Publication- The Force of Fiction

Force of Fiction Magazine

One of the things I worked on recently was a magazine where all the call to papers that were sent to my group were all put together.  I was surprised at how good it looked, and how it came out.  We only had to put all the Call to Papers in it, but I decided that was too boring for me, so I slid in two fun articles into the front portion.  The link is above the picture, and the fun articles are called "The Console Wars", and "Star Wars Returns".  Both got really good feedback, and were really fun to write.  I guess they came from my growing obsession with the xbox one, which came out on Nov. 22nd.  I wanted to watch the countdown, but I'm not much of a midnight release kind of person.  I wouldn't be able to stay up that late, unless I had been lying around a couch all day long, and since it was a school day (thursday) that wasn't happening.  I think my family is judging me, because when I said I wanted one, I was immediately questioned if I would rather have the Playstation 4.  That's how bad the representation of the new xbox was.  How could they mess up the presentation of the only thing they have been working on for years?!  

Anyway, with thanksgiving just a few days away, the semester is coming to a close, and with that said, I'm trying to show everything that I have done this semester.  The only problem is that there was so much done, that I don't even remember doing.  This could be a long process.  Down below I'm linking the publications where I sent my own call to papers.  Read them, and support the groups while you're at it.  I'm only linking two, because one of the papers was sent to my own publication linked all the way at the top of the page.

Warfare and technology (mine is under the super weapon category)

Warfare and Technology Publication

Progressing Technology

Progressing Technology Publication

Nanowrimo Week Two

They don't lie when they say that week two is the worst.  I took the weekend to go ahead and plot out my characters, and even made a timeline, but I still feel like there are moments where I doubt how much of this I can take.  I type whenever I can, and for me right now that is an amazing feat.  The thing is that I want to see this book through to the end.  Come Friday I am supposed to have around 25,000 words.  To some of you it would be a little bit of a random number to take so much pride, but considering that the goal is 50,000 words, I am ecstatic.  Last year I only made it to around 11,000 words, so with my current word count being at 20,000 this year has already surpassed my expectations from last year.  To those of you who have encouraged me with writing this novel, thank you.  Maybe I can actually finish this book for once?

Revisions I made to my Drafts

                                             Revisions to Progress of Technology

I used the midst of action intro for my actual introduction for the paper.

If you can't read it, it is mostly my alternate introductions, a midst of action introduction, and an outline of the major points of the paper.

The Force of Fiction Revision

Didn't use any of the introductions I wrote, but this helped me decide that I actually liked how my paper started.

Tech and Warfare Revision

This one was shorter, so the midst of action introduction made up the entire draft, though I think in the end I'll add more before it's due.

Nanowrimo Days Seven and Eight

First week is almost down, and I think I'm starting to realize how much more planning I need for this story.  I learned last year that you don't jump into a story without proper planning, it ends in misery and defeat.  And I will say this, being told you failed Nanowrimo is a harrowing experience, it kills your motivation on writing for a while.  The miracle?  The weekend is almost here, and with it comes more oppurtunity to write, which means catching up.  Nanowrimo is going to have a marathon on Saturday, but I probably won't be fully on track with that.  Friday I might sit, and use a white board to do more brainstorming, so I can hopefully carry on with this 50,000 word goal.

Right now, I am at around the 10,000 word mark, a little behind, but slowly trying to catch up.  I may end up looking for more motivational tools soon, but I think I can stick this out, and still make good grades in school.  A writer can dream.

Reflecting on the Drafts

As a joke I'll just say that there's not much to reflect on my writing process, because I think we can all catch that that was a bad lie.  When I write there is a process, but it is confusing, and hard to remember when looking back at it.  I have a symptom of bad memory.  There are bits of music that creep into my other writing project, and instead of just influencing my book, it puts its mark on everything.  Some of the new music is by an artist call Les Friction.  It sounds weird, but this music is epic, and helped me imagine some of the scenes in my other project.

Les Friction
-World on Fire
-Firewall
-Here comes the reign
-Louder than Words
-Who will save you now


Listen to some of the songs, and you get a little bit of my process right there.  There's a sense of dramatic thought to these songs, and they drove me to work harder, and stay strong in my Nanowrimo goal.  Check through some of my other posts if you are interested in any of the music in this post, some of the others have more music that has inspired me.

Music has only been a portion of this progress though, and due to my earlier progress post you can see how Oblivion played a role in which drafts I chose to write, and how I would write them.  Though it never was mentioned in the drafts, it influenced how I looked at the ideas during my brainstorming process.

Most of the rest of the process was dominated by my own experiences, and those of family members who were impacted by the subject at hand.  The joke from before comes to mind, and I think the reason for its existence is that it can be so hard to explain.  There are hardly enough words to describe how you pass through ideas, and let your imagination run wild.  The fact that I did most of these drafts in a short span of time doesn't help in reflecting on it.  I think writers in general want to be tight lipped in how their process works, its their special way of doing things, and part of their reclusive get away from the world.  To reveal that is like opening yourself to a world that may not accept your way.

This picture speaks volumes of how the song, firewall is just so powerful.  If you go onto youtube, this is the picture get when the song plays, and it just reflects the song so well.  This song was just so inspirational to my process.  Here are some pictures from when I started writing both my drafts, though the focus is on technology.

I don't own any of the pictures, except for the writing ones.  The first two belong to their respective owners.

Nanowrimo Day Four

Day four and I feel like it's beginning to hit that excruciating point of the writing process.  This is technically another rewrite, but I have vowed not to try to edit anything I have written. The problem lies in re purposing old material that can still be used in the current version, and characters that I want to keep but have no explanation for.  The only thing that is inspiring enough to keep me going is more music.  :)
 Here's my list for the last week:
-Invincible (2013) (Battle Rock) though it's only on youtube
-This is for the Fallen (Epic Vocal Rock)
-Star Trek (1st one) soundtrack

It's short, but still effective for writing.  I am currently at around 7,000 words today, supposedly on track for the 50,000 word count for the month.  If any of you are looking for a challenge, try this next year, or if you're extremely courageous you can still try it this year, though you'd already be several thousand behind.  It's an experience I've been proud to even try for the second time, winning or not.

Nanowrimo

Those unused to the term used in this title might want to get acquainted with it.  The name Nanowrimo refers to National Novel Writing Month (yes, it's real-look it up if you're interested), and that month just so happens to be November.  Last year I tried my hand at the 50,000 word goal and made it to a sad 11,000 if that was even the score (I think I heavily rounded up).  This year I've decided once was not enough, and hey, maybe I have gotten smarter, so I'm giving it a try with a bit of a clearer plan in mind.  The focus of this writing marathon is going to be Rebirth, which is starting to be a thorn in my side, so why not?  Right?

If any of you find the site, and decide you're insane enough to take a stab at it, be forewarned, do not take it lightly.  50,000 words is roughly 2,000 words a day.  That's enough words to drive even the best of us crazy, and I'm not banking on myself making it to that word count.  Wish me luck, and I might post my first week's word count, just don't expect a grand amount.  :)