I've been watching reviews about all the old Universal monsters. You know the roster: Dracula, wolfman, Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy, etc, etc... It's intriguing to see where the current lore came from. If you go back to the source material like Bram Stoker's Dracula or Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, you see that the movies barely touched the source material.
Some of the was the limitations of the era in effects, some limitations of storytelling, after all, Dracula wasn't meant to be experienced in one continuous narrative; it's told in a series of diary entries and letters. You get tiny bits of the plot revealed as it goes on from different points of view. But what I think is even more intriguing is what the modern audience has decided is the cannon lore. Those old monster movies had a much deeper impact than anything the original books did. Only a wooden stake through the heart can kill Dracula. Well, according to the novel, you can do it just fine with knives. Frankenstein was a hideous monster with bolts in his neck. Well, Mary Shelley seemed to think he was incredibly good looking and well-spoken by the end of the book. And where the heck did Igor come from? Did you realize that both the Dracula "bent arm" pose and the Frankenstein "hands out" pose are courtesy Bela Lugosi? Neither of those were characteristics of the character. Dracula happened to be hiding himself from wolf's bane (oh yeah, that repels him) when he pulled the cape up and hid his face. Frankenstein had gone blind when he started lumbering around with his arms outstretched! So what I'm getting at is this: I'm feeling less and less inclined to follow any particular set of rules for monsters. I think that's good. The Paladin really needs it's own world and it's own set of rules for what makes creatures behave they way they do and how to destroy them. After all, Dracula's been killed by knives, stakes, running water, freezing, burning, and lightning! I'm fairly certain one of the Universal movies killed a vampire with a freakin' shower. A bathroom shower! Anyway, after all that research, I'm feeling much better about my monsters, my demons, and all my little children of the night (another great Lugosi line!) So be prepared to enjoy The Paladin when it releases without having to worry about what you think monsters are like, because frankly, it doesn't seem to matter. I never drink. Wine.
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This is going to seem a little dumb, but I kinda stumbled into something that made me a bit guilty. As if my NaNoWriMo list wasn't already packed, another bit of fiction has fallen back on my desk. Fan fiction.
So... before I got really serious about writing, before I started The Paladin, and before I had any real, serious ambitions to get anything published, I started up an account on Fanfiction.net. Now, fan fiction doesn't get looked at particularly kindly by published authors. You don't invent your own characters or your own world, so why take it seriously? I can certainly see that. But at the same time, I think it takes a certain kind of person to write another person's characters well enough that others enjoy them. In that way, I guess it's not all that different from doing a spec script. Enough stalling, here's the point. After, I'm not sure... maybe ten years... I still have an unfinished fan fiction sitting on that website. While I love The Paladin, it has no fanbase yet. This story, however, does. I wrote it, then stopped. Then people gave it good reviews and asked if I would consider continuing it. So I did. Then I stopped. Then I started The Paladin. Then it happened. Yesterday, I was minding my own business, researching what Theodore Roosevelt's favorite food was (fried chicken smothered in white gravy) when an email came from fanfiction.net. I sighed. Opening it, there was a brand new review of my Inu Yasha / Lupin III crossover fan fiction. A new reader discovered it and asked me, very politely, if I planned on continuing it because they liked it. So what do you do? I've got a serious novel I'm trying to get out there, a short story on the side, and increasingly less time to do it all in. At the same time, I can't abandon a fan. Well... any longer than a decade or so. So... I guess I'm going to edit The Paladin, write a side story about werewolves, and... yeah... looks like I need to delve back into the adventure of a Thief and a Well. Be Excellent to Each Other. Today I picked up a shift doing a little filming on the side. It shouldn't be a big impact on things (here I am updating the blog, right?) but it doesn't mean a little less time I'll have to spend writing and editing. But, that's what happens when you have to pay the bills.
It's a little strange to get behind a camera again. I won't say that I hated what I did, but it didn't really move me. It wasn't enjoyable. It was... just a job. So, too, will this little side business. I suppose this will be good, too. Getting out to interact with more people on a regular basis will certainly help my sanity. Sometimes locking yourself away to write and edit can get to be a bit much. On another front, I've made several pages of progress on my Paladin side story. I'm keeping up with my NaNoWriMo goals, but I feel like I'm not editing as much now. I'm going to have to see how that can be re-balanced. I know there are enough hours in the day, I just need to organize better. It's a fun story, so far. I've gotten to do quite a bit of research, getting insights into clothing, food, political atmosphere, technology, linguistics... it just keeps going on and on. The inner nerd (and outer nerd) really geek out over this kind of stuff. It's just so fun to learn new things that I can incorporate into my stories to keep them consistent and accurate. That's all for now. DFTBA! I was listening through my writing playlist while I was running errands today and this song came on: Just Close Your Eyes by Story of the Year. As I listened, I knew I had to share this one with you. It's the perfect song for getting yourself in the head space of someone who is awakening to something new, to realizing their true self, and to seeing the light for the first time. It's intense, it's engaging, and it just lets my imagination paint a vivid picture. Now, I know you might think, based on the blurb and first couple chapters, that you understand where I'm using this song. Obviously, it's Jonathan coming to terms with the new world he's in. Nope. Not even close. Jonathan's intro to the Paladin Order is just the appetizer of the novel and nothing I need a song this intense for. No, it's the journey he takes throughout the novel... and beyond. This song is fantastic and grips my soul, shaking it and forcing me to see what's really out there. And what's inside my own skull. Also, it doesn't hurt that Captain Charisma himself, Christian, had this as his entrance music. DFTBA I'm hoping this doesn't come off as bragging or an attempt to annoy anyone that has trouble creating stories, but I felt like I needed to share this today.
If you've followed the blog, you'll know that beyond The Paladin, I have a few other side projects waiting in the rafters. Of course I have the short stories about The Paladin extended universe (Val's Blog is on the front page) but I also have a few stories that are completely unconnected. A story about a blacksmith ripped from his home by godlike creatures and cast to another continent because of a petty squabble betwixt them. The story of a fairy girl who is dreading the day she loses her wings. The story of three kingdoms in an undeclared war, powered by their patron deities. And now... a new one fell into my lap. I was talking my walk around the mountain today and had my playlist going. I've got a list specifically to help me concentrate on The Paladin (I think tomorrow might be another Paladin Playlist!) and that's what I intended to listen to as I started up the first slope. My thumb slipped. Or perhaps my mind subconsciously was tired of that same music. I won't say what playlist I landed on, but it began a strange hike for me. It started as a humorous indulgence. I had no serious intentions and the music was, admittedly, a bit silly. But slowly, I started to think that a plot forming in my head could be added to one of my existing projects, specifically the warring kingdoms project. It became quickly apparent that this story, if I intended to do anything with it, would not fit in any of my existing frameworks and would require its own story. I fretted, but continued to the walk. By the time I returned to the trail head I had concocted a new magic system, a set of rules, geographic locations, and at least four different cultures that would be interacting throughout this story. A story I can't write any time soon. God, I hate being creative sometimes. Be excellent to each other! So, how’s everyone’s writing goals coming? I know someone out there is doing NaNoWriMo, so if you’re reading this, consider this your reminder: meet your word count today!
I listened to a great podcast today from Writing Excuses about NaNoWriMo. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a portmanteau of National Novel Writing Month and the idea is to write an entire novel (50,000 words) in one month. I highly suggest it if you’re interested, even if you’re not trying to get something published. If you’re curious, I am participating, but in a limited fashion. Since I already wrote a novel, I’ll be writing a short story along with editing what I have. There’s actually a clause for that they mentioned on the podcast. So... for the short story... I’m still researching. But I think I’ll just start writing now. Get to writing! DFTBA Today I took a break from cutting words and condensing chapters to work on the grammatical side of editing. It's tedious, but necessary, and I always dread going through all the little bits and pieces.
I know that if I get an agent and that agent gets me hooked up with a decent sized publisher, I'll have access to their editor. That's nice and all, but if I don't do my own editing beforehand, the agent may not take a second look at my manuscript. Sometimes all it takes is a missing word here or the word "a" where it should've been "an." In a novel with over 140,000 words, there's going to be a lot of hiccups, not matter how good your grammar normally is. It doesn't help that the writing process doesn't care about the editing process. By that I mean that when you're writing, you're not supposed to think about the little bits and pieces. You aren't supposed to stop and focus on the minutiae or you'll never get the story out! I know. I've stopped to fix paragraphs... then chapters... then completely had to rewrite those chapters... and now those are stories that I've abandoned. I got too bogged down fixing the mechanics that I never got the core material out of my head. So now that all 55 chapters of material (they're short chapters!) I've got a lot a material to sort through. Fortunately I have some assistance, but still... it's lot. And it's kinda boring. But I gotta do it. Fortunately... it's NaNoWriMo, so I have something to distract me! Keep your eyes peeled for the next short story... which may or may not have President Teddy Roosevelt in it. DFTBA Now, while I wouldn't call anything that I'm writing horror by any stretch of the imagination, I do have to concede that the topics I deal with tend to overlap into the horror genre. I've talked about this before, though. I'm not going out of my way to watch/read horror, though I will research the crap out of it on fan wikis and YouTube analyses (that's how I learned all about the Five Nights at Freddy's mythos!) But... occasionally, there are come creepy, night spooky forms of media that I consider indulging in. Sometimes, they're just tame enough and my interests overlap just enough, that I put on my big boy pants and sit down for them.
Right now, I'm torn, though. I've got a few options thanks to the glorious age of streaming television that we live in. American Horror Story seems to have a lot of great elements that, frankly, intrigue me, but I wonder if it's worth sitting down for. Same goes for the Exorcist series. If you've read the three chapters I have on the front page, you'll see that I do draw some inspiration from the original movie. There's a ton of stuff out there, though. So what do you think I should focus on? Supernatural? Walking Dead? Lucifer, perhaps? What about Hannibal or The Vampire Diaries? I know I actually liked the first couple episodes of iZombie (not that I'd call that horror, strictly speaking...) Anyway, what are your thoughts? I'm always cautious to indulge in media close to what I'm writing because I don't want to take too much from material, but getting in the proper mindset could certainly be valuable. So what arguably paranormal, creepy, supernatural, spooky shows do you like to watch? Let me know and I'll add them to my playlist. Until next time, don't forget to be awesome. I've talked about it before, but today it's really on my mind. I'm cutting content from some of the middle chapters. Nothing that changes the story, but there is more content than I think a publisher would care for out of a debut author. The hard part is... I'm looking over notes, I'm reading beta reviews, and I'm looking at the material. I can't figure out what to cut!
This isn't a matter of "Oh, everything I write is golden, I can't cut any of it." I'm just not certain what needs to go. I'm definitely killing my darlings, and I knew I would have to. I'm nearly at the point where I may need to kill entire chapters and figure out a shorter way to relate the information. I'm kind of tempted right now to try sending out my manuscript as is and see what feedback I get from agents. It's structurally sound right now. I'm not worried about coming off as amateurish, just worried that my word count will dissuade them from publishing me. So that's where I am. Staring at the same blocks of text, wondering whether I need this paragraph or not. Wondering if I can relate all the information in a shorter way. Le sigh. Well, this is what I signed up for, so no complaints from this end. I'll figure it out one way or the other. On a separate note, working with Smash Fiction yesterday was awesome. Had tons of fun and hope I can do it again someday. (@SmashFicPodcast) Also... NaNoWriMo anyone? DFTBA Today's entry might be a little short as I am literally minutes away from recording for Smash Fiction (@SmashFicPodcast) . I'm terribly excited, but I still have a duty to this blog and I will fulfill it. So today, being Dia de los Muertos and all, I figured I'd talk about the cultural research I've had to do for The Paladin. Being of Mexican heritage, I've always had a strange relationship with Dia de los Muertos. My family didn't really celebrate it... or care about it... but they encouraged me to understand it through other means. That mostly meant my school. That got me on a kick of learning about holidays and cultural celebrations that I still have to this day. Because the Paladin Order exists worldwide, I have to do a lot of research on how local customs work, what monsters would even exist there, and how I think the government there might handle the existence of the paranormal. I've had to learn about how the Canadian government works, what a nuckelavee is and how to kill it, and why the Roman Catholic church's presence might not be welcomed in certain countries. All and all, it's been very engaging. I've loved every moment of it and look forward to starting on my next novel so I can begin researching even more stuff. But for now, I have to go argue why Thor would beat Wonder Woman in a fight. Be excellent to each other! |
Matias TautimezKeep your eyes open for my debut novel, The Paladin. Archives
January 2023
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