# Tell us about your work-in-progress



## Ralph Rotten (Oct 25, 2018)

This is a common thread you see on forums. It pops up every 6 months or so.
But it's a good place for writers to *quantify* their work.
Essentially, let's hear the jacket text for whatever you are working on.  
Share a brief synopsis of the story that is currently escaping through your fingertips.


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## Ralph Rotten (Oct 25, 2018)

I am between books, so I am currently in research mode.
But the book I am researching for is about a lone guy who drives the dusty plains of post apocalyptic America.
He rolls from town to town, solves issues, gets the girls, then drives on in the sunset.
Except instead of a nice guy, he's an asshole.


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## sigmadog (Oct 25, 2018)

Here's the logline for my big-time, blockbuster, NY Times best-selling novel, "Fantasy League":

Professional ball player and douchebag Rick Rider is on the run from the mob when he encounters a wizard who “drafts” him against his will into BobWorld, an alternative universe where Rick is forced to play ball against fantasy creatures. When the mob’s enforcer, a deranged bruiser (and fantasy nerd) suddenly appears in BobWorld and, utilizing his psychopathic tendencies, quickly amasses power and threatens to become a new Dark Lord, Rick faces a desperate choice: run away like he’s always done, or somehow, and for once in his life, find the inner strength and character to stand and fight.


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## moderan (Oct 25, 2018)

I have something like a dozen things in development. The closest to finish are two long stories - THE FORGOTTEN GOD trades on the ubiquity of underground fungal life to detail communications between animal and vegetable kingdoms and also ruminates on the psychedelic experience in a tale that provides plenty of bloodletting and body-horror, inspired by a minor Ray Bradbury story from THE MACHINERIES OF JOY. It's due around the first of the year from Planet X. Part of this story appeared here under the title 'SPORN'.

Due around the same time from Planet X is this infamous short novel, originally written in 2001 and completely rewritten for this publication. It follows the storylines of both FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH and adds many new wrinkles to both tales.
Also in development is a full-length 'Russian novel' -- a sweeping epic with a wartime background ranging from the battle against the Turks in old Romania through WWI, featuring two immortal mcs, a cast of thousands, and chapters based on Russian fairy tales. I'm 125K into this and am just beginning to tell the story.


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## Sir-KP (Oct 27, 2018)

Currently still focusing and working on that one fiction of mine that went through a major thematic overhaul.

Story takes from the perspective of a nobody who was lucky enough to survive a mass-murdering attack done by massive religious fanatics shadowed by political background. 
The journey through the quarantined metropolis is filled with character development, relationship, hate, forgiveness, resentment, trust, betrayal, torture, murder, rape and all the evil sh*t and f*cked up ideologies of the fanatics'. 
Lotsa learning. Lotsa brainstorming. It feels like writing sci-fi, except needs to be more believable.

So far 19k words  ..... It's still nothing, of course. Currently it's more of the 'thick line' and I'm looking to get some part more into further details and expansions.


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## moderan (Oct 28, 2018)

I am doing a full rewrite of THE FORGOTTEN GOD for NaNoWriMo. Just because. I've challenged a couple of other people to do it as well. Who's with us?
#gauntlet


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## DarkGhost (Oct 28, 2018)

I'm working on a post-apocalyptic book as well. It's more of a dystopian setting though.
There is a virus that is slowly killing the world. It is accidentally discovered that it was released by governments to control the population of the world. 

Thats the the very brief overview. I'm in the middle of constructing the plot lines.


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## Phil Istine (Oct 28, 2018)

At the moment I'm working on a short (embellished non-fiction) piece that needs to be inserted into someone else's story.  This is tricky because her writing is far more advanced writer than mine (she's currently studying for an M.A. to add to her earlier degree).

In its simplest form it's a love story.  She lived with a guy many years ago and I tracked him down online when she wanted to meet him again after 25+ years.  I also knew him way back, but I didn't remember her (I think I left that scene about the time she showed up).

It's a tricky piece to write because it needs to fit into her work but she wants my voice in there.  When I'm writing about a third person, I've developed the habit of including their perspective, but she wants my perspective.  I'm having to temporarily change things that I believe to be good writing habits.  It's good practice though.


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## kaminoshiyo (Oct 31, 2018)

I'm writing a book about the cyclical relationship between men and gods.


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## Tettsuo (Oct 31, 2018)

I'm writing a fantasy book about the downfall of religious extremism set in ancient Mongolia.


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## kaminoshiyo (Oct 31, 2018)

Wow. That’s the last place I would expect it. Is this modern Mongolia, the recebt past, or early history?


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## Tettsuo (Oct 31, 2018)

kaminoshiyo said:


> Wow. That’s the last place I would expect it. Is this modern Mongolia, the recebt past, or early history?


Early history, similar to all fantasy novels, just not set in Europe. I'm finding myself needed to do all kinds of research which is really slowing the writing progress (but also enhances it).


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## JJBuchholz (Nov 1, 2018)

My current WIP is a light-hearted story in my Urban Sentinel series. It will act as a bit of a reprieve from the action,
as the story before it set up the return and rise of a criminal organization known as the Foundation. This WIP will add
a couple more elements to set up the next story (which will be quite long), yet maintain a lighter tone, and focused
on a secondary character rather than the main antagonist of he series.

Said WIP is set only a few days after the previous installment.

-JJB


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## Ralph Rotten (Nov 4, 2018)

Heh, right now I'm actually busy reading another author's book so I can create the jacket text and cover.  After that I'll put together their beta copy(s). 

But THEIR story is about a young woman from a rich home in NY who flees town to avoid an arranged marriage to a rich old man. But along the way she nearly ends up working in a brothel. She and her friends escape, and spend the rest of the book disguised as male cooks on a cattle drive (where they fall in love with cowboys.) Interesting historical piece, set for the 1880s. The writer's research included actually travelling to several of these old railroad towns.

Beta reads can be tough sometimes. I always wanna go and fix so much of it.


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## Guard Dog (Nov 4, 2018)

Y'know, I've spent so much time explaining this story elsewhere here on the boards, I could probably just post a list of links to those explanations and be done with it.

But I won't. I'll explain it all here, so maybe when people start asking questions, I can just "point" and let 'em come figure it out for themselves.

So here goes...

It is a sci-fi/fantasy, that involves a fellow finding out that he's been chosen -  or more properly, designed and built - to clean up and tend to a little "mess" that the creators of this reality need handled. ( The creators are Gia, Lilith, and Calaneth. )

There's also a rather large cast of people who come along to help him with it. They include humans, of course, but also sorceresses, witches, various members of Greek, Roman, Norse/Germanic, and Celtic pantheons.

There are also aliens... In fact, the whole human race turns out to be nothing more than a seeding project by one race in particular. A race that the creators have arranged for him to be the sovereign leader of.
( They're all but extinct, however, with about 3 million or so of 'em living on 3 gigantic, hollow, artificial worlds, known as The Three Sisters. These are currently headed toward Earth, to re-establish their claim there. A lot of other aliens don't like this, adding further complications. )

Along with the aliens, we have androids, synthetic people, and a kind of powered, morphic armor that has more in common with Dr. Who's Tardis than Iron Man's armor. It also has an A.I. that provides it some independent action, when allowed.

Oh, and there's ghosts, revenants, demons, and quite a few supernatural entities as well.

I should also add that reincarnation is real, but most people only get a few lives. However, the creators here have used it as a form of Basic Training for our intrepid heroes, who eventually remember most of their many lives, as well as the skills they learned during them.

And speaking of remembering... the three creators concocted this grand plan to set things right, set it in motion... then promptly caused themselves to forget most of it. Their reason for this was supposedly so they wouldn't have second thoughts later, doubt themselves, and screw the whole thing up by changing something.

This proves to be a major pain in the ass for all involved, but mostly for the creators themselves. ( Gia has some real issues with not being in control, which is the source of most everyone else's grief. )

And the whole shebang starts off with the poor bastard ( J.D. ) thinking his luck has changed for the better when he wins the lottery.

Boy, was he wrong. :rofl:


Any questions?


G.D.


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## lonewriter (Nov 4, 2018)

I am writing a fantasy but I'm having plot issues so I'm in the process of changing it.


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## MzSnowleopard (Nov 7, 2018)

Starting over with lesson # 9 of Breaking Into Print for Institute for Writers.


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## TL Murphy (Nov 8, 2018)

I'm writing something, not sure what it is yet.  It's the story of a passenger train that leaves Halifax on the east coast of Canada bound for Vancouver on the west coast.  It's a bunch of vignettes and character studies of people on the train whose lives all intertwine eventually.  Troubles is, there's no plot.


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## Guard Dog (Nov 8, 2018)

TL Murphy said:


> I'm writing something, not sure what it is yet.  It's the story of a passenger train that leaves Halifax on the east coast of Canada bound for Vancouver on the west coast.  It's a bunch of vignettes and character studies of people on the train whose lives all intertwine eventually.  *Troubles is, there's no plot*.



Sure there is. And each person's experience along the way is a plot point on those rails the train - and the overall story - is riding on. 

It's just a matter of perspective, and point-of-view. ;-)



G.D.


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## Ralph Rotten (Nov 9, 2018)

TL Murphy said:


> I'm writing something, not sure what it is yet.  It's the story of a passenger train that leaves Halifax on the east coast of Canada bound for Vancouver on the west coast.  It's a bunch of vignettes and character studies of people on the train whose lives all intertwine eventually.  Troubles is, there's no plot.




Seinfeld was about nothing.
Top rated show of its era.


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## epimetheus (Nov 9, 2018)

Ralph Rotten said:


> Seinfeld was about nothing.
> Top rated show of its era.



Maybe that says more about the era than the show.


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## Guard Dog (Nov 9, 2018)

epimetheus said:


> Maybe that says more about the era than the show.



You say that like the one we're in is anything to brag about... :-s



G.D.


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## The Mutilator (Nov 10, 2018)

My wip is a comic book featuring a young man who is bitten by a werewolf in Germany, and afterwards gets wrapped up in a twisted murder mystery plot involving a black gloved killer, lecherous priests, repressed nuns, cannibals and a secluded women's prison. 

Basically, I wanted to make a sleazy, sexy, gory piece of pure exploitation.


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## sigmadog (Nov 10, 2018)

It's early in the process, so this may not pan out exactly, but right now the first line in my novel is:

"There are three kinds of bathroom fans; quiet fans; loud fans; and fans that open a portal into another universe. Admittedly, the third kind is exceedingly rare."


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## The Mutilator (Nov 10, 2018)

I admit, you've got my attention with that synopsis. That's a good start.


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## Theglasshouse (Nov 17, 2018)

I am writing a project based on an image this image I saw of the art of this giant animal is the setting that takes place on a beach. I don't want to spoil it. Since I will workshop it here. Let's say its taken from the wonder-book, which is a fantastic book with art. I plan to use it.

My second one is inspired by Ray Bradbury, of how people can be recognized facially. This takes place in one of his stories. I add some technologies that add sort of like an evil and good reason to using this technology too much. As it would have grave or good consequences in this world. It's kept in check by this technology that makes people virtuous. I am being vague since I don't want to spoil it.


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## Ralph Rotten (Nov 17, 2018)

sigmadog said:


> It's early in the process, so this may not pan out exactly, but right now the first line in my novel is:
> 
> "There are three kinds of bathroom fans; quiet fans; loud fans; and fans that open a portal into another universe. Admittedly, the third kind is exceedingly rare."




It sounds like something from Hitchhiker's Guide.
So what is the 3rd line?


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## Ralph Rotten (Nov 17, 2018)

Yaaaaaayyyy!
I just finished building a friend's book for them.
It's really a lot of work, turning a *.docx file into a printed book.
It was just an alpha copy, but there's a lot to do.
I had to read the book so I could write the jacket text.
I had to write the #@!@ jacket text, which is harder than writing the @$#! book.
Purchased and processed 6 different interior graphic images.
Created a 4000x2000 pixel 6x9" cover.
Format the entire file
Upload and proof the whole mess.
Order proof copies for writer and beta readers.

So that means that tomorrow morning I have to find a new excuse to not be writing my next best seller.


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## JJBuchholz (Nov 18, 2018)

My current WIP is a short story based in the Star Wars universe. Kar Valtan is a human from Corellia trying to make a name for himself in the galaxy. Abandoned by his parents when he was a child, Kar was raised by his neighbour with their children until he was a teenager, leaving to find work in a shipyard due to his mechanical skills. A few years later, Kar joined the Corellian Security Force (CorSec) and served for ten years, before going it alone as a soldier for hire/smuggler. After stealing and modifying an Imperial shuttle, he has recently discovered that his parents joined the Imperial forces after abandoning him. No fan of the Empire, but distrustful of the Rebel Alliance, he continues to forge his own path.

-JJB


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## PuzzleBlue (Nov 19, 2018)

I'm writing a second love-rap and environmental issues set of lyrics
i think i have them in 4x4 now but it is taking a bit to edit of course

i like recording these - even though both of them are seen only by a handful of people

it's for my husband for our 9th anniversary and will probably be recorded in spring


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## PuzzleBlue (Nov 19, 2018)

congrats!  sounds like you work hard enough!!

It is difficult writing a 'hard sell' for the sleeve and ultimately so important


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## Reynard (Nov 20, 2018)

I have several simmering stews on the stove of creation, however, none of them seem to want to come to a boil.

- A quasi-humorous fantasy novel about an “evil” wizard who, after being denied a bank loan, gets wrapped up in world changing events when a powerful being thinks he might be of use.

- An interesting sci-fi space story where a disgraced captain is given command of an out of date death trap in hopes of getting rid of him.  He is forced to make some difficult choices about his place in the fleet as he learns the truth about his mission and in the end might be forced to become a Pirate himself.

- A world where wars a fought more with music than swords, I love the idea but can’t seem to build a compelling plot around it.  And if the plot isn’t good then the concept doesn’t mean much in the end.

Those and a long list of ideas that won't stop poping into my head and keeping me up at night...


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## Guard Dog (Nov 20, 2018)

Reynard said:


> I have several simmering stews on the stove of creation, however, none of them seem to want to come to a boil.
> 
> - A quasi-humorous fantasy novel about an “evil” wizard who, after being denied a bank loan, gets wrapped up in world changing events when a powerful being thinks he might be of use.
> 
> ...




Pick one, focus on that, add elements of the others as they'll fit.

They don't fit? Get a bigger hammer.

Worked for me. 

...and only took 32 years before I decided to write it all down.



G.D.

P.S. Not joking. :wink:


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## epimetheus (Nov 20, 2018)

Reynard said:


> - A world where wars a fought more with music than swords, I love the idea but can’t seem to build a compelling plot around it.  And if the plot isn’t good then the concept doesn’t mean much in the end.



Look up Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a classic Chinese legend). There is a scene in which they 'play off', where Zhuge Liang is bluffing he has set a military trap in an empty town. The two play the guqin (a string instrument) to each other, trying to find out each other's mind state. Might provide some ideas anyway. I'll try to find a youtube clip if i get time.


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## Reynard (Nov 20, 2018)

Guard Dog said:


> Pick one, focus on that, add elements of the others as they'll fit.
> 
> They don't fit? Get a bigger hammer.
> 
> ...



Indeed, I am focusing on the first one right now as it's almost completed.  The others are just ideas that popped into my head and I spent some time brainstorming and outlining to see where I could take them.

I do have a large plot hammer around someplace... I may have left it under the couch.

Thanks for the advice.


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## Reynard (Nov 20, 2018)

epimetheus said:


> Look up Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a classic Chinese legend). There is a scene in which they 'play off', where Zhuge Liang is bluffing he has set a military trap in an empty town. The two play the guqin (a string instrument) to each other, trying to find out each other's mind state. Might provide some ideas anyway. I'll try to find a youtube clip if i get time.



Not a bad idea, I think looking into some of the old classic Chinese tales might be just the inspiration I need for this.

Thank you.


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## moderan (Nov 20, 2018)

I have a new short going for the charity anthology. It concerns a man who is obsessed with a single baseball game (May 17, 1979) to the degree that he watches it every day, and what happens when the events of the game and the box score start changing.


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## Reynard (Nov 20, 2018)

moderan said:


> I have a new short going for the charity anthology. It concerns a man who is obsessed with a single baseball game (May 17, 1979) to the degree that he watches it every day, and what happens when the events of the game and the box score start changing.



That alone has me hooked...


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## epimetheus (Nov 20, 2018)

Reynard said:


> Not a bad idea, I think looking into some of the old classic Chinese tales might be just the inspiration I need for this.
> 
> Thank you.



It's the first scene after the credits. I'd recommend watching the entire series if you have the time, the book is a hard read.

[video=youtube;m3TYR61txsE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3TYR61txsE[/video]

This is a bit more literal, but it works for a comedy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gja3WQf0-o0

And this one touches on similarities between musical and martial philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeeoEpmyb2Y


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## Reynard (Nov 22, 2018)

epimetheus said:


> It's the first scene after the credits. I'd recommend watching the entire series if you have the time, the book is a hard read.
> 
> [video=youtube;m3TYR61txsE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3TYR61txsE[/video]
> 
> ...



Great, now you have me hooked on this series...

And you gotta love that intro!


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## epimetheus (Nov 22, 2018)

Reynard said:


> Great, now you have me hooked on this series...



Just pretend it's research.. for a book... yeah, just a bit more research... then i'll write it...


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## moderan (Nov 22, 2018)

Today I'm working on a piece for a 2020 anthology that consists of titles to Black Sabbath tunes made into stories. My assignment is "Spiral Architect".
I've grafted on the standard "alien child created the world" plot and left the globe containing us out in a dusty corner, where prayers fall on deaf ears. Eventually the dog plays with us. There's more but then you wouldn't have to read it.


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## Someguyorwhateverwhocares (Nov 24, 2018)

Current WIP is a medieval fantasy about a demigod who just wants to fight people, makes friends with a witch that wanted to destroy the world as revenge against the religious order that killed her family, and proceeds to have her pull people and beings in from other worlds, and ends up causing nothing but trouble for literally everybody.


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## moderan (Nov 24, 2018)

Today I am revising a short story for an anthology bid. The story is called "Brunaiile", which is a French 'school' of painting in which brown pigment is paramount. The painter uses a shade which evokes something monstrous, and it crosses over to our world in a bad mood. Beware the Rat King!


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## JJBuchholz (Jan 14, 2019)

Newest WIP takes place in my Temporal Flux continuity. (Temporal agent from the 17th Century travels through time to fix paradoxes and incursions)

In this installment, a temporal fracture has intersected 1888 London, preventing Jack The Ripper from going on his killing spree, but also leading to his death by a woman that was supposed to be one of his victims, instead becoming a serial killer in her own right. Agent Six must go back in time and solve the mystery of the temporal fracture, before London gets wiped off the map in the future due to public unrest caused by the serial killer.

-JJB


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## Guard Dog (Jan 14, 2019)

Okay, one more post as I finish this last cigarette: The latest progress on what I'm writing.

J.D. goes to the equivalent of the UN/Klingon High Council/Star Trek Federation meeting hall and raises hell.

A couple of huge, brutish guards get thrown a beating.

A rabid, delusional politician is blasted out of and over his seat.

A reporter is made his successor and replaces him.

An alien that looks like a Mr Potatohead painted up like a giraffe by a 4 year-old is transformed into a Greek Adonis by a sorceress. ( Which makes him cry in shock and horror. )

A 'sex magic' ritual is semi-unintentionally performed on the forum floor, with a gorgeous blue-skinned alien woman with gold hair and a Mohawk sort of haircut, while thousand of onlookers witnessing it. ( She claims she doesn't get embarrassed, but J.D. proves her wrong.)( She also has spots too, running from under her eyes all the way to who-knows-where. )

Those same onlookers get their brains set back in time so they don't remember the event and and cost the blue alien woman her job.

And... I haven't written the rest yet, and my cigarette is finished, so y'all will have to wait for a further report.
( Yeah, I already know what happens next, but what's the fun in tellin' ya now? )

Good night, folks.
Later.

G.D.


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## Sir-KP (Jan 15, 2019)

Currently about to kick one of the main characters out of picture for being annoying a-hole.


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## MzSnowleopard (Jan 15, 2019)

Having given up on Lesson # 9, for now. My focus is on polishing Choices for publication. I've made tweaks, expansion, and revisions and it's still under 1,500 words.  I'll post the final revision when it's finished. My objective is to have this done and submitted by Jan 31.

Choices thread


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## Cephus (Jan 16, 2019)

Currently in the middle of a sci-fi book about a young man who can see invisible monsters that come from a parallel universe and learns that the other universe is in the midst of a full scale invasion of our world.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jan 21, 2019)

Cephus said:


> Currently in the middle of a sci-fi book about a young man who can see invisible monsters that come from a parallel universe and learns that the other universe is in the midst of a full scale invasion of our world.





Heinlein wrote the story of HOAG which was essentially another dimension encroaching on our own world.
If you presume that there is a limit to how many timelines can exist in the multiverse, then it is possible that we have created one too many any now they are crowding each other. But matter from another 'verse would oscillate at a different frequency than ours, so you likely could not remain long in another 'verse. Also likely; it would be uncomfortable to enter another universe...like fingernails on chalkboard, except you feel it right down in your cells. The further you get from your own universe, the more the oscillation disequity increases and the more it would hurt. Get far enough from your own 'verse and you could even lose atomic cohesion.


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## Cephus (Jan 21, 2019)

Ralph Rotten said:


> Heinlein wrote the story of HOAG which was essentially another dimension encroaching on our own world.
> If you presume that there is a limit to how many timelines can exist in the multiverse, then it is possible that we have created one too many any now they are crowding each other. But matter from another 'verse would oscillate at a different frequency than ours, so you likely could not remain long in another 'verse. Also likely; it would be uncomfortable to enter another universe...like fingernails on chalkboard, except you feel it right down in your cells. The further you get from your own universe, the more the oscillation disequity increases and the more it would hurt. Get far enough from your own 'verse and you could even lose atomic cohesion.



This isn't about crowding, there have been creatures accidentally crossing over between universes for thousands of years but here, the other side's "Earth" is doomed due to a coming natural catastrophe and they decide they need to move as many of their people off-world as they can and they might as well colonize our Earth after they take out as many of us as possible.  While there are probably a near infinite number of potential parallel universes, only two in this story are close enough to move between.


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## Genesee (Jan 21, 2019)

My work in progress is about a Megaship left stranded in a remote system outside the known galaxy. The chief pilot is able to pull the ship out of peril before it's imminent destruction. Within a few hours the chief co pilot's body is found and an investigation begins. Due to the remoteness there aren't many takers. The story is essentially about the novice investigator (Who spends months traveling to the ship) taking on the case and the organization who contracted the Megaship trying to sweep the project under the rug.


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## MzSnowleopard (Jan 23, 2019)

Cephus said:


> This isn't about crowding, there have been creatures accidentally crossing over between universes for thousands of years but here, the other side's "Earth" is doomed due to a coming natural catastrophe and they decide they need to move as many of their people off-world as they can and they might as well colonize our Earth after they take out as many of us as possible.  While there are probably a near infinite number of potential parallel universes, only two in this story are close enough to move between.



So these other world us' are going to rebuild their civilization on the cornerstone of bloodshed and annihilation? What's the POV on this- their side or the one's being invaded?


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## moderan (Jan 24, 2019)

Currently working on a weird western story that starts where a previous ghost story leaves off. It's taking a hell of a lot of research to pull off as there are a dozen or so indigenous Indian tribes and I have to balance characteristics of each as the tribalism is part of the story. It also involves both were-people and skinwalkers, spirit animals, and one man trying to invent fast food.


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## Guard Dog (Jan 24, 2019)

moderan said:


> ...It also involves both were-people and skinwalkers, spirit animals, and *one man trying to invent fast food*.


Bolding mine.

...and now I'm suddenly thinkin' of the Coyote tryin' ta catch the Roadrunner... Only now he's a were-coyote out after Olympic-class runners.

Beep Beep!

G.D.


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## Cephus (Jan 24, 2019)

My current WIP is just driving me crazy.  Did you ever get to the point where you realized that logically, the story has to become so big that your protagonist stops being important?  Where the stakes are so high that even if your main character remains involved in the plot, they become effectively irrelevant to the resolution.  I'm really struggling to find a way to keep it small, but keep the stakes high and it's just driving me nuts.


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## Theglasshouse (Jan 24, 2019)

Is having a lot of subplots a problem for your story? Then maybe focus on a conflict and solving it or creating a complication for it by focusing on only one could help. One complaint I got once is that I had too many conflicts happening at the same time without solving the first few conflicts solving which I understand makes it a bigger story. The amount of subplots that is. Plot twists of the main plot if unpredictable hopefully could help keep readers reading the story by making the most predictable outcome unpredictable and focus on a few characters not many. What is the worst thing that can happen. I wrote a 9000 word story. I think In order to do that you'll definitely need to concentrate on a few chars and how the situation does go wrong. I personally think I wrote a story that needed less subplots.


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## moderan (Jan 25, 2019)

Guard Dog said:


> Bolding mine.
> 
> ...and now I'm suddenly thinkin' of the Coyote tryin' ta catch the Roadrunner... Only now he's a were-coyote out after Olympic-class runners.
> 
> ...



It's actually just as slapstick as that. The ostensible protagonist is trying to introduce tacos to the rest of the southwest (he's from central Texas) and doesn't realize that they already have them. He talks his way out of the stewpot by the "Wild Turkey Surprise" maneuver, stolen from a Bugs Bunny cartoon and ends up mediating at a meeting of the nineteen indigenous tribes of northwestern New Mexico/northeastern Arizona.


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## Guard Dog (Jan 25, 2019)

moderan said:


> ...He talks his way out of the stewpot by the "Wild Turkey Surprise" maneuver, stolen from a Bugs Bunny cartoon...



Dammit, Moderan... Now ya've got me wondering if your MC gives anybody a "Permanimanent". :lol:

Bugs the Beautician




G.D.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jan 25, 2019)

Tacos rule!


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## Someguyorwhateverwhocares (Jan 25, 2019)

Fantasy about the misadventures of a renegade demigod and a heretical witch as they generally make a mess of the world.

First Book. First draft. 192,341 words.Editing is fun.


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## moderan (Jan 26, 2019)

Guard Dog said:


> Dammit, Moderan... Now ya've got me wondering if your MC gives anybody a "Permanimanent". :lol:
> 
> Bugs the Beautician
> 
> ...



No, but he does make a left turn unstoned at Albuquerque.
[video=youtube;e8TUwHTfOOU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8TUwHTfOOU[/video]


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## Guard Dog (Jan 26, 2019)

moderan said:


> No, but he does make a left turn unstoned at Albuquerque.



Well hopefully he remembered the right at La Jolla as well... 

...though I've heard that no turn should be left unstoned. :wink:


G.D.


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## Sir-KP (Jan 27, 2019)

Sir-KP said:


> Currently about to kick one of the main characters out of picture for being annoying a-hole.



I've been thinking on improving this a-hole character based on someone I met recently, which I think should go hand in hand in polishing this low profile, uniquely idiot character that readers not even gonna sorry about.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jan 28, 2019)

thomasdown92 said:


> I am mulling over a horror-comedy. Set in a post-apocalyptic world infested with flesh-eating zombies, a psychology professor is on a mission to understand zombies and their behavior. He believes the way to survival is teaching zombies to co-exist with humans, and eventually, hopes that it helps zombies in finding their lost humanity.




I had considered a funny love story set against the backdrop of a zombie outbreak on Kawaii, and the hero would be the ordinary blue-collar guy who decides that if he kills 1000 zombies a day he can clear the island in 2 years. So he creates better and better anti-zombie weapons until he finally decides its more efficient to lead them to the nearby volcano. Along the way he wins the movie-star heroine who began the story with her mega-director husband.
But everyone is doing zombie stories so I shelved the idea. Had it about 90% outlined. Even engineered a few of the implements on paper (like the harvester that chops zombies before funneling them into a hopper for disposal.)


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## moderan (Jan 30, 2019)

Having finished the previously-mentioned tales, today I am working on a series of flash pieces immediately preceding the climax of a novel -- individual flashes about people falling in love with machines and vice versa. Also polishing a longish short about a gardener's revenge against a pervert, which will be issued as a chapbook next week. Very EC Comics.


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## JJBuchholz (Jan 31, 2019)

I just started a new story based on images I had seen in several dreams over the course of the last couple of weeks. It's a political thriller with elements of sci-fi, wrapped in a conspiracy. I'm taking it slow so as to not miss out on anything I've interpreted from said dreams.

It also has no working title at the moment, either.

-JJB


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## Zoso71 (Feb 12, 2019)

I am currently working on an Epistolary novel.  It's going to be a bit long....as in 15  years worth of diary entries.   It has to be that long in order to tell the story I want.  Granted,  I won't have a journal entry for every day.   But like I said, it's really the only way I can tell my story.


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## JJBuchholz (Feb 12, 2019)

I now have two works in progress. Aside from the political thriller I'm working on, I've also been plugging away at a new entry in my 'Birds Of Prey' series (said series revolves around a squadron of Starfury pilots in the Babylon 5 universe that handle special ops for Earth). The latest installment is a prequel of sorts, illustrating how all of the members of the Birds ended up on the _Chimera _(ship) together as a cohesive unit.

-JJB


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## Zoso71 (Feb 12, 2019)

I am currently working on an Epistolary novel.  It's written in journal form. And starts in 1964 and ends in 1979.   I know it sounds like a lot, but it has to be this long for me to tell my story.   I finally finished the research, and am now ready to start writing it.


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## Dyeeeee (Feb 13, 2019)

A city where the crime rate has climbed so high that the criminals have become the rulers of the streets after midnight. Three different characters, a neutral bounty hunter, a virtuistic detective, and a natural killer each with different motivations and styles for helping take back the night and restoring balance to the scumbags city.


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## moderan (Feb 14, 2019)

Today I am writing a section of my _Russian novel_, the part where the love interest that gives body to the sweeping wartime canvas enters. Pure Tolstoy, except that my mc is a were-bear (or byli medvedem) and has to keep on the move because his appetite takes over. His mother is one of Baba Yaga's sisters.
The novel has a five-hundred-year backdrop, ending in the Seven Years' War.
So far we've traveled down the spine of the Carpathians into Turkey and around to the west into southern Bohemia.


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## Sir-KP (Feb 15, 2019)

I read my unfinished WIP from few years ago on my phone when I was bored waiting outside. It is a WIP that was written without any writing skill other than the most basic knowledge.

Yet I kept on scrolling the pages as if I was curious to know what to come. I was hooked up with my own story. It was more comfortable to read than the current one that I'm focusing on.

There was almost no wall of text. Just a story with a lot of natural-ish conversations and short paragraphs describing the scenes.

I read books, but I'm not really a fan of novels other than the historical ones. My personal reason is because it's eye straining to read at a block of text of the writer's imagination. And that's the exact feeling that I get when I'm evaluating my current WIP as a third-person. So I don't know if it's good sign or bad sign.

I'm so confused right now...


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## Rojack79 (Feb 16, 2019)

I'm writing an epic fantasy saga set in a post apocalyptic alternate reality were the gods and goddesses of old exist. The whole universe got reset thanks to a Hindu Super Weapon so all of the various pantheons have to be reincarnated as normal humans and then work there way back up to becoming divine champions again.


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## moderan (Feb 16, 2019)

Roger Zelazny literally LoLs at that premise.


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## Rojack79 (Feb 16, 2019)

I actually have Lords of Light sitting around somewhere. Never read it but now I'm curious. But I'm not to worried about it. My own work is so far removed from anything he has ever or could write that I feel more than ok going about writing this series.


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## moderan (Feb 17, 2019)

Maybe. But you should know what you're up against.


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## Rojack79 (Feb 18, 2019)

Gonna have to dig it out of my box's in the garage sometime soon.


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## Winston (Feb 18, 2019)

I'm ready to start my non-fiction piece regarding my experiences building a rifle.  But because of the subject matter, I'm afraid to move forward.
I think someone might get triggered.


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## hubriscomplex (Feb 18, 2019)

Right now I'm working on the story of a man who wakes up on the floor of a motel room covered in scars & with no recollection of the last 2 years of his life


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## EmmaSohan (Feb 18, 2019)

hubriscomplex said:


> Right now I'm working on the story of a man who wakes up on the floor of a motel room covered in scars & with no recollection of the last 2 years of his life



Sounds interesting. And gruesome, and a challenge to write. Good luck.


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## Phil Istine (Feb 19, 2019)

Winston said:


> I'm ready to start my non-fiction piece regarding my experiences building a rifle.  But because of the subject matter, I'm afraid to move forward.
> I think someone might get triggered.



You're a barrel of laughs today.
Shoot from the hip and get it written.

I've just started a flash fiction entry of max. 300 words.  I won the competition a year or so back and I'm out to retain my trophy 
Actually, I've made starts on two different flash fiction pieces and haven't decided yet which one to develop.  I'll probably write both and see which one will have the better chance of winning.  One is a caricature of brexit, the other is about a field of cows who try to conceal from humans that they're intelligent.


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## Ultraroel (Feb 19, 2019)

I always enjoyed WW stories where the MC was just someone who tried to survive while maintaining their own ethical codes while doing so. I'm trying to flesh out such a story in a fantasy setting. No big hero, just someone trying to survive the harsh conditions set by by war..


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## Ralph Rotten (Feb 19, 2019)

Ultraroel said:


> I always enjoyed WW stories where the MC was just someone who tried to survive while maintaining their own ethical codes while doing so. I'm trying to flesh out such a story in a fantasy setting. No big hero, just someone trying to survive the harsh conditions set by by war..




This is why I have always liked writing EOW [end of world] stories; because there are no rules, you can create any world you want.
See, if you write a crime novel then you have to be realistically accurate to the real world.
A historical piece would be bound by published history.
But a TEOTWAWKI story can have whatever system of commerce you choose, any legal system you choose, resources are variables, even the sunlight can be adjusted.  Hell, you don't even have to explain how they got to the point of playing football with a dog skull in an EOW story.  

Writing post-apocalyptic to me is like writing without boundaries.  There are no limitations but those I establish in the story.


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## moderan (Feb 19, 2019)

Today I am working on a story set in the worlds of Matthew Bartlett, about a radio station that beams out an inimical signal and pollutes the townspeople. I've developed a sister station (based on a real-world station) that goes very wrong and reaches for demons and devils that are far older, stranger, and stronger than the weak Abrahamic type. It starts with Stolas as the narrator and goes down from there. Feel free to google Stolas and thereby be educated.


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## James Wolfe (Feb 24, 2019)

I have several books, some are in a final rough, others in note form. 

for my current one, I am in a period of letting it rest for a month before turning to it. So, I am preparing another older story of mine for rewriting.  

Anyways... the current story I am working on.

It's about a Princess who enjoys a carefree life of adventure and roasted rabbit as she ignores the pending burden of the crown, as at the moment she is the only heir to the throne. Though she hopes the unborn child in her mother's womb is a son. but finds she may  have to mature faster than she cared to as she finishes a quest set by her ancestor nearly 500-years ago, all the while finding a birthday gift for her father's upcoming birthday. 

 (I am terrible at summarizing,  )


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## velo (Feb 24, 2019)

_Le sigh_...my book has been languishing in the pits of procrastination, the lagoons of laziness, and the oceans of obstinance for about 18months.  It is a non-fiction account of my personal journey through being abused as a child, living as a wounded adult who ended up actively suicidal, and finally finding healing and freedom through psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.  It's as much a primer about this therapy and the science around it as it is a memoir of what it's like to endure and live with the consequences of abuse and trauma.  

I really want to finish it but...


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## moderan (Feb 24, 2019)

Today I am doing final edits on a story for one of my anthologies. It involves Reconstruction, voodoo, and general witchery and hauntiness and is approximately 12K in length. It likes cold nights in the basement, long walks off a short pier, is not very fluffy or friendly, and the intro goes like this:


Nightmare Grove



Grandpa Grosvenor brought acorns back with him from the War and planted them in neat rows. He had a need for order, old Lester did, especially after he came back. Something was haunting him, and it was like he was trying to ward it off by keeping everything in its place, under control.
“If I’m in charge,” he’d say. “I don’t have to worry about it, and there’s no one else to blame.”
The acorns grew in time to be mighty oak trees. Six lines of ten trees each, still pretty even after over a hundred years of cultivation.
I took over from Grandpa not long before he perished, he having bequeathed to me the responsibility and the reason why things must be so.
“Ben,” he said. “You’re the only one that could possibly do it. I wish you would. I would like you to.”
He was lying in his rickety sleigh bed, covered in checkered flannel blankets of a great many colors.
“It’s important,” he whispered. “Get me a brandy and I’ll tell you why.”
“Right away,” I said, thoughtfully getting myself one too. This ritual performed, I sat on the mushroom stool, sipped my brandy, and waited.
“When I was down south fighting for the flag, I was in an infantry division that was about half white and half black. 120 guys, 60 of each. 
“We got into a battle, a big one that isn’t in the history books. The southern boys won it. The Colonel who was leading our division saved his own bacon by selling out the black guys. 
“Those of us who opposed it couldn’t do much – we were surrounded by hundreds of soldiers. I voiced my regrets softly lest I too perish.”
He took a long pull from the brandy.
“They killed them all. Right then and there. Dragged them behind horses and then strung them all up on those oak trees, and held us still so we had to watch.”
“This is the cost of freedom,” said the leader, enduring the lash. “You whites who watch will never forget. You will not be allowed to. The Guédé  will appear to you on Samedi nights, and you will attend them. 
“Mwen pwononse sa a madichon nan non Baron an. In the name of the BARON.” he hissed the last, arched his back, spat, and his face became a skull. He danced a step, there in mid-air, tipped an imaginary hat, and gurgled his death gurgle. His eyes popped from his head and dangled, dripping. His mouth stayed wide open. Worms began issuing forth. 
The corpse began screaming, way high up in the register.
His flesh dropped from him in gobbets. The larvae fed on it as they fell, rapidly metamorphosing into green flies and umber beetles, buzzing and clicking and eating of his flesh.
“Ca ou vlé,” he cackled, and his bones fell to the ground.
The bones rattled one last time, and everybody took to their heels. There was no sticking around after that.”
Grandpa tossed off the last of the glass of brandy with a smack of his lips.
“I headed north, toward the base more or less, walking mostly, dazed, crazed. Most of the division didn’t make it. Whatever followed behind got them. I heard the clicking and sucking and screams as I sped along. I literally ran until I fell down.
“I got up and walked, stumbled, staggered for a time, inching north, trying to get away. There was no brain operating me. I was just going.”
He rolled over, re-wrapping a couple of his blankets.
“By the time I came back to myself, it was a week later, and I was back in Illinois. I stood there in the middle of the road, trying to blink myself back into consciousness, get back into my head, and I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out an acorn and it all came rushing back.
“I think I screamed for a bit, and then I came to in the hospital. All of us that survived were there.”
“Did I say hospital?” he laughed. “I meant jail. Heh heh. Cuz they weren’t treating us, and we weren’t going anywhere. They were just watching us to see what we would do.”
I finished my drink. “Who were watching you?”
“The Brass,” he said. “The Upper-Crust.”
“I see.” I put down my glass and engaged his stare. “The ones who run things, yes?”
“They run everything. You just don’t know. I hope you don’t get to.” He rubbed his eyes, a clear sign that he was getting tired of the conversation and wanted to rest.
“I hope so, too,” I said. “I’ll tend the trees.”
“Thank you,” he said, and his breathing became more rapid, shallower. He farted and rolled over, his eyes closed.
I went out the back way, toward the oak grove, trying to give myself some time to think before I had to talk to anyone else. There was a wood-and-concrete bench on the patio, and I hunched on that support and pondered.
Voodoo. I knew next to nothing about voodoo, voudoun. The metaphysical wasn’t a concern – I was involved in the building trade at the time and just wanted more homes and offices to erect.
Let’s just say that I knew next to nothing at all, and leave it there, at six p.m. on a damp Saturday.


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## EmmaSohan (Feb 24, 2019)

velo said:


> _Le sigh_...my book has been languishing in the pits of procrastination, the lagoons of laziness, and the oceans of obstinance for about 18months.  It is a non-fiction account of my personal journey through being abused as a child, living as a wounded adult who ended up actively suicidal, and finally finding healing and freedom through psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.  It's as much a primer about this therapy and the science around it as it is a memoir of what it's like to endure and live with the consequences of abuse and trauma.
> 
> I really want to finish it but...



But you already know the ending? But it's too difficult? But?

Does the world need your book? It sounds like it to me, but maybe you know of similar things already done? (And I know the odds on publication, but still.)

If you think your book is not interesting, maybe you should slightly fictionalize it? While still holding to the critical details. That seems to be what movies often do. I mean, you could have two characters who are both your experience and they have to deal with romantic attraction. (I don't know how far you are in this book, sorry.)

Writing about it might be useful to your own understanding.

Good luck!


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