Years ago when I was researching Shakespeare, there was a line that puzzled me. It was in a literary theory work, and it was comparing two of the plays. No, I don’t remember which. I also don’t remember in which order the plays were supposedly written. It’s been years since I did a deep dive into the bard and I’ve slept since. More importantly, I’ve given myself serious, disabling concussion since, which took most of my um “inert memory” that is memorized stuff I don’t use every day, or every week, or even every month or year.
Anyway, the line was “If indeed he wrote play A while writing much more complex and obviously more emotionally — to him — important play B no wonder play A feels thin and lifeless.”
At the time this puzzled the living daylights out of me. To an extent it still does, because I’ve written a lot of books concurrently. In fact, my normal mode is “Front burner book” “back burner book” “fun book” “book I’m vaguely poking at to see what’s there.” (It’s how I read too. I’m …. too ADD to live, I think.) And you really can’t tell, years after, which books were heart’s blood, and which were “Oh, shoot, I need 17k dollars, and they’re paying it to write this thing I’m not even remotely interested in.” In fact, some of the second read way better now. (They’re mostly work for hire, an some of them you’ll never know. By contract.)
But… I might have a glimmer now. Heaven help me. I might have a glimmer.
This book that has been waiting since I was 14? It has taken hold of my head. The other stuff, some of which is almost finished? Feels like unsubstantial and uninteresting.
No Man’s Land is now 150k words, and if I’m lucky, has no more than 50k to go.
I have absolutely no clue if it’s any good. I have serious doubts it will sell.
It’s eaten my brain to the extent I forget to post to my newsletters. Even though I’m supposed to serialize it in one of them. I forget to eat/cook/do laundry.
I’m falling behind on republishing/re-covering books.
I might be going insane.
I just want it done so I can finish other stuff and go on with life.
And I don’t know what to do. The vampire book is sucking the life out of everything else.
Maybe I can finish it this week. Pray for me.
Mad Genius Club 
18 responses to “Curse of the Vampire!”
Consider my prayers for you absolutely sincere, I feel much in the same boat with Colors. It may just be the stress of everything else going on and the hours I have to put in at day job with the rent always going up, I hope it is, but trying to find the energy to finish all the gaps in the draft is sucking up everything else.
I have at least 4 Vague Ideas floating around that should be stories, but I can’t get any of them started beyond a few lines. I’m tired.
Colors is currently about 110K and… I think it will be good, I just wish I could get a whole week of sleep.
May the words get out onto the page, and may you end up done with it so you can do Something Else!
…And if all else fails, call on St. Barbara and blow something up.
Years of Hammer Horror movies have taught me that situations like this call for Peter Cushing wielding a crucifix.
Unless it’s Hugh Jackman wielding a crossbow…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS9N8dEdZCQ
A cool idea with a facepalmy plot. Drat.
I like Hugh Jackman’s Van Helsing, but I prefer the guy who can Indy Ploy his way out of a situation with a pair of candlesticks to the guy who relies on Steampunk Q-section for his cool toys.
If you’re worried about how good it is … trust your greek-letter readers. Just try not to get to omega!
I’m convinced I’ve corrupted them with it and they’re not thinking clearly
That is the surest indicator of an impactful book.
You realize that Fan is short for Fanatic, right? They were already corrupt and jonesing for more of the good stuff.
Does the vampire sparkle in daylight? [Very Big Crazy Grin]
No. It attacks my dreams with the next 10 scenes.
It attacks my dreams with the next 10 scenes
It haunts me dusk and day.
It rends my heart with every part
And drives all else far away.
It drains stories dry as it flies high
As I slave to keep it at bay.
How can I know, where this will go,
And what price it will make me pay?
The Vampire tale, while will not fail,
Yet still can be laid low.
Word on word, when once is heard
The tale will then let go.
(So silly doggerel inspired by your accidental rhyme.)
indeed. 😀
“Oh, shoot, I need 17k dollars, and they’re paying it to write this thing I’m not even remotely interested in.”
There’s an indie film called “We love you Sally Carmichael” that uses this as its McGuffin — an author using the pen name “Sally Carmichael wrote a book series under contract “just to pay the bills” and *hates* it, but… it blew up to “Twilight” levels of popularity so while he wants to stop writing those books and write books under his own name, the whole “by popular demand” and “under legal threat from his publisher” things conspire against him.
Hijinks ensue, of course.
I might be going insane.
Welcome to the club. Cookies and coffee cake are to the left. Coffee, tea, and some sort of lemonade to the right. None of the chairs are facing each other, but the chats are lively even if you’re all alone.
Prayers added to the ones your already included in.
Beethoven’s 8th Symphony was written while he was in the middle of an extremely bitter family dispute.
It is a technically advanced piece with a lot of interesting humor in it, almost none of which reflect the emotional war he was in the middle of at the time. I suspect that is why, of all of his, it seems the emptiest.
200k? Well, so long as you realize the editorial read is going to take longer than usual. Still, very much looking forward to it. 😀
I have a full set of muses.
Several of them make it very clear when they want me to write stories for them. Think John Ringo’s muse, ranging from well-caffinated to “must have coffee, now.”
Then, there is Her. She Who Must Be Obeyed. Who will grab you by something intimate and painful and whisper in your ear, “I want this story, darling. Now.”
And if you’re very, very lucky…you can finish the story before she gets annoyed. Or sarcastic.