The Terry Pratchett Prize, Round Two...

[Quatermass]

Oh...my...god. I am but two chapters away from finishing my current draft of that book I mentioned. This draft, while rough around the edges, will be to my satisfaction. 75K words. A bit of a comedown compared to the 140K of the original version, but this version is a lot better, a lot less clunky, more streamlined, and I want to write the sequels!

[Jan Van Quirm]

keeping yourself motivated is half the battle!

[michelanCello]

Sounds good

[Quatermass]

Finished!

This calls for celebratory music!

[michelanCello]

Can we have a sneak-peak?

[Quatermass]

Can we have a sneak-peak?

No. Sorry. I have a thing about posting examples of my work online. So please don't ask, because my refusal may offend.

Actually, I started a new novel today. It was, albeit distantly, derived from one I attempted to do for the TP Prize. I've taken the main character and part of the setting, but that's it.

[michelanCello]

No offence taken, I understand

[Quatermass]

Only two and a half weeks to go...

The anxiety is killing me...

[Jan Van Quirm]

Full empathy in this antipodes for you Q - at least we'll know whether or not we have another 3 months of nail biting by April Fools, or can just puddle off to recover in the time-honoured way...

[Quatermass]

:angry-chillpill: Full empathy in this antipodes for you Q - at least we'll know whether or not we have another 3 months of nail biting by April Fools, or can just puddle off to recover in the time-honoured way...

Two months. I think that the actual winner(s) announcement is at the end of May.

But yeah. At the moment, the well of my creativity has dried up, and the only thing that gives me pleasure at the moment is playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. And I had...what, three books being worked on? Those have gone down the crapper PFQ. I don't even have the motivation to do revisions on that book I completed...

[Jan Van Quirm]

Yeah you're right - 31st of May for the finalists Still - at least Spring'll be springing well and truly by the end of the month. The sun's out here today and the daffodils are looking lovely

[Jan Van Quirm]

I know it's a load of hokum but this is my homepage stars today

A chance to publish a piece of written work is coming your way. Take this opportunity to outline a novel, write a short story, or craft the opening scene of a screenplay. Keep your feelers out for someone who has connections to a media corporation. This contact will be invaluable. It never hurts to know someone in your desired industry. If you have had difficulty collecting a debt, file some legal papers. The threat of a lawsuit may be enough to get it paid.

Nothing doing on the debt front though

[Quatermass]

Heh.

Hey, JVQ, did you find it difficult to write within the confines of the contest? I have to confess that I did for two reasons: the need for realism, and the minimum word limit of 80K words. The former precluded my using a number of ideas, and the latter stymied more than one idea that did get through.

And then, when I came to read Apocalypse Cow and Half-Sick of Shadows, I was annoyed, particularly at the latter. Because in the latter, there is time travel (it even says so on the blurb), and while that doesn't technically fall under physically impossible, I had resolved to avoid as much as possible any Clarke's Law handwaves.

On another note, I have many books in the works, including a new take on my postcyberpunk one, another one that could be called a urban fantasy horror book, one of the novels I had intended for the TP Prize back in 2010, and a historical science fiction novel that I am having second thoughts. Oh, and a sequel to that rewritten ovel I said I finished recently. The rewrite gave me the confidence to start on the sequels. I have a better idea of where the sequels are going...

[Quatermass]

Incidentally, I'm listening to this, a fan-made version of the current Doctor Who theme, but with the middle eight...

[Jan Van Quirm]

Really liking that vid!

I did and I didn't find it difficult to make the criteria in that it's so geared towards being an alternate Earth and obeying the same laws of Physics that really anything that's fictionalised to some extent will fit. My own story will get published whatever and I was close to completion when I decided that it could qualify in this competition more or less even though there's little of the fantasy or sci-fi element in the theme (some myth and folklore aspects). It deals with social and cultural elements and emotional health post-war/violent trauma with a 'names changed to protect the innocent' approach to fictionalise actual conflicts in West and Central African locations (Biafra for real and the Rwanda genocide reworked) and the only true alternative element is in featuring a Utopian community solution under the auspices of a UN style project with fictional aid/relief organisations woven into efforts that are actually being attempted in the real world.

I think for this compy they did revise the criteria slightly and certainly the novel size (I think it was between 70 - 120K previously) so that the parameters of the science side of things was more proscribed so that people were having to write not too far from reality, which has some merit in that, if you can't write coherently about things that actually are (or could easily be) how can you write about things that really aren't? Even fantasy has to have some rules I guess but how that's interpreted for this contest may be open to argument as to how far you can roam around reality and I know I haven't departed too far from that line to the extent that maybe I don't truly meet the criteria that well or at all.

As for future projects - I'm working on a more classic fantasy series that has some sci-fi origins (it's got some nods to Darkover, Earthsea and Dune/Arrakis) but concerns an archaic but high-functioning civilisation and some supernatural aspects I'm not writing too much for it yet but I have been having some fun mapping the world it all happens on so once this month is over and I know what, if any, success I've had with the finished novel I'll be working on the new stuff more or less full time