Self-Interview

Apparently this is a thing going around the writing blogosphere. I got tagged by Bryce Wilson, and meant to do this last week. I thought this would be a good way to talk about what I'm working on right now.  So here goes!

What is the working title of the book?

The Dream Sutra

Where did the idea come from for the book? 

Back in college, I had the idea of writing a book my niece might like.  I spotted the word "dream" in a Ray Bradbury book (From the Dust Returned, to be specific) and ran with it.

What genre does your book fall under? 

Young adult psychological fantasy adventure.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? 

Not a clue.  I'd actually prefer an animated version, so who knows?  Maybe there's a part in there for John DiMaggio.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? 

Sonia Obata and her classmates are having a massive group dream every night, and she must use an object called the Baku's Fang to travel through the dream world and find a way to shut it down before it collapses and kills everyone.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? 

The first form took a few months, but that was just something I made up as I went along.  I changed the premise of the story a few times before I found the current version, and I think it took something like six months to finish each draft.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? 

Who: my niece; What: all sorts of things -- shoujo manga, other YA books, psychology, Miyazaki movies, Buddhist philosophy, various other anime, manga, video games, books, and stuff.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

At one point, Sonia and her friends have to get past a Frankenstein, a firebird, and a ninja to get through a maze.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

I'll go the agency route.

My tagged writers for next Wednesday are

Crap, I don't know enough writing bloggers.  Sorry.

"The Tether" now on Bradbury Quarterly!

The good folks at Bradbury Quarterly have published a revised version of "The Tether!"    You might be interested in the version I published here, but I'd honestly prefer you read the more up-to-date version.  Here's what the editor had to say about it:

Alex Scott gives us a new classic in “The Tether,” a heartfelt story of friendship between two boys reminiscent of Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade from Something Wicked This Way Comes.

A "new classic"!  Wow!

Whoa, another one.

And no sooner do I begin my foray into ebook publishing than I suddenly get another story accepted.

This time it's a fledgling zine from Berkeley called Imaginarium.  The story is a revision of Perdition Lost.

I can finally start writing substantive cover letters now!

"No Different From Anyone Else" Now on Smashwords!

Last summer, the good folks at Spaceports and Spidersilk published a revised version of "The iKid," called "No Different From Anyone Else," in their Fall 2012 update.  They've moved on to the next issue, so this is no longer online.  I figured, why let a good story go to waste?

Now you can purchase a copy of "No Different" at Smashwords (and I believe other ebook retailers, too) for only $0.99.  UDPATE (1/21/2013): Now on Amazon, too!

I should also mention that a revised version of the Tether is going to be published at Bradbury Quarterly.

Story Sketch: Mundane Batman

This is a thing I wrote as a prompt in my writing group, Drinkers for Writers.  If I remember correctly, the prompt was "Batman doing something mundane."

So read on to see Batman shop for textbooks.

The Shocking Story of Popo, the Stolen Penguin

"That's twice you've helped me move, Luc," Jerry said. "I almost feel like I should be paying you for it."

"Let's just say we're even for that dead mouse in my trunk," Luc said.

Luc had spent the last few days moving Jerry into his new place, after his old landlord turned out to be a sadist. At first Luc thought he was exaggerating, but then news of the torture chamber spread, and Luc couldn't refuse. The building would get new management anyway, but Jerry wanted out. It had taken a day just to clean out the garbage. There were empty cans of cat food all over the place. Jerry didn't even have a cat.

Story: "The Mouse, The Landlord, and the Laundry Room"

I'm back with another entry in the Talking Time Writing Circle. This time the plot elements were a little stranger. I'm revisiting the dead mouse theme, and including an out-of-place torture chamber. It was also a chance to try a few different things as far as revision.

Lately I've been learning to listen more to my writing. That will mostly take the form of reading it out loud, or at least with a low whisper. I'd always heard this was a good way to revise yourself, but I'd never tried it quite this way. In a way I'm just imagining how it would sound on This American Life. It gets interesting results when I try it with other authors, because I seem to automatically drift into their voice.  For example, I read a page of Neverwhere and started getting an English accent. Just now, I used espeak to make my computer read it out loud, which was kind of fun by itself.  I may have to use

In this story, we visit a background character from "Tuffy's Funeral," and a character that I realized in the revision was basically the hiimdaisy/Gigi Digi version of Col. Volgin from Metal Gear Solid 3.

Story: Tuffy's Funeral

And I'm back!  I've been working on some assorted things since last fall.  In the meantime, I've rethought the purpose of this blog a little.  I'm going to use it more for off-the-cuff writing than for long-form professional stuff.

To start with, a thing I wrote for the Talking Time Writing Circle.  Basically, all the participants suggest a story element, and each one writes a story based on all of those elements.  So without further ado, a story about a dead mouse!

Story: "The End of the Rainbow, Starring..."

Another week, another story.  I'm on vacation from my day job, and I've been spending it revising earlier stories one last time so I can send them out to some editors.  I'm also starting to revise my novel, currently called The Dream Sutra.  Haven't quite decided if I'm going to post it here yet.

This one is kind of a love letter to a youth spent watching cheesy movies, especially on Mystery Science Theater 3000.  It was inspired by a certain independent movie I'd seen shortly before my trip to Boston.  And if you've never seen a Rifftrax Live show, I highly recommend it.

You have no idea how much fun the screenplay portions were to write.  Credit goes to J. Michael Straczynski's The Complete Book of Scriptwriting for help with the format.  I'd also like to thank Morgan Hoo for his input.

THE END OF THE RAINBOW, STARRING...

For their first date, Derek took Mena to a very bad movie. The theater downtown hosted a midnight screening of Tommy Wiseau's cinematic turd, The Room. Derek had missed previous screenings, and Mena hadn't seen the movie at all. People came in costume, tossed footballs around, threw plastic spoons at the screen, and shouted along with the most notorious lines.

Hooray!

I'm now listed on Web Fiction Guide!  Check out my page here.