Stellar Gift of Death Post 34

NPI Day 3: 359 words

Stellar Gift of Death

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METRICS
New Words: 359
Chapter Ten total: 2669
Chapter Eleven total: 255
Total words for the first draft: 41212
What I hate about my writing: Not doing the metrics right after I finish up, just in case I get to come back to the story, and the never-ending chore list means I never get to. :p
The Good: I'm finally out of chapter ten! Except for the pesky detail of adding in a journal entry when I can think of that correlates to the main plot.
The Bad: The evil dust bunnies of doom kept me from adding details to the wiki like I had planned to do this weekend.
Fave line: For not having kids and parents like solids do, Murdock has that down cold.
What I'm looking forward to: Xeryl finds out Zy is in the hospital overnight for observation.
What I'm not looking forward to: Revenge of the dust bunnies.

Stellar Gift of Death Post 33

NPI Day 2: 267


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No time for proper metrics. I already took my night-time medication and was halfway into bed before realizing I hadn't put my word count up yet. Tomorrow's post will be better.

Stellar Gift of Death Post 32

NPI Day 1: 373 words

Stellar Gift of Death

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METRICS

New words: 373
Total words for Chapter 10: 2309
Total words of first draft: 40,586
What I hate about my writing: Hate? There is no hate. Today was awesomesauce!
The Good: When we last left our intrepid shero*, her informant had just been shot and she and Mealte were scrambling to keep the murderer from fleeing. Now I'm in the middle of the scene where she gets to confront the murderer for the first time. I have twenty-one chapters outlined, so yes, this is the part where he gets away to commit more dastardly deeds.
The Bad: My job for the weekend is to get all the background notes into the wiki. I don't want to lose what details I have already. I'm peeved at the timer I bought. Lifehacker had a great tip on making a cheap light alarm clock, so I bought a Brinks analog timer. I sleep through audio alarm if I'm tired enough, but I don't sleep through light. It worked once, turning the lamp on Sunday. I adjusted it to come on earlier, and it hasn't worked since. I'd take it back to the store only I threw out the box already. *headdesk* So I also would like to get that working this weekend.
Fave line: She knelt beside him and didn’t breathe until his pulse brushed against her fingers on his neck.
What I'm looking forward to: Actually having all the working notes in one location. I opened a different binder today and found notes on Mealte that I have no idea if I duplicated somewhere else.
What I'm not looking forward to: Figuring out which computer files of chapters four and five is the keeper. :p

*I pronounce heroine just like the drug, so I really don't like using the word anymore. And it always makes me think of Gothic characters with heaving bosoms. Zy would cackle madly if anyone mistook her for one.

Time Management Tips for Writing Parents

I'm not in this position, but John Scalzi offers these tips that could be adapted for most parents working at home.

Zy's novel and NPI

I'll be participating in October's NPI working on 250 words daily into finishing the first draft of Zy's Novel. Let's toast accountability!

Phantom Highwayman Notes 03

The Hitchhiking Highwayman

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I rewrote the entire back half and added in Tim. Tim's verse got cut out of the song, but he's the one who betrays the lovers in the poem.

The story has been submitted as of ten minutes ago. I won't be upset if I'm not a finalist. Short story is becoming less my medium of choice, which is okay. And this was a weaker story by my standards. But the deadline was met and now I can concentrate on getting my home computer running again.

Phantom Highwayman Notes 02

"Phantom Highwayman" is not gelling, and I can't figure out how to fix it. It's the same honking problem I get every time I attempt a short story, the result is a big yawn. My protagonists doesn't do anything. The editing problem is where usually I can see a zag to go for instead of zig. So far, it's been three days and no zag. No zag, no zag, go back to the archetype.

Archetype: girl in dress walking along the road, guy or guys give her a ride to the dance they're heading too. Says that's where she's going. Have a good time. Go to take her back to the address she gives and she vanishes from the car. Talk to people at the house; she's a relation dead for years. Find jacket or some other personal object on her tombstone.

So the Highwayman's ghost walks into the pub... I need to noodle that to see if it is really a zag. It sounds like the beginnings of a bad joke, but if places really have memories and if Bess has issues after her suicide.

Phantom Highwayman Notes 01

First draft of "Phantom Highwayman"

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I wrote this piece back in 2006 for the contest that I entered "The Gingerbread Girl" in. Inspiration was found in the archetype of the phantom hitchhiker story and Loreena McKennitt's treatment of "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes (on her album The Book of Secrets).

740 words and most of what is missing is description. Which is odd considering vivid description is what the poem is noted for. But it was a flash fiction contest and I wanted to keep the dialogue. I unabashedly love characters talking.

So first step, some research into the poem. Turns out Alfred Noyes was inspired by a real place with real bandit issues and the village has a couple of websites. I learned that this area is close by Windsor Palace thanks to another blog London underfoot. This point is a good one because now with expanded word count, my unnamed Yankee jock has a reason to be in the woods. He's supposed to meet up with his tour group at Windsor and got lost. What else am I getting from this research? Specifics of the area to anchor the encounter into reality. It is also good distraction from the current political WTF! that makes me glad my blood pressure is good so I don't stroke out.

Second step is to turn this encounter into a story with something to say. This encounter tickles my subversive fancy, but "The Gingerbread Girl" is stronger because of the questions the ghost raises for my narrator. What theme words with a phantom hitchhiker? Unfinished business, love never dies, you should always use the buddy system when traveling?

I'm rather partial to the "love never dies" them (romantic softie that I am) and it gives me a chance to work in Bess. Hmm, where were suicides buried in the 18th century England? I think I know, but I don't know if my hunch is based on historical fact. I also don't know if it will be a pertinent detail but I want to know, especially since one source for the unquiet dead is suicides.

My poor Yankee jock just became Al, who won't forget his trip to Merry Old England. With luck, readers won't either. And yes, I think I am being rather obvious with my shout-outs, but I still like it.

An answer to the suicide burial: at crossroads with a stake through the heart. The last one in London was in June 1823. They finally changed the law to inter them at graveyards but without Last Rites or other forms of a funeral and all worldly possessions still went to the Crown. Source: Victorian Suicide. Oh Bess, I'd haunt the place too.