Marius in Black

The Last Spring Break

This is my last spring break as an undergraduate. While the thought of life after my BA is exciting, I'm not terrified of "real life" (whatever that is). I don't sense an uncertain future looming ahead or anything so ominous as that. Surprisingly, I am not worried about this major change in my life. I've worked hard and I'm almost done.

Spring Break is a welcome week of relaxation, but more than anything, I'm ready move and find a place where I can live for more than nine months. Sure, I'll miss this university, I'll miss Bear and Ezra and all of my other friends. But a three bedroom apartment waits with a teaching assistantship and a wonderful graduate program.

Marius in Black

My idea for a webcomic/novella called Marius in Black began as a dream. I remember a young man in a pea coat standing in a wide snowy field under wheeling stars. The whole scene was caught in black and white except the flame-red of his scarf and the cold brilliant blue of his eyes. When I told Bear about the dream at breakfast, he volunteered the first words Marius would say. Here's what followed...

It's a cold night here in hell, Jezebel, Marius thought. He leaned his head back, taking in the brilliantly blazing stars, blue and wheeling overhead. The winter chill gnawed through his pea coat, but Marius relished the cold. Under his steel-toed boots, the snow grunted and soaked the heavy cuff of his jeans.

I've sketched out a few details of the story, and hope it will be my new Friday Snippets project. I know I've been out alot since late last semester, but I think this idea, in all its simplicity, would be a way for me to relax as I edit my thesis. When I woke up this morning, I started working on designs for his outfit and drafted out a few scenes before starting on anything else school-related.

So say we all.
Bri

New(ish) Design and a Hippo on My Shotgun Shell

The new blog design is up, but not completely finished, as you can see. I'm pleased with it. I'm not sure what it was about the other blog that bothered me so much, but something definitely did. Hopefully this will be much more to my liking. The past two weeks have been full of everything. I mean that in a (mostly) literal way.

SO MANY TALES TO ASTONISH

This week in my science fiction class, we discussed my story "Lightning in a Bottle." Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, which pleased me. I'm sending this one to a magazine in the very near future, so the suggestions and the critique were incredibly helpful. The thing is, I want to create a graphic novel for this short story at the same time and this might becomes a slight problem if I decide to go on with publication. The character designs have been in my head for a long while, so I think I might push ahead with this and submit something else to a magazine. Still considering it.

THE CREEP

My room got incredibly messy, clean, then messy and then clean again. I think the Creep of Mess is like a tide or something and I should probably investigate that.

FINISHING THE FIGHT...IN NEW TECH

In Writing for New Technologies (what a name, right?) I must turn in a concept for a unique research project, and I think I've discovered my topic. In HALO 3, players have the ability to watch "film" of their matches and to review their enemy's strategies. I want to know how this will change the level of strategic study in games like Capture the Flag (capturing the enemy flag) or Assault (planting a bomb in the enemy base).

I also want to see if a a team will gain a stronger sense of community and alliance if they re-see their own strategies and the strategies of their enemies. At some point, I also want to discuss some gender issues in HALO 3, but that may have to wait.

WEEKEND RECAP

This weekend, I played a few matches of Shotty Snipers (shotguns and sniper rifles only), in the Social Doubles Matches with my friend Vespacian - "V" (also known as Ezra). Here are some pics from one of our best matches. Usually, I'm a Blue, but for these matches, we were placed with the Reds. Please forgive any confusion.

A Hippo on My Shotgun Shell

The shell of choice for Master Chief in the HALO universe apparently has a giant hippo and the number 8 on it. I don't really understand why. I don't ask. He's the Master Chief.

V and Me on the Hunt This guy never had a chance. V was cloaked, completely invisible. The poor guy never saw it coming. When it was all over, V faded away like a ghost and we continued our hunt for the Blues.

Give Them Nothing. Take From Them Everything.We. Are. So. Cool.

I Got Your Back - Frag Out
With V running forward and me covering our trail from the Blue, we escaped with only slight damage. Whoorah for the Reds and pretty sweet teamwork.
Last, here is a video of the above last stand in the tunnels.

That's the update. I'll be by later in the week to continue the redesign and to post about further projects. I have all intention of becoming involved in the blogging community. I hope you all understand. HALO 3 is amazing. School is necessary. The Creep evolves daily. I'll strike some balance, some semblance of a treaty with it all, and then I will return to the blogosphere triumphant. I promise.

So say we all.
Bri

Day 10 & 11: MEME x 5

Here's the five things that I wish I would write! I picked up this meme from MerylF's blog Characterisensation.

THE RULES:
1. Write about the top five writing projects you want to do. Books, short stories, whatever.
2. Post the rules and link to where you got the meme from in the first place.
3. Tag people.

1. XIII -- The first thing I want to write and finish is probably XIII. It's a horrid title I know. But it's what works right now. I've had this story since I was thirteen or fourteen, and only recently have I tried to write it in hopes of publication. The story is twisted and complicated and in the end beautiful and tragic. Dukes, bastards, seamstresses and queens, guardians, kings, Fae, and oracles all play out their parts in a massive civil war between worlds, and I think if I ever could work out the whole story on paper, it would be wonderful - if for no one else but me.

2. What is Now: Easter Sunday -- I would want to write this into a full length novel. The short story was incredibly fun to write. The reader moved backward in time and so knew the fate of each of the characters, but the characters were moving forward in time and so knew why they were about to make their decisions. The levels of "knowing" made the story especially interesting to write, and the idea of that as a novel is full of awesome.

3. Lucky #7 -- I want to write a short story that draws from my friendship with Jocelyn in VA. We've been friends now for seven years, and the strange happenings of coincidence and fate that brought us together and continue to help us along would definitely bring out a great story. I'm not sure if I would bring in the usual fantastical element that follows my other stories or not, but we'll see.

4. Apollo and Artemis -- I started a story a few years ago about a man who walked the whole world, keeping things in their proper place while searching for his sister. The world knows them as a race who brings light and fire and summer. While it's not a very well developed idea just yet, I really liked the idea. Mehbe...mehbe we could make a deal.

5. The Icarus Complex -- The last idea has something to do with a really awesome flying machine that the main character, a young girl, constructs to save a man she barely knows. I know there's a cat, a motorcycle, a mirror of great importance, and maybe some cool firearms and aerial theatrics. The story is mostly focused on the heroine's friendship/love of the mysterious man. But it's sort of nebulous...and by "sort of" I mean, mostly.

So say we all.
Bri

Out Into the World

And so we say hello. After much deliberation and nervous worrying, What is Now: Easter Sunday and When Otis Met Everlyse are gone out into the world. Godspeed, friends. Now, I will hold my breath for the next 5-12 weeks and pray. But! Do not fear, dear readers! I have, waiting in the wings, a variety of fabulously fun short stories, mostly consisting of other science fiction and fantasy-esque pieces.

My novel chapter is due to be outlined and revised tomorrow, so you may know this: the hour of true revision is at hand. You'll have to forgive the overdramatic tone in this entry. I tend to feel more free to express my grandiloquence when I'm not face-to-face with people. When you say these things in the "real," you sound silly. Here, you sound silly and eccentric. That's the trick.

The last thing on the list of things to discuss is my lunch. Today, dear readers, I enjoyed the most perfect sandwich in the world: toasted wheat bread, smoked turkey, American cheese and a fruit-cup jar of orange juice. Most wonderful. I think I might write that sandwich a song.

So say we all.
Bri

Duct Tape, Madness, and Pandora

While editing What is Now: Easter Sunday, I stumbled over several fascinating tidbits about our solar system - geography of moons, the odds of terra-forming Mars, and patterns in various orbits - which have spawned various other story ideas. Thanks to a friend, I also have a wide array of information on a few religions which I find very useful when I write. To wiki and my friend, we say thank you.

That brings me to what I've been wanting to say. In writing What is Now: Easter Sunday, I found that I enjoyed the idea of discussing what it is that makes us human, what it is that ties us to our little dustball and makes us unique in the incredible vastness of the universe. I know I want to write various "colonial" stories involving the madness that could overwhelm someone when space becomes the new 'last frontier.' After losing myself in our own constellations in a little program called Celestia, I still want to play off the idea of finding yourself surrounded by strange stars.

Last thing: This has nothing to do with anything I'm writing, but I am insanely jealous of anyone who has satellite or cable this summer. Space week is coming on the Science Channel and I want to watch it so incredibly much. Did you know that in the event of an astronaut succumbing to psychosis, the treatment method involves duct tape? That's right. Duct tape. I seethe jealously at all of you who will watch this gloriousness.

So say we all.
Bri

P.S. Check out Pandora.com. It gave me the greatest bands and free songs on internet radio - ever.

On Siege and Storm

War Reports from the Front:

A storm is coming. While those may be the most cliche words in a fantasy series, it is the truth tonight as I sit in my dorm room. The clouds circled menacingly all day, massing their legion over our small city, and I believe, that following the traditional flashing of lightning spears and war-drum thunder, the stormlings will advance the siege against us. So, I have decided to wait out the coming battle with cool new musics and a horrifying Ray Bradbury story.

A storm is coming. This next week work and finals, along with a torrent of short stories and portfolios are bearing down on me with hurricane force.

A storm is coming. Editors beware! By this Friday, I will have flooded your post office boxes with the most lovely of manuscripts and incorrigible characters!

That's the news from the front.

So say we all.
Bri

On Surreal Dreams and Possible Horrors!

Last night I received critique from my friend-critic and while I expected it to be harsh (but helpful), it was anything but harsh and incredibly helpful. She offered ideas on the small wording of sentences and large structural ideas for the plot as well as for character development. My everlasting thanks.

When I woke this morning, I remembered a strange series of surreal dreams which just might make their way into a horror story. When I attempted to explain them to my friend, the sense of terror and cold was amazing. I don't have any definite titles yet, and while I am interested in developing these ideas, I may hold off until I spend a few weeks in Terry Wright's Science Fiction and Horror class next fall.

As far as what I am sending to magazines, here is the run down:

1. What is Now: Easter Sunday will be out by the end of this week. We can only hope and pray that at least one of the three I send it to will love it and buy it from me.

2. When Otis Met Everlyse is going out on Wednesday and while it probably will not generate moneys, we can hope it flies into a magazine of some sort, so that I can tell editors I have been previously published.

3. The Promethean has been completely dropped from my line-up, mainly because I don't care for the story. The idea was pleasant, but I know of various other ways I could use the characters. I want to return to this, but I want to focus more on the science fiction than fantasy stories at this point - probably because the genre is a novelty to me.

4. Science fiction as a genre fascinates me and while working on my novel this summer, I will be churning out various science fiction stories. Hopefully some will bring out female protagonists, since I hardly write females in any of my stories.

That's the update kids.
So say we all.
Bri

Something other than the Writing Life

This morning I checked my email and Dr. Vanderslice (Stephanie) had written me back about some MFA programs I am considering with just a touch of anxiety. Both articles were informative and incredibly encouraging. With the end of the year drawing close, I realized that my undergrad career is looming off in the hazy future and that maybe I should prepare myself for facing it.

Other than that, I have begun the arduous process of moving out of my dorm room. To be very honest, being uprooted every nine months is bewildering and frustrating. Like a cat, I become high-strung, nervous, and easily agitated. My bookshelves are empty and my DVDs are packed along with all of my stuffed animals and artwork. Tomorrow morning, my mom and dad will drive up to help me move back home for the summer, and for the next two weeks I will live in an empty room. But at least I will not have to face finals and the stress of moving out.

As far as the writing life goes, I have started revision on The Promethean and so far, the story is coming along. My friend-critic is critiquing What is Now: Easter Sunday and I hear back from her by Monday to begin revisions on that story. By the end of the year I should have at least one fantasy piece and one sci-fi piece to send to magazines. I've been working on my cover letters, but so far they begin along the lines of "Dear Mr. Editor-Person, Please love my stories." Hmm...that probably won't go over very well.

I'll keep you posted.
So say we all.
Bri

On Revisions, Cliches and New Frontiers

For the past week or so, I've concentrated on editing What is Now: Easter Sunday and When Otis Met Everlyse, and received great critique from my best-worst critic friend. She discovered the miraculous and wonderful world of the Microsoft Word comment feature, and I benefited immensely from her advice! I know I'm probably a few years behind the revolution, but this newly discovered feature has enlightened me to the greatness of Word. Basically, this feature allows her to comment to specific pieces of my work in little comic-word bubbles without disrupting the flow of my original text. It's fantastic.

Another great realization of the week is that revision is a wonderful process - and I will spare you the horror of cliches like "like a snake shedding its skin" or a "phoenix rising from the ashes." But in all honesty, revision may be one of the greatest things I've had to do for class, mainly because I think it might greatly benefit my novel chapters when I revise them this summer.

The last thing for the evening is that I have started work on several short stories outside of my normal genre, mainly because of a writing/revision assignment in my fiction class. I'll keep you updated on the progress of these new ventures.

So say we all.
Bri

Thoughts and prayers are with those at Virginia Tech.

On Constructive Critique and Demeaning Critique

Hello again.

Today, I received critique on What is Now: Easter Sunday, a short story that was one called Breaking the Bowl. Most were very positive, but there was one that was scathing, I felt, for the sheer joy of being scathing. I couldn't understand why the writer of this critique felt it was professional/helpful to offer NO constructive criticism. But then I found that someone who would go out of his way to be so specifically unhelpful was not involved for the sake of critique.

So that brings me to what I wanted to talk about: in dealing with critique and rejection, grace is required. This guy gets me flustered and I generally feel that he is offering nothing positive. But at the same time, I try to appear friendly, smiling like a wolf with too many teeth. I wonder sometimes if someone who is combative, as he is, is not aggressive toward a genre itself (in my case Science Fiction or Fantasy.) Or simply toward other writers in a class.

While I know I don't like this person for his unhelpful and condescending comments about me and, more importantly, my work, I know that I have to tolerate him. I can take criticism very well, and I like suggestions and critique of my work - but I don't need someone to lay siege to me. While some may say that his critique is light compared to what an editor may someday say, it is difficult to deal with now. Maybe he's a hurtle on my road toward publication. But above all: I know that I have to act with grace, even when he does not.

Which...to be very honest, is very difficult.
Keeping my head up.

So say we all.
Bri

Update and New Things to See

I know a few days have passed since last I updated, but I have a few very good reasons. They are as follows: I finished When Otis Met Everlyse and after a final critique from my critic-friend it will be ready to send to a magazine. I have continued to work through Breaking the Bowl and have finally found a way to lead the narrative so that the story reads very interestingly. The idea is that when the story starts, you will know how it ends, and so the story is just about how the characters will eventually get to that point.

So here is the update for today. I read a few other writer's websites and among those there are some that I think might actually help with all stages of the writing process. Holly Lisle, a published novelist and a great writer for writers has a site dedicated to help writers through various articles she's written, as well as a more focused site where she discusses her weekly podcasts (that's a hint for you to go to iTunes and listen - she's brilliant).

Another very helpful and fun site is Sunday Scribblings, where prompts and idea starters are posted regularly.

Lastly is a site called After the MFA which offers great advice and encouragement to people who either choose to teach creative writing or want to write for a living.

The links to these sites are posted on the right in the sidebar under Sites to See. Hope you enjoy.

So say we all.
Bri

In a Universe of Infinite Chaos

Tomorrow, I have to hand in a one page essay on what I've done so far this semester to get myself published/into the world of print for my Into Print class. At the moment, I've sent out no short stories to magazines other than The Vortex; the few short stories I do have are in drafts, most not nearly ready to be published.

But the one thing I would make note of is that this semester has been my most productive in terms of creativity, and actual completion of several drafts with which I am extremely pleased. So while I have not submitted to outside magazines for the Into Print course yet, I feel I have a substantial portfolio with Half-Made Men, When Otis Met Everlyse, The Promethean and Breaking the Bowl, along with a few other short-shorts, poems and edited chapters of my novel.

This weekend has been my very first experience of writing actual sci-fi. Before, I've played with the genre, but never ever taken it as seriously as I have in Breaking the Bowl. Needless to say, I have enjoyed myself thoroughly. I've picked up a spotty knowledge of our solar system and have a fistful of ideas for further stories involving the frontiers of space and the two characters of Demne Spartkoi and Lyric Meridian.

One of the things I think I would like to investigate in the stories of these two is how someone who has seen all things destroyed - God, culture, world, family - transplants himself into a new environment with no boundaries, in a universe that is both chaotic and infinite. We'll see how that falls.

So say we all.
Bri

The Golden Ratio of Science Fiction

The past two days have been incredibly laid back and I have had more time than usual to write. The great thing about this is that I've also taken the chance to research various subjects concerning The Broken Bowl sci-fi story. Mainly galactic tidal patterns, the golden ratio, moons (chaotic and otherwise) as well as the nature of memory and how it is effected by supreme trauma and loss. I know these seem completely unrelated, but as I said yesterday, I'm trying to tie them together to form several powerful images in this short story.

The hard thing about the current story is when I should make the break between what what the reader knows as a the "reliable narrator" and have him slip into "unreliable mode." The question is whether or not the reader should be aware that he is unreliable before he does or not.

The other major thing I've been working on today is getting the sci-fi elements into my short story without overwhelming the story itself with solar system details. I think one of my friends put it best when he said, "Are you putting this stuff in there to say, Hey, I know enough so that you can take me seriously? Or are you putting it in there to say, Hey, I know a lot of stuff? I have all of these ideas about the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, how tidal patterns work on galaxies and whorls and sea shells, but I'm finding it difficult to find where those details should work in reference to the stories. Thanks for listening.

So say we all.
Bri

On Unreliable Narrators and Blog Posts

Today, I attended a craft lecture about "unreliable" narrators and while what the lecturer had to say about the craft of fiction irked some of my sensibilities, I found some of his ideas fascinating. One of the things that I have decided to do in the Breaking the Bowl short story is to play with the idea of an "unreliable" narrator and his constantly shifting memories. He relates his knowledge of combat and death to what he knows of love and the dark of space and loss. I think, once I articulate the ideas clearly on paper, the images will work exceptionally well together to come to a very powerful conclusion.

The other thing I was thinking on today was the idea of how religious an experience listening to music can be. I was listening to the soundtrack for 300 and The Fountain, and I found scenes for short stories and my novel coming to life in my head. Look for a sidebar tomorrow listing off some of my favorite mixes. The songs may be of benefit to those of you who want some listening suggestions, but will also be helpful to me in remembering some of the music that helps stir inspiration.

At the current time, I am working on the design of this site which will be changing drastically within the next few hours. Hopefully, what I'm doing will work well, but we'll have to see. What's done is done.

So say we all.
Bri

On Various Short Stories and Movement

I've been writing more lately than I usually do, but I've found that when I have a limited amount of time with very few ideas, the stress level doubles, triples - explodes. I'm in a publication class this semester that demands I submit a handful of things within the next few weeks, but going into this class, I had no idea that this was one of the requirements. If I had known, I would have come with several short stories polished to perfection over the Christmas break; as it stands, I have several novel chapters in rough stages of revision and nothing to submit.

The stories I'm working on for that class and my other fiction class are as follows:

When Otis Met Everlyse
This is a short story about a young man named Otis d'Arcadie who falls madly in love with a strange girl named Everlyse Antissa. A traveling musician, Otis is not accustomed to staying in one place for more than a month or more; when Everlyse's fantastic world of passionate dancing and whimsical rituals bleeds into Otis's reality, he decides to stay and discover what sort of creature Everlyse truly is. The story is based off of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, and, so far, I'm fairly enjoying writing it.

The Promethean
I wrote this short story a few weeks ago and it centers around a young man named Light who travels the Edge of the World tending the shadows and keeping them in their proper places. Light is one of the last of the Promethi, a race of people who govern and manipulate fire, and he is being Hunted by a malevolent force from the ancient world. The story focuses, of course, on the myth of Prometheus and how he was brought low for bringing fire and enlightenment to mortals. This is on the third draft, so it's almost done.

Breaking the Bowl
This story isn't really a story yet, but it follows the crumbling lives of Demne Spartkoi and Ash Meridian, childhood friends turned enemies. The plot has something to do with Ash's younger sister drowning and Demne burying Ash's murdered wife and child. Gas masks, bowls and some mysticism play prominent roles in the story, but nothing is definite yet. I'll get back to you on this one.

On a last note, I heard someone read today and was almost physically moved by his words. Looking on what I write, I realized that I want everything I write - everything - to carry that much of a punch, that much power, that much movement. Movement, action, decision are all things that are admirable, that are desirable - sometimes, even if they are destructive. This may lead to a short story about such subjects, but for now, we'll let it sit. Thanks for reading. That's all for today.

So say we all.
Bri