Friday Blog Post

Making an attempt to find somewhere comfortable to write on my laptop. The bed is no good, doesn’t provide the right kind of support for extended periods of writing, hence why I’ve been slow at responding to comments and really only updating the tribune box. I suppose it would also help if I didn’t have a 17” computer.

Hang on. Moving. Back stairs aren’t comfortable.

Front stairs, this is more promising, even if my lappy is kind of rocking around. I can deal with that, I’ll just pretend I’m on a train, turn my music up louder and ignore it.

I’m just so used to being able to sit at a desk and write that it’s uncomfortable for me to sit anywhere else and write. I managed to do DoaDG on the train, but that was mainly out of desperation because I wasn’t pumping out any content at the time. I miss writing. I want to write about the shark. I want to get back on track so this stupid book I say stupid book, but it’s been the most fun to write so far, all the little intrigues, and actually getting to introduce Reynolds – something I figured I would have to wait ages to do. Not to mention Grigori. You haven’t gotten to see why I love him yet, since as much of a contrast as he is to Taylor, you still haven’t seen him at his most fun. :)

Ideally, this book needs to be finished by June, that’ll keep me on track for two books a year, which is what I’m aiming for – yeah, yeah, I know I started MS in November, so technically it’ll be eight months, not six, but we’ll ignore that for the sake of the author not going insane.

Two books a year, this is my goal. I think it’s fairly reasonable. Especially considering that when I need to, I can sit and pump out a 3000 word chapter in two hours (seriously, ask Bufi, she listened to me do word counts over MSN for the last couple of chapters...which were mainly written because she wouldn’t stop prodding me *hands over cookies*).

Since I actually wrote about this elsewhere on the internet today, I thought I’d actually give you guys a good idea of what the future holds for the MV. Yeah, yeah, I know I’ve listed the first seven titles a few times. This is a little bit more.

Also, something a lot of you don’t know is that I’m going to separate the MV into arcs of seven books (think, like, seasons of a TV show), this lets me plan for like, kick-ass (>_> you know what I mean) season finales.

This list isn’t necessarily to inspire wild mass guessing, just to tease the future, and to show that yeah, I might not be writing over these few weeks, but that doesn’t mean that I stop thinking about the MV at any point. -_-

Arc 1
Mirrorfall – DONE!
Mirrorheart – DONE!
Mirrorshades – in progress.
The Grey Edge – Book about Mags and her family.
Mirrorcrash – aliens? In your MV, it’s more likely than you think. (yeah, shuddup, I know we had one in first books).
Mirrorshards – All about Merlin.
Mirrorworld – Mirror magic gets used on a big scale.

Arc 2 (titles have not been set for most of these, so numbers will be used instead).
8 – Dealing with the fallout of MW.
9 - We meet Mags’ brother Bennefree.
10 – A member of the Agency’s family comes under threat.
11 - Book regarding Mags and Taylor.
12 – We meet Curt’s family.
13 - Book regarding Merlin and Jonesy – may involve a court known as The Carnival, best described as the unholy fusion of the Lost and the Mad.
14 – There’s a new member of the Agency.

Arc 3 (this is where my planning begins to be a little incomplete).
15 – Taylor has to learn to deal with the Agency’s new addition.
16 -
17 – Explanation of what happened to Reynolds.
18 -
19 -
20 – War stories Pt.1
21 – War stories Pt. 2

Arc 4 (yeah, sue me, I only know one book for this one)
22 – Caper book involving a cat burglar and a theft. Is going to be a lot of fun.

That’s the main canon stuff, outside of that, there are so many side novels I’ve got planned. They include, but aren’t limited to:

Young Stef Novel – I actually have like 15k of this done, but it got abandoned back when all the trouble at work started last year, plus seriously...you try writing first-person perspective of a 12-year-old, it gets hard. -_-

The Enders – I’d talk more about this one, but it won’t make any sense until after MC. Let’s just say it’s my excuse to write a Doctor Who-style story.

(oooh, I manged to clear a spot in the kitchen, it’ll only work while for a little while but at least I’m not getting bitten by bugs any more).

Marriage in Madchester – not actual title, not working title, just accurate. It’s about Madhe’s son, and it’s going to be a bit of an experiment for me...more when I’m actually closer to writing it.

The Little Mermaid – again, not actual/working title, just accurate. It’s the girl!love mermaid story I mentioned a...few months ago? I suppose it’s not too much of a spoiler to say it contains Milla and Billy (yeah, I know they were in it for like two chapters, but I can’t help really liking those two...need an excuse to write more of them, maybe make them part of the regular secondary cast, no idea how, I’m just rambling to myself right now. :P).

Evacuee – this will probably just be a novella, it’s the story of how Dorian came to adopt Jonowoi. It may incorporate more of Dorian’s history, if it does that, it might not be such a small novella. Only time’s gonna tell with this one.

Bastion – basically, my love letter to the 80s fantasy that I grew up on. There is a complete version of this running around, albeit a graphic novel script (was trying to get this done as a GN, but that project fell apart). Needs a rewrite though, as a lot of the MV elements have changed since it was first written. And, fun fact, this was actually the first story written in the current MV – well, what became the current MV, all the major players were in place, even if this was at a time when I was considering scrapping writing about the Agency, since I was still at the stage where I hatedhatedhated Stef. -_- Also, I want to expand on a couple of plot elements rather thoroughly.

I’ve got a quartet of comic fantasy novels I want to write, but I’ve been cautious about including them in the MV, so I haven’t sat down and thought about the logistics of it. Though, do tell me if the phrase “bumbling fairy godfather” appeals to you. :P Mainly included in this list for my own satisfaction, since I haven’t thought about them in ages. -_-

(OM NOM NOM dinner – pie, chips and coke...just what I feel like. Ouch, hiccups.)

There’s a few more floating around, but these are the main ones.

I will also say that there is a slim chance that Marriage in Madchester may be promoted to a main-canon book, but it will depend on a few things, so it’s staying in this section for now.

To other stuff.

Regarding the site, there may be a few times in the next few weeks where it will look weird or be displaying the “down for maintenance” message, don’t worry, this is normal, cause I’ll be messing around with stuff, finishing off stuff I should have done, but didn’t due to stuff. -_- It’s all for the good of the site, so in the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t Panic.

The sneaky thing I’m working on is still sneaky. You’ll know it when you see it. ^_^

One of the improvements will be me finally, finally, finally getting around to selling badges again – so dig out your wallets and/or PayPal accounts because Require: Cookie badges will be available soon. :)

(I’ve only got like 12-15 designs at the moment, this will be rapidly expanded once I actually get set back up, since I found my list of ideas for new badges).

(Specific quotes from characters can be requested if you want, I’ll work to accommodate).

T-shirts, however, are probably still another couple of months away, sorry. Gives me more time to work on designs though, so that’s good. :D

(Peacocks make the weirdest noises, seriously, I need to include this in the MV somehow. How do I know this? There’s a wild one that lives in the area. Yeah, a wild peacock, it’s kind of awesome.)

Now, the other thing that’s been weighing on my mind since the “camping out for opening night” comment is the idea of a MV movie. Yeah, yeah, I get the 150-million Mirrorfall movie fantasy sometimes (though seriously, I’m trying to work out how they’d streamline the plot so it would work as a movie, and if they would try and condense MF, MH and MS into one movie, or what...cause I’m not sure MF quite works as a movie on its own, considering that it ends with the heroine – sorry, protagonist – dead).

This, however, is probably I won’t get to see until I’m in my 50s or something, so it’s not my focus. Somewhere in my 10-year-plan (no, I don’t really have one of those, maybe I should), I want to get a video camera and start making MV shorts – probably start out with something really simple, like doing visual Birdybirdy updates, maybe partner with a garage band and do a music vid with MV content, move up to doing 5, 10 and 20-minute shorts, that kind of thing.

Cause, you see, if you have work under your belt, you can quite often get free money from the government to make movies. Yeah, the Aussie film industry kind of sucks, but so long as I’m here...which is probably going to be forever (unless someone does carry out her kidnapping threat), I may as well inject it with some MV awesomeness.

Thing is: I have an idea for what MV movie I’d like to make. It’s something I know I could make on a fairly shoestring budget – there’s like five locations, four main characters, a few secondaries, and only a few SFX shots (some are extended, but honestly, I’ve already figured out how to do those, and could probably mock then up right now if I had the right software).

Run, flee, escape, it’s a love story. And...if you’ve noticed Ryan’s dead girlfriend, Mags’ unhealthy obsessive love and the like, you’ll have probably figured out I write kind of weird love stories. :P Well, this one is slightly more traditional – boy meets girl, except boy is an Ashreader and girl is undergoing psychiatric treatments. >_>

So yeah, if in ten years, I get around to making a MV movie, can I count on you guys to be behind it, even if it doesn’t star our favourite hacker girl?

And don’t pick on me for writing a 1500+ word blog entry instead of a chapter, I’m going to go try and write about the shark, but I’m sort of distracted, so writing this is easier. Plus, isn’t it nice to know I’m not dead?

Our room is progressing nicely, I will post pics when it’s finished. :) By this time next week, should be settled down there.

Ok, fine, I have a first line for the next chapter, I may be able to write something.

Personal opinion: do you ship Mags/Taylor or Mags/Grigori?

Also: what screen resolution do you tend to use?

Also: the master document for MS is officially over 50,000 words – I kind of get the feeling this is going to be the longest book yet, since we’re not even at the halfway point yet.

Well, this chapter has hit 1000 words, and isn’t finished yet, so I don’t have to feel bad if I release it tonight, as it least it’s a sort of reasonable size. *goes back to writing it*