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Posts Tagged ‘IsInk’

This is going to be hard…

Posted in editing, writing, tagged , , on July 8, 2015| 4 Comments »

Like, scary hard.

I have this series- No, let’s be more specific. It’s an anthology, really. Same set of characters with different short stories and novellas about them. A good friend and great editor has told me to package it into a novel. So, trying to figure out the lay of the book, I put each story on its own index card, then tried getting them into some sort of novel form.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No.

The issue is that each short story grew the characters in some way, which is great, obviously. I’d have been falling down on the job if they hadn’t. But how do I cut and splice these into a coherent whole? I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to make them into two or three novels. Now I have the task of getting each book it’s own solid plot as well as the over-arching plot of the multiple books. The first book will be nearly all new material, never before seen. That’s exciting. And the major climatic point of the whole “series” will also be never-before-seen stuff. I have to admit it is really nice to be able to use all the ideas and partially written bits that had never had the chance to make it into the original. It’s more than nice. It’s exciting and fun and I’ll be happy that my unfinished story will get to be finished for real this time. Back in the before times, I burned out and we closed the site pretty quickly, so I could only give as soft a landing as I could for readers. This is going to be good. Really, really daunting. But, yeah, good.

And I’ve got a name for the island, so double-good!

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Name That Island!

Posted in writing, tagged , on July 5, 2015| 1 Comment »

oasis-clipart-deserted_island_with_palm_trees_0071-0908-2315-0253_SMU

Open call for anyone who wants to name a fictional island. It must be in Spanish. Or Chumash, if you know it.

Characteristics of the island:

  • It’s an archipeligo
  • It’s off the coast of Southern California
  • It is an island that had been used for target practice by the Navy during WWII.
  • It is “in the middle” of two other sets of islands, the Northern islands and the Southern Islands.
  • It was turned into a resort with a small year-round population.

I’ve only been able to come up with Santa Bonita, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense, unless there really is a Saint Beauty. And Isla Bonita is from a Madonna song. …maybe not enough people know that song? Could I get away with it? Hmm.

Ok, creative peoples! Sock it to me! Name. That. Island! (studio audience goes crazy)

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Island Ink in Progress

Posted in editing, writing, tagged , , , on July 4, 2015| 2 Comments »

Some of you may know that I wrote a series of serial fiction called Island Ink. It’s been hidden away from mass consumption for a few years now and I need to get it out there. So I’ve been editing it. The biggest part about editing this particular work is that I have to change its location from a Caribbean island to… somewhere else. I had been working on putting its new location in Chesapeake Bay. I thought that was perfect. And I’ve been diligently switching weather and seasons and fauna from the Caribbean to Maryland.

I just realized I have no clue what Maryland is like.

Talk about writing what you know! It’s not like there is a plethora of movies or tv shows based in the Chesapeake Bay to even give a writer a clue. Best I could come up with is some nature documentaries. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, but, seriously, this is not working. Maryland is a state between the South and the North, oh, and it’s on the East coast. All three things I know nothing about and there is no way I can take a quick jaunt across the country to explore the location. What the hell was I thinking? It took me six chapters to figure this out?

So, here I am, realizing my stories are once again taking place in the air. The great, blank air.

I hate editing my own work. I can’t be trusted with it.

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