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Jade Dust -- A Sci-Fi Story
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| Jesus Christ... |
[Sep. 23rd, 2008|11:37 pm] |
It's been nearly three years since we started this, and have next to nothing to show for it. School, work, my lack of confidence in my writing... Whatever my excuse is this week...
Just going to repost this from the forums:
I don't think we ever STOPPED writing Jade Dust, per sé, but there was a definite hiatus where the only things that developed with the novel did so in the depths of my brain. Tormented for months, years now, I have been, by this goddamned book.
So, I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of having this develop in my head, held back from reaching the page only by my issues with self-confidence.
By god, this thing will get written, one way or another.
I decided to shave my face, this day, September the 23rd, 2008, and start fresh. I will not shave again until the first draft is finished. Or I will give up and feel like a total failure...
I don't want to do that. Hopefully, my "novel beard" will motivate me enough to sit my ass down and type this out. Horrible or not, it has to be better than not writing anything at all.
Step 1) get the rough draft out. That's the hard part. Get it down on the paper. Edits come later, more coherent plots... later.
Let's do this, Mike! |
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| We've come a long way... Yet not so much... |
[Nov. 2nd, 2006|04:18 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Still here... | ] |
| [ | Mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
| [ | Music |
| | Ratatat - "Montanita" | ] |
So today is the official one year anniversary of when Mike and I started this book, and it's really shaped up into something special. Sure, things haven't really gone our way with living situations, school situations, and all around time management. It also doesn't help when I get writer's block and can't manage to put a single thing down on the page, but that's a whole other irritant altogether.
I wish I was able to say that after a year of "working" on this we had a pretty firm grasp on the story and what we want to do with it, but to be completely honest, we don't even have a goddamned outline. Not yet, at least. Mike is getting that straightened out soon. So, on top of all of the aforementioned setbacks, I didn't have a single thing to go on in respect to the storyline. So, you can imagine how overwhelming it must have been trying to write certain things and having only a vague idea of how point A and B are supposed to be connected. It's like trying to do a goddamned Su Doku puzzle when they only give you one fucking number to go with, you can try as hard as you like to finish it, but sooner or later you'll hit a block that is impossible to move past.
Needless to say, the fact that it took a year to realize that an outline was an important step in the writing process is really disappointing.
On the other hand, the fact that we both still have a great deal of faith in this project after a year is astounding to me. I know that on my past attempts to write a novel (or, really, anything longer than few-paged story) it has gone well for a few days and slowly dwindled and died, but this one, this crazy book of ours still has me as excited as it did when we first started talking about it last November. Every time we talk about it and we brainstorm and come up with new ideas it makes me want to finish it so unbelievably bad so it can be distributed to the masses and be read and enjoyed by millions (hopefully).
So, after a year, work is still slow, but progress continues to be made. I don't know when we'll ever finish this thing, but I know that, one day, it will, and it's going to be great. I don't know who all is reading this now, but it's been fun up to this point, and let's hope this next year will show even more progress for John Ayer and crew in our novel Jade Dust.
Thanks for reading, and take care. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 1st, 2006|02:03 pm] |
This is perhaps the most clever thing I've ever done. Or at least pretty close. It's hard to say.
I'll let you decide.
In other news, I've begun to write up a very long, very detailed and extended outline, which will help us better lay out the writing and get this out the door.
Keenan wrote up one of the major conflicts a few nights ago, and I've gotta tell you, it's completely amazing.
I think he's planning to write a post within the next few days, so stay tuned for that. |
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| A presence I have not felt since.... |
[Sep. 29th, 2006|08:51 pm] |
Wow, I haven't written in here since January, and here I am now!
I'm sorry to say that things have been moving a bit slowly. Keenan has been getting his ass kicked by college, and I too have been doing a bit of re-prioritizing and so on. The good news is that writing is a higher priority now than it was before.
In August, Keenan and I, and my friend James, opened up a website for a writer's community, called The Frayed Edge. I designed it, and the three of us write for it. We are absolutely looking for more people to contribute if you're interested, or know someone else who is. Pass the word on!
Hopefully there is enough there to hold you over until we actually come up with more.
Stay tuned kids, I'm sure we won't disappear for another couple months. ;) |
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| Back on track... For the moment... |
[Jul. 23rd, 2006|12:21 am] |
So it's been nearly another two months with no word from either of us. Does it really matter, though? I think I'm the only one who keeps track of this thing anyway, and apparently only once every few months at that, haha. I guess that's good in a way, I'd hate to think of people checking this blog daily hoping for some sort of word on progress or acknowledgement that we are, indeed, alive.
We are. Thanks for caring.
The book is, too, it would seem. Over the past three or four nights I've been writing a couple paragraphs or so. A lot of it being rewrites, but there's a good chunk of "new" material in there. It's all still rough around the edges, but I seem to be getting some positive feedback (especially from my co-author, Mike, so that's always a good thing). The two of us have been talking quite a bit about it tonight, and the last few major conversations we've had about the book have caused us to rethink where we were going with it. For a while we both wanted something that felt very epic in scale, with a massive conflict descending upon our small crew, but the more we thought about it, the more we worried we'd spend too much time fleshing out this universe we had created, and not spend enough time actually telling the story we wanted to tell about these characters. So, in the end, we decided to scale things down a bit. We wanted to make things a little more plausible (as plausible as you can get in a science fiction novel), and more enjoyable for everyone reading. The entire universe stuff is interesting and fun in conversation, but I don't think it would have transferred to the medium very well. Definitely not for the story we want.
Also, after discussing it with Mike, I decided it'd be nice to actually post a little something from early on in the book. Mike suggested this next little bit that I had written. I like it, and I hope you will, too. Just remember that it's still so very early on for us, even though we've been "working" on this for months, so it is very possible that something may change over the course of writing, re-writing, editing, more editing, etc... But, for now, I hope it furthers your interest in our novel:
"As quickly as he could without completely losing his footing, Lead raced over to the opening and stuck his hand through. He let go of the grenade and, mere milliseconds after, it detonated.
A bright flash erupted and was immediately accompanied by the ship lurching off to the side. The metal hull made a sickening, animalistic groan as the right engine collapsed and detached from the rest of the ship.
Lead was thrown backwards through the air from the explosion. The left side of his body was awash in searing heat. Over the deafening ringing in his ears he heard the sound of someone wailing in agonizing pain, and it took a moment before he realized that those screams were actually coming from him. His right hand was groping helplessly at what remained of the left. The flesh had been disintegrated up to the elbow, and had been replaced by a charred mass of gore and bone."
Thanks for checking up. We'd love feedback, of course, so please let us know what you think! Negative or positive, anything you say will help us along.
Take care. |
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| Writing spree, frappr, and other stuff... |
[May. 27th, 2006|12:40 am] |
I am proud to say that I have just spent the better portion of the evening writing out an extended part of the early novel. I totalled over three pages (12 point, times new roman, single-spaced) worth of new material, and I am very pleased with how it came out. Mike enjoyed it. Gia enjoyed it. Everyone's happy. I definitely am, and you should be, too. That puts us just a little bit closer to actually finishing the damned thing.
Mike claims it also got him in the writing mood as well, and supposedly he is working on that at this very moment while eating and watching House. I haven't actually read anything he's written, so he may just be leading me on. Crafty bastard.
Also, because you can never infiltrate too many outlets for advertising! I have created a Frappr map community for the book as well. Join it, discuss it, spread the word to as many people as you can. I want potential fans on every single continent (if we can get Antarctica that'll be double plus super). Haha.
I'll be honest, though. I will feel kinda bad if we ever get a large following, and then have to break the news at our eventual falling out and abandonment of the project...
It'll be fun while it lasts though. Viva la Jade Dust! |
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| Hey! Look who's still alive! |
[Apr. 28th, 2006|10:36 pm] |
It's been nearly... What? Four months since the last post?
Way to keep on the ball Mike and Keenan.
I apologize to the three of you who watch our journal and visit us day in and day out, eagerly awaiting the arrival of any form of update. We have let you down. It was mostly Mike's fault.
Okay, it was both of us.
Either way, progress is slow. There's no easier way to say it. Mike's working and getting ready to move himself and Samantha out here to Chicago in August, and I've been doing school stuff, work stuff, and miscellaneous stuff. On top of all this I've been afflicted with a serious bout of writer's block. Trust me, it's less fun for me than it is for you.
Needless to say, there hasn't been much to report. I don't know how Mike feels about that, but I feel bad. I don't want anyone who has any interest in this to think we've just given up on our story. We haven't, but in all honesty, I wouldn't expect anything major from us until we finally do get our living situation set mid-summer.
On the other hand, I did write a little bit tonight, and that excited me a bunch. It was well received by Gia, so that's a good start I suppose. Haha.
So yeah, in conclusion... Progress = slow, moving should alleviate that. Sit tight, kids, it'll all be over before you know it... I hope. ..
Laundry time.
Ciao. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 4th, 2006|01:49 am] |
Morning kids!
First I want to say that staying at Keenan's for a week for vacation was absolutely awesome. My girlfriend Samantha and I are talking about moving there in the summer. I, no joke, almost had to DRAG her onto the plane to come home. While out there, I'm planning to go to the same college as Keenan, Columbia, where I'll be an English Major. This will spell PROGRESS for the book. Among other things.
On the downside of all this, we spent the week watching movies, playing Burnout, wandering aimlessly, and being all around fat bitches. That said, we didn't get any writing done. Which is sad. The four of you waiting in anticipation will have to chill.
During the plane ride home, when one would have been sleeping, I was working a bit on a 1-page-premise. Basically, a couple weeks ago Samantha asked me to explain the book, and I stared blankly for an eternity, then spent a good half-hour stumbling over my thoughts. It's not that I don't know what's encompassed, it's more that there's so much that it's hard to cover. So I decided to write up a small premise to let everyone know just some of what the universe contains.
Once that's done, I'll show it to Keenan, then we'll post it. It'll be fun.
I spent a few hours tonight making what I consider a sexy banner, which (foreshadowing!) may be used for a website and (hopefully) the cover of the book will be a similar idea. SPOILERS LOL. Uh... Yeah.
Sexier than sliced bread. |
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| The end is just the beginning... |
[Dec. 22nd, 2005|01:53 pm] |
| [ | Mood |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | Music |
| | "Crown of Love" - Arcade Fire | ] |
This isn't going to be a big update, but I thought all (five or six) of you would like to know that Mike and I have decided on an ending for the book. Slowly but surely this thing is coming together, and I really can not wait to get started on the major writing.
Mike and his girlfriend will be here in Chicago on the 26th. We hope to get a lot of the major outlining done then, and maybe actually start writing stuff. It'll be a week of zesty, fun times, and it could result in Mike actually moving out here by June, which would quite possibly be the best thing ever.
I think that's all. I'm really sick and I think I need to go die now. |
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| So much to do... |
[Dec. 5th, 2005|05:53 pm] |
| [ | Mood |
| |  energetic | ] |
| [ | Music |
| | "DOA" - Foo Fighters | ] |
First things first, Mike was attacked the other night while walking home. Be assured he is alright, and came out of it with nothing but scratches. Just goes to show that not even three people can take the Mighty Mike Pelletier down. He did lose his wallet (plus contents) and his cell phone though, and he deserves your sympathy and good wishes.
Second, as Mike mentioned not too long ago, being employed AND a full time student is stressful, not to mention hard enough on its own. With other things to take into consideration (i.e. social life, family issues, paying bills, etc.) there isn't a whole lot of time to just sit back and relax. This makes for very, very slow progress on anything regarding this little novel of ours. I'm not saying that we're not working, but this process takes a while for people who just have to write for a living (fuck you, Nora Roberts), so to add in all these other factors, our overall work on the project diminshes considerably (much to our distress).
On the other hand, I've recently become obsessed with researching as much as possible for the book. I've been known to sit for hours on end looking through endless articles on one of the best sites the web has to offer. I've always loved amassing as much useless information as possible, and Wikipedia is a godsend. No joke.
So while Mike spends time with his girlfriend, I neglect mine in favor of looking over articles on temperature (complete with mathematical formulas!) so I can produce a story that adheres to my tastes more than some bullshit sci-fi story that relies more on the fiction than the science. In the end, that's what I see this book as: A story with a well-researched science foundation, with a beautiful fiction skyscraper built on top (that may be pushing it, but it's going to be good). So now I go back to my solitary confinement (much to the annoyance of my girlfriend) to read about things that most normal people shouldn't care about. Take care. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 29th, 2005|07:31 pm] |
You will almost never see me mentioned something that does not involve Jade Dust in any way.
Tonight is an exemption.
http://www.asofterworld.com is one of the purest, most thought-provoking and intense websites I have ever seen.
The simple photography and almost poetic words just touch me.
A few of them are funny. A lot are sad.
I will post one. The rest is up to you.
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 25th, 2005|03:55 pm] |
Don't be surpised if you don't see a lot of this coming over the next couple weeks, and even the last couple weeks. Reason being is that we are both in college, and this can't be the main focus of our lives. Not yet anyway. That doesn't mean we're not working though!
Being a full-time student and also working as Keenan and I do is somewhat taxing. I shaved my hours down at work recently to focus more on my finals, which are all projects. That said, it does also give me more time to focus on writing this.
Ah the places you'll go.
I've also been reading. Right now I'm digging "Finding Alice" which is a book about a schizophrenic that parallel's Alice in Wonderland. Very awesome book. |
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| Working hard or hardly working... |
[Nov. 7th, 2005|03:31 pm] |
| [ | Mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | Music |
| | The Decemberists - "Sixteen Military Wives" | ] |
Over the past few days it's been a real drag just finding time for us to collaborate on this thing. Like Mike said, we do indeed have a lot of the basics ironed out, but basics won't get us a good story. We need conflicts, we need to work on dialogue and how characters interact, and descriptions of every little thing that deserves it. So it's frustrating to have to play forum tag back and forth while one of us is at work or school. No worries though, we're still working, but at a slower pace than we'd enjoy.
The process is going a lot smoother than I imagined though. When I first brought up the idea of this story to Mike I was afraid that even though we both have similar personalities, that we wouldn't see eye to eye on everything we came up with. Up to this point a good majority of things we've discussed we have both agreed on. A lot of our brainstorming brings so much motivation it makes it hard not to just jump in and start writing based on what we have. I'm sure in the future we'll post tidbits here and there about random things. I'm not sure how Mike feels about posting excerpts here, and I'm wary to, but at the same time I'd like to share a little bit of what we have. Or, at least, what I have. I typed a little bit of the opening chapter last night, and right now I'm still awaiting comment from Mike (refer to the first paragraph of this post), but I don't see any harm in posting it here. There's a chance none of this will make it to the story, and it's still unedited and pretty rough, but I think it might give some nice insight into where we're going with this. Please remember that this does not represent the final product, and any portion may be altered or removed before the book is finished:
John Ayer awoke suddenly, cold and cramped in his bunk. Cold because his bunkmate had taken complete control of his covers, and cramped because she had shown the same ambition in taking over his bed. He rubbed his eyes, trying to focus enough to make out the numbers on the digital clock embedded in the opposite wall. It read 4:27. Fuck, John thought, we’re late.
Clearing his throat, John spoke loudly to the woman sleeping next to him, “Zantie,” he paused, hoping for some reaction, “Zantie, dammit wake up!” The woman stirred slightly, emitting a quiet groan of recognition, “Get your ass up now.”
“What, Cap?” she asked, turning her head slightly to try and look at him.
“Look at the clock and tell me what time it is.”
Zantie groaned and blinked a few times, “It says 4:28, Cap.”
John rolled his eyes and asked, “And what time were we supposed to reach Difrin?”
“3:30 or so,” Zantie replied, yawning loudly, “Why?”
John paused, hoping she would realize the predicament on her own. He gave up after about ten seconds, “So we were supposed to be ready to enter the planet’s atmosphere at 3:30, and it’s now 4:28. Do you understand our problem?”
A few more seconds passed before the woman quickly sat up in the bunk and looked over at John, “Oh, no! Oh shit, Cap, I’m sorry. I thought I set the alarm. Oh, no, oh, no.” She threw the covers off her and looked back at him, “I’ll get right up to the cockpit and see how far off we are.” She hopped off the bunk and onto the floor.
“Yeah, that’d probably be a good idea.” John nodded to the woman and watched her walk towards the door before calling out to her, “You may want to, you know, put something on.”
She turned back and looked at him confusedly before turning her gaze to the rest of her body, which was completely bare from head to toe. Her eyes widened and she rushed to the side of the bed to quickly cover herself in a torn, white shirt and a pair of dirty pants. For a moment she seemed puzzled and asked, “Cap, these seem big to you?” She held the waist of the pants out with her thumbs, and looked down into the large pocket of emptiness between the fabric and her body.
John nodded and sighed, moving to sit at the edge of the bed, “Yeah. Yeah they do, because they’re mine.”
Zantie gasped and muttered an expletive to herself as she shed the pants and reached for her own pair. “Sorry, Cap. I’m sorry. I’m just a little disoriented I guess,” she said as she buttoned up the correct pair of pants and started heading for the door.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just please go figure out where we are,” John said to her before she darted out the room and down the hall. He rested his face in the palms of his hands for a moment, and then placed them on the side of the bed, pushing himself over the edge to stand up on the floor. The icy steel immediately shot through his body, chasing away any fatigue still in him.
Feedback is welcome. And if for some reason the excerpt disappears at a later date, it's because Mike yelled at me. :P
Take care everyone. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 6th, 2005|01:30 am] |
When we look back on this in a few years time, you're going to ask what the hardest part is, and we can already sum it up right now. The hardest part is deciding who does what. It's easier, considerably, to do something like this with a partner. Because you get varied ideas, you get to bounce them off someone who knows the book as well as you do, and you get continued motivation.
The hard part comes with this. When you sit down and write, you write. But we have varying styles. So it becomes a matter of "How do we make the reader not notice that we're jumping authors?" The first option was to write a series of shorter stories, so that it wouldn't matter, but this is just more epic than that. It's a single story. So what do we do? Right now it consists of everything we write, the other person goes over. It's kinda time consuming.
This post won't be too long. I just want to kind of ensure that this journal is going to be used.
Keenan and I have ironed out many of the characters, including the main crew, as well as how everyone comes together in the beginning of the story. It's shaping up to be pretty awesome.
That's really all I've got. Carry on. More coming soon. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 2nd, 2015|11:08 pm] |
Howdy. As Keenan mentioned, I'm Mike Pelletier, and I'm the co-author of this eventual book. =)
You'll notice this post and his have the year 2015, this is to ensure that they are always read before any other post, because they're important. The real year is 2005. ;)
Because "good writers borrow and great writers steal outright", I'd like to expand our listed influences. I'd like to add authors Chuck Palahniuk, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Rice, Philip K. Dick, Paulo Coelho, and William Gibson. I'd also like to say that I grew up watching various scifi shows including Star Trek TNG, Babylon 5, FarScape, Firefly, and The Outer Limits. I only mention because it feels somewhat relevant.
Keenan took the route describing the premise for the book, so I'll go a completely seperate route, and tell you about the two of us. Keenan was born in St. Charles, Illinois. He's currently attending Columbia College for a major in Theatre Acting. His desire is to one day be a published writer and actor, and he currently works at B. Dalton Booksellers.
Mike (That's me!) was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and lived there his entire life, barring a year he spent in Florida. He currently attends Middlesex Community College where he study's things centered around English, because he should one day be an author. With Keenan. Which is why we're all here. Haha. Mike has been an active member in Video Game Modifications for 5 years, on games ranging from System Shock 2 and Deus Ex up through Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, mostly as a writer and mapper. He currently works on two mods for Half-Life 2, called Cause and Effect, and Krasota Razbrosanaya. He also plays guitar. His dreams include starting a band, being a published writer, and working in the video game industry. Mike works at Chuck E. Cheese where he entertains children and cooks. He also has written a children's book which he hopes to have published within a year. And he loves Chocolate.
About the variations in our professions? I need only say this.
Synthiviper: I think me working in a bookstore will seriously benefit us, because I have a lot of resources. Not only for inspiration, but for how-to info. as well (i.e. getting published, how to write fiction, etc. etc.)
Yoricks Requiem: oh, neat
Yoricks Requiem: I work with kids, which will benefit us because it'll satisfy your boy-minching pedophile personality
Yoricks Requiem: lol
Synthiviper: ...
Synthiviper: Woah, nicely played.
Yoricks Requiem: thank you :-)
I don't have a whole lot left to say, or even a whole lot to begin with saying, so I'll wrap up with this.
Jade Dust is going to be a book which, yes, will be set in space. But I don't think I'd call it science fiction. See, the way I see it is this book is going to have everything from morals to human nature to religion to politics to philosophy. And action and romance and kinky sex and everything that anybody could possibly want. And it'll be good. I promise. |
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| A little introduction. |
[Nov. 2nd, 2015|08:48 pm] |
| [ | Mood |
| |  good | ] |
| [ | Music |
| | The New Pornographers - "Use It" | ] |
Welcome to the "Jade Dust" community. My name is Keenan Schneider, and I am one of the authors of the story.
At the moment we are calling the book "Jade Dust," but there is a good possibility that the title will change during the writing process. Of course, if we find it important, we will keep you updated.
This journal serves as a way to update anyone interested in the book on our progress through the duration of writing. Though there has not been a single word written yet, Mike Pelletier and I have been brainstorming extensively about what exactly we actually want to write.
There is not a lot of information to share right now, because frankly we are still throwing so many ideas around, and nothing is quite set in stone. What I can tell you is that the story will take place in the distant future after humans are forced to leave Earth (yes, like every other sci-fi story out there, I know). Our writing is greatly influenced by great science fiction and fantasy writers such as George Orwell, H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ray Bradbury, and Joss Whedon. Not necessarily in that order, and that is by no means a complete list, but merely an example.
I hope more and more people will discover this and offer support to Mike and I as we start this endeavor of ours. More information will follow as our ideas are solidified and the story begins to take shape.
Take care, everyone. |
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