Fakeminsk TG Fiction: Constant in All Other Things

Publish!: Second Interlude (1/3)

Finally pulled the trigger, and published the f

Sneak Peak: David and Steele

Here's a little sneak peak at the last of the scenes I've added to break up the long conversation between David's three keepers in part two.  It fleshes out the encounter between David and Jeremiah Steele that triggered the whole story.

I'll be giving it a final once-over and hopefully have the whole Interlude finally finished by next week!

***

In frame, two men.

The first, a face intimately familiar to the world having graced countless “Man of the Year” magaz...

Sneak Peek: Cindy and Jasmine

Here's the scene I'm using to break up the long bit between Crystal, Katherine and Jonathon.  Though not 100% happy with it (it's still first draft) I think I like what it's doing - I might extend it a little, or write up a follow-up scene to break up the C/K/J passage later on.

Anyway, here it is below:

Scene Ten

As the tightly bound figure twitched and yanked at their restraints, Jasmine Poole considered how she both loved and hated her job in equal measure.

O...

Writing Update: 08/12/23

About half-way through the week, my cold (or whatever it was--it's been nearly three weeks now) finally eased enough that I could contemplate writing.  I've written up one of the scenes breaking up the long passage between Katherine, Jonathon and Crystal.  Also planned out some stuff for the next chapter--looking forward to starting it!

Word Count: +1500 (approx).

(With edits adding and removing content, word counting seems a less reliable metric of progress at the momen...

Writing Update: 02/12/23

Not much to report this week.  A few edits here and there, and typos hunted down and corrected, but not major work.  Basically, this cold--now in it's twelfth day--has really floored me.  I'm barely surviving the working day, let alone finding the will to write afterwards.  After some disheartening time spent staring listlessly and blurrily at the screen early in the week, I decided to take the week off. from writing  In terms of editing, I think it was a good ideas a...

Writing Update: 27/11/23

A little late with the update - a nasty cold crept in last week, blossomed during the week and laid me low over the weekend.  Still feeling rough - getting through the working day (on a steady stream of Advil) was hard enough, with limited energy left over for writing.

Previous word count: 67,070

Current word count: 68,077

Change: +1007

Although word count doesn't mean much at this point - it should be going down rather than up, really, as I edit...

Finished Chapter: Second Interlude (3/3)

As the second part of the Interlude is taking a

Finished Chapter: Second Interlude (1/3)

Finished proof-reading the first part of the In

Achievement Unlock: First Draft (Interlude) Complete

Clocking in at just over 61k words, the first draft of the Interlude is finally complete!

Over the next week, I'll be giving it an edit, running through the whole thing and cleaning up any errors I find, hopefully trimming away some excess fat and adding to bits that need a little development.  There's still some stuff I'd like to squeeze in (a scene about Jeremiah Steele, for example), but we'll see how it goes.

In writing up some of the stuff near the end of the scene (such...

Sneak Peek: Interlude 2, Part 3

Sneak peek of the complete first draft of the t

Sneak Peek: David and Chad

A somewhat salacious scene, a sneak peek of the previous night that David spent with Chad.  Enjoy!  As always, sneak peeks are still at the draft stage.

***

Many hours later, recovering alone in his room that evening, he lay alone on his bed in the dark and stared at the ceiling. He knew that he wasn’t really alone. The armband at his wrist continued to monitor and transmit his location and vital signs—any erratic action and he’d be instantly tranquilised. Hidden c...

Writing Update: 17/11/23

Start of week: 59,702

End of week: 65,248

Word count: +5546

A good week for writing.  Polished off the tricky scene between David and the other three; and wrote up the encounter between David and Chad.  Hoping to squeeze in a little more writing tonight--which might even bring the Interlud to an end. 

Also the week that brought the chapter past 60K words--by far, the longest chapter in the series. Probably too long, to be honest - like, Harry Potter and ...

Achievement Unlocked: 2000

I've been keeping track of my word count ever since I set myself the 500 words/day target.  Looking back over the long column of numbers in the spreadsheet is strangely satisfying, despite some of the unfortunate gaps that appeared earlier in the chapter.  According to my data, I started writing the Interlude on 05/09/23.  Clearly, I really struggled to get the chapter off the ground.  Writing was pretty sporadic:

05/09/2022: 467->918= +451   

06/0...

Sneak Peek: Meeting Mal

Today's writing brought us past 60K words.  I certainly never expected this chapter to run so long!  But it's end is finally in sight.  Katherine, Crystal and Jonathon have just broken the news to David, and now it's just a matter of bringing him back home.

But in celebration of crossing this threshold, another sneak peak - a small one - this is the short encounter between Cindy and Mal.  As always, still in draft form.

***

His bracelet suddenly vibrated ...

Writing Update: 10/11/23

Start of week: 56, 379

End of week: 59, 702

Word count: +3323

A difficult week.  Started strong, but a personal crisis--some bad news--really took the wind out of my sails.  Writing in these circumstances is an odd thing.  On the one hand, a welcome escape from the concerns of real life, an established routine offering something else to think about.  On the other--well, I found myself staring at the screen on Wednesday unable to write and wondering what, ...

Sneak Peak: Waiting for a Decision

I haven't actually read the novel, but there's a passage in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar that inspired some of the following.  The "fig tree" extract is as follows:

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another...

Writing Update: 03/11/23

Start of week: 52,030

End of week: 56,379

Word count: +4349

An odd week: a number of major disruptions and Friday, especially, was poor for writing, but still crushed the weekly target largely due to a little inspiration, I suppose. 

Anticipating some major writing-blockage as I started the third part of the Interlude, I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it flowed in the little time I was able to salvage from the week.  The opening line ("On the final da...

Sneak Peak: Interlude III

Here's the beginning of the final part of the Interlude.  I've switched to a 3rd person limited pov from David's perspective - after a few false starts, it seemed to work, maintaining some distance compared to the 1st person of the rest of the story, but giving the reader some insight into the protagonist (I hope!) after two long chapters written from other character's viewpoint.

All first draft, of course, especially the bit musing on power and beauty - not happy with that bit and...

Writing Update: 27/10/23

A little late on this one - apologies.

Start of week: 50368

End of week: 52030

Word count: +1662

Not a great week for writing - nothing between Mon to Wed, with real-life responsibilities getting in the way.  Word count hides some of the edit done, though, probably a couple hundred words trimmed to tighten up the prose a bit.

The next week or two look to remain difficult.  Some work's piled up, and clearing that backlog going's to get in the way of writ...

On Influences, part 2.5: Orson Scott Card's "Hart's Hope"

Though it hasn't been a great week for writing (so far), it did find some time for reading. Inspired by the recent post about writers that influenced me in my youth, I tracked down some used copies of some Chalker and Orson Scott Card novels.  First up was Hart's Hope, which I remember having a big impact on me as a teen, though I could barely remember any of it as I started reading this week. 

It's an... odd novel.  I suppose I'd recommend it, perhaps because of that odd...

Writing Update: 20/10/23

Start of week: 47,849

End of week: 50,368

Word Count: +2519

The week that broke 50k words!  At this point, the first and second part of the Interlude are more or less done, I think, at least in a first draft.  They'll need another going-over, but for now I'll be moving on the third and final part of the Interlude.  I'm looking to keep this one a bit shorter, so hopefully the whole Interlude will finish off at around 60k in length.

Possible coming scenes:...

Sneak Peak: Interlude, Part Two

Passed the 50k word mark today.  Seems a good t

On Influences, part 2: Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' is probably the work of science fiction I read and re-read the most often as a young teen. I was reading a lot of fantasy at the time: Lord of the Rings (which remains my first love in reading), but a lot of D&D-themed books; for some reason, the early Dragonlance books by Hickman and Weis made a real impression, and it baffles me that I can still remember the names Raistlin or Caramon, or being sad at what happened to Flint, even if I can't recall the ac...

On Influences, part 1: Chalker

Some posts back, backer Asklepios commented that the scene with Jonathon's patient reminded them of the novel "A Planet Called Treason", revised and later republished as just "Treason" by Orson Scott Card.  I'd read the book as a teenager, and while I don't -think- it influenced the writing of my scene, who can really say?  It did however get me thinking about some of the books that have influenced me - or more specifically, influenced Constant.

I'm focusing on the TG-themed s...

Writing Update: 13/10/23

Start of week: 43, 075

End of week: 47, 849

Change: +4774

The work started strongly but stalled on Thursday; a minor emergency and visit to hospital meant no writing that day.   Everything's okay, but it did stall that early momentum.  Still managed to nearly doubly my 500 words/day target, though, so feeling happy with the progress, though also a little frustrated--I want to get this chapter done!  

Finished and edited the Chad and Cindy scene at t...

Sneak Peek: Cindy and Chad

Only midweek but already blown past my weekly writing target. Consequently, here's another scene: Cindy and Chad, taking place near the end of the chapter.  Had fun writing this one.  Chad sort of popped up unexpectedly this summer, but I think we might see a bit more of him in the future.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!  As always, this is still a draft; it'll likely enjoy another pass or two before I call it done.

***

Scene Ten

Chad said goodn...

Sneak Peek: What's Jonathon Did

It's been a good week for writing, so why not another sneek peak?  Another scene following on from the meeting between Jonathon, Crystal and Katherine - a little more background development and (hopefully) character building.  Warning: it's pretty dark, I think.

***

Katherine left.

With her gone, Jon seemed to deflate and sink into his seat. He was far gone into his wine by this point, sullen and quiet. Leaving him to find his own way home would be best, but in goo...

Writing Update: 06/10/23

Word count at start of week: 37,695

Word count at end of week: 42,598

+4903 words

... though I hope to get a little more done by the end of the day.  Exceeding my goal of 500/day; it's been a good week.  I think being this close to the end of the chapter is a real motivator!

Sneak Peak: 40k words

Crossed the 40k word mark today!  It's been far too long since I posted the previous chapter, but at the same time I'm feeling pretty good about returning to a solid writing routine.  When I finally finish the interlude and get around to posting it, I'll have at least two, maybe three chapters to publish.  

For now, to mark crossing this completely aritrary line, I thought it might be a good time post the current scene I'm working on, the one that's carried us across the ...

Writing Update: 29/09/23

Word count at start of week: 34,439

Word count at end of week: 37,695

+3256 words.

A somewhat frustrating week for writing - it went really well on a few days, and not so much on others, with work getting in the way.

Completed the 2nd half of the encounter with the transformed victim in the basement, and began a new scene with Katherine, Jonathon and Crystal determining David's fate - some new revelations, some minor world-building, hopefully a few surprises.

At ...