Status: Still Editing...

Oh, college, how I loathe thee...

Editing is taking considerably longer than I would like.

Work to do...

A life to live...

Time is not my friend.

... No, I am not trying to be eloquent. Senior Project gives me this face:

Times two.

If I had known my major was going to be like this when I signed up for it, I would have taken the better option and stayed another year.

But that's enough bitching from me. Time to get back to it. We'll see if I can finish editing another chapter before tomorrow, in addition to everything else on my plate.


"That explains everything!"

~ SB

Editing With SB: Superfluous Sentences

Man, editing is a heavy job, let me tell you. There's a lot you have to keep an eye out for: grammar, spelling, things that wouldn't make sense to the reader, and a whole lot more mistakes that you didn't even think you were capable of. And I'm only on the first round of editing out of who-knows-how-many!

But you know what? It's still far, far easier than writing the actual book in the first place. With that said, editing is actually a lot of fun (though I could easily understand why people would disagree with me on this). You get the chance to experience your work from a different point of view, polishing it for whatever audiences you have in mind. On top of that, you start to pick up on certain things in your writing - your quirks, your habits, and the particular kinds of mistakes you make.

And so, "Editing With SB"! In this little series of updates, I'm going to be sharing some of my experiences in editing Psychopomp. There's no telling how many I'll make of this, but I thought it could be fun, so here it is! Now, what's our first course?

Superfluous Sentences and You

Ouch. I'll be honest, this one surprised me a little more than I expected. I've edited other people's writing before, and I've even encountered this issue - but somehow I had myself convinced that I wasn't as capable of it.

So what is a superfluous sentence, exactly? Well, remember in Amadeus when one of Mozart's pieces were rejected simply for having "too many notes"?

Y-you don't? You've never seen Amadeus? No? ... Oh.

Aww, he stopped laughing. Look what you did.

Well in that case, I'll give you a random paragraph to show what I mean:

"Keanu Reeves was a terrible actor on all counts. He couldn't hit his mark, his expression was consistently vague and lacking emotion, and he always appeared to be half-asleep when he spoke. He was a deplorable example for aspiring actors to follow. However, no matter how many critics pointed this out he still managed to persist in Hollywood as a sort of acting anomaly, landing large roles over far more respectable actors."

Could YOU pick out the superfluous sentence? If you said "He was a deplorable example for aspiring actors to follow," you're correct (and so is the sentence)! Congratulations!

Excellent!

Anyway, as you might have guessed, sentences like the one I gave you are a little easier to find than others. Sometimes they're a lot harder to spot, like if they're actually two different sentences working as one. When I come across something like that, I do what I can to bulk it down into one sentence. That's the whole idea behind tracking down superfluous sentences or descriptions: Slim it down without losing the point.

And there you have it! It may not be WILFP, but hopefully it'll end being up just as fun! I hope you guys are having a nice winter - because mine's about to end. In any case, I'll do what I can to keep you guys updated while I'm editing Psychopomp. As always, remember to comment and- What? Who are you? No, don't! I don't want to go back to Purchase! I can't go back! Please, stop, I'm begging you! Nooooooo!

Book = Finished

Hallelujah! After two months, Peter Sciacca is finally back!

Yeah, it took me six days longer than I said it would, but that's beside the point! The point is...

Every last chapter of "Psychopomp" is finally complete!

... Actually, it's been complete since 1:43 AM, but again I digress.

I'm psyched out of my freaking mind right now (pun intended). I can't even describe in words how amazing it feels to finish a complete novel.

So... did you guys miss me? Because I sure missed you! :D

You better believe that I'm going to get back to updating these blogs - although things are probably going to change somewhat, seeing how I'm going to be putting so much more emphasis on Psychopomp from now on.

So what's next, you might ask? Well, first off, I'm going to be in heavy-duty editing mode for a while (this book needs to be polished!), so I'll probably update here with my experiences with that. The same goes for every step after that leading up to publication, including:

- Examining the world of literary agents.
- Writing query letters to publishing houses.
- Preparing and sending out professional manuscripts.
- The waiting! Oh lord, the waiting!

I'll do my best to keep you all posted durimg my quest to get Psychopomp onto shelves near you!

In the meantime, it's time for me to get back to work. I'll update here as soon as possible with my progress - and who knows, maybe we'll finally see a return of WILFP as well! The only way to find out is to keep an eye out for me! And as always, remember to comment, follow, and tell your friends if you don't already! (Because I'm such an attention whore that way.)

It's great to be back, baby!


"Please don't take off your clone's pants." "I wasn't going to. I'm just me-curious."




~ SB

It's go-time! >:D

Yeah, I know, I've been away for a while. College has been hell for the past couple of weeks. Senior year is relentless when it comes to the workload, and so I haven't had much personal time. Whenever I finally do, I'm too exhausted to do anything other than just vegetate in front of the computer screen.

But that all changes now.

NaNoWriMo is only two days away - and although you aren't allowed to sign up for it with work that's already in progress, I'm still going to be using it to my advantage, to write as much as I possibly can within the month of November. This means that starting this coming Sunday, Peter Sciacca will be going entering writing overdrive. No more distractions, no more excuses; all free time will be going toward Psychopomp. If all goes as planned, the first draft will be done by the end of 2009.

If all goes as planned. I still have to take college into account, after all.

Now, that's the good news. Here's the bad news. I will no longer be updating these two blogs until 2010. Why? As much as I enjoy giving writing tips and such, making posts takes time - time that could be put toward writing. I know this may disappoint... I don't know, two of you, if I'm going to take this seriously, I have to put every last ounce of effort into it.

Keep your fingers crossed, folks. Two months from now, I may very well be one step closer to victory.

So, here goes nothing. I hope all of you who read these blogs, friends and fellow aspiring writers alike, enjoy the remainder of the year. Have a great Halloween, Thanksgiving and holiday season - or just the holiday season, seeing as that's currently swallowing all of the other holidays.

I hope to see you guys here once I come back. Don't forget about good ol' SB! :D

Peace!


"I'm the bean-daddy this time! Bean-daddy!"




~ SB

What I Learned From Pangaea - 10/09/09

The good news is, I finished that one chapter last week just like I said I would. The bad news is, I suffered throughout the rest of the school week because of it. Yeah, I just love senior year - never mind my horrid major. Don't worry, though; despite relentless (and arguably pointless) workloads, I'm determined to finish writing Psychopomp, and soon.

Wow, hey, look at that! This week we'll be reaching the 20th installment of "What I Learned From Pangaea"! I'm sure that's enthralling for the five of you who actually read this blog.

Just one more, and WILFP will finally be able to drink legally! :D

Anyway, since this is some sort of milestone for Writing With SB, I figured I might as well make it a big one, so here it is...

Sometimes ideas need to die.

... Wait, what? Yeah, some of you out there may not like the sound of that title, but believe me, this is an important tip. Now I'll ask you, here in our 20th writing tip, what do you think is the main reason I finally dropped Pangaea as a story? Was it the plot? The less-than-interesting cast? The overwhelming amount of cliches? The poor dialogue? Well, in truth it was all of these things and more, but I attribute that mostly to the "experiment gone wrong" status that I've given Pangaea in recent years. After all, it's because of my experimenting with it that I've improved as much as I have as a writer. But in the end, I made a revelation that helped me to finally drop it once and for all - and that's the fact that the story simply wasn't any good.

This also comes up when you Google "not any good", so take that into consideration.

I still look back fondly on my experiences writing Pangaea (as ultimately flawed as it was). I had developed the story over a long, long time, and so naturally I wouldn't want to let go of it entirely. I suppose that's why I eventually went back to it those few times over the years. Even recently, I'm sure some of you might remember, I've talked about possibly attempting it again once I was done writing Psychopomp. The thing is, I failed to mention at the time that if I ever decided to go through with that, it would have to be nearly a complete overhaul of the original idea. Why? Because Pangaea in it's original form was lousy, plain and simple; my own fond memories wouldn't be able to fix that.

So what am I saying, exactly? Well, a couple of things. For one, if you spend all of your free time trying to redeem an idea that you already know is bad, chances are you won't be able to write anything worthwhile. Next, if you honestly do believe that this idea can be saved, then by all means try to do so - but don't do what I did, coming back to it time and time again during writer's block or something, warping the story further every time.

Just remember, some poor story ideas can blossom if they're given enough time. Others, however, can turn to mulch just as easily.

That leaves one last question; what am I going to do with Pangaea? That's hard to say. Half of me would like to see what I could do by completely re-structuring the story from scratch, as opposed to changing or adding things the way I did in the past. The other half of me is tempted to simply label Pangaea permanently as a lost cause and chop it up, salvaging the pieces I liked so much and divvying them amongst some of the other story ideas I have at the moment. I already have a couple right now where some elements of Pangaea might work quite well.

That, however, would be a project for another day. In either case, I'm far more excited about Psychopomp's story right now. Speaking of which, I think it's about time I wrap this installment up and get back to writing, before my professors suddenly decide to barge in and physically beat me!

Thanks for sticking with me for twenty delicious writing tips! We're only just getting started here, folks, so be sure to follow me if you aren't already, leave me some more of those delicious comments, and hey, why not tell your delicious writing friends about me? I'm sure we'll all have a delicious time!

... Delicious!

Peace out!


"Right! Right! No machine gun on neighbors! I gotta remember that!"




~ SB

What I Learned From Pangaea - 10/02/09

OCTOBER! Yes! I can't wait for it to finally get cold again, and for the trees to turn red and die!

... What?

Peter Sciacca is tired. So very, very tired. Today, I got dragged around what I'm sure has to be one of the most boring museums in the state of New York. One of the more interesting pieces there wasn't even labeled, and no one told you about it - you were literally supposed to just stumble across it.

Another four day weekend is about to begin. I'm determined to finish at least one chapter, despite being loaded down with even more work than usual. Have I mentioned how much I hate my major? Because I do.

Anyway, let's get to this week's tip...

Have some self-control.

This title might be a bit misleading at first, but I'm not sure how else to say this, to be perfectly honest with you. Let me ask you this, my fellow aspiring writers; what's the craziest story idea you've come up with that you can remember? How many inspirations did you have to thank for its creation? Were you ultimately satisfied with it in the end?

Let me tell you about my initial mindset while coming up with the plot for Pangaea, many years ago, when I still wanted to call it 'Lost Legacy' (don't give me that look). It went something like so... "OH! OH! I want this, and this, and this, and OH, definitely some of this!" And so on, and so forth, to infinity. ... and beyond.

Let me put it like this - if you try to put too many ideas into one story (especially a fantasy one), you might end up with what I like to call "Spider-Man 3 Disorder". In a nutshell, if you try to do too much within one storyline, you might end up disappointing people.

"Why did they try to add so many plot strands? Why?!"

Is that a guarantee? No, of course not. Naturally, your ideas and mine aren't likely to have anything in common. Like with all of my other tips, the most I can urge you to do is to just be careful.

When it came down to it, I had zero self-control during the creation of Pangaea. Angels, demons, cyborg pirates, living suits of armor, majestic bug people, little girls made of slime, genetic experiments, superpowers, and mysterious ancient artifacts, all in one story. Though not all at the same time, of course. No, this story actually evolved several times since I first came up with it in middle school.

Ah, and so the truth is finally revealed, is it? As a matter of fact, it isn't. (Parenthetically, :D)

The truth is, I dropped Pangaea quite a few times for other projects over the years. Ultimately, I'm glad I haven't gone back to it since (having finally moved on to Psychopomp, which I'm much prouder of), but I still look back on it now as an ongoing learning experiment. I learned a lot about writing each time I returned to it, so all in all it wasn't a total loss.

And lucky you, my faithful readers, that you get to learn what I did via these tips, without having to write some horrible amalgam of a fantasy story first! Stick with me, folks, and I'll do my best to not let you down.

In return, all I ask for is your silent obedience! ... No? Well, how about some comments instead? <3


"I heard that, Curtis!"




~ SB

Holy Fanart, Batman!

Sigh and sigh again... As expected, college is slowing the production of Psychopomp - and that's not even counting catching this cold, or having my computer be under repair for over a week. My main goal right now is to finish at least two more chapters before November, when National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) begins. For those of you who don't know, that's precisely when I started writing Psychopomp, almost a year ago. I would have liked to have finished the first draft by now, but I suppose it'd be fitting to have the story be completed during the same writing event.

Enough of that, though. Here's that update I promised you on Friday. My friend Mike Suazo, or 'Ki-Gen' as he goes by online, has done some lovely semi-fanart for Psychopomp. (You guys remember him, right? From that one episode-long podcast we did several months ago? Remember? Sure, you remember!)

Wait, fanart? I thought the book wasn't done yet... Well, it isn't... but it's getting there! Mike's actually been helping me proof-read Psychopomp chapter by chapter, and he actually posted his own visions of my characters on his blog, Ki-Gen: I Draw Stuff. Awesome!

Here's Brooklyn... sort of! :D

And here's Leon! Apparently he had suffered some sort of horrible foot injury here.

Next up is Luca... who's holding something exaggerated that you should ignore for now...

This one of Izzy is great - I especially love the 'recently-electrocuted' look.

Mike's version of Julia isn't so bad. ... Not much else to say about it.

W-what?! Where's his hat! Simon is supposed to have a- God, Mike, you just don't pay any attention, do you?! GOD!

In all seriousness, though, it's amazing to see someone else's interpretations of my characters. Awesome stuff, Mike. Everyone go check out his blog, pronto.

Maybe one day we'll be seeing Psychopomp fanart all over the internet, like all great franchises have! Or maybe I'll fail miserably and fall into the abyss of mediocrity! Who knows! The only way you'll find out is if you keep an eye out for me in the future!

Anyway, back to writing! Huzzah!


"If there ever was a time to say something, this is not that time."




~ SB