And only two things because Clarion application season is here again:
(1) In the 2.5 years since Clarion, I have written more than in the entire preceding decade.
(2) This is, from what I understand, not at all an unusual reaction.
Clarion. Because who needs sleep?
Sigh.
I get it. I do.
First draft vomit becomes final draft exquisite entree.
Wait. Somehow that seems backwards. I’m not sure I want anything constructed from reconstituted vomit, even in analogy form.
Lets try this: first draft buffet–all those paths partly taken before realising they don’t quite work out–becomes the single platter of a final draft. The most appealing choices from the array in front of you.
Which means that some things gotta go. Like this.
I didn’t even write it thinking it would fit in the draft, but more for my own knowledge of what happened. Then I tried to shoehorn it in several places but no way a near-2,000-word flashback isn’t going to kill the pace. Even broken up into chunks.
Given that it’s been a while since I’ve had any WIP stuff up here, I thought I’d share. At least it’s going somewhere, and this might purge my urge to make it fit the draft.
This, for those keeping track, is from the 4th novel I wrote this year, tentative title Nothing and Forever. It’s YA sci-fi.
You can find it below the cut.
Is it close enough to the end of the year to start totting up progress?
I’m not quite done this final project but–fingers crossed–I will be by Dec. 31, even if I’m still scribbling as the ball drops. Even if it’s dropping in a time zone far west of here, even.
Because if I finish that project up (and I’m well past the midway point), that means I’ll have written four novels this year. Yeesh. About 350,000 words at least.
Crikey.
As I look back upon The Year in which I Spewed Novels Non-Stop, I feel a bit like a toddler that just learned a new trick, then has to do it again and again. And again. Oh, and again.
Four bloody novels. Think I got the hang of it now.
Which means I now proclaim 2015 as The Year of the Edit.
I’ve always loved first draft better. Writing all these novels so quickly, in such a short span of time, has shown me that part of that preference definitely stemmed from not really knowing how I arrived at the story in the first place. To cf. a previous post, I could make pretty story-shaped splotches but not much else. How do you fix a car if you don’t know how engines work? For a long time, that’s how editing felt.
Writing all those novels, solving that many pacing, character, plot, worldbuilding problems–and feeling my way through the different story dynamics and synergy that informed the stories’ varied topographies–means I feel like I finally know enough about how novels function “under the hood” to get out my wrench and oil can, pop the bonnet open, and get my hands dirty.
So yes, the Year of Editing. I’m actually looking forward to it…
And I’ll put it in print, right here: if I start a new novel without getting at least one of these four out the door, you can rip my pen from my twitching fingers and hide all my paper. The Year of Editing. And Some Short Stories. Which Also Need Editing.
Can we sense a trend yet?
Editing. Editing. Editing.
After all what does a toddler do after learning one trick but start on another?
I am very pleased to announce that my short story “A Touch of Red” has been accepted by Mirror Dance for the Spring 2015 issue.
The story features a river that runs red with the goddess’ blood once a year, and swimming in the river at this time might grant you magical powers that last for a year. I’ve had a novel idea for this world rolling around in the back of my brain for a while (gotta finish up my current three WIPs first, sigh), but couldn’t resist fleshing out the world with this short story.
Which is about shoes. Thanks, muse, thanks a lot…a river that grants magical powers and…and…my muse gives me shoes. No complaints, though. Its one of my favourite things I’ve written and almost everyone has said it’s made them cry so…get those tissues ready and I’ll post a link when I get it.
The Red Volume is out (okay, it has been for a while–my bad).
And it’s received incredibly good reviews: Neil Gaiman recommended us on Twitter, Cory Doctorow did the same on Boing Boing, Tor.com called us its “new faves,” and Walter Jon Williams (one of our Clarion instructors) showed the love.
It’s not too late to get your copy. Available on pay-what-you-want, DRM-free, at awkwardrobots.org.
And E.G. Cosh, who designed the awkbot on the cover, also put together this cute little video available on youtube.
Don’t make the awkbot cry! Get your copy of the Red Volume today.
We’ve been working hard all summer on our fundraising anthology, and it goes out for sale in just a few weeks!
We’ll be releasing teasers for the stories in the lead up to launch day but you, loyal readers, can have mine now:
“In A Touch of Red by Deborah Bailey, a young girl waits on the banks of a blood-red river for her mother to return—an outcome that depends on whose prayers the Goddess decides to answer.”
Our press release has received some good exposure, including on the SFWA blog:
Clarion 2012 has issued the following: The Clarion class of 2012—known as the Awkward Robots—wants to tell you a story. Or, more precisely, seventeen stories. About post-singularity dreamscapes, gentrified haunted houses, and redcaps in the trenches at Verdun.
The Red Volume is a collection of stories largely written and revised during the Clarion Foundation’s fundraising write-a-thon, which runs concurrently with the workshop. The anthology will be available this September on a pay-what-you-can basis. Readers can snag a copy for free, or donate any amount from 99 cents up. All proceeds benefit the Clarion Foundation.
AwkBot Luke R. Pebler, whose fiction most recently appeared in the Sword and Laseranthology, proposed the idea to his cohort following a successful reading at WisCon 38. Awkward Robots Read was so well-received, Pebler wanted to put that momentum to good use. The result is a a collection of stories by writers previously published in Lightspeed, Shimmer,Strange Horizons, The New Yorker, and more. The table of contents includes Carmen Maria Machado, winner of the Richard Yates Short Fiction Prize, and Sam J. Miller, recent recipient of the Shirley Jackson Award.
But it takes more than good writing to build an anthology; AwkBot Emma Cosh holds down a day job in graphic design, and Sarah Mack (whose latest story appears in Gone Lawn 15) is a master of eBook distribution. Together, the ‘Bots have created a slick, stylish anthology packed with arresting prose. Jeffrey Ford, winner of the Nebula, Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy Awards, will write The Red Volume‘s introduction. Ford taught week one of Clarion 2012, and fondly refers to the AwkBots as “a bunch of chuckleheads.” You couldn’t ask for a better endorsement.
The Red Volume is available for pre-order at awkwardrobots.org. Follow @AwkBots2012 on Twitter for updates.
designed by the amazing E.G. Cosh
Its that time of year. The Clarion write-a-thon is in full swing. This year, the Clarion 2012 class is not just fundraising through accepting pledges for x amount of work. We thought it would be good to share the outcome of the all that hard summer writing.
Thus, we are pleased to announce The Red Volume, featuring stories written by the Clarion class of 2012 during the 2014 write-a-thon.
All donors to Clarion though any of our write-a-thon pages will get a copy. Good fic, better cause: can’t get more win-win than that.
In addition, all future proceeds from the anthology will be donated to the Clarion Foundation, which provides scholarships to enable people to attend Clarion. I know Clarion changed both my writing and my life, and the Clarion Foundation makes that experience available to everyone, regardless of financial status.
You know you want a copy! Sponsor me here and grab one!
