Apr 15, 2014

Scifi, Fantasy, & a Blood Moon

Blood Moon captured April 14th/15th (raw image)

Earlier today I submitted the first 50 pages of a scifi manuscript to a contest of sorts to be considered for publication by a start up genre publisher under the wings of a giant publishing house. This is the first time as an adult I have tried to get something traditionally published.

In high school and college I had several poems published and a couple short stories, but nothing big. Then I sort of lost my way down graphic design and film-making paths for almost a decade, but then sprang back with my first book in 2012, a self published memoir, to test the waters. However, I craved to write fiction, but didn't yet have the confidence to tackle it alone. Enter Scarlett Amaris, with whom I wrote and published a dark fantasy called, Saurimonde.

Armed with my newfound confidence I wanted to tackle a solo fiction project, but what? I had a few old ideas collecting virtual dust on various hard drives, so I pulled everything out from poems to scripts and read it all, the good, the bad, and the really, truly awful. And I was more confused than ever.

I took a break on fiction to work on Medicated again, my follow-up to In The Now, about a traumatic experience I had in 2008. I finally figured out a solid outline for the book, but the next step was gathering up all my scattered journals and rereading them. I wasn't ready to go there. I thought 6 years was enough time, but it wasn't. Maybe next year? The 7 year itch.

Meanwhile, I continued writing miscellaneous story ideas here and there, as well as notes from my favorite articles and documentaries that more often than not tended towards science... When it hit me. Maybe I should write a scifi story? My whole life I have worshiped scifi authors from Dick to Gibson. I instantly thought I wasn't worthy, didn't know enough, and could never pull it off, so I began devouring more science fiction literature as homework. More and more story ideas began bubbling up, until finally I realized I had about 30,000 words of notes. But what to do with them?

That's when I noticed a call to arms from a new publisher, so I started chipping away at those notes until a cohesive narrative formed based loosely on an old screenplay I had written for a long defunct project and, today, I submitted the first 50 pages (15,000+ words) after a zillion edits and rewrites (okay maybe not a zillion but it felt like it).

I don't expect to hit it out of the park on my first at bat (But how cool would that be? Seriously. Anyway...), but it's a first step towards another big life goal. So, even if they say no (in 2 months allegedly), it doesn't matter. I'll keep writing it until I get from 55,000 to 100,000 words and I'll submit it anywhere they'll take it!

Meanwhile, I've been continuing to work on the Saurimonde sequel with Scarlett and it just keeps getting better and better. If you haven't already, hop on over to www.saurimonde.com to read the first 3 chapters.

*deep breath*

And so it begins... Continues? Never ends? *shrug* Something, something, dark side.