Slightly Off the Mark

 I've been writing crossovers between various fandoms and the main character of my new novel, "The Notorious Ian Grant", and I couldn’t leave out the Four Friends—characters from my earlier “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” fanfics who came together with no planning on my part for a series of stories.

The Four Friends are Tara, a witch/ghost who’s a bit more alive than most people realize; Buffybot, a robot copy of Buffy Summers; Dana, a psychologically scarred Slayer from an episode of “Angel”; and Kara, an original character from my first fanfic.

Title: A Wrong Turn At Albuquerque
Author: ozma914
Summary: Ian thinks he’s still headed toward Indiana, in a misguided--figuratively and in this case literally--attempt to get back in his family's good graces. Along the way he meets a very different, mystical sort of family.

Rating: PG
Length: 2,500 words

 

 

 

 

SLIGHTLY OFF THE MARK

 

 

            I’ve spent a lot of time looking into what the US government spends money on. In fact, you could say I’ve spent so much time on their spending that nothing surprises me.

 

            You could say that, but you’d be wrong.

 

            Now they’re getting into my territory, dropping a million dollars into a project studying romance novels. Your taxpayer dollars are also going into a documentary on superheroes, a zombie video game, and promoting a ninja who’s supposed to sneak in and educate children about climate change, among many other things.

 

            But it was the romance stuff that grabbed my attention. Some say a million bucks isn’t much, by Fed standards. My response is to suggest they’ve lost their grip on reality – and math – but never mind.

 

           

Today I got to see the proposed cover for The Notorious Ian Grant, done by Gemini Judson. I’ll reveal it when it’s official, but she found a likeness for Ian that perfectly conveys how I imagine him at the opening of the book: A handsome but scruffy guy, full of mischief and reminiscent of Sawyer from the TV show “Lost”.

The stormy background (It’s the sequel to Storm Chaser) brought to mind a possible tagline for the book:

“There’s a new whirlwind in town.”

With it coming out in October, that makes two book releases in one year! It’s a pace I intend to keep … if I survive.

 I'm going to go live on internet radio tonight, at 6:30 EST! The link to HumorOutcasts Radio is here:

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dtcav/2014/05/14/humoroutcasts-radio

 

But don't worry if you can't catch it live: I'll post a link later to the HumorOutcasts website, when the recording goes up.

I was invited along on a blog tour ride by my writer friend Mari Collier, who was raised in Iowa and yet isn’t dull at all. Thanks for the extra work, Mari – sheesh. But anyone who writes SF, historical fiction, and humor is worth the effort. She now lives in California, yet isn’t strange at all.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4618494.Mari_Collier/blog

 

Unfortunately, due to finalizing the details on The No-Campfire Girls and life in general, I haven’t had the time to get this out, and today I realized I hadn’t recruited anyone to follow it. Instead, I picked a few blogs from among writer friends and highlighted them at the end of this, but I didn’t find anyone to answer the questions themselves, and I hope some of you will take up the reins and continue this on.

 

 

1.       What Am I Working On?

 

A sandwich, at the moment. Oh, you mean writing? We’re finishing the setup for my second self-published effort, The No-Campfire Girls, a YA humor/adventure set in a girl’s summer camp. Why self-published? Because a portion of the proceeds from the book’s sale will go toward Camp Latonka, the Girl’s Scout camp my wife attended and then worked at.

            I’m waiting to see the cover art of The Notorious Ian Grant, which Whiskey Creek Press is publishing in October. Meanwhile, I’m plugging away at a book of my columns and Beowulf: In Harm’s Way, a SF story that pokes a little fun at the space opera genre. I have a million ideas in a dozen genres, all in varying degrees of development, and just need more time.

 

 

2.       How Does My Work Differ From Others of Its Genre?

 

Which genre? Well, I tend to inject more humor into my works—the world needs more humor—but not in a mocking or parody way. I take my situations lightly, and my characters seriously. It’s as if Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams had a baby, and … who knows? I never pried into their personal lives.

 

 

3.       Why Do I Write What I Do?

 

Why not? But basically I write what I like to read, which is how it should be with all writers. I love science fiction, and I like a good romance that’s infused with humor, and I’m always up for some intelligent action, if you can picture that.

 

 

4.       How Does My Writing Process Work?

 

I start by thinking, which is far too lacking in today’s society. What if? What then? Routine chores are a perfect time for that: Mowing the lawn, showering, home maintenance, first aid after home maintenance … that’s where I work out the ideas in my head.

Then I do an outline; I have a whole box full of unfinished manuscripts to show I’ll never be a successful pantser. By the way, when I was a kid “pantser” meant a whole different thing. My outlines are devoid of Roman numerals, and full of side notes, parenthesis (I’m famous for my parenthesis), and the occasional exclamation point as an idea hits me. It’s just a scribbled narrative, really, and subject to change at any time—I just need a road map with a destination, and nothing keeps me from exploring a side road as long as the destination is in mind.

Beside that are detailed character outlines, and often other research material. I know what my characters want, need, what they’re afraid of, what they like for lunch, their hobbies, political outlooks or lack thereof—and although many of those details never make it to the story, they makes the characters real for me. Which is why they often go running off onto those side roads I mentioned, surprising me as much as the reader.

Then I write. That’s the fun part. Give me a place to sit and enough room to break out my laptop, and there’s my office. Except the bathtub—there are logistical problems to writing in the bathtub.

And, although I go back and read through the previous day’s work at every writing session, my stories are always in for five or six polishings before anyone else sees them, because that’s how I roll. And if you’ve ever tried to roll while revising, you know it’s a challenge.

 

            Here are a few other blogs from friends of mine, more or less at random but chosen from Blogspot because I’m lazy:

 

http://williamkendallbooks.blogspot.com/

            William Kendall has that rare ability to make you laugh even if you’re a fan of what he’s making fun of. He likes winter and hates musicals, but nobody’s perfect.

 

http://kellyhashway.blogspot.com/

            Kelly Hashway writes speculative fiction, or so I speculate, and has already done the tour—no guilt trip here for her.

 

http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/

            Rosanne Dingli is a writer of rich writing who also writes about writing, right?

Say it three times fast … take a chance.

 

            Yes, I cheated on this assignment to a degree, but I just finished proofreading my new book proof and now I’m sending off for another proof to prove I’m ready to publish. As you can probably tell by the last couple of paragraphs, I’m also very tired.

I foolishly asked everyone to vote on a title for my “Girl Scout” novella without actually telling anyone what it was about! So here’s a quick blurb, which might very well find its way to the back cover:

 

            Fifteen year old Beth Hamlin is horrified to discover her beloved summer camp must go without campfires this year, thanks to the fire hazard from a drought. At first she and her friends try to perk up the other campers, but Beth isn't one to just sit (or swim, or boat, or horseback) around, when there's a challenge to be met.

            Beth discovers her new cabinmate, Cassidy, knows a local Cherokee who claims the ability to do a rain dance. Now all they have to do is trick the Camp Director into letting Running Creek do the dance there, avoid the local bully and a flying arrow or two … and keep from getting caught plotting with the local fire captain on a forbidden cell phone. With luck southern Indiana will get a nice, soaking rain, and when it's over Camp Inipi can have proper campfires again.

            But when things go horribly wrong, the whole area is endangered by a double disaster. Now Beth, Cassidy, and the rest of their unit may be the only people who can save not only their camp, but everyone in it.

            When Beth's big brother told her being a teenager could be rough, he probably didn't have this in mind.

 

            And here’s the Facebook poll on the title, if anyone’s interested:

 

https://apps.facebook.com/my-polls/ucyle?from=admin_wall

SLIGHTLY OFF THE MARK

(  At 17 I started trying to sell short stories to various science fiction markets. That means I’ve been writing fiction for forty years, and trying to sell it for three decades. If I’m good enough to get published, it may be through sheer repetition. )

I sent Storm Chaser off to Whiskey Creek Press last night. If I can get published there it might be a good fit, because they deal in all the genres I'm interested in writing fiction for: humor, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, adventure, and romance. Yes, I'm a split personality writer!

Whiskey Creek Press requires three submission elements: a cover letter, business plan, and the complete manuscript. Most publishers prefer sample chapters and an outline first, or just a query letter and synopsis. I think I like this way better -- I hate writing outlines. WCP requires a synopsis as part of the cover letter, but luckily, I already had one of those.

There were two challenging parts to this submission: First, my manuscript was formatted for printing, but they wanted it sent electronically. That meant changing spacing, inserting italics instead of underlining, removing headers, and taking the white space from each opening chapter page, among other things. I think it was something that needed to be done anyway -- more and more publishers are going to be looking for e-mailed submissions.

More challenging was the business plan, something I've never done before. That's the way it is, now: A writer can't just sit back and wait for the cash to come in, they have to help sell their work. Luckily, I had help from one of Whiskey Creek's own writers, Star Ferris, who writes non-fiction as Bev Walton-Porter but is now Bev Sninchak by marriage. She's done the business plan thing before, and helped me immensely. Nobody helps each other out like writers do.

So that's it; time to settle in and wait (and work on other writing). Wait how long? Well, I submitted Coming Attractions to Avalon on June 6, and have yet to hear from them, so ... awhile. But this submission was sent out on 09/09/09, which I'm told is a lucky date, so I've got my fingers crossed -- even though that makes it very difficult to type.