Monday, November 02, 2009

Programming Note

November is National Novel Writing Month. As I mentioned last week, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo again, for the third year running. Of course, that means posts here at the Ranch will be few and far between. However, if the progression of my past efforts means anything, I might have something decent when all is said and done this year.

My project in 2007, The Year of Living Magically, cratered a little past halfway and thus fell well short of the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo. Still, it was an important learning experience and I find myself drawn back to that story every now and then with an eye towards redoing it from a fresh perspective. We'll see.

In 2008 I was a winner! All that means it that I hit the 50,000 word mark by the end of November. However, by December I actually had a finished first draft, so I was seriously pumped. Unfortunately, Plausible Reliability is stuck in editing hell and I've lost some enthusiasm for the project. I still have a great deal of enthusiasm for the underlying West Virginia legend that animated it, however, the saga of the Flatwoods Monster. For more on that, see this excellent diary of at Kos (of all places), part of a regular series on UFO lore. It even includes a magazine article that quotes my grandfather, who was mayor of nearby Sutton and publisher of one of the county's newspapers, as well as an article he later wrote for one of the Charleston papers.

This year's project is tentatively titled The Water Road, a title I've lifted shamelessly from last year's Thieves Kitchen album of the same name. It's also the name of the defining geographic feature of the fictional land in which the story takes place. Since it's not set on Earth, doesn't involve humans, and I make no attempts to claim it's scientifically plausible, it's technically "fantasy." But there's no magic (sorry, honey) and it's got little in common with Tolkein and his ilk. Think of it more like a history of another world.

Here's the "back of the book blurb" I've come up with for it:

What begins with a murder, ends with a revolution.

The Land is divided by the Water Road. To the north, an alliance of nations clings together against the marauding nomadic tribes of the southern mountains. That fragile alliance, The Triumvirate, has held for more than one hundred years, bringing peace to the north. But one woman, torn between the two worlds, will discover the secret of how that peace has been earned. The spark she strikes will changes her life, and the Land, forever.
Unlike my earlier projects, which were pretty off the cuff, I've spent time over the past few months fleshing out this world and its inhabitants. I even have a map.

Wish me luck and I'll see y'all on the other side!

4 comments:

mdeals said...

November Challenge..

Paul said...

Based on that blurb I'd read it.

Good luck!

JD Byrne said...

Thanks, Paul! I'll put you on the pre-order list. If you want to speed things along and send me a credit card number, I won't object. ;)

Muze Euterpe said...

Hey Louisiana woman Mississippi man we get together every time we can

The Mississippi River can't keep us apart

There's too much love in the Mississippi heart too much love in this Louisiana heart

See the alligators all a waitin' nearby soon or later they know I'm gonna try

When she waves from the bank don't you know I know
It's goodbye fishin' line see you while ago

With a Louisiana woman waitin' on the other side
The Mississippi River don't look so wide

Louisiana woman Mississippi man...

Well I thought I'd been loved but I never had
Till I was wrapped In the arms of a Mississippi man

When he holds me close it feels almost like another hurricane just ripped the coast
If he can't come to me I'm gonna go to him

That Mississippi River Lord I'm gonna swim

Hey Louisiana woman Mississippi man...

Well Mississippi River Lord it's one mile wide and I gotta get me to the other side

Mississippi man I'm losin' my mind gotta have your loving one more time

I'm gonna jump in the river and here go too bad alligatior you swim too slow

Hey Louisiana woman Mississippi man...

There's too much love in the Mississippi heart too much love in this Louisiana heart

There's too much love in the Mississippi heart too much love in this Louisiana heart