(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

I've talked about this a little bit on the Extribulum blog (which I really should be linking to more, sorry about that), but I have a writing plan for the new year. It's a very loose plan, but it does have deadlines.

I've been saying since before Trace came out that the next book I published would be The Dead Isle, and to that end I've started rewriting it, which is no mean feat since it's easily the longest book I've ever written and there's a lot of dead air in it that needs to be removed, but sometimes the dead air leads to important moments, so there's a lot of string pulling I'm doing.

My other goal is to "treat" two books this year -- get them outlined or written and prepped for you guys to help me rework them, possibly the end of this year or the start of next. One of those is Valet of Anize, which needs a lot of reworking before I can even do anything new, but that'll be good practice. The other one, I thought, should be something new.

I have a whole file of ideas, but I took the half-dozen I liked best and I've been slowly discarding them as they start to seem implausible, too difficult, or just not as strong as others. I've got it down to three, but I'm struggling really hard to pick a finalist, so I thought I'd get your input as readers. That is, after all, at the heart of the way I write: to speak to a reader.

Tunnel is something I've talked about on the journal before, a magical realism story set in Chicago, focused around the extensive network of underground pedestrian, mail, and prohibition tunnels that honeycomb downtown and the north side of Chicago. I love the concept of Tunnel, and I have a vague plot, but I'm having trouble actually writing it, so I'm struggling with that. Also the plot seems a bit like Neverwhere, and I'd hate to be unoriginal.

American Jackal has come out of my fascination with Chicago's coyotes; I want to write a story about a group of people who can become coyotes and how they fit into both the human and the coyote population of the city. I'm having trouble even outlining this one, and certainly it would need a lot of research (likely into the Native American tribes in and around the area, which is really difficult since there are even fewer records than normal; this would be so much easier in California). But I think once I had my feet under me I could blow this one out of the water.

The third is by far the most difficult, but it's the one that entrances me most. I've written "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories before, on commission for a Chicago art project, and I know how hard they are to structure, but I love the challenge and the idea of writing a Choose Your Own Adventure for adults, which would be a meditation on genre literature, why we make the choices we make, and whether our lives have a pre-destiny. I'm a little scared of this one, too, so it doesn't even have a title yet; it's just headed "Choose Your Own Adventure" in my notes. The biggest downside of this is that it's likely I couldn't Extribulum it; the complexity would make that really difficult, and probably the best I could do would be to run it past some people for grammar and messy prose.

Anyway, those are the stories I'm looking at, and I'd like to know your thoughts.

[Poll #1808980]

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

American Jackal was a very close second, but I've always been fascinated by the whole underground-city tunnel thing. And Vincent might be there!

[minkrose]

Ditto this - I would LOVE to read American Jackal, too, but I have some specific reasons for picking Tunnel, for which I shall make a separate comment.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I ummed and ahhed between Tunnel and Choose Your Own Adventure, but the latter won by a very narrow head, mostly because of the overlaps with Neverwhere. I'm sure you could give it a completely new slant though.

[keeperofqkeys.livejournal.com]

Could you turn "Tunnel" into a Choose Your Own Adventure? Because that would probably be epically amazing.

[off_coloratura]

I had the EXACT SAME THOUGHT.

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

CLEARLY THIS IS THE RIGHT ANSWER

[mycatsellsclues.livejournal.com]

Yes! This!

[vladadog.livejournal.com]

"Sharp Teeth" by Toby Barlow shares a bit of a premise with your "American Jackel" idea (although I am certain I'd like your book better).

[aunty_marion]

Tunnel is top of my list, followed by American Jackal. Could you work on the 'Choose your own ADVENTUR!' (ahem) at the same time? It strikes me that it would be something you could chart (like, on a wall-chart/flip-chart or something - file cards might work too), so you could add things in now and again as you thought of them, rather than having to do it all at one go.

[viverl.livejournal.com]

I want to read American Jackal! Immediately! Please write this story!
I don't know whether this would be a pro or a con for you, but with the Jackal story you would have a good chance at hitting the mainstream market! Would that be a good thing?

Selfpublished or other, I am totally into this :)

[viverl.livejournal.com]

But Sam, as a second thought, why not combine both of your stories? Your Jackals have to be able to leave the city unseen and tunnels would help them! :)

[alicit]

This is exactly what I was thinking. Magical coyotes running in tunnels!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL, they're not that kind of tunnel :D

[nakki.livejournal.com]

I'm always slightly leery about white folk writing about native peoples but I really like your handling of aboriginals in Dead Isle, and I trust you to be thoughtful about it so American Jackal is intruiging. The lack of extribulating with the CYOA is sad but understandably necessary and the awesomness should offset the lack of participation in editting.

But iirc, Tunnel has a dragon so that wins my vote :) but all three novels sound brilliant and I'd read them all anyways.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Why must we choooooooose? D:

[I understand, this is just a paen of injustice]

[sanura.livejournal.com]

As a member of the therian community, I'm rooting extra hard for your inevitably penetrating take on animal humans. American Jackal would be SO INTERESTING.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I almost chose Tunnel, but werecoyotes just seemed a little bit easier to make different than making sure that Tunnel didn't turn into Neverwhere.

But now I'm wondering whether the historic range of coyotes even made it to Chicago, or did they only move in when all the wolves were killed off. ( Or if it even matters, do to the fact that there hasn't been any wolves there for a very, very long time. )

But if you find time, Tunnel would be awesome too. = D

[rua-m.livejournal.com]

My vote goes to the Jackal story, but Tunnel sounds fascinating too. Can I have both please?

[minkrose]

On Neverwhere....

I love Gaiman generally, and usually enjoy his work but I had a lot of problems with Neverwhere and it took me a while to understand why. Here it is: if you're going to put an Everyman character (best example despite the genderfail) into a fantastical world, I prefer that the protagonist "get it" rather than spend the entire story going "what? why is that happening? I am clueless and I don't understand the concept of magic at all even when repeatedly demonstrated to me!"

I prefer Labyrinth (the movie) as a model: Sarah understands the rules of the goblin world and can play by them. She isn't confused, she isn't surprised, and she accepts the world she enters. I can relate to that - and generally, I think most people reading a SF or Fantasy book (or movie) fall into that category. Unfortunately, Neverwhere was a TV show first, and while I think an ignorant, disbelieving Everyman character works great in TV, it does not work as well in a book.

I have some other issues with Neverwhere but they are spoilery. But I would have loved that story so much more if I could have related to the main character's perspective. I suspect you could write that story in a way that I would enjoy more, and I would love to read it. So, it gets my top vote. But damn, American Jackal is a close second!

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

It was a toss-up between Jackal and Tunnel, and homesickness won out: I desire city life. Now if Jackal had city people turning into animals, it might actually tip the scales. The description wasn't clear on if the concept is urban or rural or what.

[bunnymcfoo.livejournal.com]

Considering that he'd be researching the Native tribes around Chicago, I'm assuming that these would be Urban shifters. :D

[contrariety.livejournal.com]

To be honest, these all sound interesting to this lurker, although at first glance I agree that Tunnel sounds most like something that has been done before (which is not to say you couldn't put an interesting new spin on it). So I'm largely writing to ask if you're familiar with Choice of Games, a group that supports the creation and publication of, well, choose-your-own adventure games for adults. They have a simple scripting language for putting together a digital book, and they know how to get them published through the IPhone/Android app markets and the Kindle market. My understanding (the people who run it are friends of mine) is that they're making pretty decent returns on these things - not "quit your day job" money, but "gee, that's an awfully nice supplement to my income" money. Anyway, website here, if that's of interest:

http://www.choiceofgames.com/

I've played and enjoyed all of their game-stories, from Choice of the Dragon, which was the first and simplest, through some of the later and more complex ones.

[spiderine.livejournal.com]

Coyote people living in the tunnels, of course.

[kit-maxel.livejournal.com]

Throwing my vote in with the others who've suggested combining Jackal and Tunnel. Even if you write them separately, they could still be set in the same Chicago, and it kind of makes sense that people with extraordinary abilities would make use of a such a convenient get away system when they need to disappear.

[maratree.livejournal.com]

I voted for American Jackal, and I'm excited about the Valet of Anize update.

I also like combining the premises of Tunnel and American Jackal. I bet you could also work in Wildebeest in the story. This would probably turn out to be your longest novel to date.

The Choose Your Own Adventure kinda leaves me cold. I can see it as a challenging writing exercise for you, and the readers get to have 2 or 3 books in one, but I guess I'm someone who when she reads a story, wants to be told the story. Only after the 'official' story is told then I would come up with modifications.

Rats. I think I just jumped into canon and fanfiction.

Not thinking deeply here, but perhaps people who role-play games might have the open mindset of accepting simultaneous story threads as all being the 'true' story. Apparently I live a life of uncompromised linear activity.

When you say it could be a meditation on genre literature and the life choices one makes, are you speaking literally of the choose-your-own-adventure genre and the choices offered therein? I ask because I wondered if the adventure choices would be expressed in various genres, such as fantasy, mystery, science fiction, thriller, et al. So one story told in several ways. Wait a minute, that wouldn't really work because that would be a story with variations, rather than a cause and effect adventure. Might work in a musical piece, though.

Any incoherence here is due to not having gone to bed yet, and it's 9 a.m. now so I'll turn in, but not before giving another shoutout to Valet of Anize. I really like the oh-so-earnest-so-professional-so-mannered Valet. I'm just waiting for the Valet to crack, or at least lose some poise.

Cause I'm evil like that.

But affectionate!

[(Anonymous)]

I would love to hear the American Jackal story! I love the idea.

Just a heads-up, in case you aren't aware: Patricia Briggs has a series with a half-Native coyote shape-changer protagonist, though she is the lone coyote who was raised by werewolves and derives her angst from that.

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

I've put Tunnel as the one I'd most like to see, but it really sounds as though Choose Your Own Adventure is the one you most need to write.

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

Oh, while I remember, I am very excited about Valet of Anize. I love the premise so very much.

[bluejeans07.livejournal.com]

American Jackal intrigues me because it reminds me of Pom Poko in a way, particularly the ending where the tanuki transform and live among people AS people. It always made me wonder what their lives were like after the movie ended. XD

[alibi-factory.livejournal.com]

The tunnel idea is great, but it's a setting, not a story.

(am now tempted to unearth the class project I did on Philly's tunnel system. Maps! Magical realism pigeons! I loved making that thing.)

[mycatsellsclues.livejournal.com]

I had to go with wildebeest. Because the first was my choice til I read the second, then it was first until I read the third. But truly, I think they could combine in a pretty fantastic way.

[abraxas-life.livejournal.com]

American Jackal sounds frankly awesome, but the labyrinthian aspect of Tunnel appeals to the part of me that just enjoys getting lost, and it's a surprisingly large part.

[utopia83.livejournal.com]

Drive by icon love!!

[tenebris.livejournal.com]

I'm (naturally) a big fan of the coyote idea; most urban fantasy stories with therianthropes take them out of the city, or show the difficulty of being in the city and around people, and it'd be awesome to see your take on what happens when you get the adaptability of people mixed in with the adaptability of coyotes. Tunnel sounds cool, but as someone pointed out, it seems like a setting more than a story itself. (Unless the rocks are talkin' again...)

Though I do have to point out that while California tribes might seem easier, it is also one of the most diverse groupings of tribes in the US, and due to this *good* documentation can be kind of thin on the ground. On the other hand, if I remember right, Chicago is home to the largest urban American Indian population in the US, and the language and culture groups of the area weren't so diverse and, in many cases, have surviving populations or related populations in WI, MN and MI, if not OK.

[chewipaka.livejournal.com]

I am super excited about Valet of Anize. I loved reading that story, and got sad when it stopped updating.

[kallaneboi.livejournal.com]

My initial choice was for Tunnels, but I voted for American Jackal because it seems to be the most interesting to me. It could be tricky to treat the Native American aspect of it with the respect that it should be given, but I think that between your already having recognized this fact and the Extribuli process there will be enough people who are knowledgable and invested enough in it to be sure that it's treated right.

I can't wait to see what you write. I've been excited for Dead Isle since you announced you were going to redo it, and I'm happy Valet is going to get some attention as well.

(I apologize for any typing errors. Small touchscreen keyboard is small, and the new lj commenting layout makes my phone lag horribly when I'm typing.)

[ashprophet.livejournal.com]

Doesn't seem to have a prayer of winning, but I'm DYING to hear about the process of writing Choose your own Adventure. I'm entranced by it myself just hearing you talk about it.

[small-rodent.livejournal.com]

So I know that you're a writer, not a programmer, but have you considered building the Choose Your Own Adventur novel into a website somehow? Make the "go to page X" bits into links?

In fact, I bet you could just turn it into an lj community and make each section into its own page. You would need to be super organized about it, but if anyone can do that, I think it would be you :)

[immelmanturn.livejournal.com]

Chicago? Magical realism? SOLD. Stuff anything chock full of city-mythos and I'm there.

[ayaya-bunny.livejournal.com]

Please choose American Jackal! It just screams "Sam Starbuck" to me. People who can change their forms, the idea of transformation and trying to find their place in society, it's similar theme-wise to Nameless. The whole, "the masks that people wear" thing, you know? If I'm going to read a novel with those themes, I want to read one you've written, since you're just so very good at it. It's awesome to have a certain genre or theme that make people automatically think, "That's very Sam Starbuck-esque, isn't it?"

Also YAY for Valet of Anize. Very excited to see this one coming back.

[sumofparts.livejournal.com]

I picked the "Choose Your Own Adventure" because I wasn't feeling the other two as much. For Tunnel, maybe because I'd really like to visit Chicago, I'd prefer a non-fiction take.

Re Choose Your Own Adventure:
I came across this during Yuletide though I haven't actually checked it out.

Writer's notes on fic:
http://flourish.dreamwidth.org/528267.html

Fic post (with link to actual fic):
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2011/works/295948

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Wait, nobody suggested writing a choose your own adventure about a pack of werecoyotes chasing a wildebeest through the tunnels?

[utopia83.livejournal.com]

I second this.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

American Jackel's human/canine characters might too easily be similar to Lucas-- a bigger risk than Tunnel sounding like Neverwhere.

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

I vote for jackals in the tunnel!