Post Mortem

No, I haven't given up yet. There will be more.

You realize that some of this was pretty dire, right?

Definitely. Some wise guy once said that every wanna-be author has a few thousand bad pages that they just have to get out of their system before they can start writing the good stuff. I think that wise guy was right.

For what it's worth, I think the plotting, characterizations, and setting turned out the way I wanted. The problems I have are mostly technical issues with composition and pacing. The obvious conclusion is that I should plow ahead and start the next story arc. In the meantime, I've started to adapt what I've written thus far into a second draft in the form of a graphic novel script.

A big thank you to Jeremy Rizza for helping me get to the end of this story. Your encouragement made a big difference, and your criticism improved my prose.

(And, in case anyone was wondering what the deal was with the shopping mall security guard in "Beating the Odds", please have a look at the Shrine of the Mall Ninja. It's hilarious and horrifying.)

So, stay tuned. More picaresque adventures of dysfunctional heroes in a universe made of deconstructed pop sci-fi tropes are coming up, this time featuring Jack Kirby, "Inferno", and women and the refrigerators who love them.

Delays and Revisions

Further episodes of the story are coming "Real Soon Now" (TM).

I hope this doesn't alienate the few people who are trying to follow the story, but I think it's necessary. Here's why:

I've gotten a fair number of words down, largely because I am essentially publishing first drafts. The point of this blog is to serve as a notebook for my development of this story. However, a story is an agglomeration of small points -- think of stacking grains of sand to build a sandcastle.

Right now, I've got my sandcastle about in the right shape, but the foundations need to be strengthened. There are stylistic problems with my first drafts that need to be fixed.

I welcome any suggestions.

In the meantime, I will make an effort to finish up the current story-line, and then turn to cleaning things up and making the earlier episodes more presentable.

Thanks!

Filling The Void

No, you probably don't know me. Reading this blog probably won't help.

This is a place for me to start writing again, in front of a small audience. I have been making fitful attempt at writing a comic book epic for years, undeterred by the fact that I can't draw and nobody likes superheroes, especially without the pretty pictures.

Reactions thus far have ranged from "I liked it, you have great ideas (but I didn't really read it, so I can't give you any feedback)" to "I hated it and though it was cliched (and I didn't even have to read it to know)" to the most honest null answer, "I don't read things like this."

Actually, the very best reaction was when I sent my draft scripts to a science fiction fan who worked as an editor. I got them back covered with red ink, with comments like "The Order of the Solar Temple were a real organization, using this tragedy in this way is exploitative and in extremely bad taste!" and "Why did she shoot J.F.K.!?! He was a hero to my generation!"

I wish I'd kept those pages dripping with red ink and outrage, but I had to throw it away when I got married, along with a complete run of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol.

I'll start posting bits and pieces about my story as time permits. Perhaps it will be the next vanity press bestseller...