Site Update - Yet Again with the Template Meddling

I'm working on some improvements to the site here and there. Some will be glaring, some not so obvious. Hopefully it will all comform to the standards of the blog.

Namely that it won't make too many heads explode.

(And how many is too many? Hmmm...)

Merry Christmas

To one and all.

Oh, the Shame!

It has come to my attention that I have made a grammatical faux-pas. Apparently I needed "their" instead of "there" in the previous post. I would like to say that the mistake was made while I was on mass quantities of egg nog or whiskey, but the truth of the matter is that neither are at fault this time.

Nor is it all the hours spent ignoring my English teachers. Although that has hampered my writing skills a touch here and there. Mostly there.

No, my father has worked long and hard teaching me right from wrong in terms of grammar. He has strove with diligence and good will through acres and acres of poorly thought out sentences and paragraphs that could kill a giraffe.

I know better.

I have no excuse.

Thus I will take the honorable way out. The route all great writers filled with remorse take in the end.

That's right. Seppuku... with a fresh noodle.

It is a tough thing to have happen so soon before Christmas. I fear I have no choice. I have shamed both my father and my mother beyond endurance. And that mistake with "there" was pretty bad, too.

I shall face this as I have faced all of my life's challenges: with a lot of weeping and incoherent screams. But fear not. The justice of the noodle is not swift. All those before me who have tried to regain dignity through this method refuse to speak about it afterwards. In fact, they pretty much deny it.

So long. Farewell. Adieu. Aloha. Adios. Auf Wiedersehen. Gesundheit. Goodbye.

...i'll be back later once my pride heals. my lord. where was my head?...

Five More Days...

Everybody done with there Christmas shopping?

I'm not. Bout half way there, in fact. Hope to finish it off today, in fact.

Cause one mad rush on Christmas Eve is FAR TOO MUCH for one lifetime. Thanks.

The Hell...!? (IV) - A Cimmerian X-Mas?

With apologies to Robert E. Howard:

Hither came Santa, the Claus, white-haired, sullen-eyed, axe in his hands, a giver, a wreather, a sleigher, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic girth, to tread the snowed rooftops of the Earth under his booted feet.

Ahem... Here's where the no Four Letter Word policy hurts the site...

One of my weekend stops is a little site called Superd***ery. What it does is poke fun at a wide variety of comics, both covers and interior panels. It tends towards the vulgar sometimes, and it does on occasion display (and most definitely mocks) some of the less than pleasant racial stereotypes of by-gone age. Mileage may vary in its entertainment value and suitability for the work place.

Having said all of that, what I set before you today is of the amusing variety. This image is, without a doubt, ridiculous. In the extreme.

Parting thought: Is an X-Mas a religious service presided over by Professor X or Nightcrawler?

Just asking.

Small Doctor Who Note - Trailer

...was two little essays too hard to do?. after a whole FREAKING NOVEL...
...geez, what dope...

All I can say is that I got one essay finished, posted it, decided it needed a bit more work, pulled it, and then did nothing else. Which, sadly, is typical Cullen.

But that's not what I'm here to talking about.

I here to talk about Doctor Who. Briefly. I hope to get into it in more depth at some point next year.

but we all know how that is, don't we...

Anyhoo, vague mumblings aside, I just witnessed the trailer for the first episode with the new tenth Doctor in it. The episode is called "The Christmas Invasion" and it has killer Father Christmases in it. My sound isn't up to snuff, so I have no idea what was going on.

Didn't matter.

I saw something I'd never thought I'd see while watching it: The TARDIS, flying through the air, bashing into buildings as it goes.

It was so freaking cool!

It's always nice to have somehting to look forward to. Especially when it's something as well loved as Doctor Who.

Site Update - General Musings on Writing

A few things:

• Brother Eric is coming to town for Christmas. Which might eat up my time a bit. Updates may become sporadic. Of course, I said that during NaNoWriMo and I posted every day. So take that for what it's worth.
• Next two days I might, might I say, have essays up, one entitled "The Imp of the Perverse", the other "Friendly Scissors (III)". Or I might have more Fantastic Writer essays. That section's a little sparse. Remember, whim is king around here...
  
• Last night I finished a short story, the first in many a moon. It's a short short right now, but It has a beginning, middle, and end. NaNoWriMo may have done it's magic. Let's see if it keeps up.

With that, we part. See you soon.

Fantastic Writers - J. R. R. Tolkien

One of the key authors in the creation of modern fantasy is J. R. R. Tolkien. The Fantasy shelves are littered with stories about elves and dwarves and dark lords inspired in no small part by his masterwork, Lord of the Rings.

I'm not sure, but I think I read Lord of the Rings before I read The Hobbit. It was some time after Rankin-Bass's... um... adaptation of The Return of the King. Dad had expressed a disappointment in once more not getting to see Shelob (we'd seen the other Lord of the Ring movie in theaters before that.) I wanted to, at the very least, find out what I was missing.

Well I was fine through Fellowship of the Ring. Had a blast. But I reached Two Towers and it. Was. Just. Dull. Yak, yak, yak, yak. I skipped whole sections and went to the good stuff. Meaning Frodo and the ring.

And Shelob.

And once past Shelob, I read Frodo's stuff right until Mount Doom. When Mount Doom ended, so did I. I put the trilogy up and went on with my life. I felt vaugely disappointed with aspects here and there. Like why the hell did Aragorn pass up on Eowyn? For Arwen? An elf chick who is hardly a presence?

I mean, jeeze. Give me the chick who faced down the Witch King any day.

When the Real Movies came out, I went back to the trilogy and gave it another go. And finished it. Glazed over the Apenddices, but in the main finished it.

And my opinion is...

Well...

My old opinion of Lord of the Ring remains more or less unchanged. Fellowship and Return are great, but Towers is duller than dirt. Long sections where people tell what they did and not showing them doing it. Eowyn being passed over. The songs. (Poerty and I don't mix, despite the fact I write the stuff on occasion). That sort of thing.

I happen to agree with Tolkien, who said that the work should have been longer. At the very least show why Arwen is such a big deal, and not cram her off in some appendix. Or something.

All of this carping about what's "wrong" with the trilogy aside, I have to say that I do not begrudge the Lord of the Rings it's place in the scheme of things. For it's time, it reached heights few reached before or since. I should be so lucky to write something even half as good.

Postscript: I mentioned The Hobbit and passed The Silmarillion entirely. The former is an excellent read that, nevertheless, pales beside the Lord of the Rings. The latter I can never finish. It is just too much for me. I just stick with the good parts.

The Ungoliant parts, naturally...

Fantastic Writers - Stephen King

There may come a day when one can mention Stephen King's name and get a blank look in response, but that day hasn't come yet. The man's a giant in the field of Fantasy and deservedly so. Seems like any aspect of the field he sets his hands on he can handle if not with a master's touch, then with a sure feel than most of those who never leave their genre niche.

The very first Stephen King book I read was the collection Skeleton Crew, back when it was first published. At least I think it was. I seem to remember reading the book at my aunt's house at Christmas. Problem is I would have been twelve at the time , and I'm not sure that my parents would have allowed me to read King

No matter what the age, that wasn't my first exposure to King. That would be Cujo. I was curious about the book, being a big monster kid. That and Dad was a big King Fan. I remember reading one section, with the dog thinking about how he was going to Kill the BOY! Kill the WOMAN! and I about decided then and then I was never ever going to read King. Too scary.

Makes me smile just thinking about it.

I'm not as big a King fan as I was when I was a kid. A part of it is that I think he's lost a step in his novels. Too wordy for my tastes. Horror needs to be brisk and tight, two things King's novels seldom are. I think he needs to either switch genres for more than just a book or two, or focus completely on short stories. His stories are still kick ass.

Of course, despite these feelings, I haven't missed a King novel yet. Don't plan to, either.

Here is a list of King novels I think are most worthy. It's a top of the head type deal and limited to four entries. I like most of his stuff, but some are better than others:

• Carrie: Cinderella with telekinetic powers. His first and in many ways his best.
• The Shining: The second greatest haunted hotel story, ever. Except, of course, that it telegraphs it's end something fierce... Still, passages linger in the memory forever. And ever. And ever.
• Pet Semetary: A burial ground where the dead return to life... but not normalcy. Seriously one of the nastiest of his novels, and, I think, one of the most necessary. It help fashion one of my beliefs as a writer: that every novelist needs at least one novel that ends in darkness and despair. (I have a reason for this belief, but that's another essay...)
• The Dark Tower: Not the series, mind you, but the final novel in that series. It's the end of a brutal, dangerous man's quest to reach the center of existence. For the most part it's typical King excellence, but oh, do I love that coda. Nothing quite like that in the Fantasy genre.

And here is a list of King short stories I like and enjoy. Again, I'm limiting them to four, and I might site others as favorites. Whim is key...:

• "One for the Road": A semi sequel to 'Salem's Lot. A man takes a wrong turn while in the middle of a blizzard and needs the help of two old men to save his family. This is also one of my favorite Vampire stories.
• "The Monkey": A man must save his family from an evil from his childhood. Other stories might come and go on the list, but I think this one's a constant.
• "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away": I think this is an odd choice. The story of a traveling salesman contemplating suicide, it has no Fantastic elements at all in it. Yet when I was reviewing a list of King stories, it sort of leapt out at me. Of all of his non-fantastic works, this is the one I'll most likely read. Well, it and "In the Death Room"... But now I'm second guessing myself.
• "1408": One of the big disappointments for me with Stephen King's On Writing was that he started this story and didn't finished. It had all the earmarks of something special, and you know what? It is. As of this writing, I think this is King's best short story, bar none. If not, then it is the best haunted hotel story, ever. It is R'lyeh in a single room. Truly Lovecraftian.

UPDATE: Fergot to mention this. I am one of the ever so few people who actually likes Maximum Overdrive, King's one and only entry as a director. I won't say it's good, cause it ain't, but I'm fond of it.

Fantastic Writers - H. P. Lovecraft

The book was called "The Tomb and Other Tales." I remember the cover, even now. A man wrapped in spider webs, hanging, face contorted in terror. On his leg is a bright red spider, the only bright color. It called to the horror fan in side me. I might well have picked it up for that alone.

But I knew the author, too, and that point. My father had described Stephen King as being very "Lovecraftian". As I was a big King fan, I was more than a little curious. And so I bought the collection. While the scene on the cover did not appear within, I went out and bought another collection.

And then another.

And then another.

I can not think of an author quite like Howard Phillip Lovecraft. When he is good, he is very, very good. But when he's bad... woof. The man loved HUGE words, to the point of obsession. Never use a nickel word when you could empty your wallet and put yourself in debt, that was Lovecraft's motto.

With the prejudice of his time period (you know the drill), a tin ear towards dialect, and modern readers can have a rough go sometimes. On this, he had a bad habit of telegraphing his shocks, ending stories in a crescendo of italics dealing with points the readers no doubt already got. He's... Excuse me. He's a real bad influence on young, inexperienced writers who don't know better.

Not that I would know.

At all.

Past these faults is a writer of singular imagination, one unlike any before or since. He would borrow ideas from others, shape them anew, and come up with perfection. Like Edgar Allen Poe, his influence can not be understated. The list of Authors he has inspired is long and distinguished, growing as the years pass.

Some of my favorite works of Lovecraft include (but are not limited to):

• Call of Cthuhlu: The ultimate Lovecraft story, telling of the accidental discovery of an ancient evil and the consequences of the act. It contains one of the greatest sentences in Horror, which is, in part: "...[Parker] was swallowed up by an angle of masonry which shouldn't have been there; an angle which was acute, but behaved as if it were obtuse." Good God, what a thought!
• The Cats of Ulthar: One of Lovecraft's excursions into Dark Fantasy, set in the Dreamlands. No one kills cats in the village of Ulthar, and with cause. The story tells why.
• The Other Gods: Another tale from the Dreamlands. Barzai the Wise wishes to see the Gods of the Earth on Mount Hatheg-Kla , something that is far, far from wise. Another great moment here, when the protagonist, Atal, discovers that climbing up Hatheg-Kla is much easier than climbing down...
• In the Vault: An unethical village undertaker finds himself locked in a vault with a few of his more recent charges. His attempt to escape leads to about what you'd expect. I'm found of this one, as it was the only time I laughed while reading Lovecraft. It came early in the story, and these days I can't imagine why...
  

Site Update - Hiccup

Lost the train of thought on the essay. I'm putting it on mild hold. I'll try to get it finished on Monday. Between then and now, I should, should mind you, put up another essay on a different matter.

Which mean, in essence, that Welltun Cares Presents is well and truly back to normal. I start a project and leave it unfinished for an indeterminate amount of time.

God I love this blog.

Sorry for the hassle.

Friendly Scissors (II) - Cleanin' Up Songs

The twisting and distorting that goes on to get certain songs on the radio amuses me, to a small degree. Can't say way, really, as a rule it hurts the song involved.

The most common form of trimming deals with damping out the offensive portion of the lyric. An example of this would be in the Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know" lyric, "Are you thinking of me when you **** her". Though why they mute out the word "kiss" is beyond me.

...

Yeah, that wasn't as funny as I thought it'd be.

Anywho.

Another example, at least where I live, would be Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels". In my state, at least, they changed it into an actual sound, which was bizarre. Every time I hear the song, I hear it, even when the word "joint" is allowed to be used.

(All that over-sensitivity on the word "joint" is another case of PC run amok, I'd say. But leave us not get too distracted from the essay)

In songs like "You Oughta Know" and "You Don't Know How It Feels", such helpful trimming comes and goes without too much notice. You get a song like D12's "My Band", where every other word seems bleeped, and it gets ridiculous. It make it hard to follow the lyrics and is ruinous to the music.

Every now and then, a group will come out with a "clean" version of a song. An excellent example of this would be Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". The original version had a stronger lyric than "I told you once, you son of a gun, I'm the best that ever been". One with kick.

In this day and age, the obsession with cleanliness goes to extremes. The best example of this that I can think off (ignoring Weezer for a moment) would be The Black Eyed Peas.
Changing "Don't Phunk with My Heart", already a decent euphemism to my mind, to "Don't Mess with My Heart" really doesn't make sense to me.

(Small aside - This might only be the video version that has this change. The point, though, remains the same.)

Sometimes, and I hesitate to say this, sometimes the censor's dastardly deed even helps the work. This, of course might be personal preference, but I like the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started" far more than the original "Let's Get Retarded," despite the fact the changes doesn't effect the rhythm of the song that much. No doubt this is do to my growing more (PC?) sensitive to the word "retarded". Which is MASSIVELY hypocritical of me due to the number of times I used the word as an insult, but that's okay...

On a similar note, I prefer Radiohead's "Creep" far better in its radio edit than it's original version. The lyric "I wish I was special/you're so very special" is smoother to my ear than "I wish I was special/you're so ****ing special." You find yourself tripping over the -ck. Like a brick wall.

Which is why**** is the most powerful of the curses. It's so damn brutal.

---

Next, we'll move a wee bit away from the music business and hit topics closer to topic for this site. Namely, the movies.

Friendly Scissors (I) - We're All On What?

Ready for a rambling, free form essay? I am. Ever so ready.

Let's start this bad boy by stepping in the Wayback Machine for a second. Go back a month or so. Back when I wasn't a Novelist. (And yes, I'm gloating over a broken book. Can't help myself.)
I was sitting at my computer desk, working on the Jen Sketch. Having a blast. In the background, I had some music playing. Yahoo's Launchcast can cat like a Music Video Channel as well as a Radio. This way I can hear what I want to hear that way and it doesn't eat up my time or skips on the Radio portion of the program.

As I'm working, I hear the Weezer song "We Are All On Drugs" start up. Which is cool. I like the song a great deal. One of Weezer's best, in fact, and I've heard few songs from that particular band that I didn't like.

Problem is, "We Are All On Drugs" isn't the song they play. What I got was "We Are All in Love." I'm stunned. I leave Jen and go watched the video.

It was a bit funny, a bit appalling. The original version, as far as I can tell, is strongly anti-drug. This version is nonsense. Especially when watching the video. The actors are clearly lip-syncing "Drugs" in certain places. Scenes of people behaving strangely that would have made sense before now have no meaning. Stuff like that.

This, apparently, was the MTV version of the song.

My first thoughts dealt with how sad MTV had become. I'm probably REALLY showing my age here, but there was once a time where MTV was a cool, with-it place. At least my memories of it seem to say so. Those days are all long gone, I fear. Now instead of "I want my MTV," it's "I want my MTV to stop taking the drugs." Or relax on the PC please.

However, my mind wandered in to more creative avenues, as is its wont. I started thinking of the censors, those friendly scissors standing between me and the debauchery I have come to crave. On how they influence a piece for good or for ill of the product.

Over the next couple of days, this is what I'm going to mull over. I'll start with songs, move into Movies, and end with a few general thoughts on the matter. Assuming nothing else catches my fancy, of course.

Ready, ramblers? Let's start rambling.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Ah, yes. It's good to have things back to normal here. Back to the days where I sit at the computer, staring at the screen, wanting to write something, and have nothing come. That's... that's just special.

But this post isn't about me. Sadly.

It's about my Dad. My third constant reader. Today is his birthday. He turns 62. For better than half of that time he's had to put up with me in one fashion or another. It didn't help that he had to put up with my brothers, too. Both of which have been entirely more active than I.

The man's a saint. A saint I tell you.

I could very easily divvy up what's good about me and my personality and attribute a fair share of it to his influence. (Another fair share can be traced to my mom, but she'll get her post when the time is right...) He's also responsible for my love of puns, but don't hold that against him.

Happy Birthday Dad!

NaNoWriMo - Done! Novel - Not So Done.

All done with the contest as of yesterday. I have my little images here and my certificate. I can crow a bit and call myself a novelist without feeling a bit sheepish at not finishing a novel. 'Cause I got a novel.

It's just not a good novel.

Hell, It's not even an adequate novel.

There are parts I still like, parts I think can be salvaged, parts that I think are damn good. But as a whole, it's a sad, sad little thing. It didn't grow like it should have. I blame myself, really.

Or that Heavy Metal Music I heard the other day. Or the booze. Or Daschunds came in the night and stoled the good bits of prose.

Darn Daschunds.

Silliness aside, I do have troubling news. News that sends chills through my spine.

My family wants to read it. Despite my warnings.

What am I to do? These are the most important people in my life. And they want to read this... novel.

I should just say no. Not because I don't want them to read it (hey, it's their sanity their risking). It's just that I don't have a video recorder handy to capture the moment when they finally realize that, yes, it is just that bad. Be a pity to lose something like that.

I'm taking a break from writing. Don't know how long. But when it's finished, Round #2 begins. Here's to hope.

Oh, and by "break from writing", I in no way mean I'm stopping updating Welltun Cares Presents. The blog from this point forward is now back to it's normal self.

Whatever that is...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 27

I'm not going to go into how I did it. But. I am within a little less than 700 words of the finish line.

I'm not proud of how I got those 7004 words today. But it's legitimate, it was done within the rules of NaNoWriMo, and in a bizarre way it works. I would NEVER SUBMIT IT LIKE THIS, but it works.

By the time everything is said and done, I'll have a story with two flashbacks that don't even matter, two Deus Ex Machinas, and, get this, a villainous demigod that doesn't even appear in the novel.

Has Jabootu graced my novel or what? Yikes! Yikes I said!

Time to start prepping the second draft. Without the damn deadline over my head, I might get something good going.

Will I do NaNoWriMo again next year? Hell yes. But either with more preparation or less. I can't decide...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 25

Finished the flashback and I have no idea where to go with it. Rather than force it, I'm cutting my losses for the day and eating a setback. I've got 2368 words to do tomorrow.

Piece of cake.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 24 (II)

I squeezed out another 600+ words today. Better than I feared (as per usual.)

And that's all fer today. Real Life is yanking me about. Not in a bad way, either.

See ya.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 24 (I)

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it and those who don't. I've got nothing to say at this juncture 'cept things are coming apace. Still in flashback mode, which cracks me up. I should be winding things down, but I'm not.

Cracks me up.

More later.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 22 (III)

Just almost regained my day's lead...

In time to lose it for Thanksgiving.

Fun, fun.

The Flashback is just about over. Time for the Head of the Chufule Cult to summon Chufule and EVERYBODY DIES! LAUGHS A PLENTY AS OUR HEROES DROP LIKE FLIES INTO THE MAW OF A DEMI GOD!

Well, not really.

More tomorrow. Maybe.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 22 (II)

OOOOOkay. I updated my count direct from my text today, filled with mild dread. I kept thinking about Word inflated counts, how that when I actually had the NaNoWriMo check my .txt edition of "The Crawl of Chufule" I'd be 30% less than I thought. Or more, as I'm not using Word at this juncture in time and space.

So I get my computer's count, and the NaNoWriMo count and compare to find... The NaNoWriMo count is higher.

Which means another worry unfounded. Thankfully.

Back to the job at hand. This flashback is almost done and I have to decide if I'm going to do another flashback or try and wrap things up. The former is fun but unproductive as far as this novel's concerned (with an exception: the Lamour Flashback is going in in one fashion or another.) The latter I dunno if I can do.

More when it happens.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 22 (I)

Gra. muh Waa.

WASSSA! oh. Excuse me. Having a hard time waking up.

Or I've reverted to my native tounge, Gibberish

Which ever. Whatever

Didn't update my NaNoWriMo stats. Didn't feel like it. Working to regain lost ground and am doing a good job of it. Already hit quota for yesterday and I'm moving forward. Losing too much time doing even this note.

Just wanted to mention that I'm still working on the flashback and I'm thinking, this might be a good novel, too.

Need to finish it, then figure out how to end all of this.

May be back. Then again, may not be...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 21 (II)

Small note. Was looking at some of the previous entries and I notice gaps in sentences and various spelling, grammatical errors here and there. I corrected them readily enough, but it occured to me that I'm sitting on a 149 double space narrative that is no doubt riddled with such mistakes. With another, no doubt longer, text on the way.

Made me want to weep.

Also, today was a blah day. Not good at all.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 21 (I)

Missed a day at the blog, but not on the "novel". Made quota, which seems like an "eh" after 3,000+

Right now I have another flashback running. More information I needed, but this time I don't think it's going into draft #2.

I might want to consider how to wind this down. On some level, I don't think it's going to end as I hoped (already the talking Maelstrum has fallen by the wayside... Oh well, next draft.) I have no idea how its going to get to that point. Or what insanity that might bring...

When I update tomorrow, I'm using the NaNoWriMo verification, just to see if I'm where I think I am. From the site:

Microsoft Word and documents from other word processors should not be uploaded into the word counter, as the formatting codes inflate word count by about 30%.

Which makes me weep. What the hell good is word count when it's not really counting the words?

Sending in this check entails saving my narrative in Text format and doing a global replace of certain letters. I'm not talking A=B, B=C code type changes. I'm talking all the vowels (including "Y") changed to "Q" and several key letters change to "X". I did this as an experiment earlier and it made my words look like gibberish. More so than usual.

This seems to suggest that I don't trust the Internet with my malformed baby of a novel. Which is exactly true. I've encountered quite a few good people as I surfed this web. But I've been burned to often on-line and off. Better safe than sorry.

More later on whether I'm golden or hurtin'. And perhaps a few on other matters as well. While I like having a record of how the Novel is going, I'm getting a bit burned out on talking about it.

Heh. And I thought the week of talking about my little pictures was bad...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 19 (II)

I have no idea why, but my computer ate some of today's work. Over 500 words G O N E.

I was not a happy camper. Not at all. Especially since I was behind by five hundred plus words.

>>GAH! <<

>>GAH!<< I say.

Fortunately I made up those words with newand better stuff to replace what was lost. So I'm... molified.

It also helps I had my first 3000+ day.

Helps, indeed!

I might be stationary at my computer, but my soul is dancing.

I now sit with the slight lead of 984 words. Not too shabby. Sometimes not knowing how far behind you are helps a great deal.

Now, how did I do this? Dorothy Lamour, or, rather, her equilivalent in my novel, started talking about her past. As I had little information about who she was, I let her talk. She surprised me with a new motive for being involved. Which is good.

I think, though, she might be done talking. If she isn't, she will be tomorrow. And with her story done i have to worry about the main plot again.

But that'll be then. Right now I'm blissing out on 3192 words that do. Not. Suck.

Can you guess what's going into draft #2? Hee hee hee!

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 19 (I)

Ever get halfway through a novel and have that bad boy die on you?

Me neither, but it's on life support right now.

Here's a story for you. I wrote a story previously about the same main characters I have been in "The Crawl of Chufule" called "Morian. " Better than 6,000 words, in fact. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Something was wrong.

But that's fine. That's what the second draft is for.

I go through the second draft, and by the time I'm finished, I have "Hero of Ullias Castle." 9000+ words, and, with the exception of a few key points, a completely different story than "Morian." Hell, I even dropped one of the main characters and the main threat

I think I got a better tale second time through, but that's not what I'm getting at. The first draft is a try out, a let's see what's over there. Sometimes you bat it out of the park. More often than not you don't.

I was out on a drive yesterday when I saw the true shape of the novel. What it was about and, more to the point, what was wrong with what I was writing. By my judgment, one character's entire nature and role must be change and I need to add one more major character. EXTENSIVE REWRITING. I look forward to it. I'm eager for it.

But I can't do it and NaNoWriMo too. I've seen that with the rewriting I've done.

Which leaves me to finish a novel I don't care to finish.

Which has caused me to stumble. After fixing the Unmanageables, I did nothing today

Which has put me behind. I think by a day, but I haven't done the math. Too lazy today.

So, where do I stand?

As I see it, the only trouble is finishing it. I can pull 2500+, at least, and two of those'll will put me ahead. I have no Sword of Damocles hanging over my head in the form of not connected stuff. I have a blank slate.

Which is about as damning. It's almost like starting over.

How should I go about it? The way I should have been writing this whole contest. No thought, straight a head, and if there's a curve oh well, I'm going over the side.

The sooner I hit 50,000+, the sooner I can start making this the novel I know it could be.

More later. Maybe.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 18

Deficit, the Unmanageable (now with update!), and Why am I a perfectionist?

Deficit: I went to sleep this morning with something like a 328 deficit in words. I rewrote a chapter and lost more than I gained. Word-wise, I assure you. The story's better by far with the 300+ deleted.

Which means that my goals for the day have changed. Instead of 2481 I'm now pushing for 1992. Let the buffer keep care of itself for today. I'll worry about it tomorrow.

The Unmanageable: As I was discovering the deficit, I also uncovered what I'm calling the Unmanageable. This is the text that's adding to my word count but doesn't add to the story. In some places, it doesn't even make a lick of sense. (Sadly, most of "Day 12" could still fit... argh)

What I would L O V E to do is delete it all and start fresh. Or simple move it someplace where it won't hurt me to look at it.

Problem is, it's 7711 words.

328 words missing I can handle. Anything over 3000... yikes.

This portion of the tale does have a happy ending, though. I can still use the unmanageable without feeling too much like I'm padding my count. I'm calling it the "Jaws Stratagem."

According to what I heard, Peter Benchley was told by his publisher to add a sex scene to the novel Jaws. Something about better sales, it was expected, what have you, who knows. Benchley did this, but made no real effort to connect it with the story. It's sort of... there.

While I'm not sure about how accurate this story is, it does seem like an excellent idea. So after I add my sex scene...

No, wait, I abandoned that idea...

As good as it was...

As my book is a fantasy, Fantastic things can happen. One of my characters will stick his nose in where it doesn't belong and will, for a time, become unstuck in reality. He will visit various possible timelines and when he is finished, after, say, 7711 words are accounted for, he'll return to what he was doing without a.) being changed by the experience or b.) referring to the experience ever again. I keep the words, I gain more words in keeping the words, the novel at least looks like a novel, and I can finish NaNoWriMo without feeling like I cheated.

And I'll make sure I denote just where this fun stuff starts... so I can yank it later.

Problem... managed.

Unmanageable Update: Done, and with a slight gain. It's amazing how well it fits the rest of the text. Part of this was due to the nature of the story and the patch. As "Call of Cthulhu" has senistive people having nightmares, Several "Crawl of Chufule" characters have nightmares, too. Making it all a "dream" both worked as a means to fix things and as a way of showing my utter contempt for the material. And it doesn't read too bad.

I'm still cutting it.

Now, for the first time in a while, I have a clear path. Nothing needs "fixed". I can rework something and have it be pure addition. (Dreams can be prophecy, as I said in reparing the Unmanageable). Things are looking up.

Why am I a perfectionist? Can someone explain to me how I could, for years, turn in incomplete assignments in school, but now have to worry about every little detail of the novel? I'm not getting paid for this contest, it shouldn't matter that the novel looks like a novel. I should just burn through it.

Why can't I do this?

(Because I spent five years working on the characters, that's why. Should have done Foul Lady Fao... knew it....)

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 17

853. Not my total count mind you. That's 29192. Or my count for today. That's 2037.

No, that's my lead. How much over quota I am.

Not quite enough. Let's see. To get a full day buffer, Ill need 2481 words. That's 444 words more than I did today. And as I'm reworking tomorrow... rather than writing like I did today... I don't know iffin I'll do it.

I say this, knowing that most every other time I've said it, I've done it. Reverse psychology. Let's see if it helps.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 16 (II)

Sh! Don't tell anybody, but, um, i had only 392 words today. eeep!

Between this being card night and me returning to the unpleasent land of unwell, this day was not well spent. At all. My day lead has gone bye-bye.

Oh well. That was what it was for, right?

I still have a bit extra and maybe (hope hope) I'll gain some tomorrow.

Typing will be harder with fingers crossed, but I'll manage.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 16 (I)

Dangerous day ahead of me.

I'm dumping a section and rewriting it from whole cloth. It's dumb, it's costly, but I don't care. I don't.

When I started this, I fully expected to not finish. There's always next year, I said, and I meant it.

Doing this novel is more important. For roughly half my life I've been saying I'll do it, and here I am "halfway" through one. (I don't know it's actual length, but I'm doubting 50,000 words.)

I am still a day ahead of myself.

I can still gain ground.

I'm not licked yet.

More later.

Probably in larger paragraphs.

And more sentences.

With fewer fragments.

But no promises on that.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 14

Didn't get what I wanted done done. However, I broke the midway point by rewriting what will be chapters one and two.

Not bad.

Not in a talkative mood right now. More later as it develops.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 13 (II)

Tomorrow, officially two weeks in, I'm taking a day off.

I'm better than a day ahead of myself. I can afford to. More, I need to. "Day 12" gutted me. I mean, I'm burned. Burned to the core.

If I wasn't trying to win this, I'd start the second draft and leave this one behind. It's just that bad.

I've been there before in this, of course. But this is a bit more thorough than last time. More dead like.

Now, by day off, I mean I'm not pressing myself to meet quota. I'm going to look through what I've got to remind myself what's at stake. I'm going to retool the unworkable stuff that's been hovering over my head for days. And if I get my count up to, oh, say, 1115 words added to my number, I'm going to take the stuff from"Day 12" and, to misquote Stephen King, I'm going to "delete it from my life."

And then I will laugh.

Maniacally.

So maniacally, in fact, that Doctor Doom himself will be envious.

Count on it.

More word tomorrow. Hopefully positive...

Update: I had been missing my world notes. Found 'em today. Dunno if they'll help, but I'll be reading them, too.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 13 (I)

Reverting, sins, and Blank Spots.

Reverting: Just for the record, in some ways I am as the most inconstant man in the world. I was going to continue writing the novel in chapters. I have instead gone back to "Dailies". Which is why when I bad mouth "Day 12" I call it that instead of "Chapter Whatever."

And why should you care what I call it?

Um...

Ah...

NEXT SUBSECTION!

Sins: I've reflected on the matter and have decided that "Day 12" is the nadir of this experience. It can only go up from here.

Really. It's just that bad. Which is what happens when you rush through.

Here, for my edification if for nothing else, is just why "Day 12" is so bad. It is divided into sections, the way I have it in the draft. These sections, incidentally, have been forming chapters, but aren't necessarily chapters. (Glad that's cleared up)

Oh, and while it might clear up why I hate these sections by excerpting portions, I'm not going to do it. It hurts.

Without further bellyaching:

1. This is a continuation of "Day 11". It's really not bad. In fact, it's necessary to get to know the characters. Problem was, I grew bored with it. Talk talk talk. Doesn't matter. Next time through, it'll be fixed. By hook or by crook.
2. Here's where the pain starts. See, my male characters have gotten a change of clothes for the Lamour character and the clothes are to tight. Ho ho ho. I started this thinking it would be funny. It turned out juvenile. Not as juvenile as it could have been. But too much. All but a bit of this is gone second draft (I had more character development here, too. God, what was I thinking? I need more action, damn it.)
3. This section deals with Krevan's mother, the indomitable Hester Arlsen. I love Hester. She's something else. But all of this is from her perspective. She knows too much. Not just about what's going on in "Crawl of Chufule" but in the world in general. It isn't bad, but it's cut nonetheless. In fact, had I not been rushing for words, it wouldn't be to begin with.
4. This was a small section with cult members talking among themselves. More padding, I'm afraid. It'll be cut.
5. Another small section. It really doesn't have any special meaning, so I'm cutting it.
6. This final section isn't that bad. It's a conversation between the captain of the ship Krevan's on and the captain's first mate. More yaking, really, but not bad. It might make it.

The reason this hurts is that, up until now, every bit could have, in theory, fit. I could print it up and be happy. As it stands now, I can't.

What am I going to do about it? Pretend it doesn't exist, that's what. I can't go back and fix it. It's all going to be cut; I'd have to rewrite the whole thing. As it isn't redundant or incongruous, it's part of the novel. If I'm going to hit 50, 000, I can't play it any other way.

The only hope of changing it during NaNoWriMo is if I get 1667+ early enough in the day so I can go back and tamper. I'm not holding my breath. (plus I need a buffer for freaking Thanksgiving. I'm betting I get nothing done that day. Yikes.)

Blank Spots: I might have mentioned I had this whole plot figured out. That was being silly. The plot isn't done until the characters stopped walking. Blank spots are being filled, ideas are being reformed, and minor characters are becoming, if not major players, then close. I hope to discuss some of this, if not in the next post, then soon.

Right now I'm trying to regain some of my dignity.

"Clothes are a little tight?" What was I thinking? I"m better than that... Honest...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 12 (II)

Woof. Punch in the gut time. Spent the past hour or so rushing through so that I'd make quota. Four or five scenes that really don't fit the novel. I'll cut them durning the next draft or, in at least on case, rework.

On the one hand I hated doing that.

On the other hand I loved it. That's NaNoWriMo in essence, I think. Mad, blind panic as you try to reach deadline. That I've so been doing well enough to avoid this is great. I'm glad I got to feel the pressure.

And you know what? I don't want to do that again! Ever! I had enough of that crap in High School, thanks!

(I say that now. But if I do that often enough, I might get to like it...)

200

This is the offical 200^th post on Welltun Cares Presents. It's a poor landmark - the number of actual posts has got to be higher as I've deleted posts - but it's a record nonetheless.

I have no great essay to put here, no thoughts or bits of wisdom. I've said this before, but at the start, I would have bet this blog would have gone fallow and dried up by now. That it's still going always pleases me.

As I said, there is nothing to this landmark, but I didn't want it to pass without mention.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 12 (I)

45 pages. Double space, thats a total of 90 manuscript pages.

Outstanding.

Better if it holds together reasonably well in the end. Better still if I can work it into a sellable state.

Right now I have minor problem. I've got "Zatoichi" playing near where I'm working. Dubbed, but not badly dubbed. The guy playing Zatoichi in it, Beat Takeshi, isn't as good as Shintarô Katsu, buthe isn't bad, either. A damn fine movie. Damn fine. And the end... where he goes after the bad guys...

Must....

Resit...

Temptation...

To watch...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 11 (II)

Well darn it! I just uncovered a redundant paragraph and deleting it cost me. 88 words, gone! (And probably should have been gone a while ago Sloppy.)

On this, it was a slow day. Only 1748 words, after subtracting my error. Which isn't bad, says I.

Tomorrow I should begin intergrating the stuff that doesn't work with the new stuff. I'll go into a bit of detail when (after) I do. And the halfway mark nears! WWWWAAAAHHHHOOOOO!

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 11 (I)

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Oh, not you. These two characters in the novel. Bickering and sniping at each other. Lord.

At first I thought it was "The Good Stuff." And maybe it was. At first. But God, does it get old quick. And all it's doing is adding words; it's not advancing the plot.

I believe that characters should be true to themselves, and the bitterness they unleased was true to who they were and what they'd gone through. It just wasn't intersting. So I (figuatively, mind you) asked one of them to start over from the begining of where I started. She complied, and, again, in character, has given me what the story needs to proceed.

And it feels like "The Right Stuff". (Not to be confused with astronauts.)

See, there's a definate difference between the two. The "Good" is the stuff you like. The "Right" is the stuff that makes the novel work. Not always the same thing...

More later.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 10

Thought I had more than I did. When I was readying for a preliminary page count, I copied a bit of story. Luckily, I caught it and removed it for a more accurate count of 2000+.

I am back on.

But I'm not a chatty as I was at the start.

I'm nearing some of the stuff I need to rework and/or remove. I was thinking as I wrote that last sentence that it would be me removed than anything else... But I thought of something I could do with the bits. So... Cool!

I know of at least two scenes that will be deleted/rework during the second draft. As they aren't key, I'm not going to sweat over 'em.

Maybe more tomorrow as I (hopefully) break 20,000!

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 9 (III)

1773. Moving on up!

Not much to add. Might do some rewriting... but, oddly enough, there's a gap between the new stuff I wrote today and that stuff(!) So I might not.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 9 (II)

Quick note. I'm about 500+ words short at this point and needing to get ready for cards. Taking Dad to therapy was a bust; the man had the nerve to walk out of the place better than he went in. (Actually, this was great news. The whole week's been good news for him. The problems been diagnosed and getting fixed. One less problem.)

I usually get back around 9-ish. I hope to crank out the remaineder. All new stuff, advancing the plot. Really nice.

More later.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 9 (I)

Today's going to be rough. I take my father in for therapy^* for his shoulder. On that, I have cards with my Grandfather. So it's going to be tight. Instead of the previously forseen bout of rewriting and new writing, I'm just going to focuse on new writing. Which is tough, cause not only have I not finished my earlier rewriting, the stuff I wrote yesterday needs toyng with.

I'm going to talk brief about the stuff I need done, cause it's a valid enough thought. See, what I did yesterday isn't bad. I liked it a great deal. The problem is tone. It's too bitter.

I'm trying to walk a tightrope. On the one hand, I want a bit of sillines, of word play, in jokes and slapstick. But on the other hand, I want to maintain a degree of seriousness. When Chufule crawls in the night, I want readers to fear for our protagonists. When Nola Green holds a knife to Krevan Arlsen's favorite throat, I want the slightest chance she might slip.

Yesterday, I slipped. A character got talking and, while I felt she had a point, and the situation was pretty bad, it disrupte the mood. What I need to do is put it over the top more. Keep it so that yes, it's reasonable for her to feel that way, but so that its a bit much at the same time.

Had I been doing a straight Fantasy (say "Foul Lady Fao"), this wouldn't be as much of a problem. but...

Oh well. I think I could put it off till after NaNoWriMo is over.

The other edits on the other hand...

---

^*In the intrest of complete honesty, he's taking himself in. I'm there to take him back, if he needs the help.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 8 (II)

Better. Not by a lot, but better.

All tuckered out, though. Going to rest up, then start again. Still more revision, but I think I'll mix it up with the new.

Couldn't hurt.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 8 (I)

Another mild notation here. I just finished the rewrite of Day2's stuff, thus closing that portion of the draft for-ev-er. It's all in chapter form from there out. I did a quick word count and found that, after all the additions and subtractions I have gained 218 words.

heh heh heh.

Now to rewrite the Day3/4 file, seperate it into chapters, and pick up 1450+ words...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 7 (II)

Improved, but still short. Worse is on the horizon, but there is a bright spot beyond that.

Improved: 14o7 today. A clear step towards getting my act back together, but not good enough. Here I stand at 13, 759 when I had hoped to be at 16,900+. So be it. I'm still good. I wanted to do 1667 a day. If I'd done that, I'd be at 11669. Not shabby at all.

On this, I'm feeling reasonable, all things considered. I can do this. More,

Worse: During today's writing I discovered something about the Lamour character. Something that bodes ill for the next few days

Orignially she was Krevan's friend. He learned through her of dreams being caused by the stirring of Chufule. She also saved him from an assassination attempt. Good stuff.

Only today I learned that she doesn't know Krevan at all. This is their first meeting.

Meaning more changes. This, incidentally, is why I didn't want to go back.

I think I can juryrig some of my words, but my fear a lot needs cut and that, when all is said and done, I might have a negative day.

+Scary!+

In addition, my little program has gone kaput. I used to have a file for my each Daily work (Dailies) and one for the Master Work, where I get my count. It used to be extremely helpful, as I could go in, do my editing, and get out clean.

However, having been stalled for four days on this stuff, its become unwieldy to roll through.

What I plan to do is pull stuff from my Dailies and make a file for each chapter. I was planning to do this for the second draft, anyways, so this isn't a biggie. I just hoped to be through NaNoWriMo before I did it.

Bright Spot: However, the end result of all of this is that I know the whole story. From here on out, I know where to go and what to do. There is one area that's unclear, but that's nothing. I'll get it when I get there.

On this, this is has, as of today, become my largest spate of writing on any of fiction, not including notes. The previous record holder was "The Hero of Castle Ullias", a short story I wrote years ago. I finished it in a week at 9280 words. It was also the work I've been most proud of.

By design, "The Crawl of Chufule" is a direct sequel to "Hero".

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 7 (I)

Last year, around this time, I caught something I "lovingly" refer to as "the Martian Death Flu." It started with ths sniffles then went to sneezing and coughing. And by coughing I mean hacking until I spat up or, in one charming instance, vomited. I would eat, go into a coughing fit, and hack up streams of gunk.

I blame the Martian Death Flu on my father. He blamed it on me. In any case, the whole family had it before it was over. Mine was the worst. At one point I started to think I was going to die. Then I began to think I never would. That I would live my remaining years under this bug.

I even lost my voice.

To which my parents and Brother Todd rejoiced.

I never felt so loved.

All of this is a long winded way of saying I got the sniffles and don't feel so good.

I'm taking cold medicine in the hopes of staving it off. I am also hoping to pick up the pace novel -wise, just in case.

Y'know whose to blame for all of this, right? H. G. Wells. Had to go off and give some people ideas.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 6 (II)

I did better today! Instead of 1344 words I did 1347! A whole three word improvement!

Hurray!

=sigh=

Another little fart of a day. That lead I built up is bleeding away. I'm beginning to think these low numbers are typical...

Well, in fairness, I am pruning as well as adding, so the number willl be low. I don't think it'll remain the same once I return to more foreward leaning stuff.

Hope, hope.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 6 (I)

So I will remember later, for the curious.

I knew where I was headed: talking Maelstrom, a threat that my Heroes needed to beat (or, more accurately, escape) before the next portion of the novel. Not that I'm sure about what that next portion will be, but it'll come, I tell myself. Most of this novel has been on wing and prayer anyway.

Problem: I have one more main character. An important one, too. The Bob Hope to Krevan's Bing Crosby. I've been looking forward to writing about him again for a while, but actually getting him involved has been a bear.

Originally, I was going to introduce him as a butt of a prank pulled by Krevan and my novel's Dorothy Lamour (who is, I might add, as far from Lamour's character as can be imagined) The prank would be really amusing, and really short. Had to get to the Maelstrom, don't cha know.

So I'm introducing the pieces, getting set to begin, and then Lamour has a nightmare. It echoes something that had happened earlier and was, to my mind, a necessary thing. It's a parody of Call of Cthulhu, after all. The sensitive have nightmares about His awakening and all...

Only it's a serious hint that something is wrong. Which would put Krevan on guard. Which meant the prank didn't make sense. Why the hell would he do that with something Bad on the horizon? Even if he doesn't see the shape, he wouldn't do that.

Wise man drops the prank. But I can't see how I'm going to get Hope involved and it's really funny! And I need me some funny.

So instead, I go back and put in some guff about taking your fun when you could. I set up an potential reintroduction of Krevan's mother (who I love dearly and need to have work right) and do more work on the prank. As Krevan is traveling on a pleasure liner (long story, makes sense in the novel), he goes to the Captain for help. The Captain's an old buddy of Krevan's father and...

Right here, the Captain tells me, to my face, "I'm not helping with any prank."

This, needless to say, throws me. "Oh yes you are. You liked all the old pranks Krevan's father got into and..."

"No," he says sternly. "My position is far too important for that. I don't even want to hear about it."

While this is a nuisance, I'm actually quite pleased. The character's coming alive for me. In my subconscious making his own choices. This is great. I love it. The second greatest thing about the initial writing.

(The first greatest? Dropping characters. DO YOU HERE ME,CAPTAIN? GIMME MORE LIP AND YOU ARE GONE! I AM AN ANGRY AND VENGEFUL CREATOR! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Ahem. And perfectly normal.

Thanks.

Pseudo delusions aside, I follow the Captain's wishes. I make his First Mate Krevan's assistant. But this doesn't feel right, either. And the Captain doesn't like it either.

I really should have dropped the prank then. But it was funny! And the novel needed more funny!

As I was dealing with this rebellion, I had a brain storm. I'd add a scene with Nola Green. She was my go-to girl for rewriting my opening. I've pictured her behaving like Nately's Whore does at the end of Catch-22: popping up when least expected to give Krevan a hard (near lethal) time. I had issues with her being on the ship, but that's for the second draft, man! I can live with that.

So, finished with the Captain, I write the scene, and Nola tries her best to kill Krevan. Which doesn't bother me. Natley's Whore, remember, and a bit of Chief Inspector Dreyfus from the Pink Panther series.

Only she begins to explain herself, and I realize that almost being killed is a DAMN BIG HINT THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG. On this put Lamour's Dream, and that prank just won't work.
I had to drop it.

And now I have no way of introducing Hope.

And that's where the novel dead ends.

Solution: So I take a break to think about it. I play Neverwinter Nights, one of the RPGs I have haven't beaten yet , and I think about straight up Fantasy Adventures. Should have done one of them. Warmed up for this. Hell, judging by the past five days, I could quit "Crawl", start a new one, and still win at NaNoWriMo.

Or I could drop the Hope character altogether. Too many coincidences as is. I've done it before. I don't like deleting him, but I've waited a year for this contest. I was doing good. If that's what it takes...

And then Gwendollyn, my Muse (literally, sadly), whispers in my mind a single word. Two syllables that change everything.

"Porter."

When Krevan boards the pleasure liner, he is assist by a faceless porter. A nameless, unimportant character.

What if that character is my Hope character in disguise? What if he's there for plot related reasons? Reasons that suck Krevan into danger?

This is beautiful. I can go back to that point earlier in the novel and change it oh so easily. And it will be more like writing than rewriting (which will still be done... But that's cool.) On this, other ideas come. Good, giggly ideas. Action. Funny. It'll be great.

So: that's the story of my dead end and it's resolution. Now to actually do it. The talking Maelstrom awaits!

As does Chufule, wherever He sleeps...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 5

I put my count in early today. I now sit at 11005 words. This should make me happy. It does not.

I've hit a dead end in the plot. A nice, big wall. And to go forward, I need to go back to the very first day and change things. And from these changes thread further changes through the plot until I get back to where I am now.

In fact, I did nothing to advance today, either. The additions I made here were changing stuff I already have.

I tell myself I should just do it, but... I can't. I take this sort of thing way too seriously to do that. So back I go. I advance in terms of NaNoWriMo, at the very least. My only confort is that each time I do this, it really does improve things over all.

Update: Just did the math. My first day not hitting quota. Not good. Not good at all.

Oh well. Tomorrow's another day.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 4 (III)

Woof. Almost to the 1/5 mark. Not a good day. But Hell, it wasn't that bad, either.

More thoughts later.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 4 (II)

All of a sudden, as I continue, Day 5 gets planned out for me. Rewrite this portion of Day 4 and add a bit to Day 2.

I want more words before I do that. If I do a full 3,000, then maybe.

New goal. Won't rewrite until I have a 3K Day.

More later.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 4 (I)

I have just written four paragraphs which I know, in my heart of hearts, must be rewritten. I am telling instead of showing. Always a mistake.

I'm pressing on, leaving only this note to myself to remind me.

Let's see how many days it takes before I go back and fix this...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 3 (III)

Breaking my own personal rules, confusion abound, and life lessons learned today.

On breaking my rules: As the previous entries for today have stated, I went back to earlier days to change stuff in the begining of the novel. I tried to put it off till I finished, but what needed to be done was too important to the plot. It was going to ripple all the way through anyways. It needed doing.

So I did it.

I ended up with a better opening, one that manages to (slightly) introduce Chufule as the main threat of the story. More organic, better flow, a better read. In my humble opinion.

Which meant the progress of the over all novel stalled a bit. By one page, in fact.

So, instead of making a new file for Day Four, I'm going to go back and just work in Day 3's file. New rule is five pages (at least 1,667 words) per file. Makes sense to me.

On confusion: Day 3 (II) was originally written in such a way that implied I was padding the novel with redundant description. And that I would have had to do it later anyways. No no no no. Not doing it. Brain fart on my part. (Hopefully the novel won't be full of these.)

On Life Lessons: At this juncture, with all the flush of early success, I am begining to believe I really can do this. I can be a novelist. I will be a novelist.

I am also develop my own method of writing novels. It's thrilling. It really is.

I hope it lasts...

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 3 (II)

Okay, that's done. Added a good 2000+ to the opening. Now to go through and make sure everything matches the new opening. Some removals so that way I'm not artificially inflating my count (removing duplicate descriptions, for instance). Some additionsI don't have to do it later.

Next I'll work on yesterday's work... not as much, of course... Then maybe more on today's.

Hopefully tomorrow will see more forward progression on the story. That'd be nice.

UPDATE 10:42PM: The original version of this was damn misleading and confusing so I've editted it. After leaving it up for a night.

Oh, Editor, where are you when I need you?

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 3 (I)

AAAAAAAAAA!
I can't do it! I have to go back and edit the previous day's stuff, just to get my head right!

Nerf Herders! This better increase my freaking word count!

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Day 2

Failure and success!

First the failure. I knew I didn't like the opening and now I know why. All the conflicts internal. It should be external. It would help with tension, show my hero being clever, and actually be about something rather than the slog it is. Worst, it would make the descriptions a wee bit easier.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

I'm holding true, though. I'm not rewriting it just yet. Right now it's at good enough. After I finish the novel, I'll go back. Or if I need more words. It'll mean a little more work (I need to add another character to do it justice, and that character, I think, will influence things through out the book), but it'll be sweet. I'm looking forward to it.

Just need to jot it down... later tomorrow sometime...

But there is some great joy! 5300 words! I've done three days work in two days time! I have my buffer and a bit more! But that's not enough. I'm pulling for a total of 10, 002 by Day Four. That'll give me two days. Hopefully enough to cover any problems and/or burnout.

And I was worried. Yeesh.

"The Crawl of Chufule" - Days 1 and 2

Okay, that was a lot of whining for nothing.

Things are flowing well and truly a pace. Between today and yesterday I've hit my goal of 1,667 words and a bit more. As of this post I'm sitting pretty on 3909 words. Having past the terrible first few pages (which I swear to God need 1,000+ rewrites to really be showable), I've hit a decent pace. I'm gaining Off Day (OD) space every day. While I don't have enough words to be comfortable (5,001 would be nice right now, thanks) I don't worry about it as much. Which allows me to have a little fun.

More importantly, I'm not rewriting. Or, rather, I am rewriting, but it is more of a dance that disposing of (supposedly) unmanageable prose. It's going back and adding a point, fleshing something out, that sort of thing. Basically how I handle these essays.

I've been maintaining a certain cut off point as well. Whenever I take a break, I first complete the sentence I'm on. I save everything. And, at day's end (roughly 11 PM), I start up a new file and leave what I've done alone. I have one Master File for the word count (right now I'm doing the math, but that nonsense'll end so enough), but I work in separate files. When all is said and done for this contest, I hope to have 31 files, 30 daily and 1 complete.

If this system works out, I'll try and keep it up from here on out. A novel a month, God willing and the inspiration well doesn't run dry.

Well, that's all I have for now. Other frustrations dealing with this project (and there have been frustrations) I will vent at another time. As well as some of the fun bits. Right now Cullen is tired. Oh so tired. Needs sleepy time big time.

And yeah, I know it's 11ish AM. I have mentioned my odd sleep schedule, right?

NaNoWriMo Begins...

Despite the date and time listed below, I write this about an hour before the contest begins. If all things go according to plan, I'll be working on "Crawl of Chufule" Or at least something.

Here's what to expect this month:

• I hope to have daily updates on my count. If I don't do this (or don't feel up to the whole rigmarole) the NaNoWriMo icon on the side bar links to my author page. I think that the count will be listed there.
• There may be excerpt from the novel. Then again, there might not.
• All updates relating to NaNoWriMo from this point out will be referred to as "Crawl of Chufule."
• I may well self-destruct well before the deadline. I hope not... But...
• There may also be no interruption in updates. (Not that I've been regular lately.) I might want to take five and think of something else. I dunno. Never done this before.

Anywho, here I go. I hope this works.

"Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek" - A Review

Some kids learn of a game of hide and seek that takes place in a ruined city. Though they are warned that sometimes kids "disappear" when playing, they all decide to play. One of which, a boy named Hikora, has his own reasons for attempting the game. His sister was one of the kids to go missing...

When I first saw the commercial for this anime I knew it was the one for me. I am a BIG fan of anime and Japanese Horror and this looked like the best of both. And I was right. Kakurenbo is, without a doubt, one of the best animes I have seen.

The opening, descending down into the ruined city, is staggeringly beautiful. Everything else is as stunning. Smooth animation. Clear character detail. The works.

At 25 minutes Kakurenbo does not have enough time to wear out its welcome. It sets up its situation quickly, introduces its characters, and sets things in motion. Some characters aren't as fleshed out as others, but that doesn't matter much in the long run.

The story itself is a trifle obvious, but between the voice acting and the moody visuals this is not a problem. While personal preference suggests that I'd like the subtitled more, the dubbed version I watched was most excellent.

This was broadcast as a special on October 29th on Cartoon Planet. I don't know if it will be played again, but it is well worth seeking out. It is the first film made by YamatoWorks, and I hope more such quality works follow.

UPDATE: I saw Kakurenbo on sale at my local Best Buy, so you might be able to find it at you're local vieo rental place.

NaNoWriMo - The Day Approachith

Two more days until NaNoWriMo and I'm a wreck. The original outline I had in my head for "The Crawl of Chufule?" Scrapped. Simply does. Not. Work. At least, not right now. Maybe I can use it later. But for this? Nuh uh. No way.

Sooooo I'm working without a net. I know most of the major characters. Two of them, the main protagonists, I've been fiddling with for five years. I've written four or five stories with them. They should be fine.

Two others I believe I know, but they can be like shadows. Changing. Fluid. This will be their premiere story, assuming I can finish it.

A final two who are new. No substance at all. Not even names. I know who they should be, but beyond that... Nothing.

Then there is Chufule and His Cult. But Chufule is an Elder God and His Minions are little more than absurd creatures. I think I can handle them.

Beyond that is the Abyss. Void. Emptiness.

I have a handle. The last third of "Call of Cthulhu" and maybe some of "Brigadoon." But I don't think it's enough.

I've set out without a map before. Sometimes it's worked out. That's the exception to the rule, but I'm just telling myself that it doesn't matter.

Word count matters.

Finishing matters.

I can always go back and rewrite. Afterwards. It must be afterwards.

I'm nervous, excited, almost giddy.

It's a long wait now. Part of me keeps whispering I'm going to fail, that even if I do it, I'll not get it published.

If so, then there's always next year.

Or next month...

Haunted House Reflection

Last time I was in a "Haunted House" was when I was nineteen or twenty, I disremember which. It was set up in a local supermarket and I went with Brother Eric and his current Flame.

All in all, it wasn't bad. Pretty much what you'd expect. Turn a corner and you'd see a "Horrific Scene." Spooky sounds. Things jumping out at you. That sort of thing.

I make it sound all beneath me and everything, but it really worked. A lot of it was in utter darkness, which helped. It was also a lot of crawling around on the ground, which is something I'm not known for, then or now.

We were half way or so through the Haunted House when we came across a cage. In this cage was a guy dressed in a straight jacket and werewolf mask. He goes into his routine, which time has erased from my mind.

Well, the spirit of smart a-- possessed me and I said, "Hi Mom!" Gave him a little wave.

This, needless to say, wasn't supposed to happen. "Um, I'm not your mom."

"I know," I said. "I know."

You can't top a moment like that.

I've never been in a Haunted House since.

Who Won the World Series?

I would be remiss if I didn't record here that the White Sox have beaten the Houston Astros, thus winning the World Series 4-0.

I am not much of a baseball fan, so I didn't watch much of the game. On that, I lean Cubs over Sox. However, at heart I'm still a Chicago boy, and it does me good to see one of our teams go all the way.

Hurray for the Sox! Let's see it happen again!

And the Cubs? At least don't suck too much...

NaNoWriMo - Title

I'm all but certain I'm not doing "Foul Lady Fao." If things go well next month, it'll be a December project. I have high hopes that doing this will ease whatever psychlogical blocks I have and lead to more finished works. (Quality comes later...)

Instead, I believe I'll be working on a Fear Adventure novel I'm calling "The Crawl of Chufule." It'll be a mild parody of the Lovecraft Classic "Call of Cthulhu", as well as various other Fantastic stories.

Here's to hoping...

NaNoWriMo Correction - I'm a Moron

When I was in second grade, my teacher, Mrs. Godfrey, gave us a test. The very first instruction says read all the instructions and do as they say. Then there was a list of questions, tasks, what-have you. At the very end was a very special instruction, saying for you to not do anything except sign your name on the page and take it back up to the teacher.

Needless to say, I was caught. Did pretty much the entire page. But I vowed NEVER TO BE FOOLED AGAIN.

(Children make vows in all caps. I remember that much.)

So comes my glory days at Marian Catholic High School. Freshman year. Mouth full of braces. I take a course on study techniques that will help me in no way whatsoever in the years ahead. And the teacher running the course gave us a similar test.

"Aha!", I said. I scanned the page, do this, do that, there it is, final clause! I do as I was bid and was, if not the first kid up there, then damn near.

Success! Brilliance!

Now that we've got that out of the way, lets add another wrinkle. I taught myself to speed read as a kid. Don't know how. As far as I was concerned, I read at normal speed and everyone else reads slow.

I have good comprehension, can tell you various bits and pieces, the works. Sometimes I miss things, but rule of thumb I catch everything.

So why is it that in a straight forward, easy piece of work, I can screw up important, key information? I went back to NaNoWriMo's FAQ and saw, big as shoes, that it's 50,000 words that needs done, and not 500,000 words.

I've been thinking 500 thou since I learned about the contest last November! I've been telling family members that is 500 thou! I plotted out an entire year of this with that number in mind! I DID THE MATH FOR EVERY MONTH, INCLUDING FEBRUARY, BASED ON THAT FREAKING NUMBER!

I am a complete idiot. A moron. A dweeb.

But it's also a weight off my mind. 50, 000 is such a smaller number. A happier number. I can do this. I will do this. It's only 1,667-ish words a day. I'm shooting for 25,000 words. I will not think about how long this post has taken and not reached 500 words...

I will also REREAD EVERYTHING BEFORE TALKING ABOUT A SUBJECT. I mean, geeze!

Oh, and I will make sure the next check I write (assuming there ever is one) HAS THE PROPER NUMBER OF ZEROES. Just to be safe.

The Hell...?! (III) - First Personal Jesus

Word is out on Anne Rice's next book. It is to be called Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. According to the article, it tells of a seven year old Jesus's life... in the first person.

This stems from Rice's reconnection with the Roman Catholic Church. She says that, in essence, from here on out she is preach the words of the Lord. Which must please her emo/Goth fans to no end.

I have never been Rice's biggest fan. I read Interview With a Vampire and liked it a great deal, but that's the limit. Her prose is impenetrable by me. Brother Eric swears by the Vampire Lestat, but has no use for the rest of the chronicles. In fact, I believe that Lestat is one of the few books Brother Todd the Illiterate* has made his way through.

So the news doesn't affect me the way it might some. But y'know, I just might check it out when it comes out. Who knows? It might be interesting. It might inspire.

It'll probably be unreadable by me and my mindset, but hey! I hope it works out for Rice.

---

*Obviously an honorary title

NaNoWriMo

Every November, since 2000, there has been an online writing event called NaNoWriMo, or, in full, National Novel Writing Month. It goes something like this: on the first of November, participating writers all over the world attempt to write a 500,000 word novel before the end of the month. For most who try, the only prize will be being able to say "I've written a novel."

This year, I've signed my foolself up for the thing. I do this for the same reason as everyone else, but for two other, equally valid reasons.

The first is that, if I actually do this, I hope will result from trying is that I'll have a novel to send out to publishers. Or, at the very least, the start of one. Which is more than I have now, let me tell you.

Now do I really think I'm going to finish by the November 30^th deadline? Hell no. I'm impressed when I pump out over 900 words in a day. I did the math on this thing, and I'm going to have to write around 16,667 words a day. I am not that much of an optimist. I halfway expect to burn out around the 15^th.

If I'm even going to give it a go, I'll have to write nonstop, without pause or second guessing what I've done. Which is the other reason for me to do it. Troll Cullen's voice gets damn loud at times, and I hope this contest will erode his hold on me. At least during creation. Let him play editor once I'm finished. Maybe it will break me of the habit of listening to his whining and help my writing over all.

I hope so.

In any case, I'm going to have to do before starting is getting my house in order, sometimes literally. To make a decent showing (I'm pulling for 250,000 words), I need no distractions. Which is what's occupying my time at the end of this month.

Which means that November will be a bit shallow here at Welltun Cares Presents, but I'll be back.

Now what am I going to write for this contest? I haven't decided. I'm torn between three potential ideas:

1. Foul Lady Fao - This was my initial idea for the contest. It stems from a single question: "Whatever Happened to the Woodsman After He Saved Little Red Riding Hood?" The novel goes into the consequences of that act, as, it turns out the wolf was the child of the title character and she wants revenge. It's a combination of three fairy tales and I know it beginning, middle, and end. What really sells it for me is that it isn't a series book. I won't be typecast right off the bat when (if) it's published. Also, I'm not as attached to it as I am my second choice...
2. Fear Adventure - Of course, there is always the other novel. I know the characters well, indeed, and it would be fun to do. Problem is, unlike Foul Lady Fao I have no set plot (this could be an advantage, of course...) Adding to this is that Fear Adventure is meant to be a series, which adds to the risk of typecasting. If it wasn't a comedy, this wouldn't be too too bad; but it is, the only fantasy/comedy series I have in fact. Then there's the fear I'll burn out on them all together... But still, they call me up and say, "Why are you passing on us, you twit?"
3. ? - And then there's just jumping in and faking it as I go. No prep, no nothing. Just a hell of a lot of screaming as I go. This almost certainly guarantees I won't finish; I've never finished anything with no prep before. But it. Could. Be. Anything. Anything at all. Damn tempting.

I've got time to decide. I'll discuss it with Brother Eric, who is considering joining me in this insanity.

I'll post more on the subject as the date nears. Here's hoping this will help out my writing over all.

---

UPDATE: I made the teenest of errors in the above post. I blather on and on about that particular screw up here.

Well, Crap

I just noticed. Little Wizard Dude (current background) has no thumbs. Fingers, yes, thumbs no.

=Sigh=

I love that picture to death, but it has more problems... Originally the staff hand was big enough for six fingers... Yikes.

Low Ebb

No, no. I'm not formatting my hard drive... again. I've hit a dry spell blogwise. Not writingwise, thank heaven, just with the blog. The ideas, they have not grabbed me. Normally I'd post art, but I did that all last week and I've burned myself out a bit (still have that promised picture to go... Haven't forgetten that at least.)

And that's all I've got for right now. Personally, I'm none too concerned. Creatively I have ebbs and flows. This is just low ebb. It will pass.

It could be worse. I could have "discovered" free verse. Like so:

The tree
It shades
th' warm places of
my
soul.

Ouchie.

Site Update - Minor Change

Doubt anyone will notice...

Site Update: General Matainence and Burn Out!

Today I spent some time reformatting my entries. I might also do a little bit of double checking on the spelling front later, iffin I feel up to it. And then again I might not.

I'm feeling a wee bit burned out discussing pictures, so expect more text in the coming week. Before that I hope to get up the promised fourth Dark Crystal image.

Until then.

Super Deformed Generic Hero is Go!

So I said one image on Saturday, right? Right? Well, that's what I've got. The second image isn't coming as well as I had hoped. There's a perspective issue I need to figure out, and I want to take a bit of time on it. Which means learning more about the art form. Which means improving my craft. Which is a good thing.

Anyway, here be the Super Deformed image. I'm not sure if "chibi" is the right word to use in this case. My grasp of Japanese as used by anime fans isn't the great. I suppose that means I'm not a true otaku, but a sad, sad pretended.

Just like most of my life, really.

Luckily the drawing came out damn good. Otherwise I'd be pretty morose.

---

At left is the inspiration for the drawing, and not the actual source. It's Locke (or, as I've always called him, Cullen^*) from the videogame classic Final Fantasy 6. It's taken directly from the Playstation manual, I believe (I lifted it from some sight or another.)

At one point I considered doing a web comic in this style. I abandoned the idea in part because I wasn't certain I could keep it up. Much like I thought I wouldn't keep up this blog...

Mainly, however, I abandoned it because the characters looked like mutant children. And unless you're writing about mutant children, that isn't the way to go, I think.

---

This is the drawing. I was going to show the original drawing but Blogger isn't in a good mood right now. Oh well.

The hands are intentionally drawn that way. I figured I could work on niceties such as fingers as the comic progressed. Ho ho. Be that as it may, I like his first a great deal. Worked out pretty good.

The shirt's a dark blue. Maybe should have come up with another color, but I couldn't think of a better one. White didn't feel right, red seemed wrong. And nothing else felt right.

---

^* If I can change the name of a character, I will, with only a few exceptions, name the main male character Cullen. This is either because there are so few Cullens in any fiction and I like seeing the name pop up, or because every now and then nice things will be said about video game Cullen and I get a vicarious thrill out of it.

Pretty damn sad, but I will never let that stop me. heh heh heh

The Hell...!? (II) - A Very Smurfy War

Unicef has a new antiwar ad coming out over in Belgium depicting the bombing of the Smurf Village. They even received the okay from the Peyo estate.

Bombs dropping, Smurfs dying, and all that remains is a lone Baby Smurf, sobbing in the wreckage.

Here's a quote for you, from the article:

Julie Lamoureux, account director at Publicis for the campaign, said the agency's original plans were toned down.

"We wanted something that was real war - Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head -but they said no."

Next, of course, is the Smurf sex education ad. Or we can educate people on the evils of child molestation with the adventures of Bad Touch Smurf. The possibilities are unlimited, folks.

And people say we Americans have no taste. Sheesh.