Goodness this has been neglected!
Well, Chapter 32 of The Last Pure Human is now up on the website, woo hoo!
A little tension, and little fun, a little sex. Everything a growing boy (and girl) needs.
A new chapter is up at Yaoifix.com as well this week for Husbands for Peace. For anyone not familiar with this, you'll need a subscription to the site to view more than the first couple of chapters.
In other news, life is getting hot out here in Twisted Desert Land. May and June are two of our hottest months, usually. I'll be spending lots more time outside in the shade, writing as I try and finish up TLPH and get it to its conclusion. Once that's done, I'll be focusing on the other stories to get them finished as well.
For all of you with questions on where Max came from, and what's going on with the other humans, not to mention more about the Kyashin and their planet - you may have to wait for some answers. This book will be finishing up in a few more chapters, but the Human series is not finished yet. A few more books are still in the making for characters we've already met, and those who haven't even made an appearance, and some mysteries won't be solved until we're a little farther into the story.
...but really? It's probably all just an excuse to mess with Max for more than one book. He just begs for it, doesn't he? ;-)
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Update on Nature's Choice
It's a long chapter, a messy chapter, and a little unpolished, but it's up.
Nature's Choice, Chapter 10.
Someday, I will actually have something fully polished on the web, and the world will end.
Nature's Choice, Chapter 10.
Someday, I will actually have something fully polished on the web, and the world will end.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Writing Tip: Cake and Editing
For me, writing and baking a cake are a lot alike. I have to do things a certain way, in a certain order, to get my story or my cake to turn out the way I want. It took me far too long to figure out how much doing things in a certain order affected my writing. The cake? That was easy. And probably a bit tastier, too.
One of the many little details about writing that I've finally clued in to is how I need to edit. The order in which my story gets edited affects how it turns out. Hugely. I don't know if this is something that other people tend to have issue with, but if you are having some trouble editing, looking for something that might help you approach the process a different way, perhaps my methodology might spur an idea. So, I share.
I edit in the order of what I think matters in my story.
For me?
1. Character first
2. Plot
3. Setting
4. Pacing and mood/tone
5. Go back over #1-#4 again
6. Polishing the prose
7. And finally, grammar and spelling.
It's a pretty simple matter why this does it for me: this is how my mind works.
1. Character
I come up with characters first, I enjoy them, and if they don't feel real to me, the rest of the story doesn't go anywhere. So when I go to edit a chapter, I need to look over every aspect of the character. Is this how they'd really feel? Is this how they'd really act? Is this consistent with their history, their personality, their previous actions in the book? Is this the diction they'd use in their dialogue? Every aspect of them gets a once over, and typically gets changed if it's really off (and if I'm not brain dead at the time. Never a guarantee). If I work on it and can't get it to 'feel' right, then it's off to the next detail with a note to come back later, and sometimes a note to a friend who might be willing to read it and help me figure out what's wrong.
2. Plot
I'll admit it, this is a shorter edit moment for me, as I don't tend to plot much ahead of time until I'm partway through the story, or not at all until the end when I go back and look it all over. But there still needs to be moments of wondering if I have to make sure something is mentioned here so that it seems natural when it comes up later in the story. Is it heading the right way, or somewhere I don't know and have to find out later. For those who plot ahead of time, I'm sure the editing process is longer here, looking it all over to make sure details and plot are mentioned and dealt with in each chapter where they need to be.
3. Setting
This is, for me, putting in the details. I like action and inner thoughts, so I don't tend to put in as many details in the first draft, and here I need to go through and make sure people can see what's in my head. What's the room like, the people, the fight, the chair. This is the one that I have to struggle with the most, and the one I tend to feel like gets neglected more when I'm in a rush. For those who are more detail oriented, I think this step is more refining than adding the details in, making sure these details work for the tone and the mood and the perspective.
4. Pacing/mood/tone
Now that the details are added in, I've got to make sure I didn't just bog things down. I go back a few chapters of the story and start reading, so I can get into the rhythm before I hit the chapter I'm actually editing. That way, I have a better sense of how fast or slow it's going, and how fast or slow it needs to be. Is the mood/tone developing the way I think it is? Is it consistent with the previous chapter? The details, the action, everything here contributes, and it can be a real challenge to figure out what needs to be changed to pick things up or draw them out longer.
5. Going back for Round Two
Without this, it doesn't work. I've changed so much now that I need to go back and make sure the characters are still in character, that the plot is still going the right way, that there are enough details, and the pacing is working again after changing anything else that needed changing.
6. Polishing
Polishing is the icing on the cake. I get rid of clunky sentences, odd word choices, phrases that are a bit ambiguous or downright strange. I think a big mistake beginning writers can make is to try to do this too early (Been there, done that. Still do it occasionally. Neglect this shamefully if I'm in a hurry.).
Polishing up the writing before the very last is, in my opinion, like frosting the cake before it's baked. Yes, we've got the cake's recipe sorted out. The batter's been mixed and poured into the pan. But we all know there's still more to do. If we put all the swirls and piping and frosting bits on before it's done, we end up not wanting to bake the darn thing properly for fear of ruining the great job we did with the icing.
I'm sure you've all had those moments. Where you had such a great line or scene that even though it didn't actually fit into the story, you loved it too much to get rid of it. Not a good thing for our stories. We've got to be able to chop them to bits before we shine them up pretty. Although as something to help preserve my love of 'scenes that don't belong,' I personally make a file of them. I may have another story someday with a strong hero and needy villain where that scene would work perfectly. Or so I tell myself. It helps ease the pain. ;-)
7. Grammar and Spelling.
The main reason I never do grammar and spelling before the end is similar to why I don't think we should polish early. All the work makes us more reluctant to do what we need to during the rest of our edits. It's much easier to cut out three paragraphs when we haven't spent ten minutes getting the grammar and spelling just right. It's easier to chop up the story when it's not picture-perfect before time.
And let's face it, grammar is something that requires the least of you, and affects the story the least, and is something anyone can help you with. A story with bad characters or bad plotting is not one you're going to read, no matter how perfect the grammar is. And you are the only one who can figure out how to change those flaws. Grammar is something that has precise rules, and you can ask a wonderful beta to help you with it, which they can do even if you were in a coma for a month and had little to say about it, yes? It's the least amount of work during editing.
And that, my friends, is how Twisted edits...when things are going well and time is limitless. In reality, some of these steps get a little truncated and it shows.
But for anyone who is having a hard time diving into their editing this week, I really do think it can help to start the edits on what really speaks to you. If the historical period is what really gets you going, then start with the setting and description. If the plot stands out to you above the characters, start with that.
I will not mention grammar, because we all know that the grammar is not what attracted you to the story. Hopefully.
But if we do the editing right, I think we can have a tale that we are not ashamed to offer up and, well...let the readers eat cake. As long as it's the cake we just spent hours and hours slaving over and prettifying and filling with sex cream.
Which came out much, much dirtier than I meant it too.
Go me.
One of the many little details about writing that I've finally clued in to is how I need to edit. The order in which my story gets edited affects how it turns out. Hugely. I don't know if this is something that other people tend to have issue with, but if you are having some trouble editing, looking for something that might help you approach the process a different way, perhaps my methodology might spur an idea. So, I share.
I edit in the order of what I think matters in my story.
For me?
1. Character first
2. Plot
3. Setting
4. Pacing and mood/tone
5. Go back over #1-#4 again
6. Polishing the prose
7. And finally, grammar and spelling.
It's a pretty simple matter why this does it for me: this is how my mind works.
1. Character
I come up with characters first, I enjoy them, and if they don't feel real to me, the rest of the story doesn't go anywhere. So when I go to edit a chapter, I need to look over every aspect of the character. Is this how they'd really feel? Is this how they'd really act? Is this consistent with their history, their personality, their previous actions in the book? Is this the diction they'd use in their dialogue? Every aspect of them gets a once over, and typically gets changed if it's really off (and if I'm not brain dead at the time. Never a guarantee). If I work on it and can't get it to 'feel' right, then it's off to the next detail with a note to come back later, and sometimes a note to a friend who might be willing to read it and help me figure out what's wrong.
2. Plot
I'll admit it, this is a shorter edit moment for me, as I don't tend to plot much ahead of time until I'm partway through the story, or not at all until the end when I go back and look it all over. But there still needs to be moments of wondering if I have to make sure something is mentioned here so that it seems natural when it comes up later in the story. Is it heading the right way, or somewhere I don't know and have to find out later. For those who plot ahead of time, I'm sure the editing process is longer here, looking it all over to make sure details and plot are mentioned and dealt with in each chapter where they need to be.
3. Setting
This is, for me, putting in the details. I like action and inner thoughts, so I don't tend to put in as many details in the first draft, and here I need to go through and make sure people can see what's in my head. What's the room like, the people, the fight, the chair. This is the one that I have to struggle with the most, and the one I tend to feel like gets neglected more when I'm in a rush. For those who are more detail oriented, I think this step is more refining than adding the details in, making sure these details work for the tone and the mood and the perspective.
4. Pacing/mood/tone
Now that the details are added in, I've got to make sure I didn't just bog things down. I go back a few chapters of the story and start reading, so I can get into the rhythm before I hit the chapter I'm actually editing. That way, I have a better sense of how fast or slow it's going, and how fast or slow it needs to be. Is the mood/tone developing the way I think it is? Is it consistent with the previous chapter? The details, the action, everything here contributes, and it can be a real challenge to figure out what needs to be changed to pick things up or draw them out longer.
5. Going back for Round Two
Without this, it doesn't work. I've changed so much now that I need to go back and make sure the characters are still in character, that the plot is still going the right way, that there are enough details, and the pacing is working again after changing anything else that needed changing.
6. Polishing
Polishing is the icing on the cake. I get rid of clunky sentences, odd word choices, phrases that are a bit ambiguous or downright strange. I think a big mistake beginning writers can make is to try to do this too early (Been there, done that. Still do it occasionally. Neglect this shamefully if I'm in a hurry.).
Polishing up the writing before the very last is, in my opinion, like frosting the cake before it's baked. Yes, we've got the cake's recipe sorted out. The batter's been mixed and poured into the pan. But we all know there's still more to do. If we put all the swirls and piping and frosting bits on before it's done, we end up not wanting to bake the darn thing properly for fear of ruining the great job we did with the icing.
I'm sure you've all had those moments. Where you had such a great line or scene that even though it didn't actually fit into the story, you loved it too much to get rid of it. Not a good thing for our stories. We've got to be able to chop them to bits before we shine them up pretty. Although as something to help preserve my love of 'scenes that don't belong,' I personally make a file of them. I may have another story someday with a strong hero and needy villain where that scene would work perfectly. Or so I tell myself. It helps ease the pain. ;-)
7. Grammar and Spelling.
The main reason I never do grammar and spelling before the end is similar to why I don't think we should polish early. All the work makes us more reluctant to do what we need to during the rest of our edits. It's much easier to cut out three paragraphs when we haven't spent ten minutes getting the grammar and spelling just right. It's easier to chop up the story when it's not picture-perfect before time.
And let's face it, grammar is something that requires the least of you, and affects the story the least, and is something anyone can help you with. A story with bad characters or bad plotting is not one you're going to read, no matter how perfect the grammar is. And you are the only one who can figure out how to change those flaws. Grammar is something that has precise rules, and you can ask a wonderful beta to help you with it, which they can do even if you were in a coma for a month and had little to say about it, yes? It's the least amount of work during editing.
And that, my friends, is how Twisted edits...when things are going well and time is limitless. In reality, some of these steps get a little truncated and it shows.
But for anyone who is having a hard time diving into their editing this week, I really do think it can help to start the edits on what really speaks to you. If the historical period is what really gets you going, then start with the setting and description. If the plot stands out to you above the characters, start with that.
I will not mention grammar, because we all know that the grammar is not what attracted you to the story. Hopefully.
But if we do the editing right, I think we can have a tale that we are not ashamed to offer up and, well...let the readers eat cake. As long as it's the cake we just spent hours and hours slaving over and prettifying and filling with sex cream.
Which came out much, much dirtier than I meant it too.
Go me.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Of Health and Tomatoes
For those who may have been wondering where I've been, there's a brief update on my more personal blog, here: Twisted's Livejournal . Just a bit more crud in the health department that is clearing up, now that we've found yet another thing I need to keep out of my mouth to stay healthy. I will be known as The Incredible Reacting Gay-Romance Writer. I need a theme song or something.
However, my health is not what today's blog is about. Health fades to an insignificant dot, since I have discovered My Tomato.
I have been attempting to grow tomatoes for the first time ever this year. The plant limps along, just barely kept alive by a rather lackadaisical watering approach and the fact that I have let it roam free in my yard to forage for itself. But yesterday, it was discovered that the first fruit had begun to ripen. A pretty yellow color already, just ripe enough for a good fried green tomato recipe, so we picked it.
Then I really looked at it, and I suddenly realized that I am NOT obsessed with food as I had been thinking these last few weeks. Food is obsessed with me...
...or at least with my writing.
Don't laugh. The only way to explain how this tomato turned out is a food's secret gay porn obsession. Really. The fact that this is the very first tomato from a plant that Twisted Hilarity has actually planted is so apropos that I think the world actually paused a moment as I saw it, to highlight the perfection of it all.
However, my health is not what today's blog is about. Health fades to an insignificant dot, since I have discovered My Tomato.
I have been attempting to grow tomatoes for the first time ever this year. The plant limps along, just barely kept alive by a rather lackadaisical watering approach and the fact that I have let it roam free in my yard to forage for itself. But yesterday, it was discovered that the first fruit had begun to ripen. A pretty yellow color already, just ripe enough for a good fried green tomato recipe, so we picked it.
Then I really looked at it, and I suddenly realized that I am NOT obsessed with food as I had been thinking these last few weeks. Food is obsessed with me...
...or at least with my writing.
Don't laugh. The only way to explain how this tomato turned out is a food's secret gay porn obsession. Really. The fact that this is the very first tomato from a plant that Twisted Hilarity has actually planted is so apropos that I think the world actually paused a moment as I saw it, to highlight the perfection of it all.
This, my friends, is my Twisted Tomato.
I am making THEME pictures out of this beautiful phallic thing, I swear to god. Actually, I took so many pictures of it, I could now fill a gallery. I'm obsessed. My breathing is impaired. And I am so tempted to get some GI Joe doll and make him do terrible things with this tomato, it's not even funny.
If this does not spawn something utterly cracked and wrong in my writing, than nothing will. ^_^
I am making THEME pictures out of this beautiful phallic thing, I swear to god. Actually, I took so many pictures of it, I could now fill a gallery. I'm obsessed. My breathing is impaired. And I am so tempted to get some GI Joe doll and make him do terrible things with this tomato, it's not even funny.
If this does not spawn something utterly cracked and wrong in my writing, than nothing will. ^_^
Monday, May 31, 2010
Updates on TLPH
For those who don't read my other blogs, the good news is that I got a BRAND NEW LAPTOP, for FREE. Awesome-sauce with a side order of neato fries. Yes, my computer was actually such a lemon that the company replaced it, for free, with their closest model. Which happens to be BETTER than the model I had.
Like I said, awesome-sauce. This has, obviously, made me a little happier about the apple company, although I'd rather not have got the lemon in the first place.
The bad news was that, as usual, my inherent inability to comprehend computers has made adjusting to the new computer a bit of a chore. You'd think something that is nearly identical would not be a problem, but nearly and I have a rather adversarial relationship, I'm finding out.
However, I am now getting the hang of it, and to make up for the lag time since the last chapter, I'm doing a Memorial Day Special: 2 chapters for the price of one.
So, here's the updates!
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 28
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 29
Enjoy your extended weekend, fellow Americans. And everyone else, I'm really, really sorry for your Monday Blues. Reeeeally sorry.
Like I said, awesome-sauce. This has, obviously, made me a little happier about the apple company, although I'd rather not have got the lemon in the first place.
The bad news was that, as usual, my inherent inability to comprehend computers has made adjusting to the new computer a bit of a chore. You'd think something that is nearly identical would not be a problem, but nearly and I have a rather adversarial relationship, I'm finding out.
However, I am now getting the hang of it, and to make up for the lag time since the last chapter, I'm doing a Memorial Day Special: 2 chapters for the price of one.
So, here's the updates!
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 28
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 29
Enjoy your extended weekend, fellow Americans. And everyone else, I'm really, really sorry for your Monday Blues. Reeeeally sorry.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Update on TLPH
Well, update on the new chapter of TLPH: http://www.twistedhilarity.com/fiction/long/tlph/ch27.html
It's not polished, as I'm rushing to get it out before computer gets stuck in the shop again - I think the annoying thing has the hots for one of the repair guys or something, with how often it breaks!
I'll be back in circulation as soon as I get it back, or sooner, if I can snake the family computer for my own use every once in a while.
It's not polished, as I'm rushing to get it out before computer gets stuck in the shop again - I think the annoying thing has the hots for one of the repair guys or something, with how often it breaks!
I'll be back in circulation as soon as I get it back, or sooner, if I can snake the family computer for my own use every once in a while.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Update time
And updating to Nature's Choice today. Ch 9 is up now, phew. That took a little longer, and ended up a little shorter, than desired, but I enjoyed it anyway. :-)
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