Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt September 24, 2013 - 3:13pm

There seemed to be some interest in starting this thread:

Discuss your current work in progress. Share the genre, basic theme/plot, a paragraph, title, and anything else you'd like to add. You can be as vague or as detailed as you're comfortable with. If you're at a standstill, bounce your ideas off of other members. Whatever.

Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt September 24, 2013 - 3:38pm

I'll go first:

I'm currently working on a short piece of a much larger work (maybe a novel?). I haven't settled on the name yet...but I'm considering "To The Necropolis, Margot Comes" and I think it'll be a dark fantasy/horror story.

The story follows two creatures, Margot and Meesha, (I'm considering pixies, faeries, or something similar) as they venture out towards the edge of their world, where some sort of ritual sacrifice has to happen because...well, because it's always happened. It's an apocalyptic sort of setting.

My goal for this is to have a good balance of horror and fantasy, both of which I'm still fresh in. I also want to have strong character development. I want readers to feel for the two. I also want my wife to fall in love with it, since she always says I don't write enough fiction she likes (She's a big fantasy reader).

Depending on how heavily it leans on one side or the other, I plan on submitting to either Nightmare Magazine, Clarkesworld, or Shimmer (<Currently has a story of mine in consideration, so I'll have to wait). Long shots, I know, but I'm trying to be optimistic. :)

Shannon Barber's picture
Shannon Barber from Seattle is reading Paradoxia: A Predators Diary by Lydia Lunch September 24, 2013 - 4:39pm

I'm currently working on a little set of very dark erotic stories that aren't necessarily explicit. I'm leaning towards putting them into a loosely themed (limerance, edge play) collection sometime soon. Ideally I'd like to get a few more in there, touch on a few other very specific kinks and then call it a day.

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers September 24, 2013 - 8:13pm

I've been obsessed with this idea for years, wrote a complete novel about it that needs a ton of work, but discovered another character in that story that really needs a story for himself. That's another novel. I have tried this story from every angle possible, abandoned it repeatedly, and keep coming back to it. 

Three films: Alien, Hellraiser, and The Fly (Cronenberg's version). All MAJOR influences. The idea: What if you could really become a vampire? You're the first vampire in hundreds of years and you're the only one. Nearly one hundred years of vampire novels, films, TV shows, and comic books serve as your personal Van Helsing. You know all the rules, or at least you think you do. Of course, Murphy's Law is a mean motherfucker, and you soon discover not everything you read is true. Traits from folklore work, just not in the way you expected. And that gnawing hunger in your belly? That's just the beginning. Your body begins to deteriorate. You need blood. 

If you could become a vampire in this internet, YouTube filled age, what would be the first thing you would do if you discovered you were immortal? Hint Hint ^^^^^. At first, you feel more alive than ever. Strong and powerful. And it's so simple to turn others. Sure, you have to be careful who you turn. There has to be control. And blood. You turn the one you can control the most, make them work for you, because you need more and more blood to make the rot and decay go away, to make you whole again. But no matter how much blood you take in, you cannot stop the change that's happening. Thoughts become instincts, and instincts make you kill the ones who love you. All that matters is surviving, at all costs. 

That's what fuels me to work on this, the concept that if magic really works, if vampires are real, then they are nothing like what we imagined, and the magic will not work the way you expected it to work. Playing with fire, you are sure to get burned. 

I'm going back to the roots of this idea to make it work, going back to the films that influenced me when I first thought about it. I'm using the concept of Insect Politics with vampires, along with the 'bring me some blood' Hellbound Heart aspect, combined with a single, nearly indestructable xenomorph like creature that used to be human. The outline is almost done, but I'm ready to start writing it. Still working out the POV angles. 

I need to write this to get it out of my system once and for all. Thought I'd done that before and it didn't work. Back to the drawing board. 

Dave's picture
Dave from a city near you is reading constantly September 24, 2013 - 10:47pm

Dude, Bob, that totally just rocked my world. Wow, I want to read that, and I generally could not care less for vampires. Fuckin. A.

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin September 25, 2013 - 6:37am

So some of you may have read a little something I wrote call A Gap in the Market (the thunderdome girl with a shotgun story...?) Yeah well I expanded it and tweaked it some in Nik's Anatomy of Character class and while looking at ways to break character cliches I realized there was a helluva lot more to this story. So it goes it's currently at about ten thousand words and only a half done first draft. Structural wise it's written from 3+ narrators and the stories all blur and cross over with each other. It's been great fun to write although I have no idea how its going to end yet.

And it was going pretty solid but then I got distracted by writing something for Cease Cows Hallow competition.

And then I got distracted by this other idea that's kind of about love, only with a severed foot... :)

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies September 25, 2013 - 6:47am

SOUND - that is really interesting, love the title

SHANNON - very cool, there's a lot of call for that kind of writing, it seems, i just edited a novel that was pretty steamy in parts, dark and paranormal

BOB - that sounds really cool, great influences, love to see what you do with it

EM - wow, really compelling stuff there, best of luck with it

Haven't written much new lately, but I did submit something to the Pantheon Aphrodite issue, and I thought it was pretty cool, called "Rapture" all about a contemporary version of the goddess. I actually did RESEARCH because I love mythology, and worked a lot of symbolism into the story, other gods and historical markers. What I learned is that Aphrodite is not just the goddess of LOVE, which is what I thought, but also the goddess of beauty, PLEASURE, and procreation. So, she's more than idealistic—very physical. So she's a single mom in the suburbs, but has this darker night life. I hope it gets accepted.

I also just turned in a story for Max Booth's TRUTH/DARE anthology, and I'm really excited about it. Set around a campfire, it touches on the idea of karma and good vs. evil, how we BRING bad things TO US by our actions. It's called "Damon's Truth." It was accepted.

So, those are the latest works. Need to get back to my third novel, Incarnate, but that probably won't be until 2014. Just no time right now. It evolved out of the stories "Flowers for Jessica" (Weird Fiction Review) and "Fireflies" (Polluto) and "Playing With Fire" (Chiral Mad 2) about this man on an island, after a plague, with wolves, fireflies that form the shape of his dead wife, kind of dark magical realism. Hope to get back to that in January.

YOU?

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like September 25, 2013 - 8:23am

I like the vampire idea, Bob; played out as they are, you could have a good twist. Almost sounds like a vampire/zombie hybrid, like an intelligent, conscious zombie creating his own horde. He thought it would be all goblets and Gucci, but instead he's just a ghoulish junkie in need of a cadre.

-----------

I suck at finishing anything long.

I have a story which could make it to novella status, or could end about two hundred words from where it sits. I haven't decided.

I have a story about a guy who can't speak and I really like the setup, but making something substantial out of it is quite daunting. I refuse to resort to flashbacks in this one.

I've started making short comic strips. Influences: Red Meat (which might be too recent to be cool) and internet memes (which just suck all around).

Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt September 25, 2013 - 8:32am

@Richard - Thanks. I'm still working out plot detail for my story, but I like the overall idea. I'm still nervous about attempting a novel, so I'm doing individual pieces that may, hopefully, form the novel eventually.

Still swimming in Dionysus submissions, but I did read part of Rapture over the weekend and I like it so far. I should get back to you by this weekend! 

I REALLY like the idea for your next novel, Incarnate. Fireflies is a favorite of mine. I haven't read the other two, but from the synopsis it all sounds great.

@Bob - That idea sounds really cool. Something I would totally read, and everyone I know would most likely read. I like ideas that turn widely accepted beliefs upside down. Hope it all goes well for you.

@Em - I really loved that story. Totally surprised me with the ending. I'm excited to see what you've done with the expansion.

I meant to post a paragraph of my story yesterday night but didn't have time. It's really cool to get a sneak peek of things to come from other members.

Nathan Scalia's picture
Nathan Scalia from Kansas is reading so many things September 25, 2013 - 9:54am

I would share, but I'm not a huge fan of putting the specifics of the story in a public area of the internet while it's still being written.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated September 25, 2013 - 10:21am

The man knows as Villian (and several known to be false) was an A list supervillain for 16 years. He went toe to toe with Ideal, matched wits with the Owl, and generally through down with every superhero worth mentioning. His daring robberies and brazen scams made him the most well known gentleman bandit to ever live, and if most of the money was returned to the owners after a superpowered fight, who cared?

We meet him after he has retired at 37 and he is living up the fruits of his master plan; save a little money from dozens of robberies, invest it so he is rich, and work a day job so he seems normal. As a nice bonus, thanks to a Low Entropy Device he stole from some Aliens, his Big Box Store has the best produce department in the region.

It all falls apart when Slaughter appears, bent on destroying every hero on earth, and possibly all life. Thanks to a few poorly worded mystical contracts no one can stop him, except maybe Villain. But probably not.

Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt September 25, 2013 - 10:28am

Well that's where the "be as vague or as detailed as you're comfortable with" comes in.

Covewriter's picture
Covewriter from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & Sons September 25, 2013 - 11:47am

It am working on a story called " Stand Your Ground," for now, based a little on my grandfather. A young man takes a job as a rural mail carrier in 1929, lucky to have any job. He is nervous about going up a certain mountain for the first time because booktleggers live there. He's heard about killings up there, and the white haired matriarch who would just as soon shoot you as spit on you. He stands his ground a doesn't show fear when he meets the first bootlegger walking down the mountain with a gun in his pocket. Gun turns out to be bottle of moonshine , which the mailman takes, although he's a Baptist and won't touch it, but he wants to get along. He stands his ground against some German Shephards on the mountain, too, until the old woman calls the dogs off. There is an evil revenue man. I have to create a conflict between him and the mailman. Then the mailman stands his ground against the revenue man who won't let him go up the mountain to deliver mail. The revenue man thinks the mailman will warn the bootleggers of the raid about to happen. mailman pulls equal rank as an agent of the federal government, too, and barges ahead promising not to say anything. Revenue guy threatens him with jail for life or worse if he does. mailman doesn't have to say anything. He warns the mountain kids of the danger in some symbolic way that they understand, and they tell their families and don't get busted. That's the basic plot. Now if I can iron out the details and write it. So far I've only written about 800 words, but I am liking the way it starts.  Have wanted to do this one for a while and kept putting it off. 

ReneeAPickup's picture
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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig September 25, 2013 - 1:27pm

Wow lots of cool shit going on (as usual)...

 

My WIP is light sci if maybe more toward spec about a wealthy engineer who loses his wife in a terrible accident and devolps PTSD. He attempts to cope with his loss by creating an AI version if her but continues to circle the drain with addiction and unresolved grief as his new assistant and best friend try desperately to keep themselves, him, and the company he runs together. The first draft is finished and comes in just under 80k. Next week I start revisions, so that's (not) exciting. I can already pin point some big issues and dangling plot lines without even rereading it, so it should be a lot of work!

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies September 25, 2013 - 1:32pm

SOUND - thanks. i like Incarnate a lot, much lighter, filled with love not death. (look forward to your response on "Rapture" for some reason i thought Dionysus was filled already!)

NATHAN - bulk bulk. chicken. :-)

DWAYNE - sounds good

COVE - that sounds really cool

RENEE - i love that, good luck

Shannon Barber's picture
Shannon Barber from Seattle is reading Paradoxia: A Predators Diary by Lydia Lunch September 25, 2013 - 2:53pm

Thanks Richard. The erotica markets aren't really what they used to be when I got started so I'm probably going to self release it so I don't have to negotiate about my subject matter. I'm pretty excited. I haven't really done a thing just for the sake of art in a very long time. It's kind of my nod to a lot of the stuff I read in the mid-late 90s.

I must also mention that I'm kind of really jealous at how well a lot of you succinctly blurb yourselves. I like it a lotl

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers September 25, 2013 - 7:36pm

Thanks for the nice comments peeps. Good to see that people still interested in blood suckers under the right circumstances.

 

And this is when I bounce some ideas against the wall about my story. Gonna get a little specific, so here goes:

 

I need my vampire character to become a vampire and yet be the only vampire. Like the first vampire, or at least the first one in a long, long time. No virus or diseases. No elaborate magic rituals involving spell books and llama sex, not that there's anything wrong with that...to each their own. 

My idea: Pre-vampire character has strange ability to come back to life. Found by accident and completely unexplainable, now the character decides to go public with the ability. The character has never been fully dead, ie. no brain death. Cardiac arrest and brain death are two separate things. To prove resurrection, character agrees to submit to brain death. Character dies, and doesn't return this time, which makes a big stink, with everyone else involved going into hiding since the whole thing was a secret shindig anyway. A week later, vampire character returns, weak and hungry, but alive, and unaware of vampirism at that time.

 

The brain death triggers something inside them...OR, they went to the dark side after dying and came back a vampire.

Now this is the other catch, the deal breaker: the actual means of achieving vampirism can be attained by anyone. In other words, this particular character only thinks they're special. In reality, they're just an average human doing a crazy ass thing. This part is not 100% necessary, but would add a really cool wrinkle in the story. 

I'm bouncing this to you, my friends. Anyone have any cool ideas about how people might become a vampire following the above criteria? Don't be shy, it's all open for discussion. These are ideas, unprotected. If something here triggers or inspires you, then by all means get to writing. I promise you I'm still being very vague about this story concept. 

ReneeAPickup's picture
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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig September 25, 2013 - 5:40pm

I love when a story can take the Vampire thing and bring something totally new to it. That's why I loved the first couple season of True Blood. If you can wow me with something I've never seen before, I'm IN. It totally sounds like you've got this in the bag.

 

Now... for how it could happen... hmm. Could it be as simple as the "first death" occuring somewhere where one may be near vampire remains? Or for something wildly horrifying, the character is in a situation where they are pushed to cannibalism, and thus the blood thirst s born and takes over?

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers September 25, 2013 - 7:53pm

The 'first death' thing, near vampire remains, made me think that maybe it's something taken, like a chemical, but not like a drug. 

--maybe the blood of a supposed immortal?

--maybe the blood of a vampire? It's got to be simple yet believable, because I do not want the focus to be about 'How?'. I want it to be more of a 'Now what?' premise. 

Music is a HUGE influence on my writing as well as film. I keep listening to NIN's new one.

Especially Came Back Haunted:

The throat is deep and the mouth is wide
Saw some things on the other side
Made me promise to never tell
But you know me, I can't help myself

 

Now I've got something you have to see
They put something inside of me
The smile is red and its eyes are black
I don't think I'll be coming back

I don't believe it
I had to see it
I came back haunted
I came back haunted

 

I said goodbye but I
I had to try
I came back haunted
Came back haunted

Everywhere now reminding me
I am not who I used to be
I'm afraid this has just begun
Consequences for what I've done, yeah

Song reeks of vampire, at least to me, but there's no telling what Trent was thinking. 

Another idea is that the vampire character is a vampire from whatever means, has been that way and perhaps doesn't know why. Just pull a Mamet...there is no backstory. Knows how to turn others, but until now has never wanted to. Now the character wants the world to know. Maybe the character has never fed on humans, been a Louis and finally tastes the flesh of man and feels that rush, and it begins a devasting change from which there is not return. Ideas, ideas, but I will figure something out. That's really all I need, is this vampire mechanism that avoids what already been done to death. 

Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt September 25, 2013 - 8:20pm

@Bob: Here's an idea. If I'm understanding it correctly, you're MC can die and come back on command. How about when he really dies (brain death), he comes back alive but he breaks some death rule, some law, in doing so. His body is deteriorating because it's what his body knows should have happend but by drinking blood your MC is able to keep his body functioning just a little longer. 

 

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers September 25, 2013 - 8:47pm

@Sound. Yeah, I was kinda heading in that direction anyway, with the concept of magic not working right, which means there are myriads of rules that only John Cleese's Professor Humphrey character from The Meaning of Life could recite verbatim. So yes, good idea focused to a laserpoint, there are does and don't of dying, and this character has crossed the line. Not too complicated, explains a lot. Lots of interesting research out there about death and near-death-experiences. Difibilators definitely NOT used in modern science for 'flatlined' patients, which I find very weird that doctors wouldn't try just anything. So if I stay away from the medical aspect and stick with the metaphysical, something might come of this yet. 

Nathan Scalia's picture
Nathan Scalia from Kansas is reading so many things September 25, 2013 - 9:11pm

Fine, Richard. A taste, then.

A boy, Jonas, and his mother move in to take care of his ailing grandfather, who lives in a strange house with three front doors and no driveway. Amongst the strange art and occasional voices, Jonas finds a book that details the life of a man who spends decades fleeing a malevolent force known as Spider. Suspecting that the man in the story might be his grandfather, Jonas prepares to defend the house against Spider, who he believes is still on the hunt.

This is the first book in a series I want to write about Jonas and the world Spider comes from. I actually wrote about 30k words of the LAST book in the series before I realized I wanted to tell the story from the beginning. I'm a couple of chapters in and going strong.

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin September 26, 2013 - 2:07am

@ Sound ~ thanks :) Hey did you ever expand that story Petra of yours?

@ Richard ~ I'm intrigued by Damon's Truth & Incarcerate sounds great.

@ Renee ~ I like that idea ~ good luck with the editing. (didn't you write a sci fi story for War about a girl who kept her dad's head alive in a jar? I liked that story.)

@ Bob ~ Really, really like your vampire novel idea, okay so character has some resurrection powers but after brain death resurrection is delayed and when he does come back somethings different. Here's a few thoughts I'm going to throw around: does he come back and think he's a vampire because of a blood lust but maybe he's not actually a vampire? After a week of death has he been buried or just in the morgue? Maybe If he wakes in the morgue and is starving but the door's all locked up (maybe its some public holiday and is locked longer?) and he's so hungry he resorts to the only food available which is a pretty dead somebody's blood. Would that make a difference, the blood being dead? Ummm... maybe?

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated September 26, 2013 - 6:06am

@Bob - Why not just kick it old school? Like eastern European vampire myths, have it be the result of an evil doer or suicide or such. He did X in a way that used to be common and isn't anymore not intending to become a vampire and now he is one.

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers September 26, 2013 - 6:08am

@voodoo--Cool idea as well, but there's something special about blood that I'm going to be as vague as possible about here. It's not original, but it's something I will trademark with any vampire story I work with, whether this project, or my Beck series. 

@Dwayne--The suicide notion was the M.O. in the original novel I wrote, and it worked for the most part, with most of my readers never questioning the validity, mainly because it didn't matter, it wasn't focused upon in the narrative, it was just a means to an end. I really like to explore my options, which is why I'm wondering about other means to vampirism without following overused tropes. I'm probably going to stick with the suicide concept unless I think of something different.

Adam Jenkins's picture
Adam Jenkins from Bracknell, England is reading RCX Magazine (Issue 1 coming soon) September 26, 2013 - 6:20am

I've been working on a couple of short stories of late, one of which is for Dionysus issue of Pantheon. I've left it way too late, and have no doubt the slots will all have gone way before I'm finished, but I'm keeping on plugging away regardless.

It's called All The World (for the moment at least, though my titles tend to change a lot). On the run, a girl takes shelter in an old abandoned theatre. Here she meets the mysterious Master of Revels, and his strange audience. The Master's powers may be on the wane, but he still demands a performance; one that might have fatal consequences when her hunters make their appearance.

Having not been happy with the first take on it, I rewrote the entire thing. Hopefully once I get the critique back, it will just need minor editing rather than a whole new take.

I also have a dark piece called Albatross on the go that had been meant for Poseidon, but has been half abandoned for All The World once all those slots had gone (I love the whole Greek gods prompts. They just seem to fire my imagination). After his ship goes down, a man finds himself in a small lifeboat all alone. His only occasional company is a caustic Albatross, who used to be human, and only really wants to eat the man.

If may sound a little too Life of Pi, but it really isn't.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters September 26, 2013 - 6:21am

I sort of hit a little wall with the stuff I'm working on.  I got cranky about it.  I'm going to chalk it up to performance anxiety and hope I can do a little better this weekend. 

I'm doing a rewrite on a short story i wrote while I was in the workshop here.  I'm cutting some characters, adding several more, changing the place and year that it was originally set in.  Also the season I guess.  I'm keeping my basic premise and getting rid of everything else.  I'm finding it more difficult than I anticipated.

Other than that I have a longer project I poke at from time to time without much progress. 

I also want to revise two stories I wrote in WAR2 and try to make them useful, but that's a little bit out. 

I guess that's all I have going on. 

Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong September 26, 2013 - 6:31am

@Nathan, that sounds awesome! It seems way more cohesive than I'd imagined when you posted about stories within stories. Are you thinking Spider is a supernatural element that's attached to Jonas' grandfather? Or an alternate personality?

I hate to reference TV, but the concept sort of reminds me of an episode of Criminal Minds in which a serial killer has seemingly returned, but it turns out he's old and senile and using his son to help him get his fixes. It was kind of hokey, but I dug the co-dependency of monsters element.

--

Right now, I'm trying to go back to a story I submitted to the workshop a while back called "Awakening in a Dead City" (yeah, you read it, Nathan, and your comments and brutal honesty have been very helpful!), which is about two zombie enthusiasts who struggle to determine if the things they're seeing in their city are just the result of poverty and crime or if the zombie apocalypse is actually happening. It's hard because I'm trying to do this first person thing where the character is actually talking to the reader and telling the story, but I can't seem to strike that balance between interesting prose and natural language. I'd also meant the story to have a bunch of poetic meaning, with zombies actually serving two different allegories, but it's sort of coming across as contrived. And on top of that, I'm feeling like I've fallen out of love with the story and am pressuring myself to move on to other things. It's a funk.

I still dig the story, but I'm sort of done with it even though I'm not done with it, ya know?

I'll probably get on with it and then move to a story about an ambiguously schizophrenic priest who confronts a murderer who turns out to be sympathetic.

SConley's picture
SConley from Texas is reading Coin Locker Babies September 26, 2013 - 6:46am

I'm trying to work on this neo-noir thing about this drunk in the near future who gets implanted with this CIA thing that gives him the past, the present, and the future all at once, kind of like that DMT drug. The CIA has tried it out on several subjects, all of them lunatics and losers but it finally worked on this guy. So now the CIA wants the information this guy was given (because he can see "everything" now) and they also want him to hunt down the other subjects that the experiment didn't work with. They're all fucked up telepaths and fringe geniuses. Also there's a drug (created by one of the CIA's "failures") that turns pain into pleasure so the junkies who use it are nearly invincible because they want to get hurt to intensify the drug's effects and when they OD on it they become zombie-like and brain dead but they're harmless as zombies, they're kind of like weak and hungry stray dogs. I'm in way over my head and i may have to put this on hold for a while until i'm a better writer...

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers September 26, 2013 - 6:52am

@Shannon--We all need more quality erotica, so hats off to you. Stand your ground on what you want to write. 

@Sound--The dark side of faeries. Love it. Twist that troupe around and lose that 'goody two shoes' image they have. I love stories about ceremonious things that MUST happen. 

@Richard--Incarnate is something only you could write, so get on it, times awasting. Yeah, you're busy, we're all busy, but man...you need to write that so I can read it, know what I mean.

@Renee--I love stories were people get all unorthodox in dealing with traumatic events in their lives. Those are the most personal, and it's interesting to see how their choices affect them for better or worst.

@Cove--you've got the groundworked laid down pretty good with your idea, don't stop now, just keep chugging along. 

@Dwayne--Super Villains. Nothing else needs to be said, other than when will it be available, I'm ready. 

@Nathan--Dude, write that one already. You had me at 'a strange house with three front doors and no driveway.' Seriously, I need to read this, so you need to write it. 

These are all grand ideas that need words and pages and agents and to be bound in my hands, as well was everyone elses hands. I love this thread.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated September 26, 2013 - 7:31am

I am hoping to have a 1st draft done this week. We'll see.

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies September 26, 2013 - 9:20am

lol...shannon said "self release" heh, heh :-)

@bob - thanks for the kind words on Incarnate. i hope this January to get back into it. 

@nathan - type slower, i can't steal it that fast. jk. good stuff, thanks for sharing.

@voodoo - thanks! i'll always write dark, but there can be love and hope in there, too.

@adam - sounds cool. i though you said Man of Reveal, not Revel. just saying. felt Clive Barkerish.

@avery - sounds like a good approach. when in doubt, simplify, dial it down, quiet the noise. 

@tim - love to see a contemporary twist on zombies. not sure what that would be.

@conley - damn, that sounds good.

Adam Jenkins's picture
Adam Jenkins from Bracknell, England is reading RCX Magazine (Issue 1 coming soon) September 26, 2013 - 9:28am

@Richard - thanks. Master of Revels was a Brit thing, organiser of royal festivities that then became mostly about the theatre. Sounded better than Director (to me at least!).

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like September 26, 2013 - 9:38am

I'm torn. There's a book coming out which is markedly similar to a person's idea they've described here. Do I be that guy who's like, "Simpsons did it," or do I just write this vague comment and leave it at that.

If it were you, and there was a book already written which beared multiple specific similarities to your idea, would you want to know about it so you could compare the two and see if your idea is different enough to have undiminished chances at being published; or would you prefer to remain uninfluenced and cross the make-it-new bridge if/when you come to it?

Nathan Scalia's picture
Nathan Scalia from Kansas is reading so many things September 26, 2013 - 9:41am

If it's me, tell me.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like September 26, 2013 - 9:47am

@NS --- Book isn't out yet, so I don't how just how similar the concepts are.

Frame Story + Malevolent Arachnid = The Black Spider from NYRB Classics (Wiki)

 

Nathan Scalia's picture
Nathan Scalia from Kansas is reading so many things September 26, 2013 - 10:03am

Thanks for the heads up, but I'm not too worried about it. My story is theoretically children's lit, ideally in the same shelf as Coraline and Jacqueline West's Elsewhere series.

I used to stress about how Gaiman seemed to beat me to all of my story ideas, style, and even dialogue (about why cats don't need names). Now I just accept that he and I enjoy the same kinds of stories, and don't care as much if he or some other author has a similar character or theme. I keep my eyes open, but don't let the worry stop me from telling the story.

SConley's picture
SConley from Texas is reading Coin Locker Babies September 26, 2013 - 10:41am

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.”

Jim Jarmusch

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers September 26, 2013 - 1:00pm

I love that quote. Years ago, and I mean years ago, possibly before some of you were born, I wrote a novel called Splice that was terrible. I submitted the first 3 chapters to the local writers guild contest in the Mystery catagory which was judged by Peter Miller. Yes, that Peter Miller from the Peter Miller Agency. I made it to the finals out of 52 entries and won. High as a kite, Miller told me to send him the novel, he'd personally give it a read and it would take 6 months before he got back with me. 8 months later I got the novel back. Around this time Michael Crichton's novel Rising Son was making big news, movie with Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery and all that, and dammit HE STOLE MY STORY! Of course he didn't really steal it, it had been out for months, written probably a couple of years before I wrote my novel, but that's how I felt. The idea behind his novel was similar to my idea, but at the time I was ready to contact a lawyer. Then I wondered the opposite...was my story different enough that he wouldn't get his own attorney? Can you say devastated? That's how I felt. It's funny now. I was so young and impressionable. Combine that with Miller's scathing review informing me my writing was 'juvenile',  I was so disheartened and sad I wanted the world to end. 

I decided I was never going to get copied again. I was going to write something original. I wasn't going to write anything else until I could dream up something nobody else was doing. I was torn between reading books and staying away from fiction as long as I could, just in case I might be influenced and not be able to write anything original. I was obsessed with it. 

And I didn't write anything for about 10 years.

But if you're a writer, you have to write. There were some short-stories, fragments, but nothing monemental. 

It took me a long time to understand that there's nothing original. It's been done before. And just as I write that sentence one must come to realize that originality is not what we're seeking. We don't want that, what we really want is our story to be personal. If it's personal, then it is original. It comes from us, and it's only something we can tell, and we share it like sharing secrets, hoping to touch just one person, to make them feel like we feel. If it's personal, and it comes from your heart and your imagination, then yes, it is original, and that's about as real as it gets. 

 

 

SamaLamaWama's picture
SamaLamaWama from Dallas is reading Something Wicked This Way Comes September 26, 2013 - 2:04pm

I'm really impressed with everyone's WIP. I know this makes me sound like an ass kisser, but I gain a lot of inspiration from you guys and the way you talk about your stories with such conviction. Recently, I've seen a lot of threads about how you guys can make the site cooler and I just want to says it's pretty 'effing cool right now.    

Tomorrow--I will type The End on story that I started with TeleportUs. It's come in at over 85k and is a dystopian--I think--or light sci-fi--I think again--or a dystopian, sci-fi with BDSM sex scenes that I swear move the plot/character arc forward.     

I'm still working on an official blurb, but this is what I have so far:

When/Where: 2042 NYC. But it's not the NYC we all know and love. The humans evacuated the major cities after a pandemic killed off 75% of the world’s population. They now live in germ free pods in the burbs, leaving the cities to be occupied by Bridge Intelligent Beings (BI) who are human clones with a splash of artificial intelligence thrown in for taste. The BIs are controlled by the humans (Admins) and are forced to live out the human's fantasies, often in highly sexual and violent ways, for credits they can use to buy stuff from the home shopping network.  

Who: October, a BI whose recently been liberated from her Admin. She works with Lennon, the leader of the resistance. Meat, the muscle behind the group. Pin-up, Lennon's right hand man with vagitude. Koi, the weaponry queen, and Lewis, the lone human who sees the hypocrisy the system. Together, they work to free the BIs and create a life where everyone can live side by side.

My palms are sweating right now realizing it's finally finished. It's a solid first draft and I'm actually excited to start editing after I take a month off to take a class and relax. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do without a word count deadline--actually get some work done at work?

 

 

 

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like September 26, 2013 - 2:33pm

Much as I like Jarmusch and agree with the sentiment, I've always disliked the conflation of 'influence' and 'theft'. True theft should be discouraged; influence should not automatically be seen as a demerit. I think people became increasingly worried that it actually had all been done, became overly sensitive to it, so the hyperbole grew commonplace. See also Picasso, et al.'s "... great artists steal." It just seems like dramatic, sensationalist, "Gee I hope this is heavy-handed enough that someone quotes me" bullshit even though I get there's a difference between imitation and cooption (making it your own).

Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong September 26, 2013 - 3:48pm

To me, it's pretty simple. If you have an idea and you're honest and passionate about it, write it; it's going to be good. If the elevator pitch is similar to this other thing some other guy did, change the elevator pitch.

@Richard, I'm not trying to put a contemporary twist on anything. The wheels are familiar, but I'm hoping people see the rest of the car.

Wendy Hammer's picture
Wendy Hammer from Indiana is reading One Night in Sixes September 26, 2013 - 6:17pm

@Sam. Awesome! I hope I get to read it all someday. It's been cool to see pieces.  

I'm working on a novel length Dark fantasy set in Indiana. Creepy vans, cornfields, and punk rock. Lots of walking. 

Flaminia Ferina's picture
Flaminia Ferina from Umbria is reading stuff September 27, 2013 - 3:07am

I take the "great artists steal" quote like this: 

- grab the idea as it is, and make it yours (theft). Ruminate it, digest it, internalize it. Then spit it out (or poop it).

It will be a new idea, corrosive or fertilizing as it'll be.

Whereas "borrow" is related to "copy": take the idea, copypasta. Meh.

 

By the way. Does anybody want to see my poop?

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin September 27, 2013 - 7:06am

My afore mentioned severed foot love story, Finishing Touches (1,554 words) is now in the workshop if anybody feels like pointing and laughing at all the tragic mistakes I've probably made :)

Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt September 27, 2013 - 7:57am

@Em: Cool. I'll check it out when I renew my workshop in a few days. And I just saw your question. No I haven't expanded Petra. I need to read it again. It's been almost a year I think. 

@Sam: Neat concept. Good luck with rewrites and all that fun stuff :)

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin September 27, 2013 - 9:33am

Thanks Sound :)

SamaLamaWama's picture
SamaLamaWama from Dallas is reading Something Wicked This Way Comes September 27, 2013 - 1:03pm

Whammer! I've been meaning to reach out. Cornfields and molester vans are right up my alley. Ping me if you want to share more. Right after Skipp's last class I wrote a scene with a dainty tea set and thought of you the entire time.

Sound--thanks! I'm still basking in the glow of writing The End.

Voodoo--I'll check out your story as soon as I renew my sub.

SRead's picture
SRead from Colorado is reading Stories September 27, 2013 - 6:46pm

Wow, you guys. Go. Sit. Turn those WIPs into finished works so I can read them, okay? I'll wait here.

I have too many short story WIPs. My novel-length WIP is a YA horror story about a boy in a boarding school where the boys start to go missing. He is chased into a  sealed-off wing of the building by a twisted figure, and discovers that the missing students have been surgically tortured and are being kept there to act out a "normal" school life by a psychotically neglected...spoilers, sweetie. So he tried to uncover the mystery of the school's history and free the abused boys, but the entire infrastructure of the school is built around its secrets. Destruction ensues.
I'm hoping i can get away with the YA thing. It's a bit dark and graphic, but that's what I liked to read when I was a kid! I'll be polling my betas and a freelance editor for their thoughts on that.

Wendy Hammer's picture
Wendy Hammer from Indiana is reading One Night in Sixes September 27, 2013 - 10:52pm

 

@Sam I will do so. I'll want good eyes on it! If the WIP goes where I think it will...I'm going to need some help....you know what I mean? I'm going to have to go places I've shied away from. You've shown real grit. And--yay for the tea set! I'm psyched that it made an impact. I've started to shop that story around so wish me luck. Eek. 

I'm also hoping to see other pieces from former classmates-- Em, Nathan, Sarah. I've not yet made a real leap into the site at large, but I'm getting there. 

What's the phrase? I want to READ ALL THE THINGS. 

 

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies September 27, 2013 - 10:31pm