Biker Mice From Mars: Turbo 3

Biker Mice From Mars: Wars Are Won: Turbo

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Metrics
Biker Mice From Mars: Wars Are Won: Turbo

New words: 1813
Total words: 5714
What I hate about my writing: I can’t seem to write fast enough.
The Good: I finished Scene #4 in long-hand, because it is easier to write on paper while handling the checks on the paying job.
The Bad: Two hours of typing time to get 1813 words. That equals 906 words an hour. And that wouldn’t be that good if I didn’t already have Modo and Throttle’s scene finished on paper. I’m all anxious about Charley and Throttle’s spat in Scene #3. It just doesn’t feel very organic. I’m not going to fret over it now, just noting that I might need to go back in editing and tweak it. The improv exercise of conflicting motivations might be useful for that scene. Now if I could only remember what book I read it in.
Fave Throttle line: “What does baseball have to do with this?”
Fave Modo line: “This will probably take jewelry to make up for. Though Charley isn’t much for jewelry; maybe you should buy her that air compressor she’s been eyeing.”
What I'm looking forward to: Finishing typing what I have written. And doing a scene from Limburger’s POV. I reread Shatter Your Illusions to have a scene fresh in my mind when Modo refers back to it, and I really enjoyed all the asides I wrote from Limburger’s POV during the first fight.
What I'm not looking forward to: I need to ramp up my fight scenes, especially with the battle bikes. After rereading Shatter Your Illusions, I think I’ve let my descriptive narrative coast by lately.

And I keep writing until I reach 1700 words a day or more. I liked it better trying to keep it to two scenes a day, but as I discovered last night, I'm not at my writing best by the time I return home. When you don't remember why you set a timer and what to do when it goes off, it's time for bed. Plus I need a cutoff to say "that's great for today, now go do something else like your budget."

I didn't want to write any of the manuscript for Turbo in long-hand so I could discover how fast I can compose on the computer. But I found out at the paying job, it is quicker to jot down a sentence in the notebook while waiting for the computer program to finish its process, rather than pulling up Word and timing myself. Timing myself because I am tracking how many writing hours I spend writing Turbo, a factor of how fast I can compose on the computer and how much time I need to carve out of my day for my writing time. If I only have an hour a day available, I need to scale back my word count expectations. If I have to reach this amount of words for a deadline, I need to set aside this much time. Right now, I have no clue what my baseline is for any of it, which make me create unrealistic expectations. Luckily, I really don't have to do any calculations for this because the Excel marathon tracker does it already. :D I just have to fill out. But it's easier to time myself with the stopwatch at work if I just do it while at lunch.

It would all be easier if my brain didn't run away with the scenes faster than I can keep up. I kept coming up with great stuff for Modo and Throttle to say, and then got scared I would forget it. *Shrug* Still debating how to handle my days off and weekends. Writing extra is good, but so would be finishing other projects. Well, tomorrow depends on how long I spend in line to vote and how long I spend at school.

Biker Mice From Mars: Turbo 2

BMFM: Wars Are Won: Turbo

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Metrics
Biker Mice From Mars: Wars Are Won: Turbo

New words: 2105
Total words: 3901
What I hate about my writing: Not with writing, but I’m pretty annoyed I couldn’t get up on time. Time change not working in my favor so far.
The Good: Turbo’s introduction scene is completed. If anything, his issues and personality quirks haven’t come out fully. I think I’ll save his hard-on for gore for a later scene.
The Bad: I was woefully under par on the word count when my first hour was finished. I went ahead and finished the scene in fifteen-minute chunks. That plus getting the lyrics I plan to quote got me 405 words over what I needed to do. Judging by what I’ve done so far, my scenes are running around 850 words and I need to complete two a day in order to keep the word count up. Because I’m now officially out of things to quote, unless I decide to add one more song in. :p
Fave Turbo line: Throttle had Tamara’s motor head all right; it would only be more obvious if they had moved into a Harley-Davidson dealership.
What I'm looking forward to: Charley and Throttle’s spat and his apology scene that comes after Modo knocks some emotional sense into him. Don’t understand the female species? Ask Modo for help, and if he can’t, you are really screwed!
What I'm not looking forward to: Getting up at 2 a.m. tomorrow, damn time change. And keeping Tamara’s identity a secret until the big reveal. It’s cool if a reader guesses before hand, but I really want the emotional wallop. Now I’m curious to see how many people remember the foreshadowing, past-shadowing comment Throttle told Charley in Let Us Give Thanks.

Is anyone else having issues trying to log into the official NaNo site and update their profile? For some reason I keep getting timed out and it takes forever to just get logged in, not even counting getting the site to go to where I need to update word count. Does it run better in IE or something? It’s powered by Drupal; crap, is it just that many people on it? Ah, found the notice on the main page, they hope to have it smoothed out completely by Monday.

Secondary head-scratching moment here: what the hell is up with me and crazy stalkers lately? Let Us Give Thanks and Turbo were planned in all the creepy glory back in 2000, but then I followed that with the Evil Jack series and Ichiro in Tin Man: Dragons and Ninjas. And there’s a thwarted rapist who gets a little obsessive in Tin Man and Pirates story that I started. Zy’s antagonist also obsessive, but not entirely his fault. Hell, even my bad guy in Strix is obsessive, but not in a sexual way thank the gods!

Hmm, I don’t think I’m getting away from it any time soon. Not counting the three listed above that I still have to finish, I still have two more stories to go in the Evil Jack series before Jack meets justice. Then the next story in the Wars Are Won series will feature Karbunkle that I should really consider using his POV for. At least I have thirteen to do in that series that should be more straight up fighting the Plutarkian adventures. But maybe I should expand into a different genre for at least one story, something that encourages different traits in the antagonists.

BMFM: Turbo 1

BMFM: Wars Are Won: Turbo

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Metrics time now that I have actually started writing.

Metrics
Biker Mice From Mars: Wars Are Won: Turbo

New words: 1796
Total words: 1796
What I hate about my writing: Actually, nothing today.
The Good: I made the word count on the first day, score! Finished the first scene and started on the second.
The Bad: 800 of those words were from the disclaimer and the already written flashback of Vinnie’s. I’m worried about my routine. Today, I spent an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the total, but I broke them into fifteen-minute chunks to not screw my hips and back up by sitting too long at the computer. Would I get done quicker without interrupting myself to stand up and do laundry? And I’m feeling ambivalent about the just completed first scene. Is it the proper place to start the story? Is everyone in character? Is it believable that Throttle and Charley haven’t been anything more than cuddling and kissing in the six months between stories?
Fave Modo line: “Whatever is in your head should just stay there. You let it out and they’re both gonna kill you.”
What I'm looking forward to: A closer to the reality routine I will have to work with tomorrow—i.e. getting up the same time I get up Monday through Friday—and fit in writing with the rest of my morning routine. Today has been an odd day.
What I'm not looking forward to: Getting up at 2 a.m. tomorrow, damn time change.

I feel so freaky about the whole butt in chair. I don’t want to be antsy if antsy is keeping me from getting the words out of my head. But at the same time, I don’t want to tie my body into knots that will need therapy to untie. So is it cheating and resistance if I put the timer on and go for fifteen minutes, then get up and put on a load of laundry or wash a sink of dishes before sitting down for fifteen minutes again? Especially when the chore doesn’t take fifteen minutes to finish?

My safest bet will be to start working out along with NaNo. Urgh, I didn’t want to be tracking that along with tracking words and money and housework. But the only effective way to make sure body is healthy is to use it. *Headdesk What good is winning NaNo if I spend December in traction?

2 am – 3 am = writing time
3 am – 4 am = exercise time
4 am – 5 am = getting dressed puttering around house time
5:30 am – 6 am = leave the house time (if I leave after 6 am I will be late for work)

Damn, this schedule scares me. Is it any surprise that all I want to do when I get home is eat and crawl into bed?

There are tricks I can start doing regularly to make my mornings run smoothly (packing lunch and setting out clothes the night before, etc.). The trick is remembering to do them each night before I go to bed.

Anyways, time to wrap up this post and finish everything else I have to finish for today.

NaNo Prep 2

BMFM: Wars Are Won: Turbo

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Have to seriously wonder what I have gotten myself into when I got my first email from my home region’s ML—I think it means motivational leader. I’m just not into lording over another group with who gets the better word count. I loved the idea of a write-in on November 2nd, spending time and insanity with actual people and not just virtual ones, until I remembered I have no laptop.

Onward regardless. I have three things to do to consider myself prepped for NaNo: fill out the marathon template file for Turbo, create the Master Story Summary, and create the fanmix album.

I don’t remember where I got the marathon template, but it’s a great little Excel file with nifty tracking features built for NaNo tracking purposes. It can be used any time you want to give yourself a deadline to reach a word count goal, which is what I have been using it for. This is actually the first time I will be using it for its purpose.

Master Story Summary took three days to complete due to me not waking up with the extra hour to write. I hope the time change works in my favor as far as that goes. But yes, I have outlined the entire story to find I’m planning on thirty-three scenes, worked out the time line for the narrative, and the POVs to use and when to use them.

So now that I’ve tried the Master Story Summary three times (twice now before the story was written); used the standard topic and sub-topic outline method taught in schools; gone over scenes in my head while driving the commute; taken notes of upcoming stories in emails, IMs, blog posts; I am an outliner is rather plain. Even when I’m winging the narrative, my brain accelerates and asks questions about what is ahead.

Of all the methods, I like the Master Story Summery best. It can be detailed or not as you need. It is telling the story without any embellishments, unless you need to take notes. With Turbo, I found myself taking a lot of notes on how conversations at the end are going to go.

Enough about that. Third thing I wanted to accomplish before go time was the fanmix soundtrack for the story. If you’ve read any of the other BMFM: Wars Are Won By Those Who Dare stories, you probably noticed I include songs. Technically, it does make them songfics since I quote lyrics, but I like to think they’re done right. Songs add flavor to the story but you can do what one reader did “I skipped right over them without noticing they were songs.”

But only recently was I introduced to the idea of packaging the mp3s into a zip file, make a cover and turn it into a soundtrack. I was just a few songs short and even that wasn’t true, since I had music in the inspiration folder that probably wouldn’t see lyrics quoted in a story. I decided to grab the music so I could put it on the mp3 player and tune out distractions while writing. My goal was at least ten songs, some of which will be quoted in the narrative and some that wouldn’t be.

BMFM: Wars Are Won: Turbo Fanmix

1. ”Biker Mice From Mars” by Will Anderson and Rick Ungar, sung by Jeff Scott Soto – theme of the cartoon that I’m building the series from.
2. ”Remember the Heroes” by Sammy Hagar – theme for this series and source of the series title.
3. ”Leader of Men” by Nickleback – this is one of Throttle’s theme songs. One of the first songs I picked for BMFM inspiration too.
4. ”Wayward Son” by Kansas – another theme from Throttle. The first series was so influenced by 70s and 80s classic rock songs, you are required to go to that era for influence music.
5. ”Leather and Lace” by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley – Throttle and Charley’s love theme for this story and I knew it would be quoted in Turbo the first time I heard it.
6. Children of the Sun by Billy Thorpe – intrigued by the title, I downloaded and it went to BMFM inspirations.
7. ”Obsession is Such an Ugly Word” by Alesana – this band makes some of the strangest punk rock I have ever heard (not that I’m very knowledgeable in that genre), but the lyrics and the angry guitar chords make this Turbo’s theme.
8. ”This is Usually the Part Where People Scream” by Alesana – also Turbo’s theme and the lyrics make it a perfect taunt for him to throw at Throttle.
9. ”No More Tears” by Ozzy Osborne – Turbo is not a happy character and he is not up to happy things. Ozzy channels that.
10. ”War Pigs” by Black Sabbath – fighting music!
11. ”Children of the Grave” by Black Sabbath – more fighting music. And I had just bought their Greatest Hits album to get a copy of “Iron Man.”
12. ”Nothing Can Come Between Us” by Sade – Charley’s theme in this story. Character’s theme songs do change, namely because I keep finding new songs that apply to them. There will probably be more songs from Sade in the future, cause DAMN she has great love songs!

Twelve songs, not too bad. And this order may or may not be the final order the album is put together in.

Well, it’s time for me to get to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow, getting 1700 words written before I do anything else. I’m ready for it though.

NaNo Prep 1

Biker Mice From Mars: Wars Are Won: Turbo

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I’m going to skip over the wishy-washy decision making. It was sad, even for me. The cons list for even participating in NaNo descended into a list of general fears and not even the entertaining ones. Then there was the what to write dilemma that almost made me come up with a fourth choice and find my D4 to roll.

Here I am KLCtheBookWorm, official NaNo participant.

Once I realized that everything cycling through my head was the Perfect Girl terrified of screwing up, I blew a raspberry at her and jumped in. I went with BMFM: Turbo because of the three I was considering, it best met the guidelines. I still have too much world-building and plot-building to do in Strix, and I already started the next Tin Man story. Yes, I know I would be the only who would actually care that nine chapters are written out in longhand, but I would care so there you have it.

BMFM: Turbo only has one scene written because I used it for an example in a writing tutorial, but the background is solid in my head. My only worry is it may be a shorter story than 50,000 words. If that actually does happen, I decided to type the Tin Man story until the end of November.

I do have a little bit of prep work to do before November 1st. I charted out my goals, and all the projects to finish before I say “yes, it’s done.” I decided labeling things like “Second draft” or “FF.net version” works best as GTD projects. Then to fill out the official participation form, I need the comprehensive concept:

Turbo arrives in Chicago, and secrets Throttle has kept buried for most of his life now threaten Charley in the sequel to Biker Mice From Mars: Wars Are Won By Those Who Dare: Let Us Give Thanks.

I’d like to have the Master Scene Summary done before I start writing, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m confident I can write this story without one.

Best definition of fanfiction ever!

[info]allronix1 on August 2nd, 2008 06:40 am (UTC)
My first fandom? Oh, hell, it's an 80's cartoon. with all the cheese that comes with it. It just happens to be chevere instead of He-Man Velveeta or Thundercats brick cheddar...but you never forget it's cheese. The fan community can explore a lot of things the writers hinted at, but just couldn't do with the genre's limits.

Tin Man? It's a freaking Sci-Fi Channel Original. Those are best known for "shoot it in Vancouver, cast someone from a defunct SF series, and grabplotlines from another studio's recycle bin!" Even better, it's based on a series of books where the writer could not decide, in the course of the same book, whether or not people could die in his universe or not, and it's best known adaptation was so far off the mark as to miss the dartboard. (Good songs, and Ray Bolger rocked, though)

Henry Jenkins, in Textual Poachers, described fandom as an odd mix of fascination and frustration. We're fascinated by the characters, the universe, the potentials of the story...and usually frustrated past belief at the crappy execution of those potentials.

Edited at 2008-08-02 06:41 am (UTC)

http://moony-blues.livejournal.com/83183.html#cutid1

Strix Metrics 02

The first step to revitalizing this project was to gather together any and all files and put them in one spot on the harddrive, and then put a copy on a flash drive. When I didn't find any files lurking on any flash drives I thought it meant I hadn't typed much and had been handwriting all my notes. This is what I get when trying to make my brain work after shut off time.

Now I'm copying over the handwritten notes with the niggling sense I have already done this and I need to check the harddrive when I get home. *Sigh* Why does it bother me? Because I'd like to be all wrapped up with Battleplan Bravo before moving on to complete Charlie, which is next on the list.

Okay, after going through the papers, I realize what I'm remembering. First thoughts were captured in a purse notebook and then transferred to the big notebook. Typing was never done. Yeah, I'm not double working myself.

Finished going through the papers and finished typing most of them. Good thing, there's stuff in them I would have hated to lose. Now what I have left is character work to type, which is directly tied to Battleplan Charlie 1. I'm rolling!

Biker Mice From Mars: Evil Jack: For Worse 25

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Ahead of my schedule for once. Nice thing with having established all the website pretties for a series is it only takes ten minutes to create a title graphic and most of that is waiting for files to upload and save.

One thing I noticed I need is one spot on the harddrive for the copy 'n paste web text. I'm sure a file is around but finding it is the pain. Time to do a purge of My Documents again and I should make it an annual chore.

The project isn't completely finished yet. The hardest part is done, the actual text of the story. I finished typing up all changes, creating the third draft on August 17, 2008. Final word count plus disclaimer text is 21,782. Now what I have left are the little publication touches: writing the Author's Note, getting it up at FF.net, and figuring out how to let the dedicated fans see it first.

The last one bleeds over into changes I want to make at the Library, so I can't dally with any of it. It's time to get my ass in gear with what I want to do instead of letting it wallow.