Every year, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Indianapolis hosts 100,000 people in its Monument Circle to peer up at the Monument, adorned with nearly 5,000 lights along 52 strands, reaching up to where Lady Victory stands with her torch held high. The Circle of Lights features prominently in my work in progress, Mean Spirit – A Tipsy Fairy Tale.
Jimmy the dog happily takes “fairy” Minnie for a ride during my work in progress, Mean Spirit (Tipsy Fairy Tales #3).
So, first off, on Sunday evening, I “won” National Novel Writing Month for the 7th time! I swear to you, it gets more difficult each time, at least in part because it’s harder to turn off the internal editor. Another factor was Trans-Continental: Mississippi Queen, whose first draft I finished literally the day before this year’s NaNoWrimo.
And I have to tell you, I am exhausted. I’ve written over 90,000 words since July, 50,061 of those in November. If you include Girl in the Gears, I’ve written over 130,000 words in 12 months! And I still have something like 8,000 words left to FINISH Mean Spirit. I think I may have doubled any previous annual wordcount I may have had before.
Not to mention full edits of Blue Spirit, Restless Spirit, and Girl in the Gears (plus layout and so on for the latter), going to conventions and . It’s been a BUSY year for me as a writer.
…and I find myself with the luxury of getting to pick my next writing project. Will it be a collaborative piece involving Skye? Will it be the next episode of Trans-Continental? Will I go crazy and do something that’s NOT in an established series? That answer is going to have to wait, because I’m not starting anything new until January. Probably.
In 1976, the Holmes Roadrunner, my elementary school newspaper, published my first story, “The Bionic Turkey.” Today, in the holiday spirit, I bring you my Whiteboard Wednesday rendition of that story, along with a picture of the original paper (with bonus free verse poetry above it).
Even in the 2nd grade, I was writing science fiction, even if it was a bit derivative of the television I watched.
Four hours of steampunk adventure for your ears!
Click the picture!
Yes, it’s a blatant plug for this Whiteboard Wednesday. What can I say? It’s still November, and I’m behind on my NaNoWriMo wordcount, so here you go.
It is a wonderful reading of Girl in the Gears with the clear, articulate voice talent of Angel Clark; I especially love how she differentiates the voices of the characters. I think I may have a crush on her rendition of Ida. Such a sweet Southern lilt. Okay, I know that’s weird. Forget I said it.
Just listen to a sample, and get yourself a copy to listen to, it’s a lot of fun, I promise!
Okay, now back to writing.
http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Gears-Trans-Continental-Book-1/dp/B013Z4K9A8
Some days. that’s how it goes…
I see so many people give up on their work in progress, especially during NaNoWriMo, because the going gets rough, or they lose faith in the story they’re telling before it’s done.
Well, okay, I did exactly that last year. I wrote almost 10,000 words in Reality Check 2 (working title), decided it was “way too complicated” and said that “Even I got lost while writing it”. But that’s what NaNo is about, being experimental, trying something new. I had a variety of other excuses, including starting a week late, and having a lot of stress in other areas of my life.
And, I’ll admit, the novel I chose for NaNo this year is one I’ve been trying to write since 2011. Mean Spirit made it to nearly 10,000 words too before it fizzled and got shelved.
I went into this month under the dark clouds of depression, one that had lingered for a couple of months prior. I also had just finished the first draft of another writing project (my upcoming Trans-Continental: Mississippi Queen) and felt I might have run the well dry. I’d established an easygoing writing habit of an hour per day, a few days a week, and felt daunted at the prospect of cranking my word factory back up to a blistering ~2000 word a day output, nearly every day, for a month.
I couldn’t help but think: “How the hell did I do it the other times?” It seemed like those days were in the past.
But here’s the thing: NaNoWriMo is exciting. During those 30 days, the novel is always buzzing in the back of my mind. It’s what I talk about to other people (sorry, Amy). It’s what I spend my alone time on. It changes from work to a way to recharge.
So, I skimmed through the Mean Spirit fragment I had, and rejected it. I started over. It just didn’t fit with what I’d written about Skye, the main character, since then. My new story picks up where Restless Spirit left off, and while many of the elements I had in the original try are there (Larry Fisher from Road Ghosts, a new character named Cassie, pukwudgies, and Skye trying to get by without her powers), the setting and order of events is different. And I’m MUCH happier with it. Things are going well, I blasted past the original ~10K and am up to 18,354 words, which meant I was just 21 words below “par” yesterday. Not bad for taking a day off on Tuesday, and expecting to be behind on weekdays.
So if you’re one of the crazies like me attempting to write a novel in a month, take heart: Even Neil Gaiman gets the blues.
Larry and Skye flee pukwudgies in the GhostBus
Okay for this Whiteboard Wednesday, you get an ink doodle on paper. Sorry. Time is tight during NaNoWriMo! This is a scene lifted from my work in progress, Mean Spirit.
Skye and Minnie fend off some nasty little pukwudgies in the woods!
Hello Whiteboard Wednesday fans! Today, for my own amusement and inspiration, I created a (very) rough working cover for Mean Spirit – A Tipsy Fairy Tale (#3). The NaNoWriMo site says people who post covers while writing are 60% more likely to “win” than others. I guess I’ve done this kind of thing every year EXCEPT last year, the only year I “lost” at NaNo. So here it is!
This book has been kind of cursed for me. It was originally going to be the sequel to Blue Spirit (before I came up with “Tipsy Fairy Tales” for the series), and I started in the middle of the year but I ended up writing Reality Check in November instead that year because I had been inspired. Then I realized there should be a book between Blue Spirit and Mean Spirit, so I wrote Restless Spirit. THAT book is at the Seventh Star Press editor right now.
So, poor Mean Spirit has been pushed further out for 4 years now. I’ve got a bit shy of 4000 words down, having started over, leaving almost 10,000 of the original words on the cutting room floor so I could tell a story more in line with the other two Tipsy Fairy Tales. Wish me luck!
It’s my friend Leslea Tash’s birthday, and in honor of her awesome books Troll or Derby and Troll or Park (as Red Tash), I drew her a Trollergirl! Happy birthday, Leslea! ❤
Where we’re going, we don’t need… roads!
Yep, it’s finally that day, the day Marty McFly went to the future, from 1985 to 2015, on a rainy October night… tonight.
There may be no Hill Valley California… or is there? Below, I’ve included a 500 word flash story I wrote for the Iron Writer Autumnal Equinox Tournament (it got second place in its bracket!) for your enjoyment.
Marty McFly Must Die!
E. Chris Garrison
“Here we are, Jen, October 21st, 2015 at last! International Marty McFly day!” cried Calvin, as we arrived on the scene at Hill Valley, California.
Well, there’s no real Hill Valley, but Calvin and I had worked things out using clues from the movie, which led us to Inyo County, California.
I squeezed his hand and said, “Wow, looks like we’re not the only ones who figured this out. Just look at all of the DeLoreans! Did they even make that many?”
There had to be at least a couple dozen of the retro-futuristic stainless steel gull-winged cars scattered across the field, a few giving off vapor, encrusted in frost. Dozens of Marty McFly cosplayers milled around, quoting catchphrases. There were plenty of puffy orange vests, some iridescent ball caps, ridiculous cowboy duds, and even a few leather jackets and walkie talkies.
“I think we’re underdressed,” I said, looking over our outfits. I’d attempted a genderswapped suspendered 1985 Marty, with a replica pink Mattel hoverboard for a prop. Calvin had cheaped out and wore a Mexican serape, bowler hat, and cowboy boots.
Just as we passed under the banner that welcomed us to the makeshift camp site, Doc Brown leaped in front of us and grabbed us by the shoulders. His eyes wild, his white hair singed on the tips, he said, “You kids! You’re from this timeline! Which one’s the real Marty?”
Calvin laughed. “Awesome!”
I smiled at him. “All of them?”
The Doc’s eyes squinted at me. “Aren’t you a clever girl. If you’re so smart, how can a movie character come to life?”
“Well, you just said, ‘this timeline’. Maybe this is 2015A, where Marty never existed, only movies about him.”
Calvin said, “This guy’s creepin’ me out, let’s book it.”
Doc pushed him aside and stared into my eyes. “Good, good. What if I told you one of them, the original, carries a mutant form of West Nile Virus from 2015 prime that would wipe out all of mankind if even the first mosquito of the season bit him?”
Calvin shoved back. “It’s November!”
I said, “I guess you’d have to pick the right one and do something drastic to save the future.”
“Precisely!” cried the Doc. “Now, which one?”
“This is stupid,” said Calvin as I scanned the field.
“Well, we first see Marty in the Doc’s lab in 1985, with the breakfast machine.”
Doc Brown slapped his forehead. “Of course!” He pulled a long rifle from under his lab coat. He aimed at a puffy-vested Marty, carrying a jug of instant pancake batter. The look-a-like raised his hands and screamed.
All the Martys screamed.
“That’s heavy,” said Calvin.
The Doc swung around and aimed at my boyfriend’s chest. “The machine didn’t make pancakes.” Doc Brown fired. Calvin fell down.
The time travel paradox resolved, I stood over Calvin’s body in an empty field.
He cracked an eye open. “Are they gone?”
“Yes! I guess he never saw Back to the Future III!”
Calvin threw back his serape to reveal his makeshift vintage 1885 cast iron bulletproof vest. “Who’s chicken now?”
A pukwudgie, a mean-spirited paranormal forest creature, menaces Larry’s hound Jimmy.
[Note: I posted this a day early by mistake, but there’s no sense taking it down now!]
In 2011, the year after I wrote Blue Spirit, I was at my critique group meeting, helping in a brainstorming session about paranormal legends told in Indiana. “What about pukwudgies?” I said. Everyone stared at me. I went on to explain that in my previous life as a paranormal investigation hobbyist, I’d heard stories about “hobbits” or “little people” up in Mounds State Park. Native Americans named them Pukwudgies, and though they’re more often talked about in New England, Mounds is supposed to be a “hotspot of Pukwudgie activity”. I had the table’s attention, and I was encouraged by my friend Sara to write a story about the Pukwudgies.
I resolved to make them central to the sequel to Blue Spirit, which I decided would be “Mean Things” using another Blues lyric from Bessie Smith. I changed my mind later, to go with the “Spirit” theme, and it was to be called “Mean Spirit”. I started to write it, but only ever managed 4-5 chapters’ worth. When November and NaNoWriMo rolled around, I was seized by a new idea, which became Reality Check.
The following November 2012, Reality Check had been revised and edited and I’d found a home for it as my first publisher-published novel with Hydra Publications, so I was busy working with one of their editors to get it polished and ready to go. So, I didn’t do a novel that year.
In 2013, I’d had another idea: Mean Spirit starts off with Skye in rehab. I thought to myself, “Skye needs to have a book where she’s even wilder and takes things too far before we get to rehab.” That, and some ideas from R.J. Sullivan’s use of Skye in his Virtual Blue, plus setting it at Gen Con Big Con, with trolls, made that my passion for NaNo that year. It’s called Restless Spirit, and it is next in line to be published by Seventh Star Press.
Now I have poor Mean Spirit still waiting in the wings, abandoned more than once due to shinier projects. And it isn’t a cinch to be my project THIS November, either. I have this other science fiction story nagging at me… But I have had some big ideas for Mean Spirit come along in the past few months that are also vying for my attention, so we’ll see, I guess.
Oh, and here’s a treat for you, if you’ve made it this far: Pukwudgie vs Cthulhu!
E. Chris Garrison 
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