May 2024 in Review
Hello Funny People,
Two Cents Logo by Devora Johnson
Sir Kevin & The Guide by Devora Johnson
On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller by Richard Norton Smith
Artemis by Andy Weir
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Guess what? I stand corrected. T.S. Eliot was wrong. Yet, I must also concede the truth of that old adage: "Every cloud has a silver lining."
A Brief Recapitulation
I'd been trying my best to power through the feelings as well as I could, but around the middle of the month, the reality became undeniable. I'd been experiencing a bad bout of depression for the better part of 2½ months. It wasn't the kind of crippling, bed-confining depression most people think of, but a case of that low-grade omnipresent hum of negatively. It's a leech that sucks away just enough of the joy and color from your life, but still leaves you functional enough to bluff your way through a normal day.
I didn't mention it back in March, which in hindsight is when I first began sensing its encroachment, because it was just starting. However, this persistent, nagging, malaise has stuck around for far too long for me to be feeling "just sad" or a "tad down." Nope. The leech was in residence, and the slimy bastard wasn't go away.
I could tell that this was happening when I started struggling to enjoy my reading. I'm normally able to get through a book a week (maybe two, if it's a long one), no problem, but the last 2½ months, it's become harder for me to "maintain interest," despite my previous eagerness for the books in my TBR.
More so, my sleeping and eating were utterly out of whack as well, and when those two things go haywire, my ability to deal with people breaks down faster than a recently built Boeing plane. I've alluded to how I like to project an image of myself as an irascible person (mostly to keep annoying strangers away from me) in the past, but being in a persistent state of short-tempered irritation wasn't (and isn't), something I realished.
What exactly triggered it? I couldn't say. It might’ve been a combination of things. Trouble with my current novel-in-progress, which has been spotty since I started the thing. Lack of any enthusiasm for the two books I've been querying to agents. Lingering doubts as to whether or not I'll ever be able to write another decent short story. And maybe it was just the persistent sense of time passing without feeling as though I have anything to show for it. One or two other personal things that I don't want to get into may have also contributed to it too.
Strangely enough, shortly after I wrote the above words, despite being hip-deep in that swamp of despair with that leech attached to my back, I managed to find the opposite bank and climb out. More so, I also hammered out a few problems I was having with the current novel in progress. Sometimes, writing can be therapy in itself. Once you're about to articulate your thoughts and feelings into words, it gives you a way to master them rather than allowing them to dominate you.
#AmEditing: The Novel Arena
Considering the roadblocks I'd hit while drafting recently, I decided to pause writing the novel I'd been working on since February, yet again. So, what have I been doing in the meantime?
The one thing I can do when in this awful frame of mine: edit and revise.
That's right, I turned back to my drafted wizard fantasy buildungsroman and began the process of editing and revising it. And, despite some initial struggles, I've devised a plan for revising it. Recently, I completed an initial line edit pass through the whole back as is, something I started before the whole business with the Space Opera's full-request happened. For the most part that was a basic attempt to cut down the 99k word count to something that gave me more wiggle room for revision. And it worked.
The revision plan now consists of the following:
1) Rewrite the Last Three Chapters. Chapters twenty-eight through thirty (28-30), are a major shambles at the moment, and the reason for that is simple. When I near the end of a first draft of anything, I nearly always rush it, partly due to excitement, partly due to a desire to finish the fucking thing. Almost always, I end up rewriting my final scenes in short stories numerous times, and this problem has carried over to my novels. The main issue is that I broke my usual viewpoint pattern in a rush to get to the end of the book. I mean to remedy that
2) Add Futher Interludes to World-build and Extend the Mysteries. I have a pretty sparse (but elegant) prose style for a genre writer, and fantasy often runs on description, especially if it's secondary world. So, what I chose to do in order to mend this issue is add further Interludes, some of which would be incidental, acting as world-buildinf vignettes, while others would serve to further move the underlying mysteries propelling the novel forwards. For example, there's two mysteries set up in the novel's prelude, two of which receive answers at the midpoint of the novel. However, the third doesn't get its final revelation until the last part of the book during the narratives climax. Weaving in that through the Interludes gives them an extra purpose to the writing beyond showing off another perspective separate from my MC's main story.
#AmDrafting: The Novel Arena
After struggling for so long to figure out what was wrong with my portal fantasy, I finally pinpointed two major issues.
1) I'd Made a Viewpoint Mistake (Again).
In my initial conception of this novel, which I largely pictured as something of a romantic comedy between my two MCs, I'd imagined the story only being told from their two limited viewpoints. At first, I'd stuck with that idea, and in sticking with it, I'd limited myself creatively. This is the exact same mistake I made with the fantasy novel I'm currently querying. In first draft, I'd pictured it as only being one character's story, therefore everything had to happen in their viewpoint. That mistake cost me time, energy, and grief, and forced me to spend a year revising the book. So, now, I'm in the process of bringing in several more viewpoints into this book. And while it will still primarily be my two MCs' story, I can now expand beyond them to explore other elements of what's going on elsewhere. Their story is one thread in the lanyard of this novel's plot, and while it's certainly one of the most vividly colored, it's not the only thing. Expanding the viewpoints past them to other characters will allow me to explore those other elements equally
2) There Wasn't Enough Interpersonal Conflict Between My Two MCs. One of my MCs is responsible for landing the other in the secondary world setting in the first place. Yet, in the material I've generated thus far, there's not enough evidence of that friction. And wouldn't there be some friction? If someone roped you into a situation that you DIDN’T WANT TO BE IN, wouldn't you be pissed at them? For some dumbass reason, I forgot that perfectly natural human response for ending up in a situation that wasn't of my making.
Adding this change to the preexisting material will take some extensive rewriting, of course, but it will be worth it. Certain plot beats will feel more satisfying with it included, and the eventual mid-point I have pictured will be more touching once I do. The point of a romantic comedy is for two characters who appear incompatible at first to gradually grow closer together through understanding and the discovery of common ground. One change I've already made will surely bring them together once I reach that stage in the drafting, but their struggle to find that common ground will make it all the more satisfying once they do.
3) Accentuate the Love Story Just a Bit More. Now, I'll be the first to admit, this piece of the puzzle js definite daunting for me. As a reader, I love a good love story. Any time I see the hints of romance between two characters in any story, I hold out hope it'll develop into something more. But as a writer, romance has never been something I've been particularly good at. Even when I was writing the stories for the charity anthologies Renée Gendron edited, I always wrote about established couples, people who'd been together for a while and therefore had a rapport between them. Here, I'm writing a courtship story, which is its own special variety of tale. So, I'm mostly taking cues from some of my favorite romantic comedies, where the two characters start off with a certain degree of animosity and ambivalence between them. However, as they spend time together, get to know one another, and discover common ground, they discover that, despite their apparentlg insurmountable differences, they have more in common than they first thought.
#AmQuerying
This month's querying has been, to say the least, spotty and random. I've still been using the database I complied back in January, but I've also been sending out queries to agents I hadn't previously considered or known of all those months ago.
I've been finding more agents who I hadn't previously known of or considered and added them to the list. I manged my usual ten minimum new queries at the very least. The list, however, I growing a bit thin, so I'm hoping to catch some interest soon.
My writer friend also recently gave me some final pointers on my one query letter. So, perhaps that revised letter will help me finally catch some agent's interest.
In the meantime, I'm also exploring another option: open calls.
Near the middle of April, Angry Robot, a reputable UK-based imprint held their semi-annual open call to unagented authors. Given I had books at the ready, I decided to send one in, following their instructions to the letter. Of course, that probably won't lead to anything. Peter McLean, who got started in the publishing world via an AR open call, said he was one of (perhaps) hundreds of applicants. Hundreds. Not good odds.
But, as usual, I believe in having contingencies at the ready. So, when another open call, from Berkeley Books, a Random Penguin imprint held their own open call, I sent the same material to them. Both of these OCs will take a long time to get back to the applicants. AR even stated that they would only respond if there was interest in going forward. So, I might end up ghosted by both of them without even the courtesy of a polite brush-off.
I'm also thinking of making yet another change to the fantasy novel. Originally, I'd added the prologue as a way of conveying to readers (indirectly), "This is the kind of story you'll get. Don't worry if thinks get slow for a bit. We'll return to the action I promised shortly." However, despite that, none of my queries, thus far, have managed to wrangle any further requests beyond the inital requested number of pages (5-50). And I'm growing tired of that. Perhaps if I excise the added material and get right into the main story, things might change.
Report on the Short Fiction Front
Thank you to everyone who read "The Dragon Guide's Diary," when it came out on Androids and Dragons. If you liked it, by all means, share it with others who might enjoy such a darkly funny fantasy story.
In other news, the crowd-funding campaign for the Inter Librarian Loan was successful. Everyone Todd asked to take part in the project will get to take part, even though we didn't reach the second stretch goal in time. But thanks to some old-fashioned number crunching, Todd found a way to make it work. I've had tight word counts before, so this won't be any different. Plus, it'll be a treat to work with Todd again. He and the editing duo at Flash Point SF are the best editing experiences I've yet had as a writer.
Miscellaneous
Over the Memorial Day weekend, my brother graduated from Medical School, officially making him a Doctor. And while I am indeed proud of all his hard work, it also official makes him the favorite in the family. Of course, that was clear a long time ago.
Only way I'll ever be able to top "Doctor" at this point in the eyes of my family is if I become a Nobel Laureate, Pulitzer Prize Winner, NTY Bestseller, and have a book of mine turned into a super successful movie all in the same year. And the likelihood of any one of those happening is less than zero, let alone all of them in a single year.
So, I'm free of that burden.
There is also a new possibility dawning on the horizon for me, that I'm still in the fence about pursuing. I might not pull the trigger on it this year if I can't get all the components aligned properly, but I might. That's up in the air right now, wh8ch is why I'm being purposefully vague at this point. (To be continued...)
Through the month though, despite the black leech's initial presence, I managed to keep up with reading. Though, I must admit, I've mainly focused on fiction and not nonfiction.
In this exhaustively comprehensive biography, Smith covers the life of one of the most public scions of one of America's wealthiest families. Nelson Rockefeller, the four-term governor of New York and former VP of the United States (under Gerald Ford), during his lifetime exemplified that now extinct species of political animal: a Liberal Republican. During his time as the Empire State's chief executive, he pioneered programs at the state level that would go on to influence LBJ's Great Society. Away from the bully pulpit though, he was a much more complicated and flawed man. Art aficionado. Struggling dyslexic. Polyglot. Businessman. Philanthropist. Shameless womanizer. Civil Rights champion. Despite never holding the presidency, in his own understated fashion, he impacted American politics and culture in a way that are still affecting us today.
Why so many people—including me, for the longest time—slept on this book, I do not understand. As a big fan of Weir's other two novels, The Martian and Project Hail Mary, I finally got around to reading this one. To my mind, it's easily Weir's best book, great as his other two novel are. Jasmine, the narrator, is his most complex and flawed character. Artemis, the eponymous location, is his most complicated bit of world-building. And this book's plot is easily his most intricate. Perhaps Jas's more anti-hero personality rubbed people the wrong way after reading about such a nice person in Mark Watney. Although I don't see why that would be a problem in our present culture, where the antihero is king. Maybe her humor, which is present but much more biting and crass, compared to Watney's blunt wit and Grace's silly dad jokes wasn't everyone's preferred beverage. Maybe it was just sexism against fictional females and an assumption that Weir couldn't handle a woman character. Whatever the reason, DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS BOOK. If you like Weir's work as much as I do, you should give this one a chance.
Priest of Bones by Peter McLean
When I watched an interview Jendia Gammon did with this book's author as part of her "Fantasy Author Chat" series on YouTube, he pitched it as "The Godfather as Grimdark Fantasy." And boy does that perfectly encapsulate this novel and its story. Following a meatgrinder of a war that left its survivors shell-shocked and shattered, gangaster-turned army priest, Tomas Piety, and his crew, the Pious Men, return to his hometown to reclaim his "business interests." But, as the damaged and disillusioned often do when their invisible wounds go untreated, he brings the war back with him and turns the streets of his hometown of Ellinburg into the very trenches he just managed to escape. If you enjoy Joe Abercrombie and Glenn Cook, you'll definitely want to pick up this book. The War for the Rose Throne is a quartet of novels, and one I most certainly plan to continue, if only to see how high Tomas Piety's drive can carry him.
The 2020 Hugo Winner for Best Novella had been on my TBR for a long time, but I only just got around to it. About a year ago, a Twitter user calling himself Bigolas Dickolas, sent out a tweet saying everyone should read this book cold and experience it for the wonderful piece of prose it was. And it did not fail to live up to the hype. Lyrical, action-packed, and loaded wiith intelligence and intrigue, Time War is now the gold standard for speculative epistolary novels. I don't want to say much more regarding the story because I want you to seek out the book and discover it's mystery for yourself. I will, however, say this: prepare to get punched in the feels.
My plan now, as far as viewing goes, is to take some time and watch Dune and Dune Part II back to back on Max now that both films are availableto stream. I've purposefully avoided watching the first film all these years specifically so I could watch them both as a doulogy. After that, I plan to watch Dead Boys Detective Agency, on Netflix. Anything that will keep the world of The Sandman alive and viable in the eyes of the Netflix brass is worth my support. Speaking of which, we finally got the trailer for the second Season of The Sandman as well, and just like with the first season, I plan to watch and rewatch it to make sure those algorithm-trusting bastards keep that show on the aire until they finish the full story of Neil Gaiman's magnum opus.
— IMC 🙃
Comments