Plans for 2012

I did accomplish a lot of things in 2011, but on some level I always feel like I could have done more.  So here are my Unrealistic Goals for 2012:

1.    Get a book deal for Thorn of Dentonhill.  On some level, this is out of my hands.  I would really like to say 2012 is going to be my year for this to happen.  But the industry moves slow, and I need to be patient.  But fingers crossed.

2.    Finalize Holver Alley Crew, make that book deal as well.  Because we should either go big or go home, right?

3.    Final draft of Maradaine Constabulary.  Have Mike approve that and start selling it.  If we can get the hat trick with the book deals, all the better.  But that might be pushing, even in the dreams department.

4.    Finish Rough draft of Way of the Shield.  Because I need to have the new project working as well.  Move or die, just like a shark.  And with that, I’ll finish all four planned Heroes of Maradaine first books.

5.    Finish worldbuild and outline for Banshee and Starcrossed.  Knocking out a first draft wouldn’t suck, either.

6.    Outline/Worldbuild for one or more of the unnamed YA/Heroine/Steampunk projects.  Because I’ve got stuff rattling around in my skull that wants to get out.

In addition, I’ll be attending Boskone (just as an attendee, not as programming) and ArmadilloCon 34, including the Writers’ Workshop.  And there will probably be a few short plays written in that time as well.

So, that should keep me plenty bust for the next twelve months.

It's Thursday already?

Since 2011 is almost over, time for an update on State of the Writer.

From my last update:

• Thorn of Dentonhill (Book 1 of Veranix series): Shopping.  I know it's at a few publishing houses right now. 
  
• Holver Alley Crew (Book 1 of Holver Alley Crew series): A new finished, polished draft, based on notes from the agent.  I'll be sending that to him, plus synopses for potential second and third, in the near future.  
• Maradaine Constabulary (Book 1 of Maradaine Constabulary series): Working hard on the second draft, which includes a significant change in one of the two main character's living/family situation.  I've decided if Minox comes from a long line of Constabulary men, then he needs a sizable amount of family who are either in or somehow adjacent to the city constabulary.  That includes tweaking an existing character to now being his cousin.
• From Star to Star (Book 1 of Banshee series): As said before, I scrapped my old "USS Banshee" concept to something a bit stranger, and I like it, but I'm still in the plotting/outlining/worldbuilding phase of things.
• The Way of the Shield (Book 1 of Vanguard series): I still have a full outline, and I've done some more detail work, and some initial writing.  I've hashed out the problems with the main character that were eluding me, so once I finish the aforementioned Maradaine Constabulary rewrites (mid-January, allergies willing), I'll be off to the races there.

Now, what else is there? All the previously mentioned scraps and ideas are still out there (Starstruck, Zodiac 13, Untitled YA Project), plus another high-fantasy big-picture idea that I'm only beginning the worldbuilding on, and the Untitled Steampunk/Spaceopera/Can'tDecide Project.  And, of course, Crown of Druthal is in the trunk.  Don't think it'll ever come out.

The Untitled Heroine Project and the Problem of Sucker Punch

I saw "Sucker Punch" on Thursday, and for the most part I enjoyed it.  It was a flawed film, to be sure, but I think a number of the criticisms are unfair.  This review, though, hits a lot of points I agree with.  I think the movie pretty much dances on the blurry line between empowerment and exploitation, though.  I mean, it is a movie where women get to unapologetically kick ass and take names.  It passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors.  But at the same time, it does so by putting said women in sexy, fetishy outfits (though not to the same ridiculous degree as something like the appalling DOA: Dead or Alive), and naming its characters Baby Doll and Sweat Pea.  But if I were to hazard a guess, the movie was sold to its studio on the outfits, and despite the sexiness of the outfits, the women still fight like it's an actual FIGHT that they're in (against zombies, orcs, dragons and robots, at that), rather than a glorified sexy photoshoot with a bit of fighting.

This ties into my core ideas for the Untitled Heroine Project, which I am thinking of right now as a graphic novel project, but that might change.  At its base, the idea is for a team of women who fight and struggle and save the world.  And it would be the whole team: not a group of women led by a Charlie, Bill, Giles or Wise Man.  And how they would be dressed would be dictated by what's most practical for the tasks at hand. 

If anything with this project, my biggest influence is Gail Simone's runs on Birds of Prey. 

But the ideas are still in a nascent stage.  I'm starting to come up with the characters, but I don't quite have a plot yet. Still plenty of work to do before actual writing starts on it.

And On To The Next...

I've now finished the rough draft of Maradaine Constabulary, and I've given that out to my critique group.  Thorn of Dentonhill and Holver Alley Crew are both out shopping.  I won't be making changes to either of them in the immediate future, not until I'm given cause (i.e., an agent requests rewrites, or no agents request anything, meaning I need to give them another look-over.)

So, that means I've got nothing to do right now, right?

Not hardly.

It means it's time to develop new projects!

Last year, I was at a writer's workshop where one of the teachers indicated that you should never have only one pan in the fire.  You can't build a career if you can only write one book and then nothing.  He said something like, "I know someone isn't going to make it if I ask them, 'What are you writing next?  And after that?  And after that?' and get blank stares."

Here, I'm not lacking.

Most likely, the next project is going to be Vanguard, the first book of what would be the fourth branch series of Heroes of Maradaine.  (In other words, I have with ToD, MC and HAC three potential "Book 1 in a series" books, all set in the same city and happening at roughly the same time, and Vanguard would be the fourth of that set of serieses.)

However, my ideas for my Space Opera setting (2373-verse, for now) have been buzzing.  I actually just had an epiphany today why U.S.S. Banshee was inherently flawed, and thus each attempt to write it fizzled into nothing.  Fixing said flaw involves scrapping much of the core idea and starting over, BUT I think there is something stronger at the core which will prove interesting.  Plus I have another idea in the same setting that is flowering into a full on story.

Finally, I have two project ideas that are, really, in their infant stages.  For now I'll just call them Untitled YA Project and Untitled Heroine Project.  Both of which, right now, are little more than characters, some setting and over-arching concepts.  Neither has a story yet.  Seeds that still have to germinate.

This is a long-winded way of saying that I've got enough to keep me busy for the month of April while my group reads Maradaine Constabulary.