Baxil ([info]baxil) wrote in [info]tomorrowlands,
@ 2003-11-03 06:25:00
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Current mood: productive
Current music:"Solaris - Eden of Heaven," Xenogears OST

BaMoTTuSto!
For three years running, I've tried to do something special with my journal in November, in honor of NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month.

The folks who participate in that exercise, all of whom are crazy in a good way, attempt to turn out a 50,000-word story within thirty days. My first year's response to that -- "BaMoJoEnt," or Baxil's Month of Journal Entries -- was basically just a way of kicking myself into regular writing, as I wasn't really ready for the commitment of 50,000 words. The following year, BaMoJoEnt II, was sort of a consolation attempt, because my work schedule was so extreme that I didn't have a hope of reaching the total in any sane manner involving actual sleep.

This year -- well, I'm still working essentially the same schedule, but I'm trying to get a little closer to the spirit of the original challenge. As such, rather than just spewing out words about random life events and profound thoughts, I'm spewing out words about fictional life events and profound thoughts. My challenge will be to write one short story per day every day for the month of November -- sort of taking the most insane parts of BaMoJoEnt and NoNoWriMo and mixing them together.

I'm calling it BaMoTTuSto because it's my month of TTU -- The Tomorrowlands Universe -- stories. All of my fiction will be set in the shared urban fantasy universe that I maintain.

A few caveats and items of explanation on the self-imposed challenge:

  • A "story" is, I have decided by fiat, anything of 250 words or more, preferably one with a clear beginning and end. So, should I finish the challenge, theoretical minimum output is 6,500 words. In reality, I'll probably log in closer to double or maybe triple that. (Heck, it's Day Two and I'm already up to 3,000!) Not 50,000, but certainly in the same order of magnitude, considering the overtime my muse has to work coming up with 26 story ideas and the work schedule I have to battle.
  • I will not post new material on Thursdays. This is a concession to my crazy mad day job hours. I work swing shift Thursdays and day shift Fridays.
    • I am definitely soliciting guest contributions for Thursday posts. [info]thrames' short story, which he wrote months ago and has been very patient about, gets first dibs. Please, if you've been wanting to get that TTU story idea down to paper -- give it a shot. (I reserve the right to say "Nice story, needs editing, I'll get back to you at the end of November when I have time again," but that will mostly be if canon issues pop up.)

  • This may be an excellent chance to get some world questions answered! Any comments saying "Hey, Bax, TTU needs more source material about [X]" will probably be eagerly seized upon by a desperate muse.
  • It's pronounced "Baah-mote-too-stow."
  • I will not be posting journal entries to Tomorrowlands during the duration of BaMoTTuSto. What, you want me to do 18,000+ words on top of my usual journal workload? I will, however -- if something momentous comes up -- post it to my [info]baxil LJ. (I will also dramatically cut back my friends list reading. If you post something you think I should see, please e-mail me about it, or I may miss it entirely.)
  • Yes, this is nuts. It may prove too nuts. We'll see how close I get.


At any rate, happy reading! Comment as necessary.

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[info]draque
2003-11-15 12:34 am UTC (link)
Hey Bax.. you said that any suggestions would be welcomed, so I am going to toss in my 2 cents ^^. You tend to make characters that are level headed and have belief systems that are similar to yours in that they are flexible and carefully thought out (even if the specifics of these beliefs are entirely different from yours). This tends to give the character interaction a bit of predictability. They always act in the way that they see to be most beneficial to their values, and rarely see contradictions, or situations that they are not able to adapt to. What I'm requesting is a story about a typically irrational Joe Average that is caught up in the changes.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]baxil
2003-11-17 06:21 pm UTC (link)
First of all, thanks for the feedbax! ]B=8)

I guess I have three responses to your assessment, and I'd like to ask for some clarification as to which applies:

(1) Have you read all this month's stories yet? "Love Poultice No. 95," "Voice in the wilderness" and (arguably) "Candle" are about people in way over their heads. "The Talk" is a classic, if tongue-in-cheek, panic reaction. "Right Here, Right Now" doesn't even contain any "special" people except for the ones on TV. "Acts of faith" is about the doubts of a much more "normal" mage, although I wrote it after you posted your comment. And the previously written TTU story "But The Garden ..." is about a would-be theri having second thoughts.

(2) Are you talking about wanting to see a "mundane" person change, unwillingly, into a theri and how they would react to this new, unwanted life? Because the way that therianthropy works in TTU is actually set up to specifically preclude this from happening. I've written a detailed writer's guide on the subject -- see especially Part 2 and the Four Steps -- which might explain the lack of "OMFG I'M A WEREWOLF NOOOOOOOOOOOO". There are stories to be written about the mishaps around the edges of that rule, the people who in a moment of panic get a glimpse of a life which isn't theirs and wake up traumatized but none the worse for wear. If my muse cooperates, I'll try to get one of those down.

(3) Lastly, if it's a more general complaint that my characters are too self-assured, witty and logical -- well, I don't know, call it Heinlein Syndrome. ];=8) I don't like writing about "normal" people reacting to extraordinary events; they always seem to turn out one-dimensional (see weird thing, panic, go into fight-or-flight mode). Much the same reason I stay away from the "Johnny's first change" story; how many times can you write the same thing?

So the result is that I tend to write about people better adapted to the Changes, because (A) per the world rules, theris and mages are more likely to be prepared for it than not and (B) it's more interesting to me as a writer. If you find this disappointing, I'm certainly open to specific suggestions of the "How did X group of people react to Y?" variety; and I can try editing some of the stories I've previously written but haven't posted showing the darker sides of some of my recurring characters. But if it's just a stylistic complaint, I write how I write, and I appreciate your speaking up with your dissatisfaction, but I'm not certain how much I can change my voice without losing what I like about my output.

Again, thanks. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]waywind
2003-11-17 07:58 pm UTC (link)
Re: "omfg I'm a werewolf noooo"
I'm really incredibly glad that there isn't any of that in TTU. Nearly all other stories about shapeshifting have that response, even though the reader and the author obviously both relish it, and envy the character.

Re: 3 (all)
Okay, I can understand that completely... I've noticed that when I try to write such things, too. Yarg.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]kaijugirl
2004-09-16 06:54 am UTC (link)
NaNoWriMo.. *starry eyes* That's coming up! I was just digging through your website yesterday and reading all about Tomorrowlands (but forums are down, wah :[ ) and I was thinking I loved the setting enough that maybe I could use it for my novel in November. Would that be alright? I have some character ideas and such already.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
ack
[info]baxil
2004-10-30 04:11 am UTC (link)
Aigh! ... Did I forget to reply to this?

My apologies. I thought I got back to you here but the comments window doesn't lie. Good thing I was linking to this post and happened to check it ... >_>

If you're still interested, please, go ahead and use the setting. If you have more questions, please go ahead and ask -- I'll be a lot quicker on the uptake, I promise. ]B=8)

The one big caveat: I can't promise that the story will end up being canon. (My NaNoWriMo story is probably going to be a TTU story, and I doubt that will be canon, either; I'm just shy of writing myself into a corner by arbitrarily setting important world events based on a 30-day brainstorm.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: ack
[info]kaijugirl
2004-10-30 05:57 am UTC (link)
Hehe, that's okay ^_^ And yup I'm glad you're okay with it, since I kind of went ahead and planned the whole thing to use that setting as it is. XD; It's all right if it doesn't end up being canon, though, you can read it when it's all done at the end of the month and tis up to you if it's canon or not. I was just inspired by the setting :D

Good luck on NaNoWriMo this year!!

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