Thursday Chapter! More, More, MORE.....

You know, if the universe rewarded people who wrote a LOT of fictional content, I'm fairly sure I'd be eligible for SOMETHING. :-)

Today, on offer, is the second chapter of the project that I'm doing with my fellow writer Rachel Gold/Calish and the artists Mandie Brasington and Alexis Cooke, the School for Wayward Demons and Misfit Witches. This chapter is called "Lily Has No Choice: entertheunseen.com/lily-has-no-choice/ and introduces demon-hunter, tracker extraordinary (retired) Lily, who is a character from Rachel Calish's book The Demon Abraxas. (There might be other cameos too....) :-)

DOUBLE-STUFF Tuesday!

I have a lot to announce today. As usual, I have updated my work-in-progress on Wattpad. In this installment, the werewolves are getting restless and the demons discuss fate vs. freewill. www.wattpad.com/73575290-unjust-cause-part-24-demons-and-fate

A number of people have been curious about how Wattpad has been working for me. I have to say that it's gotten better. At first, I have to admit to being disappointed by the number of people reading. I'd had higher hopes that Tate's name would draw a bigger initial crowd. But, now that I'm fairly established (this is my 24th installment, which means there's AT LEAST 24,000 words up--I believe there's probably closer to 30,000 or 35,000 because my first few installments ran longer that a thousand words,) I'm pleased with the number of hits I'm getting. People seem to be slowly continuing to find me, too. I've been keeping up better on FB and Twitter and Tate's blog, so I think that's helped when people go looking.

At any rate, I still think that it's not a perfect model. I wish you didn't have to log-in to leave comments or kudos, and I wish more people were willing to critique me, like my colleagues do on AO3 with my fan work. That being said, Wattpad works really well for me and my needs, however. As I've said, what I need most of all is a reason to keep putting words on the page, and Wattpad is making me do it weekly. And I'm getting just enough feedback to make the whole thing seem worthwhile.

So, that's Wattpad...

My other big announcement today is that my friend Rachel and I are launching a website/serial novel WITH ILLUSTRATIONS by artists Mandie Brasington and Alexis Cooke. The main site is here: entertheunseen.com and you can read the first installment here: http://entertheunseen.com/a-very-small-heist-of-epic-implications-01-01/.





So... this is another grand experiment. If you go to the website, you can see that you can follow us on Facebook and Tumblr. We've also put up a tip jar.... something I've never tried before. We're also going to be going on a fairly aggressive publishing schedule: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays--though Saturday may be bonus content like more art or a podcast of the previous chapters.

The story is going to follow four characters, an ensemble cast. Rachel and I wrote a lot of the chapters together, but ostensibly we've divided the characters between us. She had Theo, a thief and a shapeshifter, pictured above with some of the forms she can transform into. She's also got Kitty, a half-demon with mommy issues. I'm writing Gabe, a lost soul who can see things other people can't...





And Erin, a very special demon-spawn who has had an insanely awful life....



Anyway, it's been a very interesting process to work not only with a collaborative writer, but also with artists.

Generally, though, the site is new and probably has some bugs yet. So, if you go there and you see a problem or just have general comments or complaints, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I'd like to make this experience as pleasant and intuitive as possible.

Okay, that's the general news! Have a great Tuesday!

Learning fic from a MASTER :-)

Starting in January, I'm teaching (with my friend Rachel Gold) writing fan fic to ADULTS:

https://www.loft.org/classes/detail/?loft_product_id=96011

So, if you're local, come get your geek on!  We'll help you write that epic fic you've always dreamed of writing and/or improve your writing in general.

Updatery

First, I have to apologize for not getting a UnJust Cause segment together this week.  My only excuse is that I worked nearly a 40 hour week, and I had two evening gigs: my Hobbit panel on Monday and the first of many Japanese language classes from Community Ed. on Tuesday.... so it's kind of been an insane week around the Tate Hallaway household.

However, Mason and I did podcast.  Here it is: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/26-mason-and-lydas-inter-directional-adventures/

Thursday Evening Podcast

Mason and I posted #25, in which we discuss Bleach, Toriko, One Piece, and a number of other monthlies I got sucked into.  http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/25-barrel-of-monkeys/

A Front Row Seat to the Writing Process

And... it's a bit messy.

This is my way of saying that I've had some epiphanies about my work-in-progress, but since I'm writing this 'out loud' I'm having to wrestle the plot back under control in a very public way. Still, I think this whole thing is kind of valuable. I mean, how often do you, as a reader, get a chance to watch a writer figuring a novel out as she goes along?

I feel like this is clunky, but it will be interesting to see what my regular readers make of it. Because, maybe, it's not as obvious as I feel it is. It's hard to say. Go see what you think, if you'd like.

I will admit that I nearly named this chapter, "Part 23: In which things come to a head and a decision is made..." a very A. A. Milnes kind of chapter title, but I decided instead to call it "Part 23: Word Up."

The Manga Chapters Are Mocking Me!

Seriously, so yesterday I get the alert that Blue Exorcist is out the day AFTER Mason and I podcasted, and then, last night, another one came in--Shingeki no Kyojin #61 (aka Attack on Titan.)

To that end, I've written up YET ANOTHER review for the Mangakast page: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/shingeki-no-kyojin-61-a-review/.

In a nutshell, I'm just not sure about this "The End" to the political goings-on in Shingeki no Kyojin. As I say in my review, it seems a bit... simple, which doesn't bode well for the manga's conclusion in general. But, I shall wait and see.

My Unsolicited Opinion of Things

Yeah, you so didn't ask.  But, I'm going to tell you anyway.  The new Ms. Marvel title is fairly frickin' awesome.  I have a couple of caveats (one, actually,) but I give it my full endorsement.  I wrote a whole extensive post about it over on my alter ego's Dreamwidth page: http://lydamorehouse.dreamwidth.org/352141.html

Also? Mason and I managed to miss the publication of the latest chapter of Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist by ONE DAY, so I wrote up a review of it over on MangaKast: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/ao-no-exorcist-60-review/

The Ever-Moving MangaKast

The schedule for the publication of our manga keeps getting shifting, but we're trying to stay on top of it!  To that end, Mason and I have published our 24th podcast: 24: Otaku in the Basement.  In it we discuss the recent chapters of Bleach, One Piece, Toriko, and a new manga I started reading Hitogatana.  If you're the sort, check it out!  Enjoy!

Tate's Tuesday!

Having completely missed last week thanks to internet fail and school starting with a bang, I am back today with a new weekly installment of her work-in-progress, serialized sequel to Precinct 13 on Wattpad. Check it out! In this one, Valentine FINALLY shares some secrets...

www.wattpad.com/70174389-unjust-cause-part-22-dragonkin

I don't know what else I have to report. I spent part of the weekend reviewing the e-book mark-up of my AngeLINK short story, "The Case of the Missing Devil Child," which Wizard's Tower Press is offering as part of the full AngeLINK e-book bundle that people purchased as a premium for https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/accessing-the-future (there are still a few left, btw.) Similarly, I need to go over the proofs for the e-version of Resurrection Code, so we can get that out the door.

I'm also working hard on revising the "seekrit" project I alluded to in the previous post. So, soon there will be EVEN MORE places to read my stuff.

Our cat Inky gets to go to the vet today. He's been having litter box trouble again. This isn't a new problem, but we had it under control, or at least in a more tolerable way. Something seems to have happened--either he panicked after all our various vacations or he's got some new irritation in his bladder. We thought the vet ought to have a look, at any rate. Fingers crossed that it's something fixable. Shawn is kind of at wit's end with all the extra laundry he's caused.

Scheduling and Apologies for Lack of Post

If you were looking for a new chapter of UnJust Cause, my sincerest apologies.  Our internet crashed and burned and we only really got it up and running a day or so ago.  I will be back to my usual schedule next week.  

This was also the start of school for my son and we have a crazy new start time that we're ALL still getting used to.

We actually got the podcast recorded and posted early this morning, but I had to run off to work at the Maplewood Library, so I forgot to do all the social media-ing to let people know it was out and up. If you want to listen to it, you can find ihere:http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/you-and-me-23/.

Figuring out the new manga publishing schedule as well as Mason's o'heck o'clock school start time is kind of doing a number on us. We may end up shifting our 'broadcasting' schedule again... to be timely, we may have to post on Thursday nights. That might work out all around, since I'll be more caffeinated and we won't have to have Shawn breathing down our necks that it's time to get going. (Though that added a certain otaku flavor that I really liked.)

At the library today my manga find was volumes 1 &2 of : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingyo_Used_Books (known in Japanese as Kingyoya Koshoten). I've been trying to find an on-line source for it with no luck. It's a combination of two genres I like in manga--slice-of-life and manga about manga. The "main character" (there's kind of couple at the center) is the woman pictured on the cover below, who has taken over general management of her grandfather's legendary used manga store. Stuff happens around them, manga changes people's lives, and a lot of manga are discussed and quoted.







I haven't decided how I feel about it, but it's a lot of fun.

MangaKast has Moved...

As I'm sure many of you have heard, Weekly Shounen Jump has changed its publication date. The translations were scheduled to come out Friday, but we managed (like many people who were crashing the various translation sites) to read them on Thursday afternoon. We decided to stick with a Friday AM publication, anyway, because, honestly, I suspect it will settle into that soon enough. Anyway, you can get the link to our podcast here: mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/22-we-love-you/

In this podcast, I actually spend some time trying to figure out why this last chapter left me feeling unsettled. Ultimately, I think I decided it was the questions that a certain scene opened... but go listen. I'm actually fairly articulate for once, which is fairly amazing considering how little coffee I had before we started this.

At Wyrdsmiths last night I was overwhelmed by a desire to doodle and drew this on my paper cup:

I call her "meep" and she seems to be at least partly inspired by Digger (by Ursula Vernon), which Mason has been re-reading. She also has a very long, dinosaur like tail on the other side of the cup and has probably been recycled by now.... but she made me think that I should try to draw a graphic novel type thing with these kinds of fantasy characters. Because, you know, if I don't get the bodies just right, WHO WOULD EVEN KNOW?? :-)

Tuesdays with Tate

Today is Tuesday, which means you can read the newest installment of my work-in-progress, UnJust Cause, a serialization of the sequel to Precinct 13. In this episode, Alex hangs out with the werewolf biker gang while on run from the demon agents... http://www.wattpad.com/67753844-unjust-cause-part-21-heart-breakers-and-heart

When Rivendell Calls, I Answer

The Rivendell Discussion Group of the Mythopoeic Society has invited me to join their discussion of "The Hobbit: That Wasn't in the Book" at Common Good Books in St. Paul on Monday, September 22 at 7 PM. (September 22, of course, being the date recognized as Bilbo and Frodo's birthday by most Hobbit/LotRs fans.)

Apparently, Gandalf David was having some trouble finding a burglar panelist for this gig. I'm not quite sure about this funny mark he's left of my door, but I'm sure it will all be fine. I'm not really the adventurous type, you know. Do hope there might be a bit of singing, though (and some sexy dwarves.)

Fingers crossed. See you there, perhaps.

Fingers to the Keyboard, Nose to the Grindstone

I'm having one of those writing days where I feel like every word I write is stupid and nothing comes easily. It's only annoying because I haven't had much time to write this weekend, since I worked both Saturday and Sunday.

When I have days like this, I always remember back to the interview I did with Neil Gaiman for Science Fiction Chronicle back in god-knows-how-long-ago. He talked about that classic idea that really, showing up is the biggest part of writing, but his contribution to that old saw was that it's worth the effort. At the end of a novel or story or whatever, for the most part you can't really tell the difference in the writing between the days when every word was like squeezing blood from a turnip and the ones where you felt like the Muse dribbled gold out each finger. So, you know, the difference between someone who writes and someone who doesn't, is that the writer just keeps banging away, even when it's hard. (That's the gist of it, except, of course, he said it cleverer.)

Also, I take comfort that someone like Neil Gaiman has had shit-for-writing days, too.

Why So Dark, YA?

Today at the library I got cornered by one of those people who you just know is winding up for a rant about something.

After asking me if I worked there, she launched into a Thing about how dark young adult novels were getting and how we shouldn't be surprised when our children axe-murder us in our sleep after reading things like that. Tisk, tisk and all that.

I mostly nodded politely because I don't believe for a minute that teenagers are any more likely to axe-murder me over something they read or a game they played, than I would have when I was that age and read and played the same sorts of things. (Look, when I was coming of age, it was the horrors of Dungeons & Dragons... there's always something that's going to Ruin the Youth of Today.)

However, what this woman complained about is old news to some extent, and she's certainly not alone in worrying about it. I told her so. I also told her that I felt that some of what she was worrying about is actually a somewhat new (though, again, not really) trend in young adult books towards dystopian futures, which aren't actually about feeling sad and powerless at all, but about the need at a certain age to change the world, a desire to have a clear-cut enemy, and to DO SOMETHING to make things right. This is a Good Thing disguised as a Bad Thing.

I didn't tell her, because I knew she couldn't hear that, that I also believe books about self-harm and other things aren't so much 'how-to' books for self-destruction as novels that help people feel less alone (like I did when I discovered that there were other gay people, thanks in large part to science fiction). Maybe these were never issues written about when we were young, but... I knew people who self-harmed when I was a teen, so you know, writing about it doesn't bring it into existence, it just makes the issues less invisible.

But that was an argument I was sure to lose, so I just nodded politely. And, you know, YA *is* darker now than when I was a teen, but when I was a teen it also wasn't its own section. We didn't really have YA as a separate thing. We had juvenile and we had grown-up books. A lot of people my age had to get our parents' permission to have free range of the library once we'd grown out of Dr. Seuss. So, you know, I tried Lady Chatterly's Lover at sixteen (I missed the sex. Seriously. Completely.) I also read Go Ask Alice and didn't become a drug-addict, funny enough. Thus, I've never worried over much about books corrupting people.

At any rate.

When she really, really wanted to agree with me that it was All Bad, I told her I don't make the buying decisions for the library. If the kids want it, we stock it. What are you going to do?

Ultimately, she thanked me for such an interesting discussion

Have I mentioned I love working at the library? I do, actually. I really do.

UP-Coming Teaching Gigs

It occurs to me that people who read me here may be interested to know that I have several fan fiction writing gigs that I'll be teaching via The Loft Literary Center coming up:

First, for TEENS:

On Monday, October 13 from 6:00-7:30 pm I'll be the Loft's "First Pages" instructor for "Writing Fan Fiction" a program for teens at the Savage Library. The library is located at 13090 Alabama Ave South, Savage, MN.

The program description reads: Do you long to carry on the amazing story lines of your favorite novels, and live with your most treasured characters beyond the final page of the final chapter? That's what fan fiction is for! Learn how to carry on your favorite story lines--and invent your own--in this engaging class on extending the lives of your favorite characters.


On Thursday, October 16 as part of the Teen Writing Converence at the Loft, I'll be teaching a 75-minute workshop called "Capturing Kudos: Pro Tips for Improving Your Fan Fiction

The program description reads: Some people might tell you that writing fan fic is 'easier' because so much has already been established in terms of characterization and world-building. The people who say that, however, probably haven't actually tried it. The truth is, fan fiction requires all the same skills as writing anything, plus the author has to be constantly aware of canon and how it reflects on what they're writing (even AU), as well as readers who might scream OOC! This workshop will give you pro tips on how to improve your writing in general and in specific to fan fic's quirks from the perspective of someone who is not only a professionally published author, but also a prolific fan writer as well. As part of this workshop, we will practice beta reading for each other with an eye on setting, themes, conflict, and sensory details.

Second, for ADULTS:

My friend Rachel Gold and I will be co-teaching: "Using Fan Fiction to Improve Your Writing" on Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m. from January 21 to February 25, 2015--which will be part of the Loft's winter course catalogue. Technically, we're waiting for Rachel to confirm, but I wanted to get this info out there so that people can plan ahead. The Loft classes can be pretty pricey, but keep in mind there are always a few, limited number of scholarships available.

I haven;t yet heard from the Loft about whether or not my solo proposal for an in-class winter Science Fiction/Fantasy class is going to go, but I'm excited to be co-teaching with Rachel, if nothing else. Should be a blast. I'll post our course description once everything is 100% confirmed. In fact, you may be hearing about this class a lot, since I really want it to be successful. First of all, I think there's a huge market for it and it would be wonderful for the Loft to recognize that and offer more classes like it. Second, it would just be nifty to have a legit way to get paid to talk about fan fic! :-)

Textbook Feelings

Every time I pick up a book about drawing, I end up learning more about myself than I do art.

I ordered Foundations in Comic Book Art: Fundamental Tools and Techniques for Sequential Artists by John Paul Lowe from Blogging for Books this month because I’m a frustrated artist.

As the title suggests, this is a book aimed at teaching fundamentals to beginners. It is a book chock full of exercises focused on improving basic skills, from learning to draw straight lines to understanding the specialized needs of visual storytelling. The example art throughout is magnificent, and for every lesson there’s a written and visual example. The tone of the book is fairly serious. It is clearly intended for someone like myself, who is desperately looking a way to ‘level up,’ and gain the extra skill sets needed to become a comic book artist/graphic novelist.

Lowe’s book should have been perfect for me, but after reading through it several times and trying some of the examples, I ended up instead with a visceral emotional response which can be summed up in two words: I suck.

The forward and introduction to Lowe’s book suggest this is the very last feeling that I should’ve come away with. Lowe is very much of the belief (as am I) that art, like any skill, can be learned by anyone regardless of innate talent given enough time and energy.

I’m not sure what it is about this book that left me with that feeling. As I’ve said, this is a textbook aimed at teaching basics. Yet I left it feeling like there was no way I could ever master any of it (despite being far from a novice artist,) and it was all too overwhelming.

I wonder if it wasn’t because all the art shown was so good? This is one of those art textbooks where I’m already green with envy just looking at the instruction images that are supposed to be teaching me to see basic shapes in every day items, and instead of seeing the circles and squares, I’m thinking: damn, look at that cool apple! How come I can’t draw an apple like that??

There are a few playful images in the textbook, but even those examples showcase tremendous skill in background drawing. There were no examples that made me feel: oh, hey, I can do that.

There were no suggestions for work-arounds. Like, for instance, in my own comic book art, I have been known to cheat. I’ll take original photographs and use them as background images:

The other thing that was missing from this book that’s been tremendously helpful for me, as someone who has considered coming into graphic novel writing from the other side is, a script. There’s a very specific kind of writing format that comic book WRITERS use that I’ve been privileged to see thanks to a friend of mine who works for Marvel and DC. What looking at those taught me was how important it is for the writer of comic books (if they’re not the artist) to think visually as well and consider how much text/dialogue can reasonably fit in a panel.

So, while I think this is probably an awesome textbook to go with a class, I’m not entirely sure how well it works for me. There are two huge chapters at the end of this book that are specific to digital programs that I’m not using. I would have preferred that space be used to talk more about the business of comic book writing.

Your mileage may vary.

As I said, my strong emotional reaction to what is essentially a textbook surprised me.

P.S. If you're curious about my initial response, I catalogued it here: http://lydamorehouse.dreamwidth.org/348468.html

Manga Wednesday

Mason and I giggled our way through our podcast this morning: 21: Zombies Lose Their Sh*t.  Go listen if you're at all interested in hearing us mutter vaguely incoherently about Bleach, One Piece, and Toriko (with smatterings of squee for Bleach List Girl, and discussions of Fairy Tale, Gekken Shoujo Nozaki-kun [the anime], and Hourou Musuko.)

In other news, our car broke down this morning.  It sucked, but there were some good things about it: it wasn't far from home (just up the block), it was early enough that Shawn could easily catch the bus, and it might be something fairly simple like my alternator.  The tow truck guy was nice and he was able to take it away and leave us at home.  It might be a hassle to go pick it up, but at least we get to wait for news about repair costs in the comfort of our own home.  Sucks, but, honestly?  I can't complain too much.

Back from Vacation!

After a short hiatus while my family was on vacation to Washington, DC, I'm back to posting my work-in-progress over at Wattpad.  You can read "Part 20: Shatterer of Worlds" here: http://www.wattpad.com/66446311-unjust-cause-part-20-shatterer-of-worlds

My description for this one is: "In which Alex discovers just how much she sucks as a fugitive from the law."

Also, you may see a spike in activity over here.  My alter ego's LJ has finally exceeded its free photo storage limit, and since I have a TON of vacation pictures I'd like to share, I may post them here along with a travelogue of our adventures and mis-adventures.  I'm still not quite sure if that's the best solution since it's so difficult to tell who uses my LJ and for what.  I mean, for the most part, people have been saying Live Journal is dead for years.  Yet, I know plenty of people who seem to still follow my alter ego there.

Honestly, there's been a lot of talk on one of my e-mail writers' groups about how blogs are kind of dead, too.  Most people are finding out news about their favorite authors through social media like Twitter and Facebook.  So... who knows what the smartest thing to do is.