The last two months, I've let the Anomalies (which have since been renamed) lay fallow while I worked to transition to a new job. The blog was originally intended as a way to keep my writing fresh as well as to let me comment on the craft, much as my other periodical lets me comment on my more profit-bearing line of work.
Unfortunately, moving to a new position and working on the final edits for my first two for-pro-publication works did not also leave time (or energy and inspiration) enough to keep updating two blogs (or, for a time, even one). So, this one was left to fall flat in favor of tackling the writing on which its typical content dwelt.
With only a month left between now and NaNoWriMo 2011, however, I felt I couldn't hold off any longer for fear of losing momentum forever.
That said, the rename to "Prose by Numbers" is more than simply superficial.
Part of my lack of inspiration wasn't purely from becoming busy with other things; after a while, droning on about what little an amateur writer can understand about the pro publishing industry led to a predictable lack of genuine, original material. So in an effort to avoid becoming stale while I embark on Step Zero of becoming a published novelist, I'm re-purposing the blog to something slightly more inward-facing.
Part of my lack of inspiration wasn't purely from becoming busy with other things; after a while, droning on about what little an amateur writer can understand about the pro publishing industry led to a predictable lack of genuine, original material. So in an effort to avoid becoming stale while I embark on Step Zero of becoming a published novelist, I'm re-purposing the blog to something slightly more inward-facing.
For the next month, I will attempt to write one snippet a week (posted Fridays) of four upcoming works, not including the one I intend for November (in keeping with the NaNo rules about pre-work) to get back into step as far as doing something new, and as a sort of vain apology to any readers who were left very much in the cold the past two months.
The remaining weekends may also play host to commentary on the upcoming NaNo project and all the planning that goes into preparing oneself to try and pen 50,000 words in 30 days.
Both posting types will continue into November, when the content will shift to snippets of the project at hand and the commentary will be noticeably less prep and notably more present-day flailing and exasperated testimonials of the predictable backtracking and deadline-missing to come, all to grant a window into the very fragile mind of someone trying to write a book.
And, in the interest of not restarting my routine with only meta-level content about the site's new direction, I feel it's only fair I start describing the vague plan that is my intended work for NaNoWriMo 2011.
The tentatively-titled "A.J. Pendlebolt: Gnomish Investigator" started from the title alone (and hasn't gone very far beyond it at this point). The name came to me in the typical way: just before I fell asleep, and mingled with a dozen other pre-somnolent musings from the tween space between our waking selves and the surreality of our dreams.
What surprised me was how much this particular title gripped me, largely in its absurdity: a clash between the intrigue pulp novels of the 40s and 70s and the fantasy realms spawned from Tolkien's master world. Without the word "gnomish," I might never have given the work a second thought.
Instead, it has lurked in the forefront of my mind in the months since its inception (no pun intended), growing in the slow, sprawling fashion of a lichen on a sunlit stone. What it's left me with at current is some distant notion of a detective story set against the backdrop of a high-magic fantasy world; much the way Blade Runner did with its high-tech setting, leaving the original detective story largely intact from its noir roots.
AJ's story, by contrast, will likely be the lighthearted, humorous take on the genre that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang excelled at, although as a less self-aware parody. The story itself will be quite serious (as I understand murders generally are), but the tone will be notably less Casablanca and noticeably more Indiana Jones.
At least, that's the intent.
As to the crime, the world, and the title-character detective himself, the details are all still very much fuzzy. But then, that's what October is for.
Both posting types will continue into November, when the content will shift to snippets of the project at hand and the commentary will be noticeably less prep and notably more present-day flailing and exasperated testimonials of the predictable backtracking and deadline-missing to come, all to grant a window into the very fragile mind of someone trying to write a book.
And, in the interest of not restarting my routine with only meta-level content about the site's new direction, I feel it's only fair I start describing the vague plan that is my intended work for NaNoWriMo 2011.
The tentatively-titled "A.J. Pendlebolt: Gnomish Investigator" started from the title alone (and hasn't gone very far beyond it at this point). The name came to me in the typical way: just before I fell asleep, and mingled with a dozen other pre-somnolent musings from the tween space between our waking selves and the surreality of our dreams.
What surprised me was how much this particular title gripped me, largely in its absurdity: a clash between the intrigue pulp novels of the 40s and 70s and the fantasy realms spawned from Tolkien's master world. Without the word "gnomish," I might never have given the work a second thought.
Instead, it has lurked in the forefront of my mind in the months since its inception (no pun intended), growing in the slow, sprawling fashion of a lichen on a sunlit stone. What it's left me with at current is some distant notion of a detective story set against the backdrop of a high-magic fantasy world; much the way Blade Runner did with its high-tech setting, leaving the original detective story largely intact from its noir roots.
AJ's story, by contrast, will likely be the lighthearted, humorous take on the genre that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang excelled at, although as a less self-aware parody. The story itself will be quite serious (as I understand murders generally are), but the tone will be notably less Casablanca and noticeably more Indiana Jones.
At least, that's the intent.
As to the crime, the world, and the title-character detective himself, the details are all still very much fuzzy. But then, that's what October is for.
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