Ann's Immaterium

Mostly physical culture but also writing, gaming, and other dark procrastinations

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Novel-in-Progress: Gabby the Bug Eyed Monster

So my writing efforts continue unchecked at least for the moment.  I have some stuff making the rounds with various editors, and was trying to decide what to do next.  So I decided upon a little experiment.

I’ve written a few longer stories from outlines with lots and lots of plotting, but I’ve never attempted a short novel without having an outline or really much more than a couple of characters and some initial ideas.  So I thought I’d give it a try on Wattpad.  I’m going to publish one or two chapters a week (500 – 1000 words or so) until I write myself into a corner and blow up my creation or manage to write said short novel.

My working title is Gabby the Bug Eyed Monster.  I put up the first chapter up on Wattpad and plan on posting chapter two no later than August 25, 2019.  For anyone who might want to check this out, be warned this is not a complete story.  It is the first chapter of a work-in-progress.  I’m sure that the 40K-oriented readers on here will notice some passing similarities to a certain favored xenos race….

Gabby cover 350 wide for WordPress
Cover makes me want to re-read Dune.

I made a quick and easy cover for the story.  If I manage to make decent traction with writing the thing, and it gets a half-way decent reception from the reading-free-stuff-online crowd, I might commission a nicer cover for it down the road.

Otherwise, I joined the Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge and pledged to read at least  50 books this year.  So far I’m up to 34, which the site tells me puts me three books ahead of schedule.  So that’s keen.

My reading for July 2019 was:

  • The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
  • The Howling Asteroid by Murray Leinster
  • Forever Free by Joe Haldeman
  • Mulgara: The Necromancer’s Will by David Rose
  • Appreciate Your Life: The Essence of Zen Practice by Taizan Maezumi

I’ll be back again (hopefully) with Chapter Two of Gabby next Sunday, and if my sacrifices to the Elder Gods have been particularly propitious maybe I’ll even make some progress on another poxwalker as well!

 

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16 responses to “Novel-in-Progress: Gabby the Bug Eyed Monster”

  1. One of those things where there’s really no way to learn other than by doing. I’m liking it so far. The bits about human things not making sense remind me somewhat of The Murderbot Diaries.

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    • Hi Alexis. Yes, I agree. Reading books about writing, and reading novels with an eye to seeing how the author did stuff, etc. all has its place, but like a lot of things if one wants to get better at something then one has to learn by doing, as you say. Hmm … interesting, I’ll have to add that title to my “to read” list.

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        • Sounds fun, I’ll check it out, thank you. 🙂

          I have enjoyed Fred Saberhagen’s various Berserker books over the years, so I am certainly interested in more murderous robots/AI/whatever. I put in a request with my library to hold “All Systems Red” for me. Am looking forward to reading once the wheels of intra-library loan grind in my favor….

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          • The title is sarcastic, as is pretty much everything else about the protagonist. A somewhat better comparison would be Ann Leckie’s Ancillary series. More than anything else, tho, it reminds me of the Captain America/Winter Soldier fanfic This, You Protect.

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    • Hehe, grand, thank you. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

      “Plan? There ain’t no plan!”

      I’m hoping to develop something of a plan as I go along and see how the end result compares to stuff I’ve done where I plot and plan and cogitate for several months, often to the point where I end up losing the fire and interest I had in the project in the first place. I tend to have a bright, intense but short attention span for things at times. Once my efforts get to a certain point of no return then I’m usually fine but with many things I never make it out of the planning stages. So I thought why not try something different?

      So we’ll see. The main plan right now that I’m going to work hard at making non-negotiable with myself is to make sure I stick to my posting schedule of putting up a new section at least every Sunday. I’ll post an announcement here for people who might be interested, but might not see it on Wattpad.

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    • No, I haven’t. Thanks for letting me know; I’ll check it out. The last time they had one of these I found out about too close to the deadline to consider sending them anything.

      Their writing challenge looks interesting. I grabbed the _Warcry_ e-book. Regardless of the possibility of writing for Black Library, it looks like something I’d enjoy reading.

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    • Thank you. I thought it might be something worth trying. Figure I’m not out anything other than my time if it doesn’t work out, and if it does then great. Plus either way I’ll learn if trying to put together a story using a process I haven’t tried before is worthwhile. Always good to experiment with new things, I figure.

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