Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’

… rollin’ rollin’ rollin’… rollin’ right along on Spider-Girl issue 15, which is juuuuust shy of 10,000 words in another window right now. I’ve got one more scene to write. It’s a doozy (or should be), but I’m waiting for inspiration to strike.

Incidentally, I am very much of the school of thought these days that writing is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. However, when it comes to writing essentially the same thing over and over in slightly different ways, that 1% becomes pretty darn precious. That one thing being masking or unmasking scenes.

Don’t get me wrong – I like doing them (and oddly enough, I like the challenge of trying to make ‘em different) but still. It can be tough. This one will come, I just thought while I was sitting here in front of the keyboard, might as well say ‘hi’. So – hi! G’wan, say hi back.

Cutting

I’m about 3,000 into Spider-Girl 15, but for the last couple of days I haven’t been that happy with the way the current scene is playing out. I made a decision just a second ago to rewrite, but that means losing a fair chunk of it – and then I figured I’d just share a paragraph I’m cutting.

Looking around, she saw one of the guards coming back toward her as he made a circuit. Slowly, she crossed her legs, lifting them up so that her hemline slid down, revealing more of her stockings and even a touch of garter. Sure enough, the guard noticed, slowing down to look at her. With her mouth taped, Betty had to make her eyes do most of the work; she gave him her best come-hither stare, and come hither he did. He stopped right in front of her as she uncrossed her legs then re-crossed them, surprising herself at how good the stockings felt. The guard leaned down towards her, putting one hand on her leg, sliding it up the fabric.

Like I said, it’s cut… don’t worry, there will be plenty of stuff to compensate.

Bugger-all feedback on issue 14, by the way. What, did everyone hate the Dynamic Duo?

Finished an ish. Maybe.

Might have just finished Spider-Girl 14. Not sure. Gonna sleep on it. Unsure whether the scene break I just came to is a good issue break, or whether I should go on a little further… but then, it’s over 10,000 words (just) and I’m thinking the next natural break is several thousand words away.

Hence: may have just finished the issue.

Had a lovely “Oh, wait, wait WAIT – this would be SO MUCH BETTER if I did it this way” moment earlier, right in the middle of a scene which I already had completed in my head. The change was so blindingly obvious, but at the same time led so naturally to some other stuff that I want to do, that I just had to make it. It’s funny (Well, to me) but I was so excited I wrote the ‘revelation’ down underneath the text as I typed, as if I was going to forget it. Not likely. Still, three words can change a lot of stuff, especially when those words are ‘[CENSORED] AS [CENSORED]!!’

(You didn’t think I was going to spoil it, did you? Especially when the payoff isn’t going to happen until issue 15… at least. I’m not that cruel.)

I have to say, these are the bits you live for as a writer – or at least I do. Not the moments when the characters ‘talk to you’ (because I don’t feel they do; wanky as it sounds, I feel like they just talk, I listen and transcribe) but when the character’s actions suddenly skew the plot in a new and altogether better direction than the way you were already travelling. That’s when you give thanks to The Muse.

Well, I am knackered, as we say in England; I think I’ve written over 7,000 words of this issue in the last couple of days. Don’t get too excited yet but I think the groove may be back. Shhhh! I said don’t get excited….

Sunday morning word count

Project T now stands at just over 44,000 words. (I’ll admit, I came to a natural break point just shy of 44K, so I added a few more. Just so I wouldn’t lie to you. I’m like that.)

I have a strong feeling there’s at least 15, maybe 20K more in this thing; the scene I’m writing now is probably several thousand long, and there are several more scenes just like it before it’s done. I guess I’m over half way… maybe. I don’t know, I’ll just keep going and it’ll be done some time.

I know it must be annoying to some of you to read this, but I figure you might prefer to know I am actually writing, as opposed to just jerking off or checking YouTube all day.

Also, Spider-Girl 13 is progressing, slowly. It’s probably likely, all things considered, that I’ll release it before Project T’s completely done. Right now though, Project T has it’s hooks in me, so that seems to be what comes out whenever I sit at the keyboard.

So how’re you guys?

Three lines = three thousand words

In another tab, Project T is sitting at 34,390 words… so about 3,000 more than last night. That’s 3,000 words drawn from three lines in my plot description, and there’s a lot more to go… lots of fun stuff I hope.

In case you’re wondering that 3k took about two and a half hours, with few interruptions (assuming that rating songs in Pandora as I listen to them doesn’t count as an interruption). Not much of a boast by the way. Well alright, a little one. Generally though, I can churn out 1,000 words or so an hour of any kind of writing if I’m ‘in the zone’ and know where I’m going. In this case, I have a pretty good roadmap.

In a comment on my previous post, RJW suggested that I might give out some practical tips to writers. Well, here’s an easy one to start with: just write. Sounds pretty frickin’ obvious I know, but unless you’re willing to devote close to three hours of a weeknight to just sitting at the keyboard and getting the words done, you won’t get much accomplished.

Of course, I only get to issue smug directives like that on nights like this. Come back when I’ve been staring at a blinking cursor for a whole evening – you’ll get a different GW.

Project T, as of tonight…

31,228 words.

That is all. G’night!

No surprise there, then

Yeah, so as you can see I didn’t post Spider-Girl #12 this weekend… apologies for that. I’m going to try and find the time to edit and post it this week, because my weekend is looking very busy. Have some patience here people – it’s as big as issue #11, with a lot more twists, turns and emotional rollercoaster type stuff… so that takes time to get right.

The weekend wasn’t a total loss on the writing front, though. I did make a bit more progress with Project T, and also refined the idea of Project B a bit more with the help of a secret co-plotter who I consult with on these things. There are many more twists and turns to it now, and I think I know how it needs to be written (ie, what voice, etc). The question now just is, when will I write it. Don’t hold your breath just yet!

Heads up

This is a quick post to give you advance notice that I can’t guarantee Spider-Girl #12 will go online this weekend. I know I’ve left you all hanging on anxiously, but don’t get too excited. The next issue wraps up the whole Doc Ock arc, and while I hope you like it, I doubt you’ll like it as much as #11. I know I sure as hell didn’t like writing it as much.

Anyway, I have quite a few things to do this weekend and also I know I’ll want to take some time to edit and polish #12, so I’m just saying right now that I can’t guarantee it’ll appear in the next two days. Just FYI.

Elsewhere, I’ve been enjoying moving forward with Project T, which sits in another tab at just over 28k words now. I don’t think I’ve said this before specifically, but I generally aim for a PG-13 (in US parlance) sort of rating with Spider-Girl… there’s quite a lot of talk about sex, and implied sex, and occasional actual sex… but it’s not full-on, Technicolor sex. Nor are there curse words – y’know, to save the kids.

Well, it’s nice to occasionally write full-on Technicolor sex and use as many curse-words as I like, put it that way….

Oh! Also, I came up with something entirely brand new in the ol’ shower this morning. By the time I’d had breakfast the idea was pretty much locked. However, I had another thought this evening which I thought I’d run by you.

This story idea could basically have a character in it that’s a female, masking as another female. Or, it could be a man, masking as a woman. Then it hit me; maybe it could be both. It might be fun to actually write two different endings to the story – or two different second halves, I guess – and let you choose your preferred kink.

Good idea? Bad idea? Let me know. Got no idea when I might get to writing said idea, but hey. We’ll call it Project B for now.

Progress on Project T

Welcome to August. Don’t know about your part of the world, but after one of the wettest summer periods on record here in the UK, it’s good to see (and feel) some sunshine….

I had the day off work today, so I managed to get a bit of writing done, and it wasn’t on Spider-Girl. Instead I tapped away at Project T, which I know I’ve mentioned recently, but I’m not sure I’ve mentioned that it’s over 25k words now. I’m definitely finishing this thing before I actually release it, but when I do let it loose I may serialise it, I may not. Any preferences?

I think sometimes when I release really big chunks of writing, you guys either don’t read it or don’t have the time to read it. I sympathise – I can be the same way – but obviously I don’t want to write something of maybe 40-50k words and then have no-one read it…!

Aaanyway, it’s going pretty well right now, is Project T. I’ve been doing some re-plotting and I like the shape of it now. So all I’ve got to do is keep banging away at it.

BTW, clicked on an ad recently? They’re just down and to the right. Just sayin’.

Well, I guess I’m full of it.

I’m over 2,000 words into Spider-Girl issue #13. So much for that break of mine, eh?

Well, it helps that it’s a ‘bridging’ issue, as I thought it was going to be; I’m tying up fairly essential plot elements that were left over from previous issues, and introducing things for the next big arc… codenamed ‘Crossover‘ as I’ve said before.

I remembered what I meant to say the other night. I will be writing a ‘cast of characters’ post at some point, hopefully this week. If you’re struggling to tell folks apart in ‘Project SG‘ then hopefully this’ll set you right; and if you’re a Marvel fan wondering just what the hell kind of changes I’ve made since I started, well, this should sort you out as well.

Alright, that’s it for now.