Malicious Bastard's

Having posted a page for the Red Star Chronicles recently, it really got me back into the pattern of putting words on pages. So, I picked apart the original first segment of Chapter 2, and realized I had enough content there for two whole separate segments. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not a huge fan of rewriting works that I’ve already put together, but there were some reviews made about the original piece that hit pretty close to something I was trying to avoid so there went that idea.

All in all I think that this version is a lot stronger. It takes what had been a good smash cut for the first segment and breaks off what comes after, leaving the isolation that follows a little more evident. The second segment is a little bit lighter than I would normally shoot for, but it works for what is taking place, and what the character is going through as a mental process. The third segment will be coming soon, but I’m still working on how to blend what I have to start this chapter with where I want it to go.

I’ll have to give it a few readings before I can really figure it out I guess. At least I like my own work well enough to be amused by it, so I image I could have worse problems.

— Vid

Not too long ago I was talking about taking pride in your work, and accosting them to read the thing that you worked on in order to get the feedback you wanted. So here you are. YOU. READ THIS. This is something that I’ve been working on off and on for the last thirteen or fourteen years. Some people know more about it than others, but I like to think that setting aside the writing and story is something that anyone can enjoy.

Some of you may be aware how I feel about non-linear stories, or telling sagas out of order. Sometimes it can be handled well, and I’m hoping that in this case I’ll be able to do the same.

The thing I’ve demanded that you read is a link to The Chopping Block page, which then routes to a new project I’ve posted called The Red Star Chronicles. It’s the story of a single person’s struggle with blending in to a world that he doesn’t belong in while also dealing with the psychological struggles of his own identity. It can be pretty heavy reading from start to finish.

But Supernova is funny! I promise. Anyhow, go and read it. I have it saved in .pdf format so you can put it on your A-Readers and iNooks and the like. Right now I only have chapter one listed, but I’ll be posting the others as I finish them, and you can be sure there will be a lot more to come.

Because [expletive] it all if I am not proud of this body of work.

— Vid

I suppose I should premise this post with the fact that I’ve been excessively busy for the last few months, and that’s why I haven’t posted anything. The truth is, I’ve been pretty overwhelmed since around October, and I’m starting to deal with it now. I’ve been sinking myself into some projects, doing some new things, and spending time in rather unhealthy ways that seemed to be productive at the time. At the time. That’s the key phrase there, and it has a lot to do with the anger bender I think I’m about to go on.

Little is worse for an author than losing the self value of their words. I know that there are plenty of people out there who call themselves artists who may or may not think that it lends credibility to their works by saying “oh this sucks. It’s not worth a [expletive]. I can’t believe I put time into it.” For the record, I’m not calling anyone out on this specifically, but that is obnoxious. Because nine times out of ten they’ll pass what they did on for critique anyway.

This is either the most manipulative method of getting someone to read the thing you think they won’t be interested in, or you’re putting up a wall to protect yourself from the possibility that they may not like what you did. So take some [expletive] pride in your own work. If you really think it’s crap, do better and then show people. Otherwise don’t waste our time with it. I know that there’s a lot of stuff in my works that I’d like to do better, so I keep trying. I don’t feel the need to show off an unfinished project. Sometimes that means things don’t see the light of day.

Sometimes that means that I deal with the consequences of looking forward to something that’s never going to happen.

Sometimes that means I’m disappointed. And then I have to deal with that. And that sucks. But it sure doesn’t suck nearly as much as sitting around, and waiting for everything to be done itself. Assertiveness is a great policy. Take action over the things that you want. Go out there and [expletive] grab it. Demand it. Point at the nearest person with a copy of your completed work and say “YOU! Read this thing I wrote.” Then, when they disappoint you by giving you a reaction other than what you were expecting, take it and work with it. Did you want this specific person to be impressed by the thing you did? So much so that you’d change everything that you did to impress them?

If you said yes, then the thing that you were working on wasn’t nearly as important to you as the opinion of the other person, and you are working on the wrong thing.

I know I was. And that’s where all that time went.

— Vid