NaNoWriMo Retrospective, and my dystopian cyberpunk project.

Been somewhat quiet this last month as I've been heads down in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month.  Why write blog posts, given a deadline of 50k words in a month on a single new story.

Well, I didn't quite make it.  37,924 words.  Still, that 37,924 f*ing words.  Wow.  Towards the end, I was up to about 1100 words an hour or more.

I blame New Orleans.  I wasn't 100% while there, as, well, it's a bit distracting.  I also had a few short days, where I only wrote 1k words instead of the 1,667 I'd need to hit my goal.  Still, I'm amazed I was able to dump all of that out.

I'm liking my story though, and I'm gonna finish it.  The premise?
What happens when the 1% become obsolete.  When corporations no longer need fancy stock traders and executive decision makers.

This ain't so unrealistic.  Watson, the IBM supercomputer that recently did quite well on Jeopardy, and is currently 'going to business school'.  How long before every corporation is buying 'Watsons'.  What happens when these computers are able to make better, quicker decisions than those business executives, wall street traders, and even lawyers and doctors.  Welcome to the other side of the tracks, former rich folk.

Anyway, as these machines are programmed for profit, they're sociopathic.  These machines have decided that energy and automated manufacture of other machines are the keys to profit, and the human economy is no longer worthy of investment.  Tough luck for us humans, as we end up living off the the deteriorating world of the past.

Unrealistic?  Maybe not.

All of this happened without people really noticing.  Everyone assumes we slid into a bad depression.  The machines simply let us think that.

Until Stax, the protagonist, stumbles across some data proving  that humans no long hold the reins of the economy.  And, the 'system,' doesn't want her to leak it out.  It's kinda tough to get by when the global economic system has decided you're a danger.

Anyway, I've probably another 10k lines before I wrap up the storyline, then I'll go back and revise it, fleshing out some dialog and description (I was a bit terse in those areas).  With some additional plot elements, I should be able to pump it up to about 100k.

Sucker Punch

Taking a moment out of my NaNo writing for a little rant.

I avoided going to see SuckerPunch in the movie theater as the reviews were an endless flood of 'this is the worst movie ever made.'  I was skeptical that it would unseat Ulli Lommel's "The Raven"
or Highlander II : The Sickening.  Regardless, I decided to wait until it came out on video.

So, we watched it tonight.  And...I liked it.  It was fantastic on the eyes.  There were some great visual storytelling moments, like the silent prologue.  The music rocked.

And...well...  wait, let me tell you what I found when I did some exploration into the movie reviews, trying to understand why I was such an unsophisticated twit for liking this film.

I went and googled 'SuckerPunch review'.  I figure that's a good way to get some links to a review of a movie, as google knows all.  And yes, the first three pages or so or results were scathing reviews.

They concurred that it was 'pretty', but that the acting was flat and uninspiring.  And, they pretty much all agreed that the movie was made for 13 year old boys by people who were emotionally 13 year old boys.

I see how it is.

A movie about women fighting back after being abused, locked away, raped, beaten is a movie for 13 year old boys.  Well, good then.  I'm all about educating those boys about female empowerment.  About how it's ok to go kick some ass if some jerk starts treating you like property, or worse.

Just seems it's not a movie for wannabe 'progressive', 'sexually modern' movie reviewers who want to   un objectify women by preaching that movies that show any female sexuality are simply doing so to appeal to 13 year old boys.  That...my friends...is objectifying female sexuality.

Only one review by Scott Mendelson at Huffington Post seemed to get it.

Oh, I should note.  All of those movie reviewers who panned the movie were...men.  Actually, I couldn't find any obviously female movie reviewers in the first two pages of google search results.  There were a few reviewers that simply used their first initial (a trick you use when you're writing in an area reserved for another gender).

I don't know about other places, but where I live, women cherish their ability to express sexuality.  It's a form of power (as seen in the movie).  The Slut Walk, Burlesque, bellydance, roller derby...all of them are about female power and sexuality, at least in my town.

I say good job on portraying female empowerment, SuckerPunch.

Anyway...if ya got it, flaunt it.  Then kick ass with it.
And if ya don't got it...then go get it.


PS: SuckerPunch passed the Bechdel Test  Good job on that too.

NaNoWriMo - Dystopian Cyberpunk at 1667 Words a Day

Well, NaNoWriMo is only a week away, and it's time to start preparations.

I stumbled a bit on my current project as I didn't properly do my homework before starting.  The big thing, well, I didn't sufficiently flesh out some of the characters.  I did an outline and wrote most of the novel with a rather cardboard love interest, and that's currently killin' me.

Fleshing him out is resulting in significant changes to the story.  Significant.  Which means a lot of rewriting.  It's been painful.

As far as worldbuilding, well, I took some shortcuts.  I set the story in current-day Seattle, and threw in some of the standard paranormal stuff, such as vampires, witches and demons.  I'm using Mesopotamian mythology as a basis, which does make things interesting, and I think the world is sufficient for a basic urban fantasy.

I also did some basic outlining, but I really should'a known my characters before doing that.

I know some folk can do most of this stuff by the seat of their pants, but I think that comes from experience and strangely enough, I tend to like a bit more structure when approaching projects.

So, this time around, I'm going to take more care in character development before diving into the story.  I'll need to iterate between outline and character just to make sure they all fit, but I'd like to have that done before November first.

I'll need to do a bit more work on worldbuilding, as well.  I'm doing a dystopian cyberpunk novel, and while it could be argued that we currently live in a rather technological dystopian society, I'd like to take things a step or two further.

I think in this case, the world itself will drive the story, hence the characters, so I'll start with that.

Stay tuned.

NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month

NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, ready to jump me and beat me into a pulp.  This'll be my first time, and I'm gonna do my best.  It'll be tough, as I'll be vacationing in New Orleans for the first week.  I'm hoping that I can get an hour or two in per day when I'm there, perhaps when others are sleeping.
If not, well, I'll have to catch up.

For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo is all about writing 50k words in the month of November.  That comes out to be just under 1700 words per day, which is not out of the question.  I can dump that out in a few hours if I don't let perfection get in the way.  I just have to write every day.

I'll do some of the prep work beforehand.  For this, I'll probably need to outline first, or at least write a synopsis.  That'll give me a framework to work in.

So here's the big question.  What'll I write?

I've a few options I've been kicking around in my head.  The most obvious would be the next in the series that I'm working on now.  I'm not so sure about this, as there's no way I'll finish revising my WIP by November.  I think a break will do me good, as well.

Another would be a cyberpunk novel.  Cyberpunk kicks ass.  It has cyber, and who doesn't like all that techie cyber computer stuff.  And it has punk.  Where could you go wrong with that.  The only problem with cyberpunk is, well, the 'speculative' part comes true before the darn books are published, so they become contemporary fiction or at least thrillers before you know it.

I certainly have qualifications with respect to cyberpunk.  I work in a virtual reality company for goodness sake.  I've built robots, done the computer security thing, all of that.  And, well, I hang out in creepy goth industrial clubs.

And yet another would be dystopian.  I could do the whole zombie apocalypse thing as I wrote about here, or I could take that, remove the zombies and replace them with some oppressive theocracy.

And yet another...I could do my whole Martian thing.  Good old fashioned sci-fi Martian colonization and politics.  You see, I've this Mars fetish.

Now, the obvious thing would be to mix all of this up into one project.  Thing is, you do too many things, you can't necessarily do any one of them well.  Not that I'll do any of this well, but I'd like a fighting chance.

So, what to write what to write what to write.

LGBTQ* and the publishing industry.

A bit of a rant, so run away if you don't like rants.

The LGBTQQITSWXYZ (Alphabet Soup) in fiction discussion has flared up a bit over the last few days.  Why?

Authors Say Agents Try to "Straighten" Gay Characters in YA.

Honestly, this discussion also includes other minorities (those with disabilities  racial minorities, religious minorities, and so on), so I'll include those under the term 'Alphabet'.

IMHO, Most agents and publishers aren't like that.  Good writing is good writing, and if your gay character is weakly written, well, it's weakly written.

*cranky rant about folk who are projecting their own prejudices onto others redacted.  It was late and my back was hurting*

Want to build a marketable book?  Then do the work.  Write it well.  Gather the data.  Show that you'll drive away less people than you'll gain if you allow Alphabet content.

I do still have anxieties about this:

Will I be dropped in the circular file if an agent/editor comes across Alphabet content in my manuscript?
Will I need to sell out in order to sell books?
Will I be relegated to the small Alphabet fiction section tucked in the back of bookstores (or Amazon) next to sociology, gender, sex and other non-fiction texts, never to be found by anyone looking for a good story?
Am I wrong?  Will including Alphabet content drive away potential readers ?

And here's where it gets ugly.  I have to face the fact that I'm a hypocrite.

I fear there are minorities and situations that will drive readers away.  Those with some of the more uncommon forms of mental illness (especially the sexual ones).  Those in the non-LGB portions of the alphabet.  Certain religious minorities.

I have a character in my WIP who falls into one of those groups.  She needs to be in that group.  It's part of her, and gives her the strength to survive elements of the story.   But, giving her past a label would be too distracting to the reader, as it'd stir up a lot of incorrect stereotypes.

I've decided not to directly discuss this specific element of her past in my writings.  It'll leave a gaping hole in her character, but it's also left a gaping hole in her life, so I think that's fair.  The thing is, if I don't discuss it earlier on in the writing, I can't really discuss it later as it'll seem like a lame, gimmicky twist.  I hate those.

I'll have to make up for all of that with good writing.  Hope I'm up to it.

I feel like I'm selling out and 'editing' my character to deal with other peoples prejudices.  Am I simply projecting my own prejudices?  Am I spineless?  Or am I simply being practical.

Fortunately, all is not lost.  Empowered minority characters anyone?

Lesbians...in a story that's doesn't center on their sapphic tendencies.
Black Blade Blues by J A Pitts  Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott

A clinical hypochondriac and her mentally ill cohorts fight bad guys.
Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Male muslim protagonist with a transsexual love interest.
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

Gay werewolf best friend (yay Warren)...
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

You probably guessed I like both cyberpunk and urban fantasy.  Some day I'll do a mashup.

I'm Followin' James Bond!

I rather like to travel.  Really, I do.  And I've picked up this lifetime
goal of traveling to all of the locations used in James Bond movies.
Not the exact locations, but the cities or general areas.

Here's what I got so far:
London/England - pretty much every film
Istanbul - From Russia with Love, The World is Not Enough
Mexico - Goldfinger
France(I drove all over) - Thunderball, Moonraker, A View to a Kill (paris), Golden Eye, Diamonds are Forever
New York - Live and Let Die
New Orleans - Live and Let Die
Bangkok - The Man with the Golden Gun (I've also been to the island, which is in Thailand in reality)
Austria - The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, Quantum of Solace
Scotland - The Spy Who Loved Me, The World is Not Enough
Egypt - The Spy Who Loved Me (Cairo, Giza, Luxor, etc.), Diamonds are Forever
Greece - For Your Eyes Only
Germany(all over) - Octapussy, Tomorrow Never Dies
San Francisco - A View to a Kill
Vegas - Diamonds are Forever
Los Angeles - Diamonds are Forever
Amsterdam - Diamonds are Forever
Switzerland - On Her Majesties Secret Service (I'm counting Geneva separate)


While I have a few trips planned to places I've already been (New Orleans, Egypt), I think I should add Italy to the list shortly.  I'll probably need to skip Uganda, North Korea and the like for the time being, but in a hundred years or so, who knows.

And ultimately, I want to go to space...Moonraker.

I've traveled to a few rather interesting places that aren't related to the movies as well.
Budapest, the desert southwest US, the northern US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark.

Anyway, travel is fun.  I challenge people to do it, even if it's only to a neighboring city.

Are Vampires Pretty?

These days (well, the last ten or twenty years), vampires have been pretty.  Lestat, Louis, Selene, Spike...all pretty vampires.

I wonder, though.

I'm assuming the change into a vampire isn't easy.  You die.  Your soul gets shredded.  You become a monster.  All sorts of nasty stuff.

The beautiful and rich generally have an easier life than those who are different.  Those who are deformed, those who are aesthetically challenged, those who may be wrong race, sexuality, economic status.  So, I'd suspect that many pretty folk haven't developed the survival instinct, or the internal strength of those who've had more challenges in life.

Would they be able to hold their soul together as they die?  Not as likely.  They simply haven't experienced the adversity that breeds the necessary survival instinct.

If they were to survive, could they survive life as an outcast, a monster?  They'd definitely have a more difficult time than those who've experienced that in life.

I'd posit that vampire culture would be impressively diverse and tightly bound.  They'd seek out and turn those showing the inner strength bred of oppression.  Perhaps those most downtrodden in life would rise to the highest levels in vampire society.  They'd be the extensively deformed, the formerly enslaved, the physically mutilated.

And they just might have feelings of animosity towards the world that was so tough on them.

('twas a slight spoiler for my WIP.  Not too much of one though.)