Joe Vasicek

To write on vacation or not to write?

That is the question.

These last couple of weeks have been very unproductive. I hate it. Yeah, there have been reasons–moving apartments, sister’s graduation, coming home, etc. Worthless excuses–I should have been writing more, and I didn’t.

At the same time, taking a break every now and again is very important. Sometimes you just have to sit back and recharge your creative batteries–otherwise, you’ll overwork them and they’ll die. What better way to kill your productivity than that?

I noticed, back at the beginning of the month, that I needed a break. I produced about 85k words each month in June and July, and I’ve been sloshing through the middle of Bringing Stella Home 2.0 for some time now. Consequently, my creative brain seemed to shut down about two weeks ago (or at least switched to power-saving mode) and I haven’t been writing at a consistent rate since. Blargh.

So I know I need a vacation. I’ve needed it for some time. And now that I’m here in Massachusetts, heading to the cape on Saturday, I’ve got the perfect opportunity to relax and recharge my batteries.

Trouble is, if I stop writing altogether, will I lose momentum? Will it take me another week just to get back into the story? I’ve already lost so much productivity, it makes me feel disgusted. I need to be so much further along in this story than I am if I’m going to meet my (self-imposed) deadline.

So, I’m wondering–should I write while I’m on this vacation?

Of course, I’m not going to spend eight hours a day writing full time, the way I have been for most of this summer. I’m going to relax. But should I set a modest goal of 1k words a day while I’m there? I kind of think I should.

Don’t worry, though. I’m going to take time off for fun as well. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a very long time!

As if writing weren’t fun enough already. 🙂

Some quick updates

It’s been a while since I’ve written for this blog…and it’s probably going to be a while before I write again. I’m going home to Massachusetts in less than a week, and I just learned today that I need to find a place to live for the fall.

So…I’m packing, scrambling, trying to find a place to move, get everything figured out. Right now, I think I have a place (rooming with a friend, no less), but I haven’t contacted the manager yet, so I’m not sure. What kind of an office closes at 2:30 in the afternoon? Gosh.

Fortunately, I never really unpacked, so moving shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s just stressful. It doesn’t help that I’ve fallen behind a bit from where I need to be with Bringing Stella Home. Bah.

As far as books go, I need to review The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, and I’m almost finished with Pride and Prejudice. Two very interesting books. I’ve enjoyed Pride and Prejudice a lot more than I thought I would, though it does get a little slow in the middle.

I’ve got to go now, but that’s what’s going on right now. Next post will probably be from Massachusetts.

Slush puppy feedback

A few weeks ago, I read a submission for The Leading Edge (I volunteer read slush for the magazine) from a lady from Germany. The story was about a dwindling race of indigenous natives being driven from their lands by a corporate, high-technology society. This one girl gets lost in the wilderness and everyone thinks she’s dead, but she’s really taken by this magical demigod woman who the natives worship. One of the natives basically sells his soul to integrate with the invaders, while the main character fights them up to the end.

It was an interesting story with some poignant moments, but way too much for 15,000 words. I wrote in my comments that this lady was really writing a novel and that she should try her hand at it, because if she pulled it off with some skill the story was good enough that I’d be willing to buy it.

Well, today we got a postcard in the mail from the same lady, thanking us for our kind comments! Here’s what she said:

Dear Director,

I want to apologize for sending you “Kith and Kin” which contained some inappropriate content*…it was kind of you to permit reviewers “RJ” and “JV” to comment nonetheless, and I found their comments detailed, thoughtful, and helpful! The piece has now placed elsewhere. Thank you for your time.

Very truly yours,

Suzanne Sykorn in Germany

That was kind of her to send a note! Good to know, also, that people find my comments helpful. The editors gave me the postcard, so it will be a nice writerly keepsake to add to my collection of rejection letters (and acceptance letter!!).

For my own career, I think I’ll do like this lady and send out postcards whenever I get a personalized rejection. It’s definitely a kind, thoughtful gesture.

*The inappropriate content mostly had to with sex and drug use. It didn’t bother me, as callous and profane as I am, but I think some of the other slush readers had issues. Since Leading Edge is a BYU publication, we have to follow BYU standards in what we publish.

Oh crap

Dang. I just looked at a calendar for the next two months, and it looks like I’m going to be busy.

I want to get Genesis Earth and Bringing Stella Home polished and ready before World Fantasy 2009, but it’s going to take a lot of work. Genesis Earth is almost there, but Bringing Stella Home is going to require a HEAVY rewrite. I’m in the middle of that now.

I’m currently about 25k words into the rewrite, with between 100k and 110k words to go (I think…could be more). I want to finish this by the last week of September / first week of October. That leaves me three working weeks in August (I’m taking off a week for vacation at Cape Cod, though I will probably write a little there as well) and five weeks in September.

But really, once school starts again, I’m not going to have much time available to write. I’ve got two capstone papers I’ll be writing, a ccouple of poli sci classes to take, and to top it all off, I’ll be taking a 400 level English class where I’ll probably be writing a DIFFERENT novel–holy cow! September is going to be a CRAZY month!

How the crap am I going to juggle all this?

Well, I figure if I write 4k minimum a day in August, I can get between 60k and 75k of Bringing Stella Home knocked out before school starts. It’s going to be tough, but it won’t be significantly more than what I’m already writing. Definitely doable.

That way, I’ll only have 35k for September, which comes to a meager 1k per day. Considering that this is revision work, which tends to go a bit quicker, I think I’ll be able to handle it.

But 65k in August…can I do that?

Well, in June, I wrote a grand total of 81k, and in July I wrote 85k. Most of the stuff in July, too, was revision work that I counted differently, excluding passages that I’d recycled from the previous draft.

Considering this, I think I can do 65k in August, even with a week’s vacation. I’ll probably even write a bit on the break, maybe 1k/day, just to keep some momentum. We’ll see.

But, just as an aside…81k? 85k?? That’s more than the novel I worked on my entire freshman year of high school! And I did that…in just a month? That’s encouraging!

Maybe I’m finally getting toward the tail end of my million crappy words. If that’s the case, maybe I’ll finally write my first good word before too long.

🙂

Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing is back!

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, but about a month ago, I noticed something awesome in my podcast catcher: a new episode of Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing!

AISFP is an awesome podcast about the sf&f publishing world–one of the best podcasts on writing and publishing that I’ve found. It’s hosted by Shaun Farrell, a playright and aspiring writer, and Sam Wynns, who runs the independent bookstore Mysterious Galaxies. Each show runs about an hour, where they discuss news from the publishing world and typically interview a published author (ocassionally some big names, like Terry Goodkind and Tracy Hickman).

I can’t tell you how helpful I’ve found these interviews: Shaun Farrell knows all the right questions to ask, whether it’s about the writing process, the publication process, where the writers get their ideas, their personal experiences with writing, etc. Awesome stuff–very useful for an aspiring writer like myself.

A while ago, the podcast went on hiatus (oh no! not another awesome cast podfading into oblivion!), but now they’re back! If you haven’t done so, you really should check them out: here is the podcast feed.

In one of the latest episodes, they interviewed author Greg Van Eekhout, who’s debut novel Norse Code is out in stores. In order to spread publicity about the podcast (and the book), they decided to throw a blogging contest where they give away five copies of the novel. To be honest, that’s why I’m writing this post–but it’s not the only reason. Let me tell you about this novel, and I think you’ll see why.

Normally, I don’t usually get interested in a book because of a blurb or a description–especially if the author himself (or herself) gives it. But Mr. Eekhout’s description of his novel on the show grabbed my attention. Basically, Norse Code is a story about the Norse legends of the end of the world–Ragnarok–except that they’re all coming true in our day and age, in Los Angeles. All the Norse Gods are characters in the novel, including several minor gods, and some mortals as well, including a college student who dies and becomes a valkyrie. All the major gods know that they’re going to die, but several of the minor gods are destined to survive and rebuild the world after the apocalypse. Also, the novel has talking, scheming crows–how cool is that?

So yeah, you should check it out. Also, if you’re an aspiring writer like me, you really should check out Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing, and I’m not just saying that because of this contest. I’ve been listening to this podcast since freshman year of college, and it is one of the best writing podcasts I’ve heard. I’d definitely put it up there with Writing Excuses as one of the essential podcasts I subscribe to. So check it out!

Holy crap! 5,373 words in one day

That’s right–5,373. And I was only going for 4k! How did this hapen?

Well, I was revising a couple of powerful, gripping scenes. The way I’d had them before, they worked okay, but when I followed the suggestions from the writing group, it made them ten times better. By midafternoon, I was hooked in my own book–I just wanted to keep writing.

The funny thing is that I never got hyperfocused while I did it. I would write a paragraph, check email, write a few more sentences, delete them, write a few more, cut to google images to do some research, get distracted, come back, etc. At the same time, it all seemed to pour out, so I must have been doing something right.

If only the rest of the book would go like this. Maybe it can! Bringing Stella Home is a lot more like a thriller than anything else I’ve written, so if there isn’t a hook on every page (or at least something to raise the stakes and keep the reader reading), I’m probably not doing it right. And if I’m hooked while writing it, chances are the reader will be hooked while reading it.

In totally unrelated news, check out this awesome Mega Man remix!

Genesis Earth 3.0 is finished!

That’s right! Here are the stats:

ms pages: 269
words: 74,687
file size: 525 KB
chapters: 16, prologue & epilogue
start date: 8 July 2009
end date: 25 July 2009

Wow, I finished this rewrite in seventeen days. Seventeen days! Hard to believe it’s only been that long. I hope the quality of this work went up in that time. I still feel like I need to run through and proofread it, make sure that the language flows well and the dialogue isn’t stilted.

In the process of writing this draft, I added or deleted 37,159 words from the previous draft. Going by the wordcount of the previous draft, 51.98% of the text changed.

Now I need to start submitting this book. It’s going to be kind of hard–I’m not sure whether it’s YA or not. On the one hand, the main characters are older teenagers and experience a lot of personal growth over the course of the novel. On the other hand, the (pseudo)science is a little dense, and the prose isn’t…well, it doesn’t read like most of the YA that I’ve read.

Well, I guess the only thing to do is shop it around and see who picks it up. In the meantime, I’m going to put everything I have into finishing Bringing Stella Home. The 2.0 draft of that novel is going to be AWESOME!

I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

John is a weird kid. When he isn’t helping out his mother at their small-town mortuary, taking intense, morbid pleasure from opening up the dead bodies and exploring their insides, he’s researching serial killers, devouring every book he can find on the subject. If he had his way, he would open bodies all day–dead and living bodies, exploring them, savoring the addiction. That’s why he must constantly work hard to stop himself.

But when a demon comes into town, killing off members of the small community one by one and hiding in plain sight by posing as a normal human being, John is the only one who can stop the monster from killing again. To do this, he unleashes his own demon–the one urging him to kill. As the monster inside of him starts to take over his life, he starts to lose control and sink deeper and deeper toward his destiny.

Will he return from the dark side, having fought fire with fire? Or will he give in to fate and become a serial killer?

This book was a surprisingly fast read. I borrowed it from a friend and finished it only a couple of days after I started it. Part of this was because it’s a short book, but part of it was because the story and characters were so interesting.

The character development in this book is awesome. Dan Wells does a wonderful job making a morbid sociopath into a genuinely likable character. I felt like I knew him–and liked him–after only a couple chapters. Even though he’s got a disturbing, dark side, he’s constantly trying to fight it and keep himself in check. From almost the very beginning, I found myself rooting for this character.

The book had some sick, disturbing stuff in it, but it wasn’t nearly as violent or fundamentally disturbing as some of the other books I’ve read (Neuromancer, On My Way to Paradise). It was more of an “eww…cool!” kind of thing for me than a heart stopping, I-can’t-believe-what-I-just-read kind of thing. Still, the book definitely made me squirm. I’m glad none of my family works in a mortuary, I’ll say that much.

For a story so engaging, the writing was surprisingly simple. Unlike a lot of the fantasy and science fiction that I read, Dan Wells includes very few concrete details–just enough to keep you in scene–and tends to be a little adverb heavy. None of this was an obstruction to reading–on the contrary, the sparseness and simplicity is part of what makes this book a quick, enjoyable read. As an aspiring writer, it helped me to see that story trumps the minor, sentence level stuff, like using excessive adverbs with said bookisms (not that that’s a problem with this book–the writer part of my brain noticed it, but the reader part didn’t care).

The book reads very much like a thriller (…probably because it is one) and reminded me of a lot of the Michael Crichton stuff I used to read when I was in high school. While it isn’t as gripping as Sphere or Jurassic Park, it has about ten times the character development of any of Crichton’s works. Although the plot is definitely engaging, I read as much for the character as for the plot, if not more.

If you’re looking for a good, squeamish read with interesting, believable characters, this is a good one to pick up. It doesn’t come out in the US until 2010, but if you check out Dan’s website, you can probably find a way to get it. Check it out!

Genesis Earth 3.0 is almost finished!

Yeah! Only five more scenes to go!

I love revising. Every time I finish a scene, or a chapter, or a draft, I look back and think “man, this is so much better than it used to be!” Later, maybe, I look at it and say “okay, it still needs work,” but to know that I made something good into something better, that’s satisfaction!

My self-imposed deadline for this draft is this weekend. I’d like to finish it tomorrow, but if all else fails, I’ll finish it on Sunday. Shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve done a lot of work to get this far, averaging about 2,200 words a day. The ending is a lot trickier to fix than the beginning, since I’m much better at beginnings and middles than at endings (not as much practice), but it’s coming along.

Yesterday, I wrote about 3,500 words in this beast. It felt so satisfying at the end of the day! Finishing up another chapter, knowing that I was right on target.

Today, for some reason, I haven’t been able to get into the writing mindset, but that’s not too bad. I spent some time looking over the last three or four chapters, making spot edits, re-arranging a couple of the chapter breaks to make them more coherent, etc. Chapter organization is still a challenge for me, especially towards the end of a project. Hopefully, I’m doing it better in this draft than the last one.

Today is Pioneer Day, a holiday in Utah. I’m spending the afternoon and evening with family, so I probably won’t do much more writing today. Maybe another scene sometime tonight, but that’s okay–the way I’ve re-arranged it, the chapter I need to revise for today needs just one more scene to be complete. I’ve been working hard these past three weeks, and I’m looking forward to having a fun holiday with family. The break will probably help me to write better, anyway.

So, that’s how things are looking from here. In the meantime, I’m getting psyched up for my next big project: revising Bringing Stella Home and getting ready to start something completely new in the fall. Once Genesis Earth is finished, I’ll be able to commit more creative space to those projects. Looking forward to it!

Refocusing

If you’re a regular of this blog, you may have noticed that I took off the statusbar for Ashes of the Starry Sea 2.2. I’ve decided to discontinue that project for the foreseeable future, while I work on Genesis Earth and Bringing Stella Home.

It’s not that I think that Ashes doesn’t have potential, or that I can’t rewrite it. It’s just that I don’t want something good to keep me from doing my best.

Ashes, in its first incarnation, was very much a practice novel. It has potential, but it’s going to take a lot of work to get it publishable. In the meantime, I’ve got two other novels that are much better–much more workable. I don’t want them to be any worse because I’ve diverted too much attention toward something else.

When I wrote Ashes two years ago, I cringed at the thought that this was going to be just a practice novel. It was my magnum opus, the best thing I’d ever written! Well, since then, I’ve written a lot of other stuff that is much better. I’m able to let this baby sit on the back burner while I polish the better stuff.

(baby…back burner…okay, disturbing image)

In unrelated news, I had an AWESOME story idea today at Leading Edge!

Ever read the Illiad or the Odyssey? Didn’t you think that the Greek gods were just so petty, with their stupid feuds and their dumb wagers? Did it disturb you how they toyed around with humanity, ruining people’s lives just for sport?

Well, imagine this: an ancient Greek Van Helsing who slays gods instead of vampires!

Yeah, man! That’s gotta make for some interesting story material right there! The godslayer…the man who dares to challenge fate and takes up arms against the forces of the universe, slaying the immortals, overpowering the omnipotent, and outwitting the omniscient. Sounds like…like Richard Dawkins meets Sparticus. =P

Anyway, that’s the idea. What’s your take on it?