I joke about how no one really reads this blog because that's a liberating true fact (and thank you for reading, you! you!). But I do try to be at least clear; I always try to be clear, at least, in my writing. Although I know I often fall short on that -- in fiction, despite time and best efforts, because my ambition continually outstrips my abilities (I don't think I'm going to change that; I'm just going to keep trying to level up my abilities), and here in the blog because the sprawl of thought is often kind of a mess, even if y'know you do read it over a coupla times.
This is a long-winded preamble preemptive apology for the fact that I'm going to start posting more, but the narrative thread through the posts may be...well, I don't know. If you follow the labels (I think they appear at the BOTTOM of the posts, on the interface), that might be the best guide to track thematic throughlines. A desperate thread in a sea of slimthoughts.
This post, for example, is about writing. As you can tell from the label! A bunch of upcoming posts will be.
I'm also gonna try to keep posts short, both for me and for you. And then we can chortle together as you stop reading the latest "short" post two-thousand overwrought words in.
No but seriously I think I can keep this one pretty short. It's about process.
So I've been InstaStorying about how the last couple months with Erra's Throne have been high-level. What I mean by that is that January and February I was doing a lot of traveling to TA; I was able to carve out hours to write because I wake up very early but I wasn't able to get any high-level sense of structure, story, sweep, theme -- life was too distracting and my sleep schedule was screwed up and I was in all these different time zones etc. What I could manage, mentally, was diving deep into prose for a few hours each day, hammering at words / sentences / paragraphs, working through chapters to make sure they're written as well as can be (as well as I can).
So starting in March, when I got home from TA'ing, I've been doing this high-level thing where I step back--force myself to step back--from the prose; because that's the drug, that's the pleasure. You can spend forever (literally) making it better. But I'm forcing myself to not do that and to look at the arc of key plot threads and story elements, and how they manifest in the story. I'm using words like "manifest" but we are talking about very simple mechanical things: what are the sound effects for things that happen in the game and happen in real life, and how/can should these sound effects align to capture what is happening to Emmy's world(s)? what are the threads that the reader can trace through elements of in-game lore and actual myth--as the characters experience them: things they read; things they do; things they say--that can knit together and tighten as the story proceeds?
I'm doing this for a simple reason: to make sure the story is awesome and clear. Because--frankly--the story is not yet clear enough. It's clear enough for some people; it's not not clear enough for enough people. The most useful, best, and worst part of releasing Erra serially has been hearing back from readers. And learning how f#*cking much people have been missing. I've a few times been corresponding with someone who proactively reached out cuz they liked it and we're pinging back and forth and we'll stumble upon some misunderstanding of some fundamental part of the story which I though could never be misunderstood by an attentive reader. And I learn, again, of a reader who is not only attentive but liking the book who has missed it.
So that is my fault. And that has to be better.
It has to be better because: that sucks; not being clear sucks. Seriously: I am explicitly asking people for their money (a tiny bit), but mostly their time and attention. In fact, tbh, I demand it: Erra is not a passive read; it's not a f*#cking blog post. And if I can't even reward that with clarity then...oof. Fuck that guy.
It also has to be better for a bigger reason: there's no way for the climax to be awesome (and it will be) if it's not clear. Because:
(a) nothing can be awesome to a reader who's having a hard time following along, and
(b) More subtly/importantly:
there's "get"
and there's get
and there's GET --
there's "oh, okay...okay sure yeah I get it: he threw a brick. Got it."
and there's oh I see it! a brick! look:sailing through air!
and there's OW MYHEAD WUT--OH MY GOSH. HOLY...FUCKING BRICK. AMAZING.
The point is I want Erra to be clear and be awesome; that's all I want everything else can go burn. So I've been doing this "high-level" look at structure, at how these threads thread, etc., for about 7 weeks now.
switching back and forth: sound
transitional
is this a big leap forward? maaaybe!
This is a long-winded preamble preemptive apology for the fact that I'm going to start posting more, but the narrative thread through the posts may be...well, I don't know. If you follow the labels (I think they appear at the BOTTOM of the posts, on the interface), that might be the best guide to track thematic throughlines. A desperate thread in a sea of slimthoughts.
This post, for example, is about writing. As you can tell from the label! A bunch of upcoming posts will be.
I'm also gonna try to keep posts short, both for me and for you. And then we can chortle together as you stop reading the latest "short" post two-thousand overwrought words in.
No but seriously I think I can keep this one pretty short. It's about process.
So I've been InstaStorying about how the last couple months with Erra's Throne have been high-level. What I mean by that is that January and February I was doing a lot of traveling to TA; I was able to carve out hours to write because I wake up very early but I wasn't able to get any high-level sense of structure, story, sweep, theme -- life was too distracting and my sleep schedule was screwed up and I was in all these different time zones etc. What I could manage, mentally, was diving deep into prose for a few hours each day, hammering at words / sentences / paragraphs, working through chapters to make sure they're written as well as can be (as well as I can).
So starting in March, when I got home from TA'ing, I've been doing this high-level thing where I step back--force myself to step back--from the prose; because that's the drug, that's the pleasure. You can spend forever (literally) making it better. But I'm forcing myself to not do that and to look at the arc of key plot threads and story elements, and how they manifest in the story. I'm using words like "manifest" but we are talking about very simple mechanical things: what are the sound effects for things that happen in the game and happen in real life, and how/can should these sound effects align to capture what is happening to Emmy's world(s)? what are the threads that the reader can trace through elements of in-game lore and actual myth--as the characters experience them: things they read; things they do; things they say--that can knit together and tighten as the story proceeds?
I'm doing this for a simple reason: to make sure the story is awesome and clear. Because--frankly--the story is not yet clear enough. It's clear enough for some people; it's not not clear enough for enough people. The most useful, best, and worst part of releasing Erra serially has been hearing back from readers. And learning how f#*cking much people have been missing. I've a few times been corresponding with someone who proactively reached out cuz they liked it and we're pinging back and forth and we'll stumble upon some misunderstanding of some fundamental part of the story which I though could never be misunderstood by an attentive reader. And I learn, again, of a reader who is not only attentive but liking the book who has missed it.
So that is my fault. And that has to be better.
It has to be better because: that sucks; not being clear sucks. Seriously: I am explicitly asking people for their money (a tiny bit), but mostly their time and attention. In fact, tbh, I demand it: Erra is not a passive read; it's not a f*#cking blog post. And if I can't even reward that with clarity then...oof. Fuck that guy.
It also has to be better for a bigger reason: there's no way for the climax to be awesome (and it will be) if it's not clear. Because:
(a) nothing can be awesome to a reader who's having a hard time following along, and
(b) More subtly/importantly:
there's "get"
and there's get
and there's GET --
there's "oh, okay...okay sure yeah I get it: he threw a brick. Got it."
and there's oh I see it! a brick! look:sailing through air!
and there's OW MYHEAD WUT--OH MY GOSH. HOLY...FUCKING BRICK. AMAZING.
The point is I want Erra to be clear and be awesome; that's all I want everything else can go burn. So I've been doing this "high-level" look at structure, at how these threads thread, etc., for about 7 weeks now.
switching back and forth: sound
transitional