October 13, 2011 at 6:10 pm (Uncategorized)
I write novels, novellas, plays (screen, theatre, radio), shorts, the occasional poem. Mostly science fiction. Mostly unpublished.
If you’d like to publish my work, or are interested in realizing a project with me, don’t hesitate to contact me via the about page.
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Find me in German/Und auf Deutsch: Subreatropolis.org
May 13, 2012 at 7:53 am (Camp NaNoWriMo)
Tags: A pirate's life for me, Camp NaNoWriMo
Camp NaNo approacheth…
Behold my project for camp:
I was going to write a screenplay for this idea I’ve had whilst finishing my last novel. But then, while I was pondering what to do with this idea, I tried combining it with an abandoned but not forgotten project that’s still patiently resting on my harddrive, awaiting its rediscovery.
I twisted and warped it, drowned a few half-baked thoughts in tea, and finally ended it all by declaring to myself: let’s do the abandoned project!
Firstly, because it deserves more love and attention.
Secondly, because this one has the potential to be a series, and I’m into this right now.
So what I’m going to do is, I’m going to work out a mythology/plot arch for the entire series, and then write the pilot.
I realize that this makes me a rebel again. I reversed the roles – I wrote a novel for ScriptFrenzy, and now I write a script for Camp NaNo. Which means, I probably won’t win, because it’s kind of hard to fit 50,000 words into a script and a treatment. But what the hej, who’s in it for the winning certificate, anyway, eh?!
The thing is, I’m moving in June, so I have to hurry to finish it all before I dismantle the computer and have no internet for John knows how long.
Stay tuned for news and the odd excerpt, and feel free to check out my Camper Profile!
May 9, 2012 at 6:13 am (News from the Grot, Writer's Garage)
Tags: News from the Grot, Team Edward, The Queen of Lies
Title: The Queen of Lies (working title)
Pages: 159
Words: 48,233
Chapters: 14 in a way, but two of them have sub-chapters of their own
Status: Finished (May 7th, 2012)
~*~
I can hardly believe it myself – I am done. Well, with the first draft, but seriously: done.
Despite Real Life being a completel goit, despite the flu from hell, and despite the fact that my work space is cluttered with moving boxes.
I feel adequately smug. I also have nothing else to say. This is my celebratory post!
I love this time – when a project is just finished, and you go back in your mind, wallow through everything again, smoothe out the crinks, maybe even have a late epiphany of sorts and rewrite a paragraph; but there’s no rush anymore. No deadline, no feeling of having to reach the ending as soon as humanly possibly. It’s just you and the story, like it should be; and you can fall in love with every page all over again.
Before long there’ll be read-throughs and punctuation checks, the last pit stops before the finale: sending queries out.
The cool thing is now that I’ve finished this project, I am relatively free to work on my Camp NaNoWriMo one… no rest for the weird!
April 28, 2012 at 6:55 pm (Geekville)
Tags: Geekville, The Queen of Lies
The next day went off like a rifle in the night, or so it seemed to Lynch. One minute he was peacefully slumbering the worries of the world away, the next he was wakened by the rude cacophony that was the ringing of his cell phone, a colony of birds reciting the equivalent of Shakespeare outside, and a voice next to his ear moaning, “Honey, your phone. Pick up. Switch it off. Phone. Phone!”
~*~
Behold. I am almost done. Almost. Done.
Am now on page 131 of the novel, and only three (3! THREE!) more chapters to go. Today and yesterday, the muses have been nice to me; they hovered around me, patted my head, fed me cookies, and blew kisses in my general direction. I felt creative and loved.
Let me share my feels about this with you using an appropriate picture that the muses have taken, and that shows the inside of my mind when I saw what I had accomplished:
see more Set Phasers To Lol
__________________
“Women and geeks first! Oh, no, wait, that’s all of us.”
-Henry Foss
April 26, 2012 at 6:28 am (Script Frenzy, Writer's Garage)
Tags: Go ask Jacob!, Script Frenzy, The Queen of Lies
So Greg and I spent all our pocket money on hot dogs on our last day, to stock up on them for the trip. But then we thought, best to eat them while they’re still warm, and then we ate all but one at once. We were sick all the way to Connecticut, it was fantastic.
~*~
Script Frenzy is almost over. I’ve long passed the 100 page marker, but I’m not entirely done with the novel. I doubt I’ll finish it this month, because that would mean writing 1/4 of it this weekend, and I just don’t believe it’s gonna happen.
But I have a dream, you know. A dream that one day I make my living with writing, and no stupid Real Life can mess with my head…
… I’ll meet Steven Spielberg for lunch, who is excited about the new sci-fi series we’re doing together; and Michael Bay calls me to ask for a new apocalyptic catastrophe movie, or at least my input on ‘Battleship II’. Then I’ll have to say I have to clear this with Jerry Bruckheimer first, because he wants to produce whatever project I come up with next. In the evening, the studio call to beg me to consider George Clooney for the lead role in my upcoming movie, because his agent keeps calling. But I’m adamant, I’ll say I’ve written this role specifically for Nicholas Lea, and if they don’t like it, they can hire another writer/director, which, of course, they’d never even consider.
Then I unplug the phone to have some peace and quiet, and continue writing my next book …
Actually I can live with just having the peace and quiet to write books, and the knowledge that I don’t have to worry about day jobs to finance it. That’s all I want. I’m quite modest that way …
Yeah, well. Until then there’s still a lot of work to do, but I do believe I just have to hold on to this dream and then one day it’ll become reality. That’s the beauty of dreams, you know. Disney taught me that. Yep. Just gotta have some faith, sir.
__________________
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
-Walt Disney
April 24, 2012 at 4:52 pm (Geekville, News from the Grot, Script Frenzy)
Tags: Bernard Black is the voice in my head, Geekville, Script Frenzy, Team Krycek
The critical phase of writing a novel is the 2/3 itch, IMHO. Once you’ve passed the PSR (point of safe return), things tend to get a bit blurry, at least for me they do.
One, I get lazy. It’s like, Oh man! I’ve written so much, can’t I be done already??!! Le whine. And then I go sit in the corner and watch episodes of my favorite TV shows until the sun goes down.
Two, Real Life becomes even more of a strain than it normally is, and by strain I mean horribly nasty pain in the butt. I can’t even concentrate on relatively ‘easy’ tasks like going grocery shopping. Not only can I not be bothered, but I forget what to buy, or I forget the list I’ve written, or I stare at the products and don’t see them, because my mind is on a whole other level. More so than usual.
I don’t get anything else done until the project I’m working on is finished, and this is always exactly the moment when my mind decides to turn on me, stabs me right in the heart, twists the knife around and laughs in my face.
Because this is the time where I suddenly have this other truly incredible, brilliant, beautiful idea for another novel/script; and part of me wants to sit and write it all down right now so I’ll never forget it. But that’s the beginning of the end, the entrance to the outer circles of Hell Inc., because if I do that, I’ll completely lose all willpower to finish the novel I was working on before.
A horrible dilemma.
Lose the new idea (or at least watch it fade a bit before my inner eye) or lose the project I have nursed into existence for so long. An impossible choice. These are the moments when I just know there is evil in the world.
I have no solution to this.
I usually try to force myself to sit and finish one thing before I seriously get involved with another. Otherwise it’s like balancing two mistresses at the same time, who must never find out they’re not the only one.
Sadly, I live for the (literary) challenge.
So, Hell Inc., stock up on the chocolate cigars and get my usual room ready – Momma’s coming home!
The essence of this post: I have this beautiful new idea for a movie script…
__________________
“A good leader prepares for every contingency.”
-Hannibal Smith
April 13, 2012 at 12:06 pm (Script Frenzy)
Tags: Script Frenzy, Team Krycek, The Queen of Lies
Quietly he turned his head and there she was – as peaceful as ever, as beautiful as any angel. Bathed in the twilight of the morning sun streaming through the window and the switched on lamp on the nightstand; hair like a waterfall covering the pillow, a sparkle in the corner of her lips like the hint of a smile that was just for him.
~*~
So it is Friday the 13th, and I’ve just crossed the 100 pages marker. I’m not nearly done with the novel, but I can’t help feeling all smug and accomplished.
Stats:
Pages in total: 105
Words in total: 30,759
Is the plot thickening?: Like pudding.
Is everyone having a good time?: I am, definitely. Mel is down with the flu and suffers heroically while Jethro sneers at him for whining all the time. Gilligan is in a sort of catatonic shock, because we ran out of biscuits this morning.
I meant the protagonists: Oh. Sorry. Yeah, they’re, uh, they’re all… fine. -ish. I think.
How’s Mr April?: Absolutely brilliant, thanks for asking!
Anyhoo, I can’t slack now, as I have, like, a gazillion pages still to go. But at least another 100. Maybe I’ll even manage to finish the novel this month, which would be an awesome treat, as this summer is going to be packed with ugly Real Life stuff. So here’s to getting back to writing.
_________________
“In your quest to find the one image which perfectly sums up MJN Air and everything it stands for, you’ve elected for a shot of twelve Scottish cricketers in the Sahara desert, wearing swimsuits and carrying a fire engine.”
-Douglas
April 9, 2012 at 6:25 pm (Script Frenzy, Writer's Garage)
Tags: I need more Toby Keith in my life, Script Frenzy, The Queen of Lies
“Do you think,” wondered Summer, mouth full of cheese and bread, “They look out of the window and see Oklahoma and want to parachute down here because it’s so beautiful? Because that’s what I’d probably want to do, if I were on a plane. It’s so high up, and down here it’s so awesome, and it would hurt my heart to be so far away, and then I’d want to be here at once. I think there should be people all the time who’d want to jump off planes when they fly over here.”
~*~
Chocolate easter eggs agreed with my writing. Am on page 52 now, and have passed another important marker in my novel’s progress.
Anyhoo, is it me, or does tormenting one’s protagonists emotionally affect one’s own feelings? I had to put one of my minor characters through some awful ordeal, and I kept feeling incredibly bad about it. I whispered “I’m sorry, love, I’m so, so sorry!” at the computer screen, whilst typing all the horrible stuff. I take consolation in the fact that it helps the character grow as a person.
Mr April says I’m being a gimboid, but, really, what does he know?, he’s made of paper!
April 5, 2012 at 10:15 am (Script Frenzy, Writer's Garage)
Tags: Script Frenzy, Team 23, The Queen of Lies, Writer's Garage
She violently flung her arms around his stomach and buried her face in his shirt. Before she could stop herself, she was crying apologies over and over, as if every “I’m sorry” would make the hurt go away a little more.
~*~
Day 5. It has happened. I have reached the finale of the first installment (at 10,067 words), which is the upbeat for the next part. So yay.
Stats!
Pages: 30
In words that’s: 10,067
In tea that’s: three pots a day
Am I in love, yet?: yes. His name is Mr April, he lives in my wall calendar
Main inspirational music these days: blessed silence
Main distraction: doing adult stuff like cleaning and groceries
Main food source: cookies
____________
“Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they’re going to be. And it breaks your heart. Because what’s the point in them being happy now, if they’re going to be sad later? The answer is, of course: because they’re going to be sad later.”
-Eleven
April 2, 2012 at 1:48 pm (Script Frenzy, Writer's Garage)
Tags: Script Frenzy, The Queen of Lies, Writer's Garage
Thus she arrived at her home in a mood of bloodthirsty revenge. So caught up in her very creative plans to fully destroy their neighbor was she that she walked straight into a boy, because for once she was actually using the front door to enter the hotel.
On page 16 the second most important person arrives and meets the first most important person!
I am bouncy. I am thrilled. I am highly in love with my male protagonist, who, admittedly is a thirteen year old boy, but my love is purely platonic, rest assured. He is just so adorable and awesome, and if I could, I’d put together a brilliant picspam, but, obviously, that would be copyright infringement, so all I can do is squee quietly and hint that, in my head, he is sort of a combo of Cole Sprouse, kid!D.B. Sweeney and young Wil Wheaton. In a cowboy hat.