Tag Archives: Special People

Writing News and Updates

An Update: Why Special People is Still Dormant

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In August I wrote a news post for Special People announcing that I was soon going to get back into writing the serial and moving the story forward.

You may have noticed that didn’t happen. I did some outlining, I wrote and posted a prologue… Then it fizzled. And I’m okay with that.

I do find it disappointing that I wasn’t able to get the next story off the ground, but I think it’s been for the best. I have a three-week-old baby right now, and that would have meant probably a month or so off of writing. I also find that my storytelling isn’t as good when I’m tired, and since the only time I would have to write is after my toddler is in bed, that means I’d always be writing tired!

I’m holding off on getting back into Special People until I feel like I can give it the attention and energy it deserves.

In the meantime, I’ve ramped up my work on 50WS. Rather than needing at least an hour at a time to work on Special People, I find it so much easier to spend five or fifteen minutes taking care of the site, reviewing submissions, and writing my own occasional stories, so it’s been a good outlet for keeping my creative juices flowing. The site is really growing, too, and I have lots of ideas to build on that trend!

So I hope you’ll stick with me, read (and write!) some 50-word stories, and keep hoping for the day Special People comes back for real. I know I find that prospect very exciting.

Writing News and Updates

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

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Remember when I used to write all kinds of stuff and share it on this blog?

Seems like a long time ago, but I’m finally starting to get back into some of that. The ball has been starting to roll again over the last couple of weeks…

Here are a couple of things I’ve got on the go right now:

I’ve also got some thoughts to share on a couple of movies I watched recently, so I’ll try to put that together soon.

Writing Reflections

When “Done” Isn’t “Done”

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Hide and Seek is done. Well, very nearly, anyways.

Last night I wrote, and today I posted, the final chapter in my longest Special People story arc yet. It was Chapter 55, and the total length of the story is about 50,000 words.

I have a brief epilogue to write, containing one final scene, and then that’ll be that. The story will be finished and I can move on.

Except not quite.

My long-term goal with Special People is to package up the story arcs into (self-)publishable, printable books and sell them through my Store, alongside my other writing. Why hasn’t that happened yet? After all, I’d already completed three story arcs before I even started Hide and Seek.

Well, put simply, it’s because those stories aren’t ready to publish. It isn’t enough for me to wrap up the serialization of the story and get every chapter up on the website; I also have to deal with editing and, in some cases, rewriting, and there’s nothing that shuts down my creative urges like rewriting… Yuck.

Of the stories I’ve written for Special People so far, I’d say Hide and Seek is maybe in the most publishable shape, though Who Killed Walter Carton? came out pretty decently, too. (Trends suggest that I’m getting better over time!) But before I can release Hide and Seek as a novel, I know for sure that there’s one specific chapter I have to significantly rewrite, because I forgot to factor in the use of a character’s special ability, and I’m pretty certain there are a variety of problems with the continuity and flow of the story, simply due to the fact that my writing time was spread out over such a long time period. I guarantee I’ve forgotten some of the details of the early story, and made some blunders in the later chapters because of it.

Then, on top of all that, I have to consider whether it would even make sense to publish Hide and Seek before putting out the arcs that came before it. This is a tricky one, because Hide and Seek actually takes place 10 years before Hands-On and King of the Dark, and doesn’t require knowledge of those stories, but I feel like those earlier arcs may do a better job of introducing the reader to the Special People “universe” and its primary character(s).

If I decide that I want to publish the stories in the order I wrote them, that means I have to revisit my plans to rewrite Hands-On and King of the Dark. There’s a great road plan laid out for me to do so, but it’s going to take time to do it, and like I said, that doesn’t exactly get my creative juices flowing.

Thankfully, I’m going to have a month to work through whichever set of edits or rewrites I decide to pursue, while the comic, Change, gets posted. I’ll keep everyone updated on my plans as and when I make any decisions.