Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Characters done

Yikes, I just realized it's been two months since I updated. (insert crickets chirping here)
I have duly entered in my palm to update once a week, because as you can tell my brain is obviously occupied with other, weighty matters. (read: just picked up SG-1 season 5 and is motoring through that and season 6) Well, that and chasing ski demos to test drive my shortlist of potential new skis (thanks to the Ski Canada magazine ski test for the initial data). When you've been on skis since the age of 3 (thus, almost 30 years for me), choosing the right pair of weapons in the fight against gravity is important. And you can feel the difference, at least at my level. Nothing matches the sublime bliss of the perfection created when muscle, gear and skill combine into one entity. Hard to explain, a thing of beauty to do.

Seriously, between actually working on Queen's Legacy and painting models for Astronomi-con, I've let it slide. For those that actually read my words, stay tuned, I'm here to stay. For those that don't, well, why not?!

On the writing front, as that was the original reason to jump into the blogosphere, I've finished all my character profiles. I went with a bunch of questions for all of them, and my 'A-list' is done. Those are the ones now with 5 page profiles of tasty information. I think I burned out a bit, as I used the same basic set of questions. On the upside, I think it added an additional dimension, as some questions force me to think of all those little human details I mentioned in an earlier post. On the downside, answering the same form for all sixteen major characters got tedious. Sometime later I'll post the basic set of questions so you can check them out (read: steal mercilessly!).

That, of course, highlighted certain discipline issues. Meaning: I need to sit down more consistently and apply ass to chair and fingers to keyboard (ATCFTK - the automotive engineer in me needs an acronym - attack f... nevermind). At least I can start kicking my butt now, rather than later.

This process also had the benefit of highlighting all kinds of details, such as the need for a timeline in the history leading up to this book, so everyone's ages and other events are straight. Detailing parts of the world so that background can be filled in, as well as tidbits like languages, calendars and certain uses of magic that I have to define in more detail.

My next goal is to flesh that stuff out (and follow the naturally occurring gaps and fill those in), then re-state the plot I came up with originally, and clean that up, then start breaking down the scenes. I know going in that I'm an outline writer. It's the way I write RPG adventures, and I just can't see traveling through the story without a roadmap. That said, it's all in pencil and the eraser's handy. If need be, the story can change to follow interesting paths, but I'm going to keep to the core story, at least for now.

This is the part I think I can be good at, and I'm looking forward to it. However, this week is all about taxes, some spring cleaning, and planning the yard and baby's room (she's due in June). Writing regularly will resume this weekend after I figure out CCRA's cut of the income.

I just have to find some time in between writing to keep painting my latest army for Warhammer 40, 000, to be done in time for Astronomi-con, in October. Yes, it sounds like a long time. However, at three days or so to do a tank, October can come quickly. My new army is an all-vehicle Imperial Guard force, with all tanks, transports and even an aircraft. I'll post photos as they get done.

Speaking of photos, there's an outdated meme (that's me, right on the latest trend!) about posting your workspace. I said I'd post mine (in the library), so watch for that soon.