lot of going back and forth between the written accounts and research but I've managed to finish 22 of the "miscellaneous" biographies. These include some foods, instruments, and general mentionings of the book. I figure I should get these out of the way, including the religion biographies (which took the longest) so I'd have a stronger footing for the locations, creatures, and characters. There thankfully aren't as many biographies in this book as there have been in others, but it is by no means brief unfortunately. I do hope to continue to gather momentum in completing them.

Friday, July 29, 2011

2nd Draft done

I was, admittedly, joking when I started the second draft and thought I'd have 300 pages or so by the end. Considering the 1st draft was 211, I didn't think I'd add in 89. Turned out to be 90 when all was said and done. I must say though, I like the story now than I did before I began and before I finished the first draft. The concept evolved so drastically that I don't recognize it as anything other than what it has become (even though I know it was originally far more of a lark). While it is egocentric to think it, I do feel like the various things I've learned over the years is finally starting to culminate. Cherry Blossoms just feels deeper than the others.

I think it's for that reason I'm certain this will be the book that I like more than other people do. You never know, it might be considered the best overall, but I can very well imagine the scenario wherein the book I think is the best to date is actually accepted as luke warm to mild disinterest. I do accept this, however. It does, in many ways, simply stand apart from the other stories so even if it stands as a poorly received book, I still love it.

Now onto the full bios and the third draft.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Thursday, July 21, 2011

By my math, I've added 1/4th of a book....

It seems odd to get a slight bout of writer's block on the second draft, though this would qualify more as a writer's break as I do want to consider whether or not I'm going to write some actual battle (as I initially thought to do) or the ending of that battle (which would be much shorter). I'll likely do the latter but for the moment my heart isn't in doing any more.

At current, I have added a total of 70 pages in this second draft, which means 1/4th of the current number is all new. It's hard to feel like I'm rewriting in the sense of correcting as much as writing a whole extra book. That said, it is making the original draft better (in my opinion) and filling in a lot of the gaps that simply were not in the first draft. I am now (mathematically) 73% finished with this draft, which I feel is quite good considering the amount I'm writing as much as correcting. Once done, I will give it to a second set of eyes for opinions and mark-ups and the like while I work on character bios and more sketches. And now that I have painter 12, I hope to make the sketching a lot faster.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Monday, July 18, 2011

175 of 275

While the goal continues to move further back, and the progress is taking me back to a page number that was the original end to the first draft, I am now 2/3rds of the way through the second draft, and with an added 64 pages worth of new material (which in turn had to be edited and played with, etc) I can say that I have better hopes now for Cherry Blossoms than I did at the beginning. I would like to say I go into writing stories with a full understanding of what I will have by the end, but that's a lie every time. I do remember a director once saying "Once I've finished a movie, I know how to make THAT movie. But I don't know how to make any movie. Only the movie I just made."

This particular book has taken on fully, the dress and garb of what I was only half-heartedly believing that I could write. I wanted some story that helped tell the fleeting nature of life against a background of cherry blossoms and vampires and now it actually feels like it met that goal a bit.

Most of the 64 pages are not conflict but foreshadowing and character. I have had three scenes in particular which were very interpersonal and very character compelling and I have to say, I love them when they work, and they take as much difficulty to do as the writing of action scenes. Now I wonder how well those aspects will hold up against the character backdrops. I will see when I take on the 3rd draft.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Thursday, July 14, 2011

still not half-way....

48 pages now have been added in the second draft. I am currently at 126 of 259 and I know that I'll be making even more additions in the coming chapters. It's really hard to get a feel for how long this will take considering that I've added a third of what I've reviewed thus far. By such a notion, I should only end up with 70 pages added, but that percentage is going to spike something fierce by the time I get into part 3 of the book. I'm looking forward to the third draft because I'm certain I won't be adding nearly as much that time.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Almost to half-way

I'm now mathematically at 43% rewritten. For the past four days it's hovered around 37-42% thanks to all the pages added during that time. This rewrite doesn't feel like rewrites in the past, mostly because of what is being added to it and how much rewriting I did in the initial draft. Normally I just write what I think and shift things around in the rewrite, but this first draft I was editing and re-editing pieces as it was being written, shifting pages and paragraphs all around.

At the moment, I have added 36 pages, though I'm averaging 4 pages at the beginning of every chapter, and I feel it will only grow more as the story progresses. Since the story is still at the investigation portion, there hasn't been as much done yet to add in the details of the religion but that will be a mouthful to add certainly.

Anyway, it's going good, thankfully, and I don't think the pace has been impeded yet by the additions. At least with the page total I'm starting to feel like the book is fuller than it was. the short length made me feel I was missing huge gaps.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Seemingly Self-Inflicted Futility

The second draft of Cherry Blossoms is slow-going as expected, though not entirely for the same reasons as possibly it could. I like to create a full biography for every character, creature, location and odd reference in every book and do so in the first re-write, counter-intuitive as it seems. It's mostly because I've found that if I create a story, create a few basic characters and then let the characters discover themselves as they tell how they are going to go about the story, I find far more interesting and personal characters in the end. My characters sometimes come out fully formed, and other times there is a flatness to them initially that they grow out of as the story progresses. It allows me to go into the second draft and add in the personalities I discovered in the first draft and change my bios accordingly. So while I'm only on page 54 of the rewrite, I've actually accrued far more pages of writing that just isn't in the book (for use in future rewrites).

There is a feeling of futility, particularly with this rewrite, that I'm smiling at. When I finished the first draft, the book was 211 pages. Here I am, 54 pages in and I have 226 pages total. I've already added 15 pages to the actual book, and I know I have at least 54 pages of bios written. This is 15 pages more after several changes and augmentations, and I haven't even gotten to the greater additions I plan to do. So while I look at my pages and see how far I'm going, the distance to the end keeps increasing. There's a certain pleasure to that in an odd sort of way. It makes the tedium of bio-writing tolerable.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Friday, July 1, 2011

Second Draft underway

It might seem a bit odd that I waited until the second draft to truly do a detailed dive into the religion and culture of the world of Cherry Blossoms, but to be frank, I went in with a good idea of what I wanted and cared more about making sure the characters and story held up and made sense. Now that I have the confidence that the story works, I am cramming in the world and making whatever additions and changes are necessary. To that end, Chapter 0 is done.

I've been looking at the various things I want to make sure I include (mostly notes decided while writing the first draft that I wanted to include earlier) and marrying with it other ideas created after the draft was finished. Among them is a redesign of an entire city and geography and the addition of a complete culture. Basically I'm adding my version of the Japanese myth of the Tengu and have been designing concepts for them this week.

But married to that has been researching and detailing the religious overtones. I didn't really want to put anything seriously religious in, initially, because that's always treading dangerously close to turning off some potential readers. Though I've written other books with a religious-themed group, as I was writing the first draft it became apparent that there was a need for a certain... heavy hand with religious figures included, just by the nature of what I was writing about. I try not to be heavy-handed but I do want a religious ideology that becomes the definition for the culture I'm writing so there was a strong attempt to sort out how I would weave it in unobtrusively. While I think I can manage it (at least to the point that it isn't really thought about much until the final battle), it was interesting to write the dissertation today to create the official mythology and worship practices.

Now I get to see how some of my additions to the draft will play out. I'm hoping that the additions will be flowery enough to impress but not deviate the story too much that you get lost in those details. And I hope people accept my chapter haiku (which I like the idea of doing, but I don't like haiku).

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Monday, June 27, 2011

first draft: done

I remember back when Brett Favre was still in good favor and he was asked about retiring (about 2 years before he first did). He was on the fence a bit and spoke about how the choice wasn't just based on playing the game every Sunday. He reminded people that playing meant being at the practices, the training camps, the tape break downs, more practices, dealing with injuries, the interviews, the victories, the defeats, and then somewhere in there a game. Basically his decision would be on whether he wanted to continue doing all of the other things associated with the game. In writing, this would translate to the first draft versus the 2nd and 3rd drafts (and however many after that).

The first draft is always the easiest in many ways because of the freedom to write whatever you wish. Each successive draft after has to take what's been written and refine it, augment it, and change it drastically to correct errors, fill in gaping plot holes, or whatever else needs doing.

To that end, the first draft of Cherry Blossoms is now done.

Onto the 2nd Draft now. And unlike other stories written, the first draft of Cherry Blossoms actually was somewhat harder because I was already trying to do its second draft mid-way. While writing can be done non-linearly (writing chapter 5 before chapter 2 or such) I do try to keep it in a straight line as best I can. But I kept realizing new aspects that I wanted to add, other details that needed to be fleshed out, and scenes that would be perfect but should have happened 4 chapters prior. Now that I have the first draft done though, I can get to those immediate pieces that need reworking.

I admit, I think I like the rewriting better than the writing. I enjoy adding or editing my work a little more than the actual first pass. I think it's because the first pass there isn't a net or a guideline beyond what I can do in an outline. With each successive draft, the story remains and is bettered by the overhauling. And, I just like the process more. I already know some major changes too, which should make this second draft feel more complete than the regular 2nd drafts I do.

We shall see.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Sunday, June 26, 2011

moments in the head now on paper

One key part of the genesis for Cherry Blossoms came about 9 years ago back in 2002. It came at the end of watching Blade 2. Say what you will about the movie, in the end what I felt was there was a place that needed exploring with vampires. A scene played out in my head of a man holding his beloved in his arms and having the opportunity to sink his fangs into her to make her a vampire and save her life. But, having been involuntarily changed himself, he knew what life he had lost and was wracked with the decision of losing her or condemning her to a similar fate so that he could be with her forever. In the end, as she's pleading for him to bite her, he gets closer and closer, then finally snaps her neck to end her suffering, sinks his teeth in to fill up on her blood, then goes after her killer with renewed energy and blind rage.

This scene has played out in my head a myriad of different ways for 9 years and keeps changing ever so slightly. Now, 9 years or so after it's initial inception, I've written that scene out in the first draft. Like so many concepts, it comes out as like the concept in spirit, but not in exactness. The nature of the battle around them, the nature of how I want my vampires to be and act, all of these factors shifted elements around. Instead of a dark room, it's now a street with fires everywhere. She doesn't speak this time, merely succumbs to the pain. A lot of the conceived dialogue was replaced with far fewer lines and more name shouting because it felt cliche to do more than that. This book has been, so far, more of a book on character and small subtle characteristics, and it felt far more logical and hopefully more moving to leave 95% of the intended dialogue unsaid.

Now comes the tricky part of the final phase of the battle. The slog is almost complete.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Monday, June 20, 2011

back on track

a graduation, a funeral, father's day and now finally some assemblence of "normalcy." I've finally gotten through the slow part of the final climax, and now begin to "ramp it up" so to speak towards the final confrontation. I already know that this will be reworked a bit, I just don't know how much yet. In trying to get the most satisfying ending, I realized I needed to change some of the focal points a bit and emphasize a relationship not even hinted at so far in the draft. This has made writing the ending feeling quite different, like a transition to a different story entirely. Still, I like the newer ending (at least in the concept phase).

I have also begun plans (in the stages at least) on how I want to get people's attention with the books when I publish them. I have repeatedly used a "Chapter 0" as a pre-amble or prelude to the story to follow. For the most part, it's a one-chapter short story that exists in the same world as the story, has many of the same characters, but isn't really a part of the story. It's more like a jumping off point to get people familiar with what they will be getting into, and setting up chapter 1 as more of a familiar ground than say starting from scratch. I think it would be best to release these Chapter 0's like a separate short story for free, advertising that they are the prelude to whichever book they will be in. Then have them included in their respective books. I figure "free" because it's a teaser, it's in the full book, and buying it and buying it in the book again would be a real pisser to potential fans. It also sets a precidence that I could write short stories rather than lengthy ones for some of the characters for their back stories. I plan to wait until I do the second rewrite of Cherry Blossoms before I really get into it as I need to design a cover for these stories too. It also solves the looming problem with Chapter 0 of Sphere of Time since it truly doesn't belong in the overall book.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Sunday, June 12, 2011

two steps forward, two steps back

The slog continues and while I try hard to avoid jumping into too many aspects of a rewrite, I couldn't help but inject a new addition to a scene. In the night prior I was almost asleep when a creature and whole ecology sprang into my head. It was enough that I had to jot down the idea and it has maintained throughout the day. Now with a sketch in place (re-purposing a prior sketch) I felt the need to inject it into the story post-haste before the inspiration grew cold. More pointedly, I had a conversation in my head that I felt I needed to write down immediately. So while the bitter fighting is still a slog, there is progress earlier in the book. (and if that doesn't show how non-linear writing is, I don't know what would)

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Friday, June 10, 2011

it comes like a dream

I sometimes wonder what I used to think before I started writing years ago, and it marries to other questions about how different I would be as a writer had I gone through all the regimens of writing and english courses to structure me into some sort of story writer. It's amidst these thoughts that I wonder what I'd have thought about the most recent writing epiphany.

Admittedly it's not so much an epiphany of my life, more the expected epiphany for every book/story. Even though I worked on the outline, researched, and planned for (in this case several years of pondering), when I went into writing Cherry Blossoms, I didn't know what it would end up like. I often wonder if pre-writer me (or for that matter non-writers or hopeful writers) would understand that a book needs time to find its voice.

I am now knee-deep in the next to last chapter for Cherry Blossoms. Though it is only the first draft (and the laundry list of changes and additions is growing daily), it's only now with the ending redesigned that I know the nature of the story I want to tell. It's times like this I like to sit back and luxuriate in because it sort of releases a tension that had been building up since page one.

In Purple Sun, it took until I'd finished writing the first part of the intended story to realize I was writing two books at one time. Separating them created a far better flavor in the reading experience and created effectively two worlds/stories separate and conjoined. Blood Talon it took until nearly the end as well to feel like I knew how to actually write the story I intended.

It's kinda odd in a way. If you were to read just the first draft, the tone keeps suddenly changing until it reaches the feeling that you're reading a completely different story. I just have to keep in mind finishing the first draft. I have the urge already to go and start the second draft already.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Monday, June 6, 2011

into the slog

as I've been trying to get deeper into the final battle, I'm realizing I need to re-design the ending a bit. Mostly I'm going from the large army/army fight, to a siege and a few smaller fights. still, marching into the slog.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Friday, June 3, 2011

admittedly not as often as I'd like

Amidst the Memorial Day Weekend, and a trip to the Long Beach Aquarium (http://drgonfire1.deviantart.com/gallery/30495426) with a gallery that took 3 days to upload everything, updates have been difficult. That ssaid, chapter 14 is now done, well at least the first draft is done. This leaves me with the final battle and the final chapter. I'm reading a lot of history books now, looking for cultural references to add in. Chapter 15 will be the longest chapter, and the slog will be far worse. but I'm hoping to punch through it.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Chapter 13 is finally "done."

And by "done" I of course mean the first draft is done. There is certainly a point where realism and story-telling must part ways. A city siege, for example, is one of these points. In a genuine siege, there are few "points of interest" in the telling of the siege. You can find this quite easily by reading historical accounts of castle sieges. Mostly it's a lot of waiting out the people inside, a few key moments, and a LOT of repetitive action. When writing a siege, it's the repetitive action which gets the most bogged down. I had characters charging through a defended entrance, racing through twisted streets, and being attacked by soldiers on the rooftops. There are a few major points of interest and several minor ones to latch onto, but the majority of the battle is effectively written "he slashed this one" and "she hacked at this one" over and over again. As realistic as it is to basically be hacking and slashing for hours on end and a few points of interest like a building collapse or a new bonfire billowing, most of the description becomes very repetitive, and in story-telling that will bore the audience.

Part of what made chapter 13 so difficult to write (and eventually chapter 15 too) is picking out how long I can be "realistic" before it's repetitive, and how many points of interest in the battle I can latch onto before it seems to be dragged out. Since it's a battle, you want the stopping point to be the end of the battle, but for a siege, that's not actually the best place to do it (in my opinion). So there was a lot of picking and choosing of what should be included, what can be inferred, and how long do I keep this up before I lose the nature of the story to the reality of a siege?

I think I found a happy medium, and saved myself from going too long. I'll be concentrating instead on the final battle in Chapter 15 which should be much longer, more grueling to write, but also has the benefit of a lot of different things going on to keep the flow nicer. We shall see.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Monday, May 23, 2011

still here, still writing, finally getting blogger to respond...

I've had the oddest time with Blogger, when I've remembered to update, in that it seems to be... temperamental. Maybe it doesn't like me.

The next-to-last battle scene is a tough slog, mostly in trying to draw it out. I don't know how other authors implement music into their writing, though I suppose it is an ambiance thing mostly, but for me, music has become a "1st draft" if you will.

I discovered far back with the original Jurassic Park soundtrack when I fell asleep listening to it, that my imagination married to a movie score concocted an odd mix. I actually had a nightmare governed by the rhythm and tone of the music. I immediately woke up, put the track on loop and wrote exactly what I "saw" in my mind's eye for every section of the music as it dictated and guided my imagination. I've never looked back since.

The thing is, now after several years of it, I have collected over 400 movie scores, and begun mixing and matching tracks from various movies, cutting and pasting pieces from within some tracks to pieces of other tracks, all to make a new "remix" of sounds to listen to. While sometimes this is for my own enjoyment, the vast majority of the time I am cutting and pasting together sounds as a "rough draft" for my mind to plot out a scene. I then listen to these tracks for a minute or two at a time, closing my eyes and letting the music and my imagination plan out the scene to follow, then I write. It's a nice time-saver for writing as my imagination can repeatedly go over the music and sort out alternatives. And when I actually put pen to paper (as it were) instead of a genuine "first draft," those scenes are more like a 9th rewrite.

In the case of the current scene, this rewrite has yielded wonderful results and visuals that solve many problems I didn't think I could solve with how the drafts were going to go. That said, now I'm at a point where I have to ask if the scene should end or continue with more. It would drastically cut the intended scene, but I feel too much would be unnecessary. Plus, I want the final scene to be far more involving, which may be too difficult to do, if I waste all of my time on this scene. I will have to revisit this option in the rewrite I think.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

and now I have an iPad...

When the iPad first came out, I was intrigued about the possibilities, but I held off. I have learned, especially on very expensive items, to wait and see if I want to still get something enough to make the investment worthwhile. After a lot of looking into the newest features for the iPad2, specifically the apps, I am now fully committed. Partially I wanted an eReader to cut down on the amount of physical book space I have, but the apps allowed me to have what I couldn't have with a traditional laptop: mobile work while at work.

My problem has always been that while I am not home able to write, I'm usually at work unable to do anything because of the breaks. This has compacted design concepts, notes, research, and writing all into a short amount of time each day. I'm sure that other pads can do what the iPad can do, but I went that route and I'm quite happy for it.

Specifically, I decided the iPad would work for me as a reader, and initially I was interested because I could read pdf files like an eReader file, which I can make my stories into PDFs to review that way. Then the apps for sketching caught my eye (as well as a stylus to double as a pen rather than my finger) which I can use to sketch while at work pressed the issue. When I found a document reader/editor on the iPad apps allowing me to write and edit my stories wherever I go, I was sold fully. Laptops never did it for me, since the power consumption required so much to ground you to one place, especially with the mouse issues. iPad, as I assume all other pads as well, outshine those issues of portability and mouse-clicking for me, allowing me to do quick sketches, minor revisions, and note taking without feeling restricted.

It has become a welcome distraction in that I've had to check and play with it to make sure it does everything I want it to, and even things I wasn't thinking of (like digital magazines you can read). I don't know how others plan to use their pad (all-encompassing of type), but I've found my worklife is a lot more flexible now. I might not write stories on it, but I can work on outlines, conceptual ideas, concept designs, and research without feeling like I need to be at my computer exclusively. I recommend it to anyone sitting on the fence about readers. Which reader is up to you (I went iPad because I have the iTouch and fell in love with that).

David Barentine,
www.wotps.com

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Not a lot to add

The long slog continues (and there'll be an even longer slog in two chapters), but I believe I have the right ideas going forward. I've also been working on a few book cover concepts. I can't decide just yet what I want for the overall look. I might do something a little more "artsy." Anyway, still working it.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

time to die (literarily speaking)

Well, it wasn't much today (a few "mon" designs and the lead-in scene to set-up the battle) but it's soon ready. I always get a little unnerved right before a battle, mostly because I want to get it right and work out the details in advance. In this case, I know mostly what I want to do, and figure the rest will come as it's being written. It's sort of an apprehensive writer's block because I know what I'm writing hinges on these scenes so I get "perfectionist" on it rather than on the more important dialogue and exposition scenes. go figure.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Saturday, May 14, 2011

finally I can post

I think my timing is off, but I've had issue getting onto this blog the past two nights. Here's hoping that was just my timing alone.

As expected, some aspects of writing have slowed, though other aspects are starting to ignite. It started with a rather roundabout finding of the "Mon," which is the Japanese heraldry crest/coat-of-arms/etc. In trying to design a few new clothing concepts for the characters (loosely based around Thai and Japanese clothing), I ran across an article about the "Mon," which I never really paid attention to before. When you look at prints on some dresses or shirts, you'll sometimes see a circular picture with a pattern in it. In warfare you see this more often on the flags of the soldiers. That is the mon. It occurred to me that while I'm trying to do a semi-japanese flavored story, such a detail might be good to look into and possibly incorporate. It does mean doing a few design changes but nothing too dramatic thankfully.

The other issue, partially slowing down the progress of the current chapter, came about because of the mon, and also because I decided to take a slight "mental break" from my stories and catch up with my DVR to watch Game of Thrones. While nothing like what I'm writing (it's quite good and I recommend viewing), it gives a nice refresher on courtly manners, so to speak, which had me thinking about what I will need to work on for the rewrites as far as additions. An idea popped in my head for a memory of some kind that would add to the story a bit in a foreshadowing sort of way, but a conversation popped in that took president tonight.

The continuing secondary story is a banter between a princess and a member of her royal guard (for lack of a faster description). I've enjoyed the banter quite a lot and feel that it is something very strong that would draw in the audience. The problem though: it has no genuine resolution as far as the story goes. It's a lot of "play" between them where it's clear they like one another but can't do anything because of their position. The thing is, Cherry Blossoms is meant to be effectively a prequel to the Sphere of Time, and when it ends, the world will continue. So even though the story won't end with a resolution for the characters, there will be a resolution in later volumes. It's a matter I felt needed to be addressed in some way and while I initially thought to put it at the end (and wrote a five-page scene) I instead cropped some parts and put it into chapter 10, because I felt it did a better service to the story in the middle than as an end cap. Somehow, capping off the vampire story with the dialogue I wrote felt like I was trying to appease the audience with this side story. Moving it forward though changes the context of one of the character's future actions and the original intended ending will feel "natural" rather than a forced wrap up.

I may change my mind in the rewrite but I'm glad I wrote the scene one way or another.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Back to writing

I did take yesterday as a "writing day-off," mostly as a mental break from my day job. Today at least, I started work on the concept design for the cover of Cherry Blossoms (might be a bit morbid), and made up for some lost time.

The final 3 chapters are now underway for the first draft. I've been trying to establish in this draft the more "creepy" aspects of the story right now rather than making sure to do so in the rewrites. Already as I've been doing the first draft, I've thought of additions that need to be done (as is often the case). A lot of these details I've been writing out already. The big problem now is trying to up the creepy factor quickly before a rather gory nighttime fight. This will take a lot longer to do than the other chapters so far.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Pre-mother's Day

In keeping with the tradition of a mother's day dinner on any other day than mother's day, I was actually quite worried when I found out the family was going to gather for dinner today, selfishly because I didn't want to lose another day's work (valid or no). All told though, I managed 12 pages of text, and might have been able to do more if my brain hadn't reached a stopping point. I simply needed to just take a break and by the time that happened, there was very little time left before I'd have to sleep.

Cherry Blossoms is getting into the final throes, so to speak. The next few pages of this chapter will be a pre-cursor to a much more drawn-out and elaborate chapter meant to only be a battle. Then a dialogue chapter and the final battle. Then a wrap-up. All told, I'm looking at 4 more chapters before the 1st draft is done. I need to go over my notes once more for the two battle chapters, but I think I can manage it relatively fast. Those always take a lot longer to do. Usually, I try to make sure that the first draft of those chapters is so thorough it almost reads like a second or third draft. We'll see how that pans out.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Friday, May 6, 2011

Thor, an odd way to spend Mother's Day

Traditionally, or at least in recent decades, it seems Mother's Day has become the stuff of restaurant dinners and flowers, lavish gifting and jewelry, rather than doing things with your mom that lead to a fun time all around. A while back my family realized that celebrating Mother's Day on Mother's Day was actually far more hassle than enjoyment. There are incredibly long wait times for restaurants, everyone's in a mad dash to find some "perfect gift" and generally the world seems to become just a little bit more angry as everyone tries to make things "just right" and realize that the plan isn't going according to plan. As a result, usually we will take our mom out to a restaurant two days before or after Mother's Day, and also go somewhere "non-traditional" to just enjoy the night since we tend to have fun as a group going out anyway. It relieves a lot of the stress, the intention to focus and thank mom is maintained, and we tend to have a lot more fun overall.

In this case, my mom accompanied myself, my brother, and my brother's girlfriend to watch Thor. (Yes, non-traditional, and yes we came home laughing and having a great time) Since my day started very early and I've only been able to be home for about 30 minutes now, what would have been writing time must be a "day-off" if for no other reason than I am about to fall asleep from the rather long day. Still, it was a day spent on designing new dresses for use in Cherry Blossoms and with regards to Thor, it was another chance to sit back, engross myself in a story, and try to discern what I liked, what I didn't, and why those things worked/didn't work. It's something I do with movies as I find that while I prefer longer stories that books offer, the natural short-story aspect of movies have flaws, drawbacks, and strengths to glean and draw from if you choose to look at each as an examination to learn from. And while I'll try to remove any "spoilers," I do think there is something to observe and take care about in writing and omitting in future works.

In the case of Thor, it is overall a good movie and a good story, at least in my opinion. It suffers, unfortunately from being too short for what it tries to do, and too muddled with aspects of what it has. I rarely picked up a Thor comic (it just never struck a chord with me) so I took this movie as an opportunity to sell me on the idea, fully knowing that some aspects of the movie would not be the same as the comic mythos.

The greatest issues that sprung to mind for me though were Thor's friends and the Destroyer. Again, this is a dissection of the movie, not a dissertation on the comic. It's important to note that Marvel is trying very hard to do something never before attempted: link several movie characters together into an "all-star" movie cast. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America will join Black Widow and Hawkeye (of the confirmed list) in the Avengers movie. At the ending of this movies, Marvel has included segments after the credits to clue you in on the grander scheme of this arcing storyline. Thor is no different, though comic fans will likely be the only ones to get the clue given at the end, whereas new viewers will just raise an eyebrow and wonder.

This all being said, Thor as a movie comes across less as a stand-alone movie as it does a bridge to set-up Avengers even more. This is not entirely a bad thing, though it does serve in some ways as an injustice to the Thor Character. Iron Man, Hulk, and even Captain America (since it will mostly happen in WW2), all stand on their own, with Iron Man 2 starting to lean on the Avengers movie more than standing on its own. Thor has the same issue Iron Man 2 does of leaning on Avengers, and this might actually be the crux of the problem (though in Thor it is more of a background issue and never truly interferes and interacts the same way Iron Man 2 did).

Thor's major flaw is in too many characters and not enough time to develop them fully. I argued this point with my brother that Thor is accompanied by 4 friends and his half-brother Loki in this film, and the film would do better without the friends in prominent roles. The friends are important in the Thor universe, but in this film, they are a burden and truly given only partial service at best. Because of the short-story nature of a film, the time it takes to develop a character means that for every major character added, more time is needed to establish them, their motivations, and whatever arc they as a character have. It's the arc that makes a character stand out and be memorable. In this case, all 4 friends have no arc, development, or time to be more than just 4 actors to fill up the screen. I further submit that because the movie is meant to build up Thor, these 4 characters suffer even more by effectively being fodder for the bad guys until Thor can come to the rescue. It demeans the characters to be little more than distractions than fully-formed characters. Had they been introduced but mainly kept to the background, the characters would have retained some air of mystery and intrigue and this story-telling flaw would have gone unnoticed.

This issue extends also to the character of The Destroyer. Admittedly, there's little character to develop. However, because the actual story is somewhat complicated and filled with twists, by the time the Destroyer gets screen time, the epic battle that should accompany the build up is rather quickly (and lamely) ended. The Destroyer battle similarly showcases why the 4 friends shouldn't be in this movie as they are poorly used and seem shoehorned in rather than any sort of strength to the plot. When the final battle is set to take place, these 4 friends are further fodder by not even being involved. Because of the attempt to have those friends in it, what should have been a moral dilemma and a choice of conscience gets parceled treatment and lacks the emotional punch that leaves the audience satisfied.

What does this mean for me? It's a reminder that personally I welcome. I often want to have a large cast of characters, but if I am unwilling to put in the time to develop them so that the audience likes them, they are better served removed. Every page of text I use on fodder characters is another page I could use to make the story stronger. It is one of the advantages of a book that you can have as much time as needed to tell your story, but it is also the mark of a good story that you can avoid padding it out if you think more like a short-story in keeping things just a little bit simpler so everyone can follow what is going on. I don't believe I do very simple plots, but I like to think that I keep the issues simply told so that everyone knows what's going on. The more intricate the plot (as Thor truly is) the more simplified elements of the story need to be so that no one is lost. While I admit that there is a great feeling returning to a story (book or movie) and seeing new elements you hadn't noticed the first time around (12 Monkeys and Dark City spring to mind) those should be subtle, there for someone to notice if they want but not focused on all at once.

I'll get back to actually writing tomorrow.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

making up for time lost

So I started off my day with 2 pages done for Chapter 10, since yesterday I was unable to do more (and frankly I was happy to get anything done). Today, I did 15. I like to think it was to make up for the day prior, but in truth, it was more because I was able to get into a rhythm several times today and able to keep my focus solely on the book. Remarkably, I almost finished Chapter 11 today as well, but I've really run out of "daylight" so to speak. (realistically I need to get sleep because of an early morning tomorrow)

Also somewhere along the way I had it in my head this book was 18 chapters long. It won't be. It's actually 17 chapters (counting Chapter 0), so I'm actually almost to the end of the first draft. This is insane to me, both in how fast it's coming together and how short the story will actually be (even after it is rewritten). I honestly never thought I could write a complete story that was around 200 pages, but it looks like this book will possibly hit that and only just barely. Even if I try to pad it out, and really work on trying to add more scenes, 200 seems to be the threshold for this story, and not necessarily because there isn't enough to write more. The overall story is simply just too straightforward and not a lot of twists and turns. And to be honest, I'm sort of liking that aspect.

For every other story I've written, there has been a much broader goal in mind, with far more twists and a lot of mystery about what is exactly happening. In this case though, virtually everything will be solved inside this book, and not filled in later in following books. Even Blood Talon, which is very straightforward, the reasons behind the story will be further explained in a separate book (and even referenced in Cherry Blossoms).

Cherry Blossoms is one of those stories that, on it's own seems to be truly its own story. And yet, it's actually a lot more like (in movie terms) Back to the Future 2, a story that helps bridge the gap between points A and C. It's really just a short story to expand upon one world in the impending overarching story, to establish that world and several characters in it. Even so, it's proving to be quite an enjoyable experience.

So either I'm becoming a good enough storyteller to make even the straightforward ones fun, or it's dumb luck. I'm going with the dumb luck until I can prove otherwise. and since I refuse to try and prove anything, dumb luck will reign supreme.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Thursday, May 5, 2011

On days like these...

There's something to be said for a day filled with likable distractions. There's also something to be said about getting the creative juices purposefully flowing. I had been listening to an interview Kevin Polluck did with Demitri Martin, wherein Demitri said he felt that the closer you get to realizing your dreams, the easier it is to look for an escape of some kind. You feel like you're about to "turn the corner" so to speak and start looking for ways to avoid that fateful step. In my case that would be trying to get published and talking myself out of doing the groundwork for publication because doing other things would be "easier" even if it wasn't what I wanted in my heart.

I don't know if I've turned any corners but usually on days like this, I would just throw up my hands and say "Today is a 'day-off.'" And then I just use the day as an excuse to not write. So I did my best to get something written, even if it was just two pages. That's two less to write at least. And then I remembered that I have this blog I'm trying to make into a routine. I wanted to use time as an excuse but here I am, writing a rather small blog.

Perhaps that's really the root of writer's block. It's less an ability to write, as it is an attempt to do something else that's easier. So I guess the question will truly become: is thinking about self-publishing avoiding the slog of trying to get traditionally published, or is it the best option? That's something to consider.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Chapter 9 "in the can"

I usually don't like to put a whole lot of detail into my outlines. It's quite vague and generalized, but Cherry Blossoms had to have some rigidity to it. Normally I let the vagueness keep the overall ideas in my head and let the characters play. It can get a bit hectic as the writing will usually discover new paths and new story lines to effectively trouble the path, but I like to, and want to, maintain a lot of motion in what I write. I have always felt that if you make your key marks in the story too rigid, your characters and plot can feel shoe-horned in. Characters make decisions that don't necessarily gel with the way the story has been going, rather than letting the story and key points shift to fit where the characters would "naturally" choose. This changes the endings dramatically at times, but I find usually for the better.

When I started writing Blood Talon, I knew what I wanted in the ending. It would be ship to ship, and I had the climax crystal clear in my mind. However, two chapters before this battle was to take place, I realized I had the wrong characters going onto the wrong ships. I couldn't make the story work the way I had originally envisioned the battle because I would end up killing characters I didn't want killed. So I reworked the ending, because the characters were actually on the right ships, my ending was wrong. My ending had the right idea, but it didn't take into account how the story would unfold.

Today, I finished Chapter 9 of Cherry Blossoms, and when I had it in my head, the scene played out with an initial burst into crowded streets, then the characters popping their heads up over the crowds. I was going to have multiple characters involved and a lot of running around. When it came to actually writing it, I stuck with only two, the chaser and the chased. It simply made more sense. I'd actually envisioned this chase years ago at the inception of this story, though not nearly for as long nor as involved. The actual writing also had to be tapered for the reader, compared to what I envisioned. To my mind's eye, the chase could last fifteen minutes in a movie, however in writing it the descriptions become quite repetitive. Trying to maintain a quick "pace" in storytelling to match the pace of the two men meant cutting down on descriptions, leaving my list of word choices very short. As a result, what seemed like a good idea visually, didn't translate as well on the page without making drastic changes to my writing style.

The actual chase was shortened from it's intended ten pages to five, with a lot thrown out because, as I was writing it, it was clear that anyone trying to do the things I envisioned would be so tired they'd not last half-way into the intended scene. Some realism was needed and less of a "movie reality" that would seem "cool," but highly unrealistic.

I'm mostly pleased with it. I say that mainly because I know when I get to the rewrite, I will go over the scenes with a hammer and what is there now will not look the same later. Still, the groundwork I am happy with. And it allows me to move on to the climax. This was like in those old cartoons where a small snowball is set on the edge of a hill, then rolls down it constantly getting bigger and bigger. Parts 1 and 2 were packing the snowball up and setting it onto the top of the hill. Chapter 9 gave it the initial push towards the bottom.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Starting to get interesting...

There's a feeling I've noticed when I write, when the tedium just disappears, the back and forth looking at notes and outlines is mostly forgotten, and the characters "come alive." I remember a long time ago hearing some authors talking about their characters doing things they didn't expect. In my ignorance when first trying to write, I couldn't understand the idea concept. After all, why would the author not know what their own creations were going to say.

I don't remember the first time it really hit me, but I've always found joy when it hits. Usually it's in conversations, and my joy is in discovering the characters that are hiding in my head, just waiting to be discovered. But there are occasions when it happens for the more descriptive/action parts.

Today, my writing began with a rather rough slog through a dialogue scene, mostly because I knew immediately following, the story was going to take a turn and start to, in effect, speed up. Normally, that sort of scene is a logistical nightmare, but in this instance, seven pages sped by, the first half-of the remainder of this chapter. I say first half because I did get to a point where I was not only finally distracted from writing, but also felt that I could actually stop and enjoy the distractions. The pace had changed to a new dynamic and the second half of the scene could be played out tomorrow when I put fingers to keyboard.

The best I can say though, and writers know the feeling, I'm enjoying what I'm writing. It sounds odd to say, after all if I'm trying to make a career as an author I should (in theory) love what I write, but there are those times in a story where you either aren't sure how the scene will play out or you have a section that you know you need to do but you really don't want to bring up, and writing feels like work rather than play. In those times, the excitement drains and it's easy to get writer's block. I'm instead quite happy and anxious, in fact, to continue the story. As dark as I know it will get, and as dark as I'm making it out to be now, I'm enjoying the story that's being told. To me, that means the story will be enjoyed by those reading it too.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Sunday, May 1, 2011

And so ends "Part 2"

I already know that the rewrite of Cherry Blossoms will extend page numbers dramatically, but for the moment, Chapter 8 (and by extension Part 2 of the story) ends on page 100. Sort of a nice number to land on unintentionally. From here, the relative ease of writing will turn into more of a slog, since the predominant aspect of the book has been dialogue rather than descriptions. Part 3 will be 9 chapters of effectively action sequences and long, drawn-out descriptions, returning to what I'm really good at.

Admittedly I believe I'm good at dialogue too, but I'm biased on that.

Part 2 ended today with 3 pages written. That might not seem like much, but if you can do it right, you can change all tone in the story on a dime from "mystery" to "hell's about to tear loose." We'll see if that pans out. I am looking forward to it, but I know it will be a bit of a pain once I get into it.

I'd write more, but I'm stuck watching CNN right now. Sort of a different red-letter day. Hard to concentrate on writing at the moment (though I got those three pages done).

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Cherry Blossoms: a simple idea, in theory

The seed of inspiration for Cherry Blossoms, admittedly stretches back to my Senior year in High School, when my English teacher at the time tried to show several Japanese live-action stories that were told without words. One, whose name I didn't bother at the time to commit to memory, took place between a man and woman amidst falling cherry blossoms, with some allusion to life and death... and well, I was more impressed with the visuals than what was (in my opinion) an attempt at story telling. Still, for whatever it was worth, the visual stuck with me.

Cherry Blossoms as it has become, and is becoming, didn't start to truly take shape until I was watching the behind-the-scenes of Blade 2. I'm a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro, particularly his storytelling sense. It was in the behind-the-scenes where he made an emphasis on trying to have a "realistic" vampire, or anti-vampire in that particular movie. It also married one of my favorite artists, Wayne D. Barlowe with Guillermo's style (which would happen again for both Hellboy movies). For all of the faults of the movie (particularly if you're a Donny Yen fan and wanted a substantial fight scene), there are moments in it which keep my attention, and those moments began the idea of what would become Cherry Blossoms.

It's always been odd to me that anyone would look at vampires as a desirable way to be, and or become. There have been modern attempts to dash that idea, but still the popular vampires seem to be very sexual, aggressive, and make it seem like being a vampire is truly desiring. I've never seen it that way though. It's always been, to me at least, a horrifying curse, something that dehumanizes the person that becomes a vampire and forces a type of life that can't be desired. I'd liken it to a plague or aggressive STD rather than something anyone would actually want.

So for me, the idea was less "cool vampire," as it was a journey into life of someone who was forced to become a vampire, and the life they had to give up as a result. I know I will fall short of that lofty goal in the end, but I think I can still craft a story that will be the seeds for another, better author, to explore it and fill in the gaps/correct the mistakes I make in my personal attempt.

Eventually, a basic story formed though, and with the visual from that Japanese short in mind, I started trying to learn about Japanese cultures and legends, specifically the less talked about aspects. Samurai and ninjas are fine, but I'd rather let that be done by someone who has a better affinity for it, and more knowledge on the subject. To me, it's more fascinating to go into the roots of a culture and find a few items that rarely, if ever, get discussed. For me, it's less to create a fantasy Japan, as much as it is a fantasy world based around some Japanese culture, with my own twists to suit the story. The trick, of course, is trying to avoid putting too much emphasis on Japanese iconography and keeping the eyes on telling the story.

I'm nearing completion of chapter 8, which will bring to an end Part 2 of the story. As it stands, Cherry Blossoms is moving quite fast and is quite short. I do believe that it will expand more in the rewrites/edits, but I've always known it was going to be a rather short story overall. To me the issue will be pacing more than anything else. If the pace doesn't get too fast or too rushed, I think I'll do just fine. I'm averaging about 10 pages a chapter, which should increase during Part 3 as it reaches the climax, so it should easily get over the 200-page mark. Subsequent rewrites will likely get to 250, maybe 300. Regardless of it's length, I do believe it will be all it needs to be. And even if it's a quick read, that's still a good thing.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Friday, April 29, 2011

Day 2

Writing around work is always a bit taxing, but I've managed to lock away an hour or two before I go in and another hour or so when I get back, which has truly helped in the current story, Cherry Blossoms.

I've had the story "in potentia" for almost 5 years now, and only recently really sat down to take a stab at actually writing it. Since I can't do anything without a bit of a personal challenge, I based it off of the Japanese Hanami, which, coupling with a few days before, different locations, and time for the ending, comes out to about 18 days. So I'm trying to cram and work out 18 chapters for the book with every chapter as a day. Being the first draft, I'm getting through about a chapter every other day, which has been quite nice. Likely, come the first rewrite, everything will expand greatly.

Today I managed to finish chapter 7, which is almost the last chapter before the story starts to truly spiral out of control. I hate sticking to only one element, so the story combines vampires, mystery and fantasy, with a heavy emphasis on building to extreme danger, yet on a backdrop of life and games. I'll get more into it in the coming posts. Suffice it to say, Cherry Blossoms is finally starting to take shape, and I am thoroughly happy to see this kernel of an idea blossom (pun intended) into something more substantial. I have always felt that if you don't enjoy the actual writing you're doing, and the processes within it, the story won't be fun for the reader. I can't say I write with the largest vocabulary or the greatest eloquence, but I do believe I write fun/serious yarns.

On a more, technical note, I have finally purchased an iPad2. I truly have been taken with the idea of self-publishing, since I am more and more looking at the industry as heading to e-books and towards the self-publisher. Moreover though, fantasy as a genre is increasingly niche, and increasingly hard to get a foot into the traditional markets. I fear my chosen genre, for all it's possibilities, is hampered by an increasing demand for other genres and is losing out. Self-publishing may eventually be the only way.

We will see.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Design for Danra

Danra
While I write mostly, it's in the design processes that I sort out what I want my characters to "look" like. In this respect, I am working on a new painting of a character named "Danra." It's one of many different characters in "Cherry Blossoms," what I'm writing now. It's a minor character, but hopefully (if all goes as I desire), the creature design will be used again in later books.

David Barentine
http://www.wotps.com 

Day 1

For future reference, I will attempt to make this blog less about my personal life as much as the "life" of my books (in reference to sales attempts and availability), the "life" of the writing (in reference to the daily grind of trying to do the actual writing), and the "lives" of the characters in the worlds I'm creating (hopefully for some insight into the process of the worlds I'm attempting to create.

Over the past 17 years now, I have been writing, with very few stoppages in that time. That said, I've only got three books now to truly call "complete." I'm working on the current one, "Cherry Blossoms," as I write this blog. It has been a wonderful process in the actual creation process, though frustrating at times, and in the design process, of which I have designed almost all of the characters and creatures I write about.

That said, the selling of these books has been... to be nice, frustrating. I originally started writing one book, which eventually turned into seven 1st drafts of a long series of books. At each rewrite, the books have expanded and new stories have emerged. As such, while I love the created storyline, it is, to be honest, practically unsellable. From a business standpoint, selling one book is difficult enough to get a worthwhile return on investment, even from an established author. 7 or more for a series from an untested author (even if they are worthwhile) doesn't make practical sense business-wise.

I understand this, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

This blog, I hope, will mark a journey that in many ways is long overdue, but also I don't think I could have taken years prior. I attempted to write stand-alone books to flesh out the world and also gain a foothold on the worlds I was writing, and it was in that particular endeavor that I became a much better writer and also realized just how daunting a task this world I've lived in for 17 years will be to sell.

So I hope that this can, in some way, be a learning curve for anyone reading it to learn from my mistakes and miscues, and hopefully avoid them. At the same time, it would be nice to just talk about what I actually do. For 17 years I have answered the question: "What did you do today?" with the same sort of answer: "Got some writing done today." It's frustrating to know that I can spend months (and in the case of the larger story, years) working on a project that can be read in a few hours, but it is more frustrating to never be able to talk about it with greater intimacy. After all, talking about it requires a genuine interest first and foremost, which sadly I can't say is the case. They are interested, but only in the finished product, and not necessarily because they'd pick up one of my stories on their own if they didn't know me.

So hopefully this will be a worthwhile venture for anyone who reads it, and also a nice way to just talk out what is going on in my day-to-day with greater detail.

We'll see how it goes.

David Barentine
http://www.wotps.com