Flows All Ways has smeared chokecherry juice on Hisham’s face and is telling him a story about how Mt. Shasta was made.
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Monthly Archives: July 2014
Progrep 40: Cultural Appropriation
Posted in Writing
Tagged cultural appropriation, Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, Native American folklore, science fiction, Shasta, writing
Progrep 39: Goings-Wrong
Reached 38,000 words and finished chapter eleven this morning, answering major questions about the mysterious goings-on.
Further revelations await, and further questions will arise. Meanwhile, two of the characters have just realized that Something Has Gone Terribly Wrong.
Posted in Writing
Tagged Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, writing
Progrep 38: That’s the Trouble Right There
Today, Leaves Turning Copper said, “I dreamt it.” To which, Hisham replied, “See, that’s the trouble right there.”
Posted in Writing
Tagged dialogue, Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, writing
Progrep 37: Slow But Steady
Every day, a few more pages. Oddly, two of the characters insist on calling one another stupid.
More significantly, world-merging works even better than I’d hoped.
Posted in Writing
Tagged combining novels, Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, world building, writing
Progrep 36: Arrow Woman Photo
I found a folder of articles and images I clipped from magazines in 1990, 1991, and 1992. One of the images speaks so strongly to me in 2014, as I write this first draft, that I’ve pinned it to the corkboard on my desk.
Posted in Cool stuff, Writing
Tagged archery, eye on target, Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, writing
Progrep 35: Brain Drop
I found a weird typo in the manuscript today. The sentence was supposed to say that “she dropped her braid.” Instead, it said that “she dropped her brains.”
I kinda wish I was writing a story where a brain could be dropped.
Not my brain, though. That’s already dropped.
Posted in Writing
Tagged Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, typo, writing
Prorep 34: Fiddling
I’m turning sentences this like:
A small stippled fish darted forth from the fool’s gold to nibble at the tree’s roots.
into sentences like this:
A small stippled fish nibbled the tree’s roots.
I may turn them back again. Because fiddling.
Posted in Writing
Tagged concision, editing, Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, writing
Progrep 33: Sensory Misperception
One of the characters is having difficulty with her senses as a result of contact with Something Mysterious.
Kitty litter carousel. Cherry cola trampoline. Tolling buttered skunk.
Can you tell she’s feeling nauseous?
Posted in Writing
Tagged Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, sensory perception, Shasta, synethesia, writing
Progrep 32: POV Change
It’s strange rewriting the scenes from the old novel that I’m going to incorporate into Eyes on the Mountain. I’m retelling events from a new character’s point of view, and things look mighty different.
Posted in Writing
Tagged character point of view, combining novels, Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, writing
Progrep 31: Reading to Rip
I’m reading the old unpublished novel to determine which seams to rip and which bits to repurpose in Eyes on the Mountain. It’s been decades since I looked at it, and I’m reacting differently now to the old characters; I’m liking ones I didn’t much, and I’m irritated by ones I used to find interesting. That’s shaping my thinking about which of them will appear in Eyes.
There are two fourteen-year-olds I quite enjoy, and one cranky eighty-year-old woman whose point of view I appreciate now in ways I didn’t before. But man, I really did a crap job on the villain; he’s over-the-top crazy unbelievable and is definitely not invited to the new novel.
Posted in Writing
Tagged characterization, combining novels, Eyes on the Mountain, fantasy, Mt. Shasta, science fiction, Shasta, writing