Meet the Modders

[Mopean]

No, it's not. Never said it was. Still makes it nigh-impossible to write, though, when two of your fingers are encased in some foam-and-plastic miniature cast

 

[Gojira54]

I fractured all the fingers on my left hand as a kid in a hand-in-the-heavy-metal-school-bathroom-door incident. Painful yes, difficult yes, but offhand is much easier to lose than primary. A coworker broke both her wrists falling down the stairs in December. She was in double casts for 2 months, ended up flying back home to India because she could do nothing on her own here. Now THAT is tough.

 

[Kyriakos]

Some bit of good news... I was asked a few hours ago to write a larger work than my usual stories, a small novel. It would be a bit over 60 pages in A4 (so i guess up to 90 or so pages in book form).

Apart from being honored by the publisher specifically asking me to write the work, i am happy that they asked for a horror-related story. They are willing to test the public's taste for darker literature, due to the general mood brought by the crisis as well.

Although it is not certain they will end up printing the novel, they have mentioned many times in the past, and now, that they regard my work as being of high level. I am quite optimistic that the novel will get a printed form in a few months, and i will try to make it as best as i can, despite not being very keen on producing this particular scale of work.

I have already started writing the work, and have an idea of its total form. It is a dark story, but at least it begins when most of the darkness has ended.
Up to now, in nearly 2 years, i had 17 published short stories in printed periodicals. However a novel would surely mark the pinnacle of this journey to the mountainous terrain of letters, at least the first pinnacle, from which one can observe what infinities appear further ahead.

 

[Wolfshade]

Congrats, Kyr! Just a word - do it logically based. I watched "Elisium" last week and it was a total bull... you know what. So I wish your book to be great!

 

[timerover51]

Some bit of good news... I was asked a few hours ago to write a larger work than my usual stories, a small novel. It would be a bit over 60 pages in A4 (so i guess up to 90 or so pages in book form).

Congratulations, that length is what would be called a "novella" in the US. So, we have a developing H. P. Lovecraft on the forum.

 

[Kyriakos]

Thank you both

 

[Gray Wolf]

I was asked a few hours ago to write a larger work than my usual stories, a small novel.

Congratulations! That is so great. I wish I could write a book. Anyway, if you have time, keep us updated on your dark novel, I'd love to hear more about it.

Maybe we can even turn it into a mod later...

 

[Kyriakos]

Thank you Fishlens

Well, not sure about the mod... The novella won't have a lot of characters, and most of them are creatures (parts of hallucinations of the narrator). So i guess a human, a lamb that commits violent suicide in a recurrent pattern, some nameless kids and adults, and changes of scenery from the border of the city with the sea, to a park filled with trees, to the gothic part of London, and a yet undescribed nameless and narrow corridor between buildings, where one should not have been in the first place

I am currently on the 11nth page, and have to write at least up to 60 pages. But at least i have two more months to do so, and i only started writing this a couple of days before tonight

 

[Gojira54]

a lamb that commits violent suicide in a recurrent pattern

Those exploding sheep units come to mind... If you ever have the chance to watch the New Zealand flick Black Sheep, and you enjoy campy horror, I highly recommend it.

 

[Quintillus]

Congratulations Kyriakos!

 

[Kyriakos]

Thank you

(the lamb is mostly an allusion to the "lamb of god" and innocence)

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I'm pleased for you, K - hope that this is the start of something big for you .

 

[Kyriakos]

Thanks

Some news, since i had sent the first version of the first chapter to the publisher...

The publisher said that my literary style is very much to their liking, but it would be better if i could phrase some of the pages in a simpler way- moreso the first pages of the work.

I am sure they have a point, given that it is highly likely that the readers picking up the book (if it comes to that) would not have read something by me prior to that moment unless they read printed literary magazines.
So i replied that "it would be a shame if such a reader would be faced with a towering wall when first coming into contact with my work".

So yeah, i said that i will try my best to simplify the work, and even moreso the first part, so as to negate this kind of effect on the reader's part- while keeping the same meaning of the lines...

Problem is, though, that the rest of the story, next to its first chapter, is rather more complicated :/ So i don't know what to do in regards to that. I will just finish the story (in around a week) and then think of it again, and contact them.

 

[Quintillus]

I could see it being a case of it really being the introduction that they think would benefit from simplifying. As a reader, if I pick up a 90 page book and don't have a good feel for it 20 pages in, I may be concluding that there's little chance I'll have a feel for it 50 pages in. But if the first 10-15 pages get me interested enough, then even if it does become complicated, I'm more likely to finish it.

But it sounds like you are in a good position if they really like your literary style. Hopefully the readers will, too!

 

[Kyriakos]

I think it was their way of telling me that i should change the story a lot, in the way it is presented...

So i did.

I now wrote 11 pages of the new version, which is quite different, better, while keeping some of the ideas of the first version.

Now each chapter is a day, noted in the diary of the narrator.

Well, at least i am far happier with the current work. I did not really like the older version. The new version is more straightforward in a number of ways, although in reality nothing is what it seems to be.

In general it is supposed to be the diary of someone who arrives in London, and is very happy to leave Thessalonike due to the ongoing crisis. He was summoned for a job at an apartment-renting office, as a clerk.

However, things are not all well, particularly due to a reccurent dream of a strange wall with flashing lights.

 

[Wolfshade]

One note on the literature, probably will be useful for you, Kyr. I remembered it after the word "straightforward".
Speaking in general, a lot of modern mainstream authors forget about the artistic element of the literature while pushing on action.
There are 2 extremes for my taste and opinion:
1) James Fenimore Cooper, who expand artistic component a lot - when I was young, I become tired sometimes of reading his descriptions of the Lake Ontario, for example ("The Deerslayer"). Growing older, I understood these parts cannot be omitted - this is art of the words. I can imagine characters and locations pretty well & detailed. This is very cool but it's too difficult for some people to process this amount of info.
2) Daria Dontsova (popular mainstream writer in Russia) - I read 2 books by her. So her regular character description contains 2-3 sentences. So reader can't imagine who the described person is. I don't see any art in her books (although she has big commercial success) - and that's the reason I won't read more.

So, please, balance between these 2 extremes. It's just a note - not even the advice (I have no writing experience and I'm not in the literature business to give advices), just an opinion. Probably helpful. Wishing you success!

 

[Kyriakos]

Thanks

There aren't really many characters to speak of (as in all my other works too). Apart from the narrator the main points of interest are on inanimate objects, and the forms in the reccuring dream. There are some other people around, as in one walk to the park, or those making their way through the thin English persistent rain and are observed from his window, but they do not amount to any main character.
The first chapter has some time given to other characters (more notably his employer), but the second chapter barely makes a mention to him. The story is built around waiting for Monday to arrive, so that he can go to the work he was asked to do, in the office. It still is Sunday (3rd day and chapter).

Personally i am happy with how the story is developing, although i don't see it expanding much further than 50 pages at the most :/ Still at least i like it, so even if they cannot publish it, i will keep it and send it elsewhere. Maybe i can convince them to publish it along with a smaller story too, and still name the book from the main story.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, the final- and most critical- step has just been made, i sent the new (completed) small novella to the Publishing house.
I am somewhat optimistic that they will accept to turn it into one of their books.
I think it is a good story, and well-written. I am happy with it.

Wish me good luck

 

[Takhisis]

Excellent. *brings fingertips together and grins widely*

 

[Wolfshade]

Wishing! Please, keep us up to date with your news!