“Forget those fuckers. The children in the café…can anything be done for them?”
“Would you like me to reanimate them for you, Valis?” Dvarium offered.
“Yes,” I exhaled, tracing a hand over my heart.
Although their corpses had to be retrofitted with steel rods and metal plates to allow complete motion, the trio never looked more terrifying.
“Let’s go right for the main course, shall we? There’s a buffet in the lounge. Have fun, little ones.” I released them from their cage.
“Kice kream!” The kids clanked away on robotic feet.
I sat back in my chair and smiled. “Is the hotel all ours now?”
Dvarium did not immediately respond. “Yes,” he lied.
Episode 1 Mini Journal
The following are a series of journal entries that I jotted down while finishing up Netherstream - Episode 1: Jane Doe. Now that Episode 1 has been out for quite some time, I’ve removed the entries from my blog and included them here. Enjoy!
Author’s Note
Like many of my published works, Episode 1: Jane Doe was born on the page. At first, I had no idea where the story was taking me. Hundreds of words quickly became thousands. All I knew was that I was mesmerized by this snarky, new voice who had somehow survived the apocalypse and seemed to have it all figured out. Or so she thought. Sure, she had quite a mouth on her—don’t they all? But by and large I found her dry wit intoxicating. More and more words soon piled up. I needed to know more about this punk rock girl and why she was immune from the zombie hordes.
After writing for the better part of one Saturday, I found myself with a little over 8,000 words. Not a bad start, and I sensed that I was getting close to a revelation of some sort. Was I near the end? Could I tie up everything neatly once I reached 10,000 words? This wasn’t a simple short story anymore, but something far greater.
I slept on it and cranked out another thousand words the following morning before grinding to a halt. The ending—I just passed it! How was that possible? Not only that, how had I jumped into the next adventure without knowing it? This wasn’t an ordinary work of fiction, and the ending that I’d chosen—as macabre as it seemed—had all the signs of a serial.
With so many enticing questions left unanswered, the story felt enormous. 100,000 words wouldn’t do it justice. 200,000 probably wouldn’t, either. No, this was an epic series, with countless characters and storylines that frequently crossed paths.
Episode 1 was the first footsteps in the Netherstream universe, and there will be many more to come.
But could I polish the first installment and get it out the door in a reasonable timeframe? Good question. In my experience, the longer a work languishes, the less likely it will see the light of day. And after my first rewrite, 9,000 words quickly became 12,000, then 13,000. Was there an end it sight? This wasn’t a passing idea or experimental project anymore, and the editing job felt massive.
Would I persevere and finally get something out the door? Or would Episode 1 falter, just like many of my half-baked ideas?
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Added the first half of chapter two to the blog this evening. The second half should be up by late Friday, and then it’s on to chapter three. At this point, the entire story has been written (draft one) and rewritten (draft two), though I’m missing part of the ending. I just need to edit and polish what I already have and put each chapter up on my blog.
But that’s easier said than done.
There’s been a big break in between the previous draft and the one I’m working on. I’ve got to get it all back in my head, and perhaps the best way to do this is to retype everything. Most people would cringe at the thought. After all, who wants to type up 16,000 words all over again? Madness! But by putting each word through your stream of consciousness, you wind up making thousands of decisions that you wouldn’t otherwise. You also build momentum where it may be lacking and give yourself a systematic goal to iterate from beginning to end and consider all the possibilities. Sure, it’s not the fastest process, but it is effective.
I’m on a roll now, and that’s all that matters, and my current draft is so much better than when I first started. I just need to keep moving forward.
By my estimate, Episode 1 should be completed in a week, or perhaps less if all goes well. I just need to stay focused and disciplined, which is literary gold for an author. Wish me luck!
Friday, November 9, 2012
I’ve made some tremendous sacrifices, but chapter two is now up in its entirety. This is the longest chapter that I’ve written to date, clocking in at 3,800 words. Yes, I’d prefer smaller chapters of 2,000 words or less, but once I got going I couldn’t stop. There was so much to see and explore and I felt like I was right there! Although it was an absolute monster (pun intended), I’m extremely satisfied. Next up is chapter three, which I’ll try to put up tomorrow.
I love this. Nothing feels better than having forward momentum.
I’ll keep writing if you keep reading…
Saturday, November 10, 2012
9:00 a.m.
A tiny morsel of chapter three has just been posted. More later this evening...
3:20 p.m.
Just added another 1,300+ words to chapter three. Although it still hasn’t been published in its entirety, more than half is up. Enjoy!
5:30 p.m.
I hadn’t planned on doing another update, but the part I’m working on is just too good to pass up. Although it’s only another 900-ish words (pretty lame, I know), it’s absolutely hilarious. And…can you believe it? There’s still a little bit that needs to be edited so that I can finish chapter three.
Crap, I thought I was done with this.
:(
10:30 p.m.
It took all day (ugh!), but chapter three is now up in its entirety. What a great effort! I edited approximately 3,350+ words today, a personal best.
Whew! Now I’ll stumble off to bed and…
zZzZz…
Sunday, November 11, 2012
10:00 a.m.
The first half of chapter four is up and it’s sure to crack you up! The rest will be posted later in the evening. As of right now, I’ve published 10,500+ words, and I’m expecting that the entire episode will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,000 words.
More than halfway there!
6:00 p.m.
Ugh! My keyboard is all screwed up, so I had to improvise. Once I solved the problem (i.e., I bought a new keyboard), I found myself grossly behind.
I’ve updated chapter four and now it’s 1,200 words long. Pathetic! There’s at least that much more to go, so we’ll see how much I’m able to do tonight. Even though it’s been challenging, I’ve still put in some good work; however, football is proving to be a major distraction. Grr…
10:20 p.m.
Today isn’t the day that I thought it would be. Despite some early adversity, I did reasonably well. I published 1,500+ words (about half of chapter four), for a grand total of 11,000. Not bad, but I’m still not where I want to be.
I’ll focus on wrapping up chapter four tomorrow and knock out a chunk of chapter five. Too bad I can’t crank this out like Ryoki Inoue, who is known to write entire novels in an evening.
Oh well.
Disappointed, but moving on…
Monday, November 12, 2012
1:00 p.m.
Wow, what a turnaround! It feels great to say that chapter four is up in its entirety. Now I have over 12,000 words with only two chapters remaining. The story takes a dramatic turn in the final chapters and the writing gets more difficult.
Stay tuned…
8:30 p.m.
Huge update! I just added most of chapter five, some 1,600 words in all. If you add in the 900 words that I rewrote from chapter four, I’ve already had a decent day.
The end is near…
10:30 p.m.
Chapter five is now up in its entirety. Just one chapter left to go! 14,50
0+ words published so far! I can’t believe it!
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
11:59 p.m.
I just finished chapter six, created the e-book, and submitted it to Amazon. I’m having second thoughts about submitting it to KDP Select, which would make it exclusive to Amazon for 90 days and enable me to earn borrows (which I’m compensated for) and free publicity (literally free, since I’d be giving my work away). This goes against my original plan of publishing Netherstream on as many platforms as possible.
Ugh! I’m going round and round about this. Not sure what to do.
Let me sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
8:01 a.m.
Netherstream - Episode 1: Jane Doe is live on Amazon.
Checkmate!
9:45 p.m.
I Skyped my father and now I’m even more confused. One moment I was convinced that I’d put it up exclusively on KDP Select, the next, I was 180 degrees in the opposite direction.
Well, I don’t want to sit around and waste anymore time. Over the last few months, KDP Select has dwindled in its effectiveness. It’s time to put up Netherstream on all of the major platforms. Besides, I can always put it in KDP Select later if I change my mind.
Finally I know what I’m doing. It’s a done deal.
Friday, November 16, 2012
When I told my mother I’d written something that had plenty of bad language, she wasn’t pleased. “What have I done?” I’m sure she asked herself. “Didn’t I raise him right?”
Yes, mom. Don’t worry; I’m not the antichrist.
I owe it to the character—you know, that imaginary, nonexistent entity that I fabricated the other day—to be true to their voice and move in the direction that they’re leading me. Sure, the language is bound to offend someone—ok, most people—but I can’t get wrapped up in that. This is the story that came out. I didn’t add the foul language gratuitously; this is just how they sound.
Perhaps I should have picked a different story with bright, blue skies and rainbows and birds chirping and flying off into the distance.
But I didn’t.
I chose to write Netherstream, a gritty, zombie action serial highlighting the best and worst of humanity. I can’t apologize for that, even if I try, and it’s not always possible tone it down without tainting the fabric from which it’s woven. It is what it is, period.
I shouldn’t feel guilty and need to apologize for being true to the story. In a way, that’s censorship. If I’m always running around and toning things down for someone who might get offended, will I ever write anything of merit? The truth is I could write a children’s book and offend someone. You just can’t win! Put your words down honestly and move on to the next book.
Valis is a punk rock zombie hunter and featured on the main cover. I’m not trying to hide the fact that she’s bizarre, crass and ill tempered. I didn’t even dial back the book description. Basically I said this is what you’re getting: a good, old fashioned zombie horror story with larger than life characters who are rowdy, imperfect and frequently kick butt.
If she rubs you the wrong way, my apologies. That’s not the intention. There are many other characters besides Valis who are irresistible. Sure, she may be unlikeable now, but she’ll grow on you. Promise!
Hopefully readers will stick around long enough to be exposed to the other wacky characters.
I can only hope.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Although I had a late start, I was able to capture a little of the excitement of getting Episode 1 polished and out the door. Currently, the book is available on several outlets: Apple, Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Scribd, Lulu and even Tradebit. And once Netherstream gets added to Smashword’s premium catalog, I’ll see it on Sony, Diesel, Page Foundry and all the other quirky places that it caters to.
Next time, I’ll document each day of the development process. This is helpful because it forces me to take a look at what I’m doing and set goals if they don’t already exist. And more writing is beneficial in the long run. Must always keep writing…
Though there haven’t been many sales thus far, I feel like this is the start of something big. I’ll make the next one longer and better; otherwise, I shouldn’t be doing this. The sad thing is that Episode 1: Jane Doe is now my longest published work to date at 16,000 words, even though I have a novel (77,000+ words) and novella (43,000+ words) waiting to be edited (extensively edited, I might add). I will get to them eventually, but for now, it’s time to celebrate this small achievement.
Next up, Episode 2: Spanish Fly!
Thank you for reading
Netherstream
Episode 1: Jane Doe!
For more information about
Episode 2: Spanish Fly
please visit:
netherstream.blogspot.com
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