Doc says Rawr!

I’ve been writing fiction since I was ten years old–for fun, serious writing, not because I had to for school or any other reason.  Most of it has been crap.  Some of it’s been okay.  I haven’t reached a point where I have a manuscript ready to send off to agents or publishers…but that will come sooner rather than later, I’d suspect.

Today, in the midst of cleaning the house and weeding out in the garden, I came across a few of my writing magazines that I hadn’t finished reading–this happens often enough, that I’ll get one of them and not finish reading them to my satisfaction and then they get shuffled someplace in an effort to get my mother to stop complaining about how everyone’s stuff is everywhere cluttering up her house (not going to offer commentary on that one).  So, at some point today I sat down on the couch and thumbed through an article from the May/June 2010 issue of Writer’s Digest that had YA agents and editors talking about the category — how to break into it, what they’re looking for, that kind of thing.

It got me to thinking a bit.  I’ve always written younger protagonists (there are a few notable exceptions, including several of the major supporting cast members in Epsilon and The Last Colony–heck, Adam Windsor is a PoV character in The Last Colony and he’s in his fifties–as well as characters in Fate and Second Chances and its untitled sequel…though I’m not entirely sure elves and dragons count as “older protagonists”), characters ranging from their late teens through their twenties.  In some ways, my characters have aged with me and in others, they certainly have not.

Paranormal and speculative fiction have become huge in young adult fiction, and that subsegement of the genre have yielded works that have transcended the age category (see: Harry Potter and as much as I hate to mention it, Twilight–Vampires do not sparkle thank you very much!).  To carry this even further and away from the article I read, manga, Japanese graphic novels, tend to have speculative, paranormal, and fantastic elements to them as a matter of course.  Manga is extremely popular in the United States–and growing in popularity all the time.

Which brings me to what really got me thinking–the untitled sequel to my D&D-inspired Fate and Second Chances already has two very strong teenage protagonists in it–Alysta Riverden and Kaelen Verrel–and could quite possibly be transformed into a YA novel.  It’s something I’ll have to think about, because the story as it stands right now (in its very early stages–there’s only about 23500 words of ramble to it) is planned to be about as much about Alysta’s father, Talasin, as it is about Lysta and Kael.

But it’s entirely possible, and could be fun.  I’ll just have to do some homework on it, and some thinking.  But maybe.  Just maybe…

…after all, high adventure does well, too.

Back from Wisconsin, and what a glorious trip without worrying about work calling me it was.  I got a bit of writing done, both WoWFic–including starting a new story, “Family Ties“–and work on Epsilon (Jen mentioned last night after her perusal that there was a marked shift between Sam Cooper’s attitude toward Aaron in one scene and her reaction to him the next morning.  I promised her it’d make sense later).

I’m still working in part on the revitalization efforts for Sentinels (US) — the RP community has suffered since the opening of Wyrmrest Accord and everyone has seen a sharp decline in numbers.  But at the same time as it’s brought out the lazy in some folks, it’s brought out the best in others.  One of the new blogs on the blogroll is one of those “bests” — Ravine of Lichbane has started a new blog with fiction and discussion of RP issues that I plan to be following closely myself.

Other recent addition to the blogroll is Erik’s blog.  I’ve known Erik and gamed with him for a long time (back since the days when I was almost exclusively doing things ISRP).  Lately, he’s been getting his campaign setting ready to hopefully query more gaming companies with.  I’ve seen bits and fragments of it, and while 4E is Greek to me, the flavor bits and pieces (which I think he really wanted me to pay attention to) are looking pretty good.

Also poked at Aurora Force with a stick, got set up for Michael Bullian’s tragic death at the Battle of Ithor.  I probably need to start drafting how that’s going to happen so I have it together and ready to go when we get that far.  If we ever get that far.

All in all, considering I spent several hours by a pool every day I was away, it was a pretty productive trip!  I’ll have to post pictures up here soon.

Broke 5000 words on Epsilon 3.5.1 less than halfway through chapter two.  Of course…Lucas Ross decided he wanted to go a little crazy on me, so we’ll see what that does for his relationship with Aaron Taylor further down the line.

I think it’s time to clean and organize my craft area, in the meantime, since I don’t have to go into work!

UC raid tonight.  We’ll see how that goes.   My hopes aren’t too high…but maybe there will be screenshots for later.

Chapter one of draft 3.5.1 seems to be largely complete with a scene between Aaron and Jack wrapping it up.  Ahh, Jack!  How we will miss thee when you’re gone!  Chapter one came in at about 3700 words and I’m into chapter two already.  iTunes is up and playing (bought more music — again), the main floor of the house is vaccuumed, and I’ve got a fresh cup of coffee and an hour before I’m supposed to find out whether or not I’m working today.  We’ll see what pans out.

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Work was okay ’til the end today.  We’ll leave it at that.  The end sucked.

On a brighter note, having gone to the mall at 8:30 this morning, I got to sit with my music and write, so I worked on Epsilon.  We’re up to 3400 words even on the new draft.

Torg tomorrow night!  Very excited.  But I’m always excited for gaming.

Had a guild meeting last night for RoA, which went very well, mercifully.  God only knows what I’d have done if it hadn’t gone well.  It’s such a different animal than AF was, but at the same time it’s really the same.

Jude got threatened last night by a new “evil” guild.  It’s nice to be told that someone inside of your own organization wants to kill you…and then even nicer to surprise them by being wholly unsurprised.  But that’s the nature of the beast.  Jude’s from a noble house of Lordaeron.  She’s a member of the Kirin-Tor.  She doesn’t always play by the rules of the game–of anyone’s game.  Of course people would want to end her.  It’s why Lyyn does what she does.  But yeah…impressive show of RoA solidarity walking out of the guild meeting.  Fun times for all!

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So…apparently, Aaron wants to visit his darkest hour sooner than intended.  I’ve been thinking, and maybe draft 3.5.1 is in the offing (which basically means another fast forward and 3.5, like 3.0, becomes background for everything that comes later).  Anyhow, that’s what’s percolating in my brain, and has been since about 5:15 this evening.  We’ll see what’s born of it after I sleep on it, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea–the more it makes sense to me, more sense than starting it with the mission that breaks him and telling that story pretty much start to finish.

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