Brandon Sanderson, the bestselling author, has a YouTube channel and one of the pieces of content that he posts to his channel is a short weekly update on the status of his writing projects. I’ve tried to do the same basic idea in the past on the blog, but let it slide because I could never replicate his process exactly . . . and I’m not nearly as consistent as I once was because of finishing the Ph.D. process along with the pandemic and other factors, I’ve moved away from blogging consistently. However, I’ve determined that is/was a bad move in that blogging helps to force me to be creative by making sure that I write creatively on at least a semi-regular schedule (or even, gasp 😱, a regular schedule). So, I’m going back to these weekly writing updates. I may use the same protocol that we use in our departmental meetings where if we’ve nothing to report on that week, we say “nothing to report,” or something similar, so if I’ve not made progress on a specific area from we to the next, don’t be surprised if there is a “nothing to report” or similar wording. The goal of this type of blog is to “encourage” me to focus on my writing as an avocation by cataloging a week’s worth of work (or to put it another way, to help me push forward on my writing goals one small step at a time and recording that journey weekly). I will generally focus on 3 main areas of writing: Short Project(s), Long Project(s), and Scholarly Project(s). There will likely be a 4th area every now and again called, Ideas, but I’m VERY good at generating ideas. For me, success (in writing) is moving a project beyond the idea phase into the drafting phase, finishing it, and get it published. While each “phase” is important (idea, drafting, finishing, submission/publication), I don’t consider a project a “success” until it is published.
Short Project = Project Uplift (Sci-Fi)
This is a project that I started seriously at the end of 2021 and worked on in 2022. I was able to do a rough draft that had 3 sections. When it came time for the working draft, I was only able to complete one section (the 1st section) of about 2500 words. I got stuck about halfway through the 2nd section at about 1500 words and finally put it away. This week, I completed a CHARACTER SKETCH for the main character/protagonist (currently named Vangelis). While the name might change, the character is locked in and should inform the next draft of the story. I did NOT have a character sketch while I was working on the working draft last year and it is possible that is why that draft faltered.
Also did some ruminating on the title. I’m not sure Uplift is the best title. In my story, “uplifting” has a definite meaning, but there is already a sci-fi concept of “uplifting” that is totally different from my usage of the word. I’m afraid editors/readers will confuse the already established use of “uplift” with my unique usage of it. It may be better to change the name of the project, but I’ve not yet come to a decision.
Long Project = Unhallowed Graphic Novel
This one was a bit of a mistake. I started writing two graphic novels based off the recent publications of two of my short stories (i.e., exercising my own copyrights by creating expanded derivative works on the short stories that I’ve already published). The two projects are Unhallowed and Childe Roland. I started Unhallowed, but put it down and started working on Childe Roland as I felt it would be the easiest of the two to adapt and as I’ve not adapted a completed story before/completed a full graphic novel (just one comic book story/issue), I wanted to something to practice with. However, when I grabbed the folders, I inadvertently grabbed the one for Unhallowed rather than Childe Roland. Rather than wait a week to go back and grab the correct folders, I just started on Unhallowed and will work on this one until completion.
I worked on a story map for issue 1 of the graphic novel (“The Warden”). This story map was fairly easy as it is mostly the short story adapted into 28-32 pages of comic book script. The challenge is going to come from mapping out the next 3 issues as I only have a vague idea where the story should go from there. I do want to include the main character’s (Arizona’s) backstory somewhere in the graphic novel, but I’m not quite sure where to put it. Feedback told me that the backstory slowed down the pace of short story, so I took it out. I’m thinking it needs to go in issue 2 or 3, but I’m not sure where to put it so that it doesn’t kill the flow of the story.
Scholarly Work
This week I made sure to complete a 150-250 word abstract for the Call for Papers for the Tennessee Philological Association as the deadline was November 18th. I try to attend their conference yearly–this year’s them is children’s literature–and this year I’d finally read a children’s book that I’d been wanting to purchase for a while now, The Girl with the Silver Eyes, a 1980s book about psychic powers. I created the rough draft for a paper about psychic powers in children’s literature. At the time of reading the book, I was also engrossed in a video game about psychic powers called Scarlet Nexus and I saw several overlapping similarities between the two mediums/stories. I’ve also seen/interacted with other psychic power stories over the years and it will be interesting to continue to develop this idea into a larger article should the conference paper prove viable.
Well that’s all that I have for this week. This was a productive week, and I was able to get a fair amount of writing done. I hope it continues! See you all next week.
Sidney
Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:
- Read Skin Deep (Science Fiction) for Free at Aurora Wolf
- Read Childe Roland (Fantasy) for Free at Electric Spec
- Purchase Unhallowed (Fantasy short-story: Weird Western) on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
- Purchase Independent (Science Fiction short story) on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
- Purchase HawkeMoon (Fantasy shorty-story) on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBook
- Purchase Dragonhawk (Fantasy short-story) on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
- Purchase WarLight (Science Fiction short-story) on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
- Purchase Ship of Shadows (Science Fiction shorty-story) on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
- Purchase Faerie Knight (Fantasy short-story–Faerie) on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Currently Working On (November 2023)
Creative
- The Runner (2022 Revision) (Fantasy Story–4100 words)
Status: Out to Publisher, Finalist in the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award contest, Finalist in LeVar Burton Reads Origins & Encounters Writing Contest - Science Fiction Story (1st Draft)
Status: Section 1 of 3 completed - Fantasy Graphic Novel Story (1st Draft)
Status: Prologue Completed
Scholarly
- Dissertation Completed
Status: Published! - Unnamed Book Chapter
Status: Out to Publisher! - Blood on the Shield: African American Trauma in Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Status: Published!
OtherWorlds: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Web Journal 