What are you Writing?

[MikeKardec]

I think I've moved on from finishing the one book to finishing another ... I've had three all developing in parallel and part of the same project. The first is wrapped up waiting for a contract before I send it back to the editorial dept. The deal making is difficult but the production people are great and I've been working on the internal design, something I've never been able to do with a publisher before, except in the Comics biz. That book is very complicated, fiction and non fiction combined and making it easy to understand means different fonts and pagination and such.

The new one is more straight forward, a novel ... of interest here because it takes place in 1939 with flash backs covering the decade prior. I did a bunch of last minute research, mentioned earlier, in San Pedro, CA which was pretty interesting and a bit depressing. There have been a lot of changes around the port over the years and while I suspect that they were well covered the local historical society has an odd assortment of materials, some eras covered in great detail others (like 1939) not so much. I see this a lot, when there is a big historical moment, like WWII, the material from just before it kind of disappears in its shadow. It was fun to wander the streets that the story is set on and compare them to old maps and photos. In places the topography has been amazingly changed, whole islands and hills carted away. Looking at a flat map things seem much like today but the elevations have changed a good deal.

Anyway, I'm just now going through the book making up a glossary of the nautical terms and slang and a buddy of mine is modifying the blueprints of a WWII tanker ship to match the description of the somewhat older tanker in the story. We hope to be using the blueprints for the end papers of the hardcover release. At this stage there are so many details to be cleaned up it's kind of mind blowing, in some ways it makes the writing seem easy ... at least until I have the words "Chapter One" written in a new file and I have to figure out how to be entertaining again!

 

[AmateisGal]

I think I've moved on from finishing the one book to finishing another ... I've had three all developing in parallel and part of the same project. The first is wrapped up waiting for a contract before I send it back to the editorial dept. The deal making is difficult but the production people are great and I've been working on the internal design, something I've never been able to do with a publisher before, except in the Comics biz. That book is very complicated, fiction and non fiction combined and making it easy to understand means different fonts and pagination and such.

The new one is more straight forward, a novel ... of interest here because it takes place in 1939 with flash backs covering the decade prior. I did a bunch of last minute research, mentioned earlier, in San Pedro, CA which was pretty interesting and a bit depressing. There have been a lot of changes around the port over the years and while I suspect that they were well covered the local historical society has an odd assortment of materials, some eras covered in great detail others (like 1939) not so much. I see this a lot, when there is a big historical moment, like WWII, the material from just before it kind of disappears in its shadow. It was fun to wander the streets that the story is set on and compare them to old maps and photos. In places the topography has been amazingly changed, whole islands and hills carted away. Looking at a flat map things seem much like today but the elevations have changed a good deal.

Anyway, I'm just now going through the book making up a glossary of the nautical terms and slang and a buddy of mine is modifying the blueprints of a WWII tanker ship to match the description of the somewhat older tanker in the story. We hope to be using the blueprints for the end papers of the hardcover release. At this stage there are so many details to be cleaned up it's kind of mind blowing, in some ways it makes the writing seem easy ... at least until I have the words "Chapter One" written in a new file and I have to figure out how to be entertaining again!

Wow. You've been busy! Congrats on nearing the finish line for both projects. The novel sounds really interesting. When will it be published?

As for me, moving house and a series of unfortunate events in the month of March completely derailed me on my writing projects. But now that the move is over and the other events have settled down, I finally was able to get back to work on my WW2 article on women combat correspondents. Rough draft is done and I'll take a week to edit and smooth out the edges before I turn it into my editor on Friday.

And then, back to the novel! I can't wait.

 

[belfastboy]

I think I've moved on from finishing the one book to finishing another ... I've had three all developing in parallel and part of the same project. The first is wrapped up waiting for a contract before I send it back to the editorial dept. The deal making is difficult but the production people are great and I've been working on the internal design, something I've never been able to do with a publisher before, except in the Comics biz. That book is very complicated, fiction and non fiction combined and making it easy to understand means different fonts and pagination and such.

The new one is more straight forward, a novel ... of interest here because it takes place in 1939 with flash backs covering the decade prior. I did a bunch of last minute research, mentioned earlier, in San Pedro, CA which was pretty interesting and a bit depressing. There have been a lot of changes around the port over the years and while I suspect that they were well covered the local historical society has an odd assortment of materials, some eras covered in great detail others (like 1939) not so much. I see this a lot, when there is a big historical moment, like WWII, the material from just before it kind of disappears in its shadow. It was fun to wander the streets that the story is set on and compare them to old maps and photos. In places the topography has been amazingly changed, whole islands and hills carted away. Looking at a flat map things seem much like today but the elevations have changed a good deal.

Anyway, I'm just now going through the book making up a glossary of the nautical terms and slang and a buddy of mine is modifying the blueprints of a WWII tanker ship to match the description of the somewhat older tanker in the story. We hope to be using the blueprints for the end papers of the hardcover release. At this stage there are so many details to be cleaned up it's kind of mind blowing, in some ways it makes the writing seem easy ... at least until I have the words "Chapter One" written in a new file and I have to figure out how to be entertaining again!

Congrats!

 

[MikeKardec]

Thanks for the congrats. I can't wait to REALLY move on! Supposedly the first book was to be published this Fall and the novel next Fall but I've found myself in a knock down drag out brawl with the publisher who doesn't want to honor their old contract (which isn't good but not necessarily the worst thing in the world) and also doesn't want to be honest, polite, or fair about coming up with new terms ... all of which would have led to a positive outcome. Chaos ensues. I expect all will work out but first they need to be put in a position where the get a tiny bit of what they want while returning some of the respect they have been witholding. It's exhausting and a lot of math. Normally, I'm really glad to not have an agent, then something like this comes along!

 

[belfastboy]

Thanks for the congrats. I can't wait to REALLY move on! Supposedly the first book was to be published this Fall and the novel next Fall but I've found myself in a knock down drag out brawl with the publisher who doesn't want to honor their old contract (which isn't good but not necessarily the worst thing in the world) and also doesn't want to be honest, polite, or fair about coming up with new terms ... all of which would have led to a positive outcome. Chaos ensues. I expect all will work out but first they need to be put in a position where the get a tiny bit of what they want while returning some of the respect they have been witholding. It's exhausting and a lot of math. Normally, I'm really glad to not have an agent, then something like this comes along!

I think it is always fascinating the tasks we need to perform that are essential but tangentially to that which we really love. Your post above reminded me of that. You love to write but in order to put it out there you need to wrestle with publishers etc. I wonder; in the face of this vexation does it serve to help us appreciate even more that which we love to do? I frame it in the same way I frame retirement. Will I appreciate my vacations in retirement as much as I appreciate them now as a break from work? Will they be valued as highly when every day is a vacation day?

 

[belfastboy]

Thanks for the congrats. I can't wait to REALLY move on! Supposedly the first book was to be published this Fall and the novel next Fall but I've found myself in a knock down drag out brawl with the publisher who doesn't want to honor their old contract (which isn't good but not necessarily the worst thing in the world) and also doesn't want to be honest, polite, or fair about coming up with new terms ... all of which would have led to a positive outcome. Chaos ensues. I expect all will work out but first they need to be put in a position where the get a tiny bit of what they want while returning some of the respect they have been witholding. It's exhausting and a lot of math. Normally, I'm really glad to not have an agent, then something like this comes along!

Thank you again for the idea of giving my novel to a few choice readers. I have completed 3/4's of that step and it has been a validating experience. The readers largely read a similar story to the one I wrote....they "got' it. It was hard for them to just relay that aspect to me and wanted to provide more of a critique. I appreciated that as it meant, to me, they were engaged in the story and the character(s). Some really disliked the lead character in the beginning but warmed to him by the mid point. I take that as a huge win as to me it means there is substance to the character, he is worth disliking, and worthy of their interest. And enough of a character arc that he is redemptive in some ways. Thank you.
The book is being proofed and copy edited. I am still in the question of sending it for a substantive edit to have another set of eyes on the continuity etc.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Finished my U.N.C.L.E. fan story; 7350 words. The fanzine editor who has taken my other 3 stories is reading this one now with an eye to publishing it in a new issue of her zine at MediaWest. If she doesn't take it, or if she does and a decent amount of time has passed, I'll put it up on one or more of the fan fiction websites. An excerpt:

****

Illya’s voice was very quiet.

“The Arabs have a saying. ‘Three things can never be hidden: Love, a mountain, and a man riding on a camel.’ ”

“Huh?”

“He loves you. And I suspect you love him. Such a thing is rare. If I were you, I would not waste it.”

He gestured, and Fran, her head whirling with new thoughts, turned and climbed down into the well.

****

 

[MikeKardec]

I think it is always fascinating the tasks we need to perform that are essential but tangentially to that which we really love. Your post above reminded me of that. You love to write but in order to put it out there you need to wrestle with publishers etc. I wonder; in the face of this vexation does it serve to help us appreciate even more that which we love to do? I frame it in the same way I frame retirement. Will I appreciate my vacations in retirement as much as I appreciate them now as a break from work? Will they be valued as highly when every day is a vacation day?

You intend to write and you think you're going to "retire"? HA! There's not retirement, just work for a boss you is always looking over your shoulder, nagging, threatening, punishing! Take those vacations now because when you are working for yourself, even just writing for fun, you'll have to deal with the fact that every waking hour could be productive.

I was out on a date years ago and a girl asked me what my hobbies were. She really never got it that you can't HAVE a hobby if you could be doing your thing during those same hours. I guess work becomes your hobby but well, you get it, it's hard to justify anything else!

I've always though that vacations are all about the people you take them with ... at least since I took a six month solo in some of the more sparsely populated parts of Australia and nearly lost my mind. No more solo travel!

 

[MikeKardec]

Thank you again for the idea of giving my novel to a few choice readers. I have completed 3/4's of that step and it has been a validating experience. The readers largely read a similar story to the one I wrote....they "got' it. It was hard for them to just relay that aspect to me and wanted to provide more of a critique. I appreciated that as it meant, to me, they were engaged in the story and the character(s). Some really disliked the lead character in the beginning but warmed to him by the mid point. I take that as a huge win as to me it means there is substance to the character, he is worth disliking, and worthy of their interest. And enough of a character arc that he is redemptive in some ways. Thank you.
The book is being proofed and copy edited. I am still in the question of sending it for a substantive edit to have another set of eyes on the continuity etc.

More eyes never hurts just don't lose your vision of the story based on what anyone (especially "professionals" who aren't going to pay you) says. You are very welcome and super good luck!

 

[AmateisGal]

For me, that's the great thing about being a writer: I never have to retire!

 

[Fading Fast]

For me, that's the great thing about being a writer: I never have to retire!

I've been thinking about that a bit recently. Presently, I am not actively writing because, to be direct, I can make more money managing and trading money than writing about markets and the economy, but maybe when I am older, it will be nice to re-focus on writing. I could freelance - wouldn't want or need full-time work and might enjoy the engagement and making at least some money at it. I have no interest in retiring in the sense of not working at all, but do like the idea of being able to control the amount of work I do.

 

[MikeKardec]

We don't retire, we reinvent ourselves!

 

[AmateisGal]

We don't retire, we reinvent ourselves!

Exactly! Besides, I honestly don't know what I'd do with my time if I couldn't write. It would leave a huge, gaping void in my soul. (Yes, that sounds dramatic, but that's really how it feels when I think about not writing...).

So. On the writing front for me, I turned in my article to my editor - YAY!!!

Now back to the novel!

 

[MikeKardec]

I turned in my article to my editor - YAY!!! Now back to the novel!

Very good!

I delivered Book One today ... again. It's been edited, then I went through it, then them, then me. We had our contractual spat, which is not over but is over enough for me to stop holding out (and it's good to let them keep working, the more money and time they spend without a contract the more motivated they will be to seal the deal), and have been working on the presentation of the interior of the book.

Here's what it is: over a 50 plus year career (1930 to 1988) my father wrote a LOT of stuff. Not surprisingly it didn't all pay off or work out. After his death I not only organized and cataloged a morass of unpublished and unfinished manuscripts but I've done a great deal of research on his life and times. He was 53 when I was born, there was a lot I didn't know. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s I completed or polished the material that either I could figure out or that I chose to figure out. I have a series of rules for how I do this so as not to be intrusive unless I have to be. What was left was the stuff that would make me break my rules, the material that I did not intend to complete.

Not so surprisingly, it's what a writer can not finish that really tells you who they are ... the ambitions we have that we fall short of are the most interesting and revealing. So I take the best of the unfinished work be it two chapters or seventeen, and publish it. I have two volumes worth, everything from a the beginning of a Western Horror novel to a Crusader Era Adventure to a fantastic story of reincarnation stretching from the time of Alexander the Great to Warlord China.

My job is this: to take the many drafts of this material and create one version that contains the best material or the parts that tell us the most about what had been planned. Then to write up the story behind the story; what was going on in his life? How did the draft change from his notes and why? Why the heck didn't he finish? And so on ...

It's interesting. I've learned a lot about Dad's life, why he made certain decisions, even how I fit into the equation without knowing it 'til now. I haven't done a lot of non fiction writing so this is new for me. Taking all the evidence and putting it in order sure makes the truth stand out, it's fascinating. They are odd books but hopefully someone will like them.

Anyway, the editor I work with and the designer found a font that looks very much like an old typewriter ... to the point where the characters are slightly misaligned and there is dirt in some of the loops on the letters. Dad's manuscripts will be presented that way where my work is in a more typical publishing font (Bell MT to be specific). The covers sort of look like stylized piles or layers of paper covered with notes and typescript.

Now I'm onto another one in the group, finishing Dad's first novel. It's set in 1939 and follows the lives, ashore and at sea, of officers and crew of the tankership SS Lichenfield. It begins: "Fate is a ship. A steel gray lovely barque -- or a tanker westbound ..."

It's possibly the most complicated, ambitious, and mysterious thing he every wrote ...

 

[AmateisGal]

Very good!

I delivered Book One today ... again. It's been edited, then I went through it, then them, then me. We had our contractual spat, which is not over but is over enough for me to stop holding out (and it's good to let them keep working, the more money and time they spend without a contract the more motivated they will be to seal the deal), and have been working on the presentation of the interior of the book.

Here's what it is: over a 50 plus year career (1930 to 1988) my father wrote a LOT of stuff. Not surprisingly it didn't all pay off or work out. After his death I not only organized and cataloged a morass of unpublished and unfinished manuscripts but I've done a great deal of research on his life and times. He was 53 when I was born, there was a lot I didn't know. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s I completed or polished the material that either I could figure out or that I chose to figure out. I have a series of rules for how I do this so as not to be intrusive unless I have to be. What was left was the stuff that would make me break my rules, the material that I did not intend to complete.

Not so surprisingly, it's what a writer can not finish that really tells you who they are ... the ambitions we have that we fall short of are the most interesting and revealing. So I take the best of the unfinished work be it two chapters or seventeen, and publish it. I have two volumes worth, everything from a the beginning of a Western Horror novel to a Crusader Era Adventure to a fantastic story of reincarnation stretching from the time of Alexander the Great to Warlord China.

My job is this: to take the many drafts of this material and create one version that contains the best material or the parts that tell us the most about what had been planned. Then to write up the story behind the story; what was going on in his life? How did the draft change from his notes and why? Why the heck didn't he finish? And so on ...

It's interesting. I've learned a lot about Dad's life, why he made certain decisions, even how I fit into the equation without knowing it 'til now. I haven't done a lot of non fiction writing so this is new for me. Taking all the evidence and putting it in order sure makes the truth stand out, it's fascinating. They are odd books but hopefully someone will like them.

Anyway, the editor I work with and the designer found a font that looks very much like an old typewriter ... to the point where the characters are slightly misaligned and there is dirt in some of the loops on the letters. Dad's manuscripts will be presented that way where my work is in a more typical publishing font (Bell MT to be specific). The covers sort of look like stylized piles or layers of paper covered with notes and typescript.

Now I'm onto another one in the group, finishing Dad's first novel. It's set in 1939 and follows the lives, ashore and at sea, of officers and crew of the tankership SS Lichenfield. It begins: "Fate is a ship. A steel gray lovely barque -- or a tanker westbound ..."

It's possibly the most complicated, ambitious, and mysterious thing he every wrote ...

Holy cats. This sounds utterly fascinating! What an incredible and ambitious project.

 

[AmateisGal]

Finally opened the novel last night and did some work. The month away from it did some good - I am able to see it with fresh eyes and that's always a good thing.

 

[MikeKardec]

I can hardly believe that I'm still finding things to fix on the book I'm working on ... but that's what happens when you set something down for awhile. I also discovered some technical details about tanker ships that needed to be corrected.

Here's another irritating bit that research turned up. On my tanker I have a scene early on that shows that there is a flaw in Starboard Wing Tank # 7 ... the right hand cargo tank all the way to the rear of the ship and on the outside. Tankers like this would run 3 tanks across the width of the ship and then 7 to 9 rows fore and aft. The liquid fuel (or naphtha in this case) being split into so many tanks to keep it from 1) all spilling in the event of an accident, 2) sloshing the length or width of the ship in rough weather and tearing the vessel apart.

Anyway, Starboard Wing Tank # 7 ... this name is good because "Starboard," whether you know what it means or not, only means one thing (the right side of the ship). For reasons too complicated to go into the flawed tank needs to be on the side of the ship where the Engine Crew or Black Gang bed down but traditionally (I just discovered) their bunks are on the left or "port" side of the ship.

Fixing this seems like a no brainer, I just call it Port Wing Tank # 7 and I'm okay. Sort of. In the scene where the reader realizes that there is a problem with the tank, the ship is in port ... this leads me to have to say "port" too often and referring to two differing subjects so it's possibly confusing for a reader. I could call it "Port-side Wing Tank # 7" but that's not sailor speak. Sheesh. This one little detail is going to create a domino chain of rewriting and possible errors unless I read through the whole darn thing checking every detail AGAIN!

Oh, well ... at least I caught it.

 

[DesertDan]

I'm currently writing scripts that will be turned into a comic strip to run on my band's website.
It will center around a fictionalized version of the band involved in a storyline that is sort of a mashup between "The Invaders" meets "This Is Spinal Tap".

 

[AmateisGal]

I can hardly believe that I'm still finding things to fix on the book I'm working on ... but that's what happens when you set something down for awhile. I also discovered some technical details about tanker ships that needed to be corrected.

Here's another irritating bit that research turned up. On my tanker I have a scene early on that shows that there is a flaw in Starboard Wing Tank # 7 ... the right hand cargo tank all the way to the rear of the ship and on the outside. Tankers like this would run 3 tanks across the width of the ship and then 7 to 9 rows fore and aft. The liquid fuel (or naphtha in this case) being split into so many tanks to keep it from 1) all spilling in the event of an accident, 2) sloshing the length or width of the ship in rough weather and tearing the vessel apart.

Anyway, Starboard Wing Tank # 7 ... this name is good because "Starboard," whether you know what it means or not, only means one thing (the right side of the ship). For reasons too complicated to go into the flawed tank needs to be on the side of the ship where the Engine Crew or Black Gang bed down but traditionally (I just discovered) their bunks are on the left or "port" side of the ship.

Fixing this seems like a no brainer, I just call it Port Wing Tank # 7 and I'm okay. Sort of. In the scene where the reader realizes that there is a problem with the tank, the ship is in port ... this leads me to have to say "port" too often and referring to two differing subjects so it's possibly confusing for a reader. I could call it "Port-side Wing Tank # 7" but that's not sailor speak. Sheesh. This one little detail is going to create a domino chain of rewriting and possible errors unless I read through the whole darn thing checking every detail AGAIN!

Oh, well ... at least I caught it.

Ah, historical accuracy. Sometimes the bane of our existence!

 

[AmateisGal]

I'm currently writing scripts that will be turned into a comic strip to run on my band's website.
It will center around a fictionalized version of the band involved in a storyline that is sort of a mashup between "The Invaders" meets "This Is Spinal Tap".

That sounds like a cool project!