Quietly Plotting

I've been reading lately, instead of writing. And yet, it's still helping. I've been at a standstill regarding Cold Blooded, completely devoid of ideas, until I read something completely unrelated. I read John Green's Paper Towns, which is a young adult novel that has nothing to do with vampires, or murder, or ice cream. And then I couldn't sleep because new ideas for my book kept popping into my head. Now, I'm in the midst of Jim Butcher's Storm Front, which is the right genre, but I had a random idea about interpersonal relationships that has nothing to do with the supernatural elements.

I'm not sure why this is working, but I'll take it.

I can watch tons of TV and movies, and maybe I'll think of random plot ideas I'd like to write one day. But I read one book, and it's like it cracks open an artesian well of creativity. Issues I've been wrestling with suddenly have answers. Like, it doesn't clutter my brain with extraneous ideas, it focuses the ideas I have.

So that's where I've been.

I haven’t had much to report, and just saying the same nonsense over and over doesn’t make for good entertainment. And at this point, I don't think anyone is reading, so I haven't felt compelled to keep creating content that much.

I'll see you, I don’t know, sometime.

Just Write

Well, I dropped down to one post per week, and there was no rioting in the streets. I'm not sure anyone even noticed. And that’s fine. I know my content's been a little underwhelming as of late. I'm going to blame it on work. Basically, my schedule got all switched around, and I've been given new responsibilities. It just exhausts me. So I'm sorry my writing regimen has sucked lately.

I think I need to think more about seriously publishing. It's the goal, after all. Now, the rom-com I'm writing right now will never be seen by human eyes, so obviously I'm going to have to do some new writing.

But what? The age old question. What do I write?

They Raise Their Towers to the Clouds

This week I'm coming to you live from the deep dark woods. Where yes, there is internet. It's the 21st century, guys.

I had an idea about a story, where there was a model, and an overdose, and a guy who was trying to unravel… something? It seemed like a really good idea, but when I thought about it later, I couldn’t remember why exactly. I had the basic idea, but I'd lost the spark.

This is why you write things down, kids.

Who Am I?

I'm trying to get the story posts back to the weekend, so we're going to talk about some other shit today. Namely, names.

Specifically, my name.

I've mentioned at some point in the past (I don't remember when, I have over 200 posts, man) that I had this whole debate about pseudonyms and whether or not I wanted to use one. I was going to. That's why the blog is under Mad Cooper. That's what I was going to publish as, when I got around to publishing. But the more I thought about it, the more I didn't like the idea. It would be a pain in the ass, more than likely, and I'd have to set up some kind of "doing business as" thing if I wanted to get paid. And I realized that people would potentially address me as "Mrs. Cooper," and I definitely didn't want that. There's a reason that's not my last name. It doesn't suit me.

Unexpected Delays

I have found that by the time I get home around midnight, take a shower, and have some dinner, I don't have a lot of energy left for writing. So it's still taking me some time to get these posts and stories written. Hence all the lateness.

When I initially started this thing, I was in school, and had Fridays off, so I could take all day Friday to write the second post of the week, if I wanted to. Now I work Monday through Friday, so I have to get both posts done in the middle of the night. Due to this, I'm considering shifting my posting schedule, and going to Wednesday and Saturday. What do you think of that?

One Piece at a Time

I've been thinking about serials. Not killers, not at the moment, anyway. I'm talking about old school serial novels published in magazines or newspapers. If you were anyone in the Victorian era, you published your book in serial form first, and then in a single volume. Everyone did it. Arthur Conan Doyle. Alexandre Dumas. Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Now, obviously, this has something to do with only offering Part One of my story last week (it still doesn't have a name). I have realized that I can release this thing, and future… things, piece by piece.

This brings up a new can of worms regarding formatting. Or structure, I guess. Each piece needs to have its own story arc. Like a TV episode. There's an big arc for the whole season, but there's also an arc for each episode. I am intrigued by this.

Open It Up To Find the Tick, Tick, Tick of a Heart

So here we are again. I still haven't finished that Camp NaNo story. I only have about 400 words left to go. I've just been busy being an adult. (Don't do it, it's lame.) The story's just gotten so far off track that I'm not sure how to get it to go where it needs to go. I've tried to divert it back, and now it's at a point where I have to decide the fate of my protagonist. Does he get to survive? Maybe.

As usual, I've started thinking about my next project before I get finished with the current one. See, the great thing about the blog is that I have to keep writing and working on stories so I have something to talk about. The terrible thing about the blog is that I have to keep writing and working on stories so I have something to talk about. I don't have a lot of time to stop and think and outline something. I have to just dive in so I have something to show for myself twice a week. Ordinarily, my process relied heavily on "ruminating on things for months" but that's not very interesting.

So the question is, what's next? Do I try to chronicle the tedium of outlining a story? Share my exercises in world-building? Explain every decision in my character profiles. That's really up to you, I guess. This is all for you, I think. And maybe a little for me. It keeps me from slacking off to much.