This Present Darkness

Now that Vault of Story is rolling along, I find it to be a good outlet. Composing short pieces has provided a nice break from the seemingly perpetual slog of editing the novel. It has given me unexpected pause, too.

The other day, poring over the handful of DVDs I own, my gal said something interesting. She commented that most of the movies were dark and heavy. This was not a quality I'd noticed, but I couldn't disagree: they tend toward the dark end of the spectrum. Grosse Point Blank might be there (best romantic comedy ever), but most of what you'll find are zombies and post-apocalypses.

Things that make you go "Hmm..."

How does this connect to my writing blog, you may well ask? Reviewing the content on Vault of Story thus far, I wonder if it isn't dissimilar from my DVDs, dark and morbid. Writing, so they say, is a process of discovery. Folks would not describe me as a morbid character. I'm gregarious to a fault, a goofy raconteur. Who's this creep oozing out of the ink?

Hmm, hmm, and double-hmm.

When I was younger, my creative output was mostly silly comic books. Maybe I got depressed and swung the other way, like an axe swing. Either that or I'm about to become very depressed now, seeing as I'm such a one-note wonder. Time will tell.

Got Avatar?

Nope, not the movie, but I got you to look, didn't I? I'm asking if you have an avatar, like all the kids are doing these days. I do, but the thing is, it isn't me. Let me explain...

She whom you see pictured to your right is not a real person. Sally Parker is the main character in my novel, Narchitect, about which you can read much more at the brand spanking new blog I set up to market it. In preparing introduce the world to Sally, it struck me that I wanted an image to accompany her bio. Since the technology doesn't exist (yet) to snap images of characters out of novels, I had to come up with an alternate way to show what she looks like. That's when it occurred to me to create an avatar for her, and I have to say, the result is a pretty decent approximation.

Cool thing is -or eerie, depending on how you look at it -Sally resides now as a 3-D character on my desktop. She hangs out down by the toolbar with her polygon hair waving in a digital breeze. If Narchitect were a kitchen sink drama or Regency England Romance, it wouldn't make any sense to craft her appearance this way. Since it is a novel set in the 23rd century, where everybody has analog lives in a game realm, this was the logical way to go. Kind of fun, too.

There are many other characters in the book, and I enjoyed creating an avatar for Sally so much that I imagine I'll give them the same treatment. This will give me an excuse to research myriad social sites online, where 3-D avatars are de rigeur. Stop in at the Narchitect blog to see the results!

Which reminds me...

The final installment of my first serial over at Vault of Story is now up and you can read the complete tale of Danny Bates as he deals with the consequences of being late to school. Not everything is as it seems in Danny's world....

It was fun transfering the short story to the blog in sections, transcribing it from my scrawl on college-lined pages and editing on the fly. The end result needs some work, I think, and it will be a while until I commit to another lengthy tale. After all, I should be devoting all my writing time to the manuscript, not short stories! They are such a nice break, even so, that I will not neglect to continue posting regularly. Already I've a slew of miniature, "flash" fictions to offer, which you'll be able to view presently.

Word to Entrecarders: Vault of Story is now droppable!

Stop by and check it out, everybody's welcome.

New Posts at Vault of Story

Three posts in, the plot of The Truant is ripening. Check out Vault of Story for the latest exploits of Danny Bates as he sinks deeper into trouble at school for failing to turn in his homework.

Things are proceeding smoothly. My initial apprehension has faded and good things are ahead. Once there are a couple more posts, I'll register with Entrecard and the familiar yellow and black widget will appear at the sidebar. This would happen sooner but they require no less than five entries for a blog to qualify. At my current pace, this should happen no later than Thursday!

Vault of Story!

My new blog has its first entry, the opening section of a short story written by... me! Vault of Story will showcase my speculative fiction, and as of today is officially open for business. Please forgive that is still rough around the edges, I couldn't wait any longer to share a project that has gestated long enough. Check it out and let me know what you think, feedback is most welcome.

Monday Should Be Your Fun Day

My new blog is at the cusp of readiness, and I be stoked. Continuing with my theme of oddly-named blogs, this one takes its moniker from the title of my novel, Narchitect. The idea is that it will serve as platform for the book once it hits a bookseller near you. Since that magic day has yet to arrive, I'll present shorter pieces of speculative fiction from my Vault of Story. To encourage high reader recidivism rates these tales of wonder and suspense shall be serialized, to last no more than a couple weeks or so before reaching their conclusion. When one story is done, a fresh entry will follow to start the cycle anew.

I'm excited to finally get this blog underway. It's hard to describe what a moment this is, of culminating a long dream into reality. Though I've known since I was but a wee lad that I wanted to be a writer, only in the last few years has the desire begun to take real shape. Narchitect marks another milestone on this long road that has many more twists and turns ahead yet. I can't wait to see where they lead!

Narchitect's opening piece focuses on the truancy of Danny Bates at a school where no one is ever late. Watch for an announcement here when the first installment becomes available.