Plan for September

They say time flies by when you're having fun.  It also flies by when you're so engrossed in classes and learning a foreign language that you forget what day it is.  That being the case, it's September already and I'm not entirely sure where the last month went.  Labor Day is out of the way and except for a moving expedition from Corvallis to Portland (to be repeated in less than a month), I have nothing to interrupt me from blogging and writing.  So, that being the case, here's what I've got on the agenda in the next few weeks.

First, I need to complete my latest short story (perhaps novella, since no one can satisfactorily explain the difference).  The first act is almost done, but the second act is often the most difficult.  With my characters sufficiently established so that I can really start messing with them, the story can get rolling.  Tentatively titled "A Darkness Deeper Than Night" (melodrama, anyone?) it should comprise roughly 25,000 words.  With ~7,000 words already written, that leaves a lot to do.  But not insurmountable, and assuming that I get 5,000 a day, you can expect a rough draft pretty soon. 

As far as the novel goes (the working title of which is "Superhero Novel") I have less to report.  Much of the background has been filled in, and I have a working plot.  While I cannot claim that it's like nothing you've seen before, it's unlike anything I've seen before, so I suppose that means something.  The biggest challenge so far has been the problem of manipulating real history for the purposes of writing a story.  That's not a big deal to most people, but historic verisimilitude is something I strive for.  I've cleared up one sticking point by reminding myself that history at the point at which the story takes place has already been altered.  In fact, by the point we're introduced to the story, I've already established that the world has taken a half-step to the left.  Alpha readers should see a prologue in the forthcoming weeks.

Otherwise, I've got two new novels to review: Alif the Unseen, and Osama.  Both are quasi fantastic-realistic, from what I can tell from the cover flap.  Both are written by (and feature) Middle Easterners.  Edward Said pointed out a long time ago (and others have been pointing out even longer) that we derive our sense of ourselves by contrasting it to an "other."  I'm excited to see our self incorporating a wider voice, as much for its novelty as for what it says about ourselves.

That's the plan.  It's open to revision, of course, but I hope to have something for you all to read soon.  Thanks again for your support.