Status: On vacation till the end of the month due to a lot going on.
Doing: Writing on this blog; answering e-mails; working out, and well...you know the rest! :0)
Watching: Nothing at the moment.
Listening to: "In Winter; Pain"--by Kittie
Reading: Kushiel's Scion. Page 404.
STAR TREK-THE NEXT GENERATION: WAR DRUMS. Page 78.
TOPIC: YOU JUST GOTTA BE YOURSELF. NO ONE CAN BE THAT FOR YOU.
It's funny how some people react so negatively to an idea.
I thought it would be beneficial if I had posted my publishing ideas and plans on one of these writers' sites--which is dealing with the fallout from NCP, and all I got was from the majority: "If I had a publisher like that, I'd take my pocketbook and run."
Run to where--exactly? To someone else that doesn't appreciate you or your work? Someone whom doesn't pay you for what you're actually worth? Just where do you plan on taking your money to? Hmm?
Anyone want to answer me that one?
How about taking your works to a publisher that understands the writer? The art of a good book? What will connect the reader to such books in the first place? That will cause these newfound readers to come back wanting more--because they are of a different fare than those seen in commercial bookstores?
How about a publisher that treats their clients like assets instead of commercial liabilities?
Or publishers that treat their first-time clients like crap?
It makes me wonder just how different most publishers are from the ones that go out and deliberately try to schnooker their way onto an unsuspecting writer; steal away their rights (and their money)--and don't give nothing back?
Or the ones that give so little to that first-time author to start out with--but in turn, heavily FAVOR their top 1% with everything but the kitchen sink?
And I in turn get shot down because I want to be a different writer and future publisher?
It's not like the same model of writing success has been equally applied to each and every writer/author which has traveled down the pike in the last hundred years or so.
The same thing can be applied with a business model.
Outside of the basics, you could run it however you see fit. But from what I gathered, so many writers are still fixated on nothing but the money; acting like my stance is something of a pariah against whatever they've been taught to believe in.
Y'know?
Personally, I don't find anything wrong with what I want to do.
Being different, acting differently, is not a weakness or a business liability. But not many people see that as something they can live with.
Pretty much why so many McCain supporters and other GOP trolls are so terrified of Obama on Yahoo! Answers: They can't take the chance of everything that's worked for them (and not everyone else) going down the drain or stopping entirely--in order to favor the struggling American man, woman, or child.
Much like my openly transparent publishing ambitions. Y'know? I want to try something different that hasn't been tried before. Instead of focusing on pure profit, how about focusing on the writer and the book in question?
Oh, no!...we can't have that, now can we, people?
Nope.
Everything has to follow the same failed capitalistic model of greed, power, and most importantly...? MONEY.
Screw personal endeavors.
Screw personal ambitions.
Screw delivering a well-made product.
Screw even the guy who had made it or fashioned it with his own blood, sweat, and tears.
Just focus on the business side of the model and fuck everything else along the way!
And people keep wondering why nothing in made in America anymore?Because we've outsourced all our damned ambition, hard-work ethics, and DRIVE--to places like China and India for cheap-on-the-fly business ethics!
PROFIT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE WORKER. PROFIT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM!
And people think I'm nuts for wanting to do things differently?
Maybe it's because I'm tired of seeing things the way they are and want to affect a little change for the common good!
Has anyone figured that out yet? Do I need to keep spelling it out until it finally sinks into those thick heads of theirs?
I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT THE MONEY!!! IT'S NOT GOING TO DO ANY OF US ANY GOOD ONCE WE ARE DEAD!!!
HELL~O PEOPLE!
FOCUS!!!
If none of us can accomplish anything in our miserable begotten lives--what the fuck difference does it matter if we aren't able to get our hands on all that wealth, fame, and name-recognition in the first place?!?
What is so damned scary about doing things differently?
Did we all just fall off the highest branch of the tallest stupid tree in existance--and declare that ambition is no longer a necessity in our shortened lifespans?
But I look at the common writer and all I see is greed from those whom don't care about whether or not their books sell or not. For those few of us who are bucking the tend--I implore you to keep doing it.
Because one of these days, I'm going to come after you and sign your butts up.
***
I realize that having money is important, but what few writers (and some published authors) don't seem to realize is that if you don't have a good book (preferably one that connects to the reader), how is that "it's all about the money"-ideal going to help you when you can't even break even in book sales after you get published; because either your book--or book sales--sucked so bad from the start?
See, this is the dark reality the majority still doesn't want to face. They think if they can get TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED, everything will still be hunky-dorey F-I-N-E. (Or as my wife calls it: "Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional.")
Wish that were true, peeps! But...reality can be such a bitch sometimes, y'know?
Granted, I probably won't make enough for a down payment on a beat-up looking Gremlin--but at least I didn't go the same route as the rest of us struggling eggheads; by dumping all my hopes and dreams on traditional publishing and stubbornly believing that is where the big bucks lie.
(Because I already went and did that. Nearly 10 years wasted trying to beat my head against that unmoveable brick wall. After which I said: "Enough of this shit. Let's try something else.")
So to those who want to continue to shoot me down on what I want to do?
AT LEAST I'M DOING SOMETHING THAT WON'T BE CONSIDERED A CONSTANT EXERCISE IN UTTER FUTILITY.
I'm getting something out of this. A real life-learning, life-changing, experience.
That is what I apply to my books. To all of my characters. To every world I have built in the last 20+ years.
And if society in general can't understand that? Well, then, that's their loss.
Not mine.
Sky
Showing posts with label different. Show all posts
Showing posts with label different. Show all posts
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
THURSDAY MUSINGS. (PART 1)
Status: Writing Chapter 16 to Stories of the Dead Earth-Book 3: Jasper
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out
Watching: Early Morning News
Listening to: "Platina" [Mauritis Paardekooper Mix]; Nokturnal Mix Sessions by Blue Amazon
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (Page 123)
TOPIC: IT'S OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT
To many times I've had people tell me that in order to be published, I would have to axe a lot in my completed tomes; just to satisfy the whims of some big-name publisher.
If I said my book was 400,000 words, I would have someone tell me to axe it all the way down to 80,000.
1 million? 75,000 words.
Why? Because most people cannot comprehend the scope and depth of the books that I write. They still see things in the classic black vs. white construct: Where everything has to be set in stone, and there is no going around it.
But there is.
In this day and age, the advent of the internet and the advancement of printing and digitial technologies has made our ability to reach out to the masses even more simplistic than ever before.
But very few people have been able to catch onto that fact. The majority are still entrenched in the old ideals of: 'everything has to be done the other way; there is no easy to way to do things'.
So when the question of my enormous word counts crop up, people aren't looking at the glass half-full, they are looking for ways to kill a storyline that has taken me years to build, mold, and fashion.
And why?
The writing I do does not follow conventional logic. Call what I do as unconventional. Call it illogical.
But don't call it mainstream.
Because that's not what it is.
In the mainstream, we are all told what to say, what to read, and what to write.
ESPECIALLY WHAT WE WRITE.
We have a set pattern before us, a mold, a model, from which to draw on--in order to follow the common status quo.
We cannot deviate from that set pattern.
When you run into someone like me who has never entered the arena with eyes open or never had a writing class in his life, you're bound to discover that doing it the old-fashioned way suddenly gives way to new and radical ideas.
Thoughts and the "rebel without a cause" routine which has most of the traditionals and their supporters bristling with poisonous thoughts.
Results?
You're bound to get your collective ass kicked because you are flying in the face of common sense and kiss-ass mentalities. Plus, you are defying an edict which had been laid out decades before any of us were even born.
So enters the attack dogs and the naysayers--damned determined to upset your little apple cart by telling you that you cannot do this, cannot do that--and everything else designed to kill any forward momentum on your projects.
Why?
Because you have to follow the rules. It's all about the rules.
You can't break them. You can't bend them. And you certainly cannot go around them.
In order to be successful, you have to do what they want. No debate. No discussion. End of story.
But setting yourself apart from everything that has been a driving force behind and industry that's as old as time itself--it doesn't come easy.
You have to make sure that what you're writing doesn't infringe on what's already out there. You have to make sure that every step you take has the desired result.
And not many people will understand your intent to go in that other direction.
Being different isn't a weakness. It's a strength that no one else has. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase that special talent that you've been painstakingly developing all your life.
And whether people will truly understand that, isn't up to you to decide.
It's their ball. They can play it however they want.
But the most important thing is that you don't stop doing what you've set out to do.
Even if it defies logic, common sense, and tradition.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out
Watching: Early Morning News
Listening to: "Platina" [Mauritis Paardekooper Mix]; Nokturnal Mix Sessions by Blue Amazon
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (Page 123)
TOPIC: IT'S OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT
To many times I've had people tell me that in order to be published, I would have to axe a lot in my completed tomes; just to satisfy the whims of some big-name publisher.
If I said my book was 400,000 words, I would have someone tell me to axe it all the way down to 80,000.
1 million? 75,000 words.
Why? Because most people cannot comprehend the scope and depth of the books that I write. They still see things in the classic black vs. white construct: Where everything has to be set in stone, and there is no going around it.
But there is.
In this day and age, the advent of the internet and the advancement of printing and digitial technologies has made our ability to reach out to the masses even more simplistic than ever before.
But very few people have been able to catch onto that fact. The majority are still entrenched in the old ideals of: 'everything has to be done the other way; there is no easy to way to do things'.
So when the question of my enormous word counts crop up, people aren't looking at the glass half-full, they are looking for ways to kill a storyline that has taken me years to build, mold, and fashion.
And why?
The writing I do does not follow conventional logic. Call what I do as unconventional. Call it illogical.
But don't call it mainstream.
Because that's not what it is.
In the mainstream, we are all told what to say, what to read, and what to write.
ESPECIALLY WHAT WE WRITE.
We have a set pattern before us, a mold, a model, from which to draw on--in order to follow the common status quo.
We cannot deviate from that set pattern.
When you run into someone like me who has never entered the arena with eyes open or never had a writing class in his life, you're bound to discover that doing it the old-fashioned way suddenly gives way to new and radical ideas.
Thoughts and the "rebel without a cause" routine which has most of the traditionals and their supporters bristling with poisonous thoughts.
Results?
You're bound to get your collective ass kicked because you are flying in the face of common sense and kiss-ass mentalities. Plus, you are defying an edict which had been laid out decades before any of us were even born.
So enters the attack dogs and the naysayers--damned determined to upset your little apple cart by telling you that you cannot do this, cannot do that--and everything else designed to kill any forward momentum on your projects.
Why?
Because you have to follow the rules. It's all about the rules.
You can't break them. You can't bend them. And you certainly cannot go around them.
In order to be successful, you have to do what they want. No debate. No discussion. End of story.
But setting yourself apart from everything that has been a driving force behind and industry that's as old as time itself--it doesn't come easy.
You have to make sure that what you're writing doesn't infringe on what's already out there. You have to make sure that every step you take has the desired result.
And not many people will understand your intent to go in that other direction.
Being different isn't a weakness. It's a strength that no one else has. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase that special talent that you've been painstakingly developing all your life.
And whether people will truly understand that, isn't up to you to decide.
It's their ball. They can play it however they want.
But the most important thing is that you don't stop doing what you've set out to do.
Even if it defies logic, common sense, and tradition.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
8:30 PM...
Status: On vacation
Doing: Writing this blog; finished 150 pushups; and watching the cats beat on each other for leftover canned cat food. (shrugs)
Watching: Something on PBS regarding the prison break from one of Germany's infamous prison camps of the second world war. (THE GREAT ESCAPE's been on before. It's a good documentary.)
Listening to: "Slave" by Gary Numan; Falling Stars by Haroon Piracha; and "Try" by Ian Van Dahl.
State of Office: Worse than New Orleans is at the moment; expect a cleanup on Aisle 4 later tonight.
TOPIC: THE VAMPIRESS HUNTER
One of my many book projects that I first completed in 2001--this is a remake of my first attempt at erotic romance involving one wayward vampiress hunter and a San Francisco detective.
The original involved a man named Andrew Scott, but I changed the detective to be a woman this time around by the name of Amanda Scott: A freelance detective whom has a special esper-type ability. And specializes in the paranormal.
As I stated in my other Yahoo! 360 blog, I was pretty burnt out over the "guy meets girl; guy gets girl"-theme.
I just wanted something different for a change with this book.
A different take on romance, the vampire lore, and such. So I took another approach with the novel and wrote it in the first person perspective:
I suppose that my crime of existence was the fact that I was born so very, very poor.
My family–they…they didn’t have very much to sustain either myself nor my sister, Ana , or my brother Petre.
But my mother and father were a proud people–born of excellent Romanian stock from my beloved nation–and descended from the tribal Slavs; immigrating from what was Old East Europe at the time.
So the land upon which we were born and bred upon–we were its masters as well as its loyal servant.
And me?
I bore my mother’s good looks as well–myself being born fair and gamine as any farmer’s daughter should be. Tall in stature, strong and limber in the body, but gentle and caring in the heart and soul.
Like my mom and my sister, I toiled the soil of my beloved homeland–alongside with my family–enjoying every blessed moment, every sacred second which passed by my youthful eyes.
Of course, this the opening to the book; a prologue if you will. But it only tells a little bit of my main heroine's tale--that of Maria Elena Dumitra.
Oddly enough, she still goes by her birth name while attending Berkley University. No one has sought to question her--and those that did, were told of a tale of loss and pain.
But it was just a ruse to cover the truth. No one questioned her after that.
What is different about this vampire novel is the fact that Maria likes both blood and chocolate:
I stared into the case even more, my eyes roving around for potential prey. Though I wouldn’t find the kind I naturally enjoyed from time to time, this one was of a kind that only satiate the beast within.
“Um…” I faltered for a second. “All of them?”
The old man smiled. “So you must be a student, then, huh? Berkley?”
“Yes…”
“Good school. I graduated there back in the 90s. When do you graduate?”
“Two more years.” I said automatically, before finding what I wanted. An enriched, 96% cacao, strawberry-infused bar of the darkest chocolate I saw in quite some time.
Did I forget to mention a couple of important things here? I was a student at Berkley, but I was also hopelessly addicted to chocolate.
Not just the lattes I drank, but the bars which I enjoyed with sweet relish.
So there you have it.
Something new and exciting about my upcoming novel, The Vampiress Hunter.
I only have about 4 chapters completed so far, but it's not going to be finished for a couple more years--as I am in no hurry to complete this novel.
But by the time The Starchild is published in 2009, people will know that I have more than one book--in more than one genre--waiting for them in the wings.
Doing: Writing this blog; finished 150 pushups; and watching the cats beat on each other for leftover canned cat food. (shrugs)
Watching: Something on PBS regarding the prison break from one of Germany's infamous prison camps of the second world war. (THE GREAT ESCAPE's been on before. It's a good documentary.)
Listening to: "Slave" by Gary Numan; Falling Stars by Haroon Piracha; and "Try" by Ian Van Dahl.
State of Office: Worse than New Orleans is at the moment; expect a cleanup on Aisle 4 later tonight.
TOPIC: THE VAMPIRESS HUNTER
One of my many book projects that I first completed in 2001--this is a remake of my first attempt at erotic romance involving one wayward vampiress hunter and a San Francisco detective.
The original involved a man named Andrew Scott, but I changed the detective to be a woman this time around by the name of Amanda Scott: A freelance detective whom has a special esper-type ability. And specializes in the paranormal.
As I stated in my other Yahoo! 360 blog, I was pretty burnt out over the "guy meets girl; guy gets girl"-theme.
I just wanted something different for a change with this book.
A different take on romance, the vampire lore, and such. So I took another approach with the novel and wrote it in the first person perspective:
I suppose that my crime of existence was the fact that I was born so very, very poor.
My family–they…they didn’t have very much to sustain either myself nor my sister, Ana , or my brother Petre.
But my mother and father were a proud people–born of excellent Romanian stock from my beloved nation–and descended from the tribal Slavs; immigrating from what was Old East Europe at the time.
So the land upon which we were born and bred upon–we were its masters as well as its loyal servant.
And me?
I bore my mother’s good looks as well–myself being born fair and gamine as any farmer’s daughter should be. Tall in stature, strong and limber in the body, but gentle and caring in the heart and soul.
Like my mom and my sister, I toiled the soil of my beloved homeland–alongside with my family–enjoying every blessed moment, every sacred second which passed by my youthful eyes.
Of course, this the opening to the book; a prologue if you will. But it only tells a little bit of my main heroine's tale--that of Maria Elena Dumitra.
Oddly enough, she still goes by her birth name while attending Berkley University. No one has sought to question her--and those that did, were told of a tale of loss and pain.
But it was just a ruse to cover the truth. No one questioned her after that.
What is different about this vampire novel is the fact that Maria likes both blood and chocolate:
I stared into the case even more, my eyes roving around for potential prey. Though I wouldn’t find the kind I naturally enjoyed from time to time, this one was of a kind that only satiate the beast within.
“Um…” I faltered for a second. “All of them?”
The old man smiled. “So you must be a student, then, huh? Berkley?”
“Yes…”
“Good school. I graduated there back in the 90s. When do you graduate?”
“Two more years.” I said automatically, before finding what I wanted. An enriched, 96% cacao, strawberry-infused bar of the darkest chocolate I saw in quite some time.
Did I forget to mention a couple of important things here? I was a student at Berkley, but I was also hopelessly addicted to chocolate.
Not just the lattes I drank, but the bars which I enjoyed with sweet relish.
So there you have it.
Something new and exciting about my upcoming novel, The Vampiress Hunter.
I only have about 4 chapters completed so far, but it's not going to be finished for a couple more years--as I am in no hurry to complete this novel.
But by the time The Starchild is published in 2009, people will know that I have more than one book--in more than one genre--waiting for them in the wings.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
