Love in Dark Settings

My writings: Love in Dark Settings Omnibus (all of my fiction, nonfiction, and fiction recommendations in one HTML e-book) | E-books | Online fiction and nonfiction. Coming this year: Paperbacks.

This blog is intended for people who are permitted to read fiction and nonfiction in the adult section of their public library. Parental supervision is recommended. If you're just here for announcements of my friendship fiction, I also post them at my warfiction blog, for which parental supervision is not required.

How I reply to comments at this blog.

Versions of this blog: Dreamwidth | InsaneJournal | LiveJournal.

My updates e-mail lists, feeds, and social networking profiles.

Reminding himself that he was not to kill anyone in this dungeon . . .

The remainder of "The Unanswered Question" is now online as my 2009 holiday gift story to my readers. With special thanks to my apprentice for doing a rush job on the beta report this week. (Amidst his Christmas preparations, he betaed my 36,000-word novella in three days and did online research for me on Victorian uniforms. He deserves a medal.) You can see the prompts from my readers that inspired the novella and my response to their prompts (both with major spoilers, so they're best read after you've finished the story).

Oh, and Telepwen, notice how neatly I've included the Bacardi.

"Damn, that man is perhaps the most forgiving in all history. He's nearly saintly. Well, except for that little murder episode."

--Catnotdead on a certain character in The Eternal Dungeon.

( Background to my entries )
( Writing and Home: Trying to get back into the groove of my holiday fic; plus, it's a White Advent )
( Writing: Trying out ePub e-books on the EPUBReader add-on for Firefox )
( Home and Writing: TMJ, dry eyes, my Muse, and the side effects of hurt/comfort )
( Writing: Favorite novels in March 1997; plus, story ideas during my teens; plus, where many of my current stories came from )
( Writing: E-book bonus material ideas )
( Simplicity: Brief update on the computer file purge )
( Writing: My holiday story is finished )
( Simplicity: Adjusting my Internet time slightly; plus, a detour into Ptolemaic astronomy and base 60 math )
( Mentoring: An exchange with my apprentice )
( Home: So now I've got back pain. )
( Writing: Second thoughts on Smashwords )

"Just like music, Hollywood's first reaction to [piracy] will be 'Well, that's just not fair. That's jumping the turnstile, that's breaking the rules. We have to shut that down, because if you remove that option [i.e. piracy] then people will be more patient.' You won't remove that option, and you're losing valuable time if you focus on removing that option at the expense of improving that option and bettering that option, beating that option.

"The music people used to say, 'How can you can compete with free?' And now you ask anybody in digital music and they'll tell you, 'I'm just trying to compete effectively with free.' They've embraced the very condition that up until very recently they said they would reject. I'm telling you, you are going to compete with free. Sometimes you're even going to win, once you make the commitment to living in the marketplace as it is and not as you wish it were or as it once was."

--Eric Garland.

( Background to my entries )
( Writing: Terrific e-book self-publishing news from Smashwords )
( Writing: More thoughts on Smashwords )

Meanwhile, if any of you have published through Smashwords, I'd be interested to know whether you've had good experiences with them. Have you had any bad encounters as a result of their adult content policy? Did you have any technical problems in getting your e-books onto their site? How have your sales been?

"I write every day for at least two hours, and I spend the rest of my time largely in the society of ducks."

--Flannery O'Connor.

( Background to my entries )
( Writing: Looking beyond British boarding schools to American boarding schools (Prison City research) )
( Simplicity: Online time this month )
( Writing: Kipling and the wonders of DRM-free ePub e-books; plus, my ideal e-book reader )
( Writing: E-publishing news on the Internet; plus, thoughts on Lulu's latest ventures )
( Simplicity: Post-online time and computer purge )
( Writing: Trying out ePub e-books on FBReader )
( Mentoring and Simplicity: The computer purge and a DVD writer )
( Home: A Thanksgiving Day exchange with my father )
( Writing: A look back at what I was writing in March 2002 )
( Home: Space Epiphany (from a letter I wrote on 1 March 2002) )
( Writing and Mentoring and Simplicity: Word totals for October and November 2009, and how this affects my Internet time )
( Writing and Simplicity: Computer quest; Or, why I need to clean my house )
( Simplicity: The story of how my addiction to the Web began )
( Writing: What my word count reveals. (Drum roll, please.) )
( Simplicity and Writing: Changes to my schedule, as a result of my wordage research )
( Writing: More thoughts on my wordage )

( Reply to lemursexbot - i.e., my apprentice - about critiques of my Prison City manuscript )
( Reply to dharma_slut about the LLF thread )
( Brief reply to yonmei )

"My biggest writing mistake is that I can't leave well enough alone. Even after the manuscript has come back from the various proof-readers I use, inevitably, the urge to pick a scab overrules all logical sensibility."

--C. Anne Gardner. Because, um, yeah.

( Background to my entries )
( Writing: Wordage and my Internet addiction (a look at the past) )
( Writing: My ability to write descriptions )
( Simplicity: And the computer file purge continues )
( Writing: More schoolboy fiction )
( Writing: The advantages of being blind, word-count-wise )
( Writing: Switching over to editing The Three Lands; plus, W. Somerset Maugham )
( Home: Fall leaves and gardening )
( Writing: Switching over to writing The Eternal Dungeon; plus, The Beta Reader Problem )

"Look, I do know this: stories matter.

"Sometimes they come to me in the middle of the night, I wake up and I know there was once a person with a name, a history, a life -- and sometimes they died a hundred years ago and sometimes they haven't been born yet, but they're so real, they're right there, like I can touch them. I write them, when I can, and grieve them often, in ways I've learned to be smart enough not to talk about.

"At times that bothers me, the silence I feel obligated to that comes with storytelling. It bothers me when I write, which is one manner of inhabiting a character, and it bothers me when I act, which is another. But I've learned to live with it because stories, and the people they are about, are, in the telling, more important than me.

"I'm just a translator, a medium, a canvass and a liar. Their stories matter so much that in the telling of them, all I can wish is to disappear.

"And I love them so much, the people I tell into being.

"Which means that when it comes to the business of awards my gut says, honor them. Not me. Not writers. Characters. Stories. Honor them."

--RM

( Background to my entries )
( Writing: Man, oh, man, I'm offline for a month, and the entire e-publishing world changes )
( Simplicity and Writing: My time online; plus, the Prison City stuff I found )
( Writing: For your amusement, the Nautical Telegraph Code )
( Writing: The Lambda Literary Awards discussions in the blogosphere )
( Simplicity: Getting back on track )
( Writing: Squee! My name was mentioned at Yule Treasure! )
( Home: What happens in today's society when you aren't geek central )
( REVIEW: Recommendation of Rudyard Kipling's 'Stalky & Co.' )
( Writing: Monthly totals )
( Writing: My Muse moveth )
( Writing: My Muse really moveth; plus, Rosemary Sutcliff and P. G. Wodehouse )
( Writing: My Muse slows down a bit; plus, turn-of-the-century romantic friendship fiction )
( Writing: Triumph! The Turn-of-the-Century Toughs world is now the Mid-Atlantic )
( Home: Reasons why I often feel I'm a conservative )
( Writing: Not-quite-good-enough writing )
( Writing: My unfocussed Muse )
( Writing and Mentoring: I've decided to make my winter schedule my year-round schedule )

"In the midst of winter, I finally realized that deep within me there lay an invincible summer."

--Albert Camus.

I'm posting separately this entry some medical problems I've been having recently. (Don't worry, they aren't life-threatening, just painful and annoying.) I figure that people who are interested in reading my Daily Life entries may not want to wade through tons of medical stuff, and vice versa.

( Background to my entries )
( My doctor and my wallet )
( Well, whadya know. I have a stress-related illness. )
( Pillows. )
( Tiny food. )
( Less talking, more progress )
( Sleeping and posture )
( Desk posture )
( Now my glasses have decided to misbehave (but wow, once they behave, life'll be great) )
( Yet another bodily complaint )

I pressed my Muse hard and persuaded him to finish writing Law Links (The Three Lands) today, November 8. I began writing that novel fourteen years ago, almost to the day: November 15, 1995.

By coincidence, this year happens to be the thirtieth anniversary of the original draft of the first Three Lands story I wrote, Blood Vow. In honor of that, I thought I'd show three versions each of two scenes from the novel, so that you can see how my writing has ceased being absolutely dreadful progressed.


( The first appearance of the Chara in 'Blood Vow,' just after my 16th birthday. Spoilers for Part One of 'Blood Vow.' Warning for bad teenage humor. )
( The same scene re-written one year later )
( The final version of that scene, age 45 )
( The first appearance of Lord Carle, in a passing reference, as part of a flashback )
( The second appearance of Lord Carle. Warning for a horrible simile. )
( The final version of that scene, age 45 )
( Journal entries about 'Blood Vow,' 1979-1995, with major spoilers )

Exciting discussions! I'm happy to see that you guys have been busy in my absence.

( Reply to yonmei about LGBT writers and self-identification of orientations )
( Reply to mightymaeave, dharma_slut, and Rose Red about the GLBT literature thread )
( Reply to maevele about the Lambda Literary Awards )

"The trouble is. . . that too many historical writers have been more in love with history than with writing. They are so fascinated by their discoveries (how well I know the danger!) that they are tempted to put them all in. So, as their knowledge increases, the story gets bogged down in detail. They describe and explain where they should be content to indicate. There is a good deal to be said for writing historical fiction in the depths of the Indian jungle. . . . But the more courageous way is to face your reference-books squarely across the table, and convinced yourself that you, not they, are going to write the story."

--Geoffrey Trease: Tales Out of School.

( Background to my entries )
( Home and Writing: Wellness clinic; plus, steaming ahead with Prison City )
( Writing: Slow progress with Prison City )
( Writing: Inspiration and perspiration, or How I write stories )
( REVIEW: Recommendation of Evangeline Walton's 'The Cross and the Sword' )
( Writing: Status report on how my stories are going )
( Writing: My Muse continues to stutter out scenes )
( Simplicity: Gearing up to go online )

"When I was writing Trumpets in the West in the middle of India, with scarcely any reference-books, I discovered just in time that the stage-coaches in 1686 carried no outside passengers. It meant rewriting a complete chapter. Probably no child would ever have noticed the mistake, and perhaps no History teacher would have minded. . . . Similarly a whole chapter of Thunder of Valmy had to be rewritten when I discovered by chance that a certain morning at Versailles in May, 1789, had been grey and drizzly, not sunny as I had first pictured it. What does it matter, a pedantic detail like that? Just as much, or as little, as the workmanship which old-time sculptors and carvers put into figures so far from the ground that no human eye would ever appreciate it."

--Geoffrey Trease: Tales Out of School.

( Background to my entries )
( Mentoring: An exchange between my apprentice and me )
( Writing: #1 reason to love the U.S. government (Prison City research) )
( Writing: #1 sign that it's time to stop gathering research material )
( Writing and Simplicity: Starting into my writing season )
( Simplicity: Purging my hard drive )
( Writing: Slugging away at the Prison City lighthouse research )
( The play 'Fishing Gone' (Prison City Research) )
( Writing: Rugby, watermen's dialect, and steamboats (Prison City research) )
( Writing: Playing around with EPUB e-books )
( Writing: Preparing my domain for next year; plus, novel-reading related to Prison City )
( Writing: Speaking of demoralizing . . . )
( Writing: 1910s watermen's dialect (Prison City research) )
( Simplicity: Freeing up space on my computer )
( Simplicity: Freeing up space on my computer, Part 2 )
( Writing: Turning over the slate )
( Writing: My Muse moveth )

An update for those of you who don't read my regular Daily Life entries: I've settled that the Calvert Cliffs cove near Cove Point in Calvert County is a suitable home for my protagonist. I've written the Hoopers Island watermen chapter. I've rewritten the Solomons Island chapter. I still have to write the lighthouse chapter and the Calvert Cliffs chapters.

But meanwhile (or rather, before I wrote the Hoopers Island chapter), I went off to Dorchester County again, this time with spiralred.

( Chesapeake Marshlands National Wildlife Refuge Complex (at Bishops Head Point) )
( Hoopers Island )

Thanks to Spiralred and her willingness to tramp through uncharted marshland, this trip gave me the material I needed to write the Hoopers Island watermen chapter - not to mention a new scene featuring a marshland pond - though I'm still struggling with nature terminology. I'd really like to get someone from Hoopers Island to look over the manuscript - though how the heck I'd find that someone, I don't know. Maybe I can stand in the island store again, holding my manuscript and looking like a pathetic tourist till someone takes pity on me.

I'm entering into my usual fall/winter hermitage in order to write write write fiction. (Wish me luck. Last year's hermitage wasn't much of a hermitage.) With luck, I'll come online about once a month - or less - to pick up e-mail, do needed research, and post Daily Life and Progress Report entries. If you need to get ahold of me over the fall and winter about a time-sensitive matter, please CC your e-mail to my personal assistant (i.e. my apprentice).

Also, if my Muse is cooperative (*pauses to glare at exceedingly uncooperative Muse, who smiles cheerfully back*), I'll be coming online some time in late December to post my holiday gift fic. I can't say at this point which December holiday I'll be posting it on. Hey, I need to leave an element of surprise in the gift-giving.

Finally, a round-up of "thank yous" and "you're welcomes" for the recent posts from MightyMaeve, Lizardlez, and Thetammyjo; a big thank you to Rose Red for continuing the book-buying struggle; and a "sorry" to Yonmei for breaking off in the middle of our discussion - but keep posting, please!

That goes for the rest of you too. Post any replies to my old posts that you want, and I'll get back to you in one of my "reply to comments" round-ups.

I need two maps made: the Eternal Dungeon (based on my sketch) and the Turn-of-the-Century Toughs world (based on a map of Maryland and a bit of the surrounding states, as described by my notes). Does anyone here have the skills to do that?

If you're interested, please drop me an e-mail. Please note that I'll be online infrequently after today, but I'll get back to you eventually.

( Fourth Priority Resolutions: Disorganized Things That I'm Not Tripping Over )
( New resolutions that don't fall into the above categories )

Looking at the four parts of this list, my feeling (other than a hysterical desire to scream, "Just burn it all down! Get it out of my life!") is that 90% of my recent problems with mental and physical clutter have arisen because of the Internet: excessive Internet usage has prevented me from having time to put the rest of my life in order. Now that I'm making some progress on the Internet front, perhaps I'll be able to accomplish more next year in digging myself out of the quagmire I'm currently trapped in.

As it is, I'm reasonably pleased with how this year went. I made progress in tackling some very serious problems, and I found that it wasn't as hard as I thought to get rid of belongings, which caused me to decide to get rid of more items than I'd originally planned. Most importantly, I achieved my #1 goal, which was to get my Internet usage under control - a goal that, for over a decade, I'd been struggling tooth-and-nail to achieve.

That I succeeded is mainly due to my determination to find a solution to that particular problem within a year of my mother's death; I wanted that to be my gift to her, because she hated how the Internet took me away from my family and friends. It's no coincidence that I finally achieved my solution on the very week of the anniversary of her death. Thank you, Mother.

. . . in response to their appalling clarification of their change in rules.

( The letter )

I'm planning to publish three new Three Lands novels next year. The question I've been facing is whether I should post them online as well.

I know that most of you are here because of my gay fiction, but a lot of the same types of characters, plotlines, and themes show up in my friendship fiction. (Seriously. Why do you think the main plotline of Michael's House is friendship fiction? Why do you think The Eternal Dungeon and Life Prison are half gay fiction, half friendship fiction?) So would anyone here be interested in a Three Lands discussion next year in connection with me serializing the new Three Lands novels?

Calvert County is a peninsula in Southern Maryland, squeezed between the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River. (The lake across the street from my house feeds into the Patuxent River system.) The county is unfortunately fairly gentrified these days, but the inhabitants are proud of their historical ties to the water - hence our trip there.

( Calvert Marine Museum and Drum Point Lighthouse )
( Solomons )
( Our endless quest for my protagonist's home )
( Post-trip research )

So I still don't know for sure where my protagonist's estate is located, but for better or worse, that's my only trip to Southern Maryland this year. Now I just need to read the turn-of-the-century texts on lighthouses that I downloaded last weekend - which I can do throughout the fall - and I'll be all set to finish writing "Master and Servant."

Except that Spiralred has invited me to join her in a visit to Dorchester County next month. Yay!