Saturday morning tease

Click to make bigger. In case you're wondering, that's the new title for the series. And yes, she's been inspiring.

(Posted with the utmost respect to the original model, and the site I (ahem) borrowed it from. I have paid them plenty of money over the years, though.)

Good and bad news

Good news: I finished Issue #7 of Spider-Girl (aka Project SG) today. This morning, in fact. In fact, I arrived at work late because I was finishing it. Lucky for me I'm pretty much my own boss, so no-one batted an eyelid. Or questioned my erection. (Kidding. Just seeing if you're awake.)

Good or bad news, depends on your point of view: As I figured, the storyline that was originally plotted to fit in Issue #7 will now extend into Issue #8. (If you're wondering, I try and keep each issue at between 7,000 and 9,000 words, or so. The first two issues were shorter than this, but then I was finding my voice, characters, etc etc. Hence me going back to re-edit and expand.) Anyway - yay, more new stuff in Issue #8, but boo, that means....

Bad news: It'll be a while longer before I release Issue #3 and beyond, because I still want to finish this particular arc before I release anything new. Why? Because I said so. And also because when I've finished this arc, I have a strong feeling I will need to re-plot the next arc (which isn't, frankly, sexed up (!) enough) before I get to the fifth arc that I have planned, which in my opinion, is an absolute doozy. I really don't think you'll expect what's going to happen in it. At all.

(Shit, I'm starting to sound like Mark Millar. Must stop that. Sorry, in-joke for comics nerds.)

So just to balance this all out, let's finish with some...

Good news: I'll definitely work on editing/expanding the first two issues this weekend, and then will release them on maskingwriter. (Anyone else got alternative release venues they'd like to see? Let me know in comments.) So that should hopefully whet your appetite for the new stuff.

Gotta run. Vote in the poll if you haven't already. And remind me to talk about arcs.

Well, hello there!

I'm kind of surprised - pleasantly, mind you - that my poll, and re-release of Beneath the Veil, was what caused a few of you to pop up in comments. So hello! How are you! Good to hear from you, don't go anywhere. We writers crave contact. It's so lonely here, just me and the keyboard... I'll just go weep in a corner.

Ahem. So just in case you're wondering I'll generally continue conversations that start in comments under those comments, so feel free to read there too. However, I wanted to address one from Anonymous (Hey Anonymous! Boy, you're ubiquitous!) which mentioned the ending to Beneath the Veil:

... I did feel that the final gift that the protagonist recieves from his organization did feel a touch forced.

Boy, have I heard that before. (You realise of course that writers (and artists generally) pretty much never, ever forget criticism? Imagine what Uwe Boll's life must be like.) I heard that complaint back when I first released BTV - in fact I seem to recall the great and powerful Kerry made similar comments.

Anyway, I did reply to that comment already, and said that when I look back on it, I don't know what I was thinking... but conversations with Andi over email made me think more on it. Truth is, I tend to look for 'easy outs' on the technical trickery behind mask making in stories. I don't necessarily want to tell you the 'why' and 'how' of a disguise; I want to get on with talking about what you can do with that disguise. So when I wrote BTV, I think I was looking for one easy, catch-all solution of 'how' the Veil was able to get all those cool masks. However, as the rest of the story was relatively 'down to earth' I think people reacted badly to the overly sci-fi feel of the 'final revelations'.

(By the way, you should count yourself lucky I never wrote a sequel. If I ever went into the backstory of The Veil as an organisation, my explanation for the mask masking tech was going to be that it was sent back to them through time from an advanced society of... errm... people who like to wear masks. God, I feel cheesy even writing that.)

Since then, I learnt (partially because of reader feedback) that the process of 'how' a mask is made can often be as much fun to read about as the usual maskings, unmaskings, etc. I'll tell you this though... it can be hellish to write. So to all of you out there who sometimes struggle with the idea of 'how' a mask can be made? Just remember, it can always happen offscreen (or between the lines, if you prefer).

What else was I going to say? Oh yeah - thanks a lot for voting on the poll, folks. Shows me that at least there's more than one or two of you out there. And that a lot of you are 'old school' - rock on! Boy, I'm sorry if you've been following me all this time waiting for a sequel to BTV. See above as to why that might not be such a great idea.

Keep voting, and in the meantime, I'll keep writing. Just not enough hours in the day right now.

A re-release, and a poll

Don't get too excited. Yet.

I told you I'd be releasing some of my older stuff first, so here we go with the old school massive; I just uploaded all three parts of Beneath the Veil to the Maskingwriter Yahoo! group.*

Beneath the Veil was the first piece of masking fiction that I released to the world (I think... someone can correct me if they like), and from the looks of the file attributes, it's probably a decade old now (!). I'd written stuff before BTV, but never had the guts to shove it out there. So it still has a special place in my heart. Even better, it's actually complete and self-contained.

I know a lot of you will have read it already, but if you haven't, here's your chance. Even if you have perhaps you'll re-read it and get a tingly glow of nostalgia, if you know what I mean...!

Anyway, whether you read it now for the first time or can remember downloading it over some sort of dial-up connection back before the Y2K bug was big news, I'd also appreciate you telling me when you first read Beneath the Veil in my new poll (over on the right on the main page).

I plan to use that spot for more interesting questions before too long, but for now it's helpful for me to get an idea whether my current potential audience is entirely made up of 'old school readers' or 'newbies'. As I know you won't come right out and tell me that (even though, you know, the comments thing is right under this post and it accepts anonymous folk...) instead, here's a totally anonymous polling mechanism that won't track an iota of info about you to use instead. You're very welcome.

Next up will probably be the re-release of the first two issues of Spider-Girl, to get you in the mood for the new stuff. I'd put them up now... but I want to edit them slightly, and who knows, maybe even add a few things. So they'll be reworked (a bit) not just re-released. When? Soon.

* In case you're wondering, I have no particular affinity for Yahoo - and I know that if you're not a member it can be a pain to get to things. Short of buying my own webspace though, it's the easiest thing for me to do now. Besides, if you join you get access to a bunch of other good fiction too.

Four little words

And... I'm spent.

Just literally stopped writing one of the more erotic scenes I've done for Project SG... which started with four little words in my plotline notes:

Masking scene, very erotic...

Oddly enough when I wrote those words I was envisioning something a bit more restrained, a bit more sort of 'repressed longing' than the out-and-out sexiness I just banged out. Weirdly enough it features the same characters and much the same situation as you'll see in Issue #3, and perhaps not that weirdly they did the same damn thing to me tonight as then - they got so fired up that they just went wild, and then I was along for the ride.

One of those bits of writing when you look at the clock, then glance at it again and an hour's gone. When you stand up and bits of you ache. When your hands need to stretch afterwards. That sort of thing.

Still, good writing session. I doubled the length of what I had for Issue #7 tonight, which is good because I felt like it was going in fits and starts. Incidentally, getting this much down just took me over the 50,000 word mark for the series - 51,059 if you're going to be picky about it. A little milestone. Yay me!

Of course, I now realise I'm probably going to an Issue #8 with this storyline, thanks to this unexpected (but entirely welcome) diversion. That was scene three of about eight or nine, so I guess I'll be extending things, and I'm sorry, but yeah that means it'll be a little longer than I originally hoped before I'll be releasing anything. New.

Just goes to show you where four little words can end up taking you.

Not... quite... feeling it.

Grrrrr.

Originally, I thought I might end up calling this post "Games do not help you write" which is something I know about intimately. However, instead of stating the bloody obvious (Substitute any other activity instead of 'games' - doing anything except writing doesn't help you write...) I'll give you an insight into recent writing.

I'm pressing on with Issue #7 of Spider-Girl (aka Project SG) and it's going... okay, although as the subject suggests it's not going great. I'm a couple of thousand words in, which isn't as fast as I'd like, but then games have been distracting me recently. Worse though, I have that feeling as I type away that it's not quite as a good as I want it to be.

Partially, that's because I'm 'out of my groove' thanks to my extended non-writing foray. It's like exercise - if you don't do it for a few days, getting back into it is a lot harder. I don't think it's the plot; I've managed to rework things after my previous tweaking so that there's a lot more kinky moments in this one than were originally planned. It might just be character fatigue; getting bored of writing the same folk over again. I think it's more likely to be all of the above, but not being in the groove of it - not hitting my stride - is my biggest annoyance.

What's more annoying, though, is that I know the cure. It's writing. I just need to sit and keep going and going until I'm through that feeling and I'm into it again. What's annoying me about that, though (apart from the fact that I know what the cure is, I'm just not doing it right now) is that I've got too much other stuff going on today for me to be able to just sit down and write.

And writing this just makes me realise I should salvage every moment I do have. So, catch you later.

"Shut up and release something, dammit!"

I'm sorta surprised no-one has said this as of yet, but then I'm also not surprised in the slightest. Remember folks, Internet anonymity isn't just for message board trolls and n00b flamerz in the latest FPS - it's for us deviant (but generally totally well adjusted and actually quite nice really) types too!

Anyway, in answer to the question that I know you're asking of me (silently)... I will be releasing some actual genuine fiction at some point in the near-ish future. I know you're grinding your teeth as you endure another blog post from me postulating on the writing process or whatever; I understand. You need to release that tension. Hint. Hint.

It'll happen soon. What'll come first will be a re-posting of some old stuff (some very old stuff, just to educate some of these young whippersnappers about who I am... dangnammit), then the original issues of Spider-Girl, and then some of the new issues. Not all; I want to keep ahead of myself.

And in case you're wondering when 'soon' is - well, it depends. I want to finish the current story arc I'm on. I'm about to start on issue #7 right now (the one I had so much 'fun' plotting this weekend) and assuming that doesn't stretch into issue #8 (and it might well do) then I'll start releasing new issues (from #3 onwards) when it's done. Can I fit more parentheses into this one paragraph (yes).

One thing that'll make all of you die-hard fans (cough) happy though. First two Spider-Girl issues, in total, currently stand at 12,205 words. Next four issues currently stand at 32,612 words.

50,000 here I come....

Writing is easy; plotting is hard

When I know where I'm going with a story, I find it relatively easy to write all the way through to the destination. It's figuring out the route - in other words, plotting the story - that's difficult. Been having some problems with that this weekend.

I finished another chunk of Project SG a few days ago, and while I was fairly pleased that I'd managed to tweak it from my original outline to include an erotic scene*, as a result it left me just ever-so-slightly off course from the original plotline. And you know how lost you can get when you meant to take that left turn at Alberquerque.

While I knew where I was supposed to go with the story next, something bothered me about that direction - and it stopped me writing. Unfortunately I couldn't put my finger on just what was bothering me for most of this weekend, until last night I figured it out: after reviewing the plot outline for the next section of the story, I realised it was just plain lame.

Which meant, I knew, that I was going to have to re-plot a large chunk of what I'd had down for absolutely ages. Which also meant, I knew, hours staring into space trying to come up with plausible - but preferably erotic - ideas.

You see, I have quite high standards for anything I write, and believe it or not that includes fiction that's pretty much solely designed to get you off. I have several criteria I like to fulfil whenever I'm writing:

1. The plot has to make sense. If (in the case of a masking story) it's nonsensical and just a bunch of sex scenes in a row, it's just not going to have that much power and it's going to be boring to write.
2. Character motivations have to be believable. I ask myself the question "Yes, but why are they doing that?" an awful lot. If I can't answer it then I have to keep asking it until I can come up with a good reason. (Sometimes coming up with that good reason takes years. Sometimes it never happens.)
3. The story has to maintain internal plausibility. Most of the time what I write can generously be called 'science fiction' but with a few elements aside, I write as close as I can to the real world. So things have consequences and generally make sense. I ask you to accept one unbelievable thing (or several that are related to each other) but everything else has to make sense in that universe.
   

Doing all these things, while writing a plot that makes sense and having erotic stuff that isn't just spliced into the main narrative like bad movie editing... is actually kinda tough. Poor me.

One thing that I'm constantly reminded of while plotting is that stories that involve deception and disguise are just hard to write. (Why? You're dealing with multiple points of view all the time; you're constantly referring to people in different ways; you always have to keep the reader in mind, to make sure they're not confused - or that they are confused... I could go on.) In fact I have some things plotted or half-plotted but unwritten yet, like Project TNG, because the plot is so complex that I end up tied in knots, trying to figure out how to actually resolve the damn thing. (This is when I call on external opinions, which usually jumpstarts the process.)

Complex plotting was partially what I was dealing with last night, but what I was really looking for as I sat in my 'writing chair' for something like five hours was the magic idea. Which sometimes comes immediately, and sometimes comes after five hours. Eventually it did come ("... I get her to come back and help out! Of course!") but it took a loooong time. Hence my thoughts about how plotting is hard... writing is easy.

So writers, the lessons from today, in summary, and using some more bullets...

• Plotting any story is hard
• Plotting an erotic story (where the eroticism comes out of the situations and characters) is harder
  
• Plotting a masking story is harder than plotting a 'normal' story...
  
• Ergo, plotting an erotic masking story is the hardest bloody thing of all!

So good luck. I look forward to reading what you come up with.

* Erotic, of course, in terms of our specific, masking fetish. I don't let you down.

The secret origin of Spider-Girl (part... er, 0)

After I wrote my last post delving into the origins of my current, most active writing project (which would be the continuing adventures of Spider-Girl, or Project SG) I realised that if I was going to talk about Spider-Girl's origins, then I had to go a lot deeper than just the first two issues I wrote.

So I thought I'd take a waffly, self-indulgent nostalgia trip and tell you where Spider-Girl originally came from, because brother, I sure didn't invent her. Warning: excessive verbiage ahead.

The Spider-Girl I now (sort of) write about originally debuted in Marvel Comics' What If series* - volume 1, Issue #7 to be precise, which turned up in 1977, when ol' Ghostly Writer would have been four, going on five years old.

In a story called 'What If Someone Else Besides Spider-Man Had Been Bitten By The Radioactive Spider' (always did have catchy titles, those What Ifs...) the issue features three alternate takes on the Spider-Man origin. (Don Glut wrote all three stories, with Rick Hoberg doing an excellent job on pencils.)

In the first, Flash Thompson (perennial bully of Peter Parker) ends up getting bitten instead of Peter, and uses his powers to become Captain Spider - with a variation on the classic Spidey costume that I actually still think kinda works. Unfortunately Flash being Flash, he manages to screw everything up, and ends up lying dead in an alley because he didn't invent webshooters.


The last story in the book saw J Jonah Jameson's astronaut son, John, get bitten, but as he's (a) an astronaut and (b) a Jameson, instead of turning into your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, he becomes (ahem) Spider-Jameson, the super-astronaut, complete with jetpack. Unfortunately John being John, he manages to... er... run out of fuel while trying to guide an out-of-control space capsule to Earth, and gets crushed on impact. (Weirdly, Spider-Man managed to solve this problem in Amazing Spider-Man #1 with nothing except his webbing. Oh yeah, and Peter's brains.)


But of course it was the meat in this idiocy sandwich - story no. 2 - which caught my young eye. And I was young when I first read this story. It was reprinted in a British black-and-white Spider-Man Christmas special, possibly that same year, and it burned onto my brain... possibly because it was a Spider-Man comic which barely featured Spider-Man, possibly because it blew my mind that such small story elements being changed could lead to such different endings... and possibly... I like to think... because Betty Brant turned me on as Spider-Girl.

I think most of us with a healthy (or utterly deviant - your priest can tell you which) sex drive like to think we had our first sexual stirrings early, even though nature might have restricted us to just thoughts, and not being able to do anything about it. I can tell you that even at five years old, I remember having strange feelings about Spider-Girl. Why? I have no idea. I think I already identified with Spider-Man in a deep, weirdly primal way. So to see a girl as prettily drawn as Betty (thank you, Rick Hoberg) parading around in a skimpy Spider-Girl costume... yeah, that did it for me.


However, it wasn't until probably ten or fifteen years later that Spider-Girl really entered my consciousness, and of course by then I could - ahem - do something about it. I returned to my parent's house during one college vacation and discovered an old, faded comic in the depths of my wardrobe; the very same Spider-Man comic, which had survived several house moves and many years of neglect. The pages were falling apart, it was yellowing all over, but the story was still readable... and now had quite an effect on me.

Fast forward a few years, and I started writing down some of my more elaborate fantasies; my love of Mission: Impossible led to writing Beneath the Veil**, and after that was done I looked around for something else major to sink my teeth into. That's when that vision, buried deep in my youth, re-surfaced. A vision of Betty Brant, that pretty little secretary of J Jonah Jameson's, standing in a deserted house, her body barely covered by her Spider-Girl costume, holding an empty Spider-Man style mask in front of her. And that dialogue, about her feeling 'free' and 'non-restricted', only when she was Spider-Girl.

Everything came into focus at once, and I started writing. All thanks to a little black and white British reprint. And about twenty years to think on it.

* Incidentally, if you'd like to read the story today it's in trade paperback form - as part of What If? Classic Vol 2. Buy it on Amazon.co.uk here or from Amazon.com here. Or do what I did, and find it in a comics shop in the back issue bins.

** Do you know what Beneath the Veil is? Seriously, if you've never heard of it, I'd really like to know. (In short, it's the first mask fiction I ever 'published'.) Leave a comment if that's the case.

The secret origin of Spider-Girl (part 1)

Well, I just finished another part of Project SG a couple of minutes ago. The ending got a little sticky there, but I think that was me this morning, not the ending. If that makes sense. You'll be glad to know, it involves masking....

The best moments in writing are really when you reach beyond yourself and tap into the elemental process that makes writing happen. Some people have called it magic, and I actually believe that's close to the truth. It's very personal, but it's also very real... it's what makes writing worthwhile. I got to one of those moments this morning, unexpectedly. Sometimes you have to just keep going even when you think what you're writing is terrible, because sometimes 'it' just happens, and you'll find you're writing better than you thought you could.

Enough of the philosophy though. Another part - or Issue - is done, and I think I'm overdue to talk about this bad boy. Or girl.

As I've said those of you with long memories* may recall I originally released two 'issues' of The New Adventures of Spider-Girl. Issue #2 ended up on a huge cliffhanger which I realised when I was writing, I really had no 'out' for, but like an idiot I wrote it anyway.

I think sometime after that I may have said in some forum or other that I was stuck on where to take the story, and Steve Zink - whose work, and particularly his level of output, I really admire - took the story and ran with it, producing an 'unofficial' Issue #3 which fairly neatly resolved things.

While it was great to see someone do something with my aborted plotline, and fairly flattering as well, Steve's story choices weren't the same as I would have made. That didn't make them any less valid, they just weren't my choices, and I always wondered where I'd have taken the plot next... if only I could write my way out of that cliffhanger.

It literally took me a few years to resolve, but then one day it hit me. With one simple idea linked to an original Spider-Man issue ("Didn't Spidey visit the FF in like, issue #1 of Amazing Spider-Man?") not only did I have the cliffhanger resolved, I had a resolution that gave me a massive springboard for future plots. On a long plane ride somewhere (as I vaguely recall) I started plotting Spider-Girl's future, and before too long I had the cliffhanger resolution and something like 20 issues worth of material, packed full of delicious identity-changing, disguise and masking focused goodness.

I even started writing the fabled (to me) Issue #3 right there on the plane - on a Palm IIIx no less - but then it all fizzled out again. Probably because I landed somewhere.

Which brings us pretty much back up to date. Next time - because a shower, shit and a shave beckons me before work - I'll talk a bit more about how I got stuck in another bloody 'plothole' at the end of my Issue #3, and how I finally got out of that. In the meantime, feel free to read my original two Issues and Steve Zink's 'alternate' Issue #3 right over here.

Enjoy. There's more where that came from.

* Don't blame yourself if you're thinking "I don't even remember and I feel like I've been reading this stuff for ages..." I'm not even sure myself but it looks like Issue #1 and #2 were written sometime in 2000. You know, back when we all lived in the future.

Memo to self

To: Self
Re: Working on plotting while at work
CC: Ego, id

Dear Self

While I'm as excited as you are that you managed to 'zone out' this lunchtime and as a result suddenly had an idea which now seems so obvious, you can't figure out why you didn't think of it before... I also need to caution you about working on plotting documents while at work.

While it's a great idea to get ideas down while they're 'hot', it raises issues, starting with the sense of creeping paranoia we experience whenever anyone comes within ten feet of our screen. Of slightly more concern is the fact that said plotting in this case summoned up mental images that caused sustained and undeniable arousal, preventing you from actually going anywhere or doing anything except sitting at your desk until you'd thought about cricket for a while.

On a final note, writing blog entries about plotting at work, while in fact you're still at work, is arguably not the smartest way to remind yourself of this maxim.

Yours helpfully,

Me

Know your audience, but write for yourself

I just got stuck. Not badly stuck. But sorta stuck. And I got stuck, basically, because I'm trying to write for you and not for me.

Basically the most recent two installments of Project SG (which thanks to Val now stands revealed as Spider-Girl, but I like talking about projects) haven't featured any explicit* masking or disguise related stuff. There's been talk of it, especially in the inner monologue of the main character. There's just not been no actual masking. And in the back of my mind, ever since I finished one bit and went to myself "Well that was fun, just get on to the next bit oh waitaminute I didn't put any masking in... er... whoops" I've been wondering if I should add some masking.

For you. Because I know you love it. In fact, I think it's fair to say, it's probably the partial/main/only reason you read my stuff (delete as appropriate).

So today, partially at a request from a character (They do that sometimes) and partially because I was giving in to my inner voice (Which, in reality, is sort of you, you know) I started to add a masking scene. Well kind of. It's hard to explain. The point is: it changed the plot. So suddenly I was having to replot what I'd had plotted for... well ages, now.

That means I spent the last hour staring into space - well, when I wasn't looking at YouTube for, erm, inspiration - trying to re-plot this part in my head. In the end, I realised that replotting just to get one masking scene (which wouldn't even be explicit*, again) into the story was actually just a waste of my time.

So I'm about to scrap the last bit I wrote, and go back to my original plot. Thank God, because I know where that's going, and ultimately it makes more sense when I think about the characters acting as the characters, and not just as puppets I use to make up erotic stuff.

Just for fun though - and as a bit of a teaser - here's a bit that's about to get lost in the electronic ether forever:

"I'm sorry it took me so long," Peter replied as he hugged her. After a moment, Betty stepped away from him, and picked up her discarded mask. "I guess he... has seen your face then?" Peter said.

"Worse than that," Betty said, pulling her mask back on again and smoothing it over her features. "Somehow... he seems to know who I am."

"What? But how is that possible?"

"I think he works at the Daily Bugle," Spider-Girl said in slightly deeper tones. "He knew about Liz... and very few people knew about her. That coupled with his reaction when he saw my face...." She sighed. "I'm worried he's at the Bugle right now telling JJ everything he knows."

"Perhaps," Peter conceded, "but then JJ doesn't generally entertain criminal types in his office. Well, unless they're white collar criminals...."

"What am I going to do, Peter?" Spider-Girl asked. "We had so many problems with the Chameleon... we can't go through that again. But imagine the damage he could do, the havoc he could cause in my life, knowing who I am! He could come after you, Peter... and JJ... and the rest of my family and friends."

Oh and by the way, for those of you with really long memories...? This is Issue #6 I'm quoting from. Uh-huh. I know. I only released Issue #1 and #2. This is me: SMILEY FACE.

Anyway, lesson learned? Look at the subject of this post: know your audience, but write for yourself. Sorry people, but if this is gonna work... I gotta write for me, as well as for you. Let's just hope we can both end up happy.

* By explicit, I mean actually shown... get your mind out of the gutter. I'm already lying there, so that means it's occupied.

Lightbulb moments

Should I stay or should I go... actually there's no debate over that. I'm due at a friend's girlfriend's birthday in about an hour, so I won't be able to sit and write this evening... despite really, really wanting to. So instead, I thought I'd quickly jot some thoughts in here about lightbulb moments.

One of the 'perils' of being a writer is that an idea can hit you at any time, and sometimes it can feel like the absolute best idea in the world, and one you have to write immediately. Which is a real pain in the ass when you're trying to be good and continue what you're currently working on, because your mind can suddenly start working overtime on the new idea, and the current idea suddenly seems more like a chore to write than a joy. This of course, is just my experience, but I don't think the concept of 'shiny new thing' being more exciting that 'dull old thing' is that out there.

On top of that though, I'd argue it's actually a lot worse if you're writing erotic fiction, because of course then your new idea tends to be something that actually arouses you more than your current muse. So then your urge to explore that idea is even stronger, because hey, it'll get you off. The unique challenges I face to bring you spank material, eh..?

Anyway, regardless of the fact that they can throw you off track and make you veer away from the direction you're heading, these 'lightbulb moments' are totally and utterly precious, and should be cherished. That's why when I get them, I'm very happy.

(I call them lightbulb moments, by the way, because of that cartoon tradition of seeing a lightbulb go on over someone's head to illustrate an idea being formed. It's when the spark of creativity meets the practicality of creation. God, that sounds wanky. But it's basically that "Eureka!" moment, although I doubt Archimedes was having a sex fantasy when he said that. Although he was apparently in a bath, so....)

I've been blessed over the years with a few close 'net friends who I can count on to occasionally provide these moments. Sometimes it just happens gradually, through casual conversation about mutual kinks. Sometimes it's forced to happen, like when I've asked for close examination of a piece of writing I'm working on, to get past a block.

And sometimes it happens spontaneously - like a bolt from the blue - when someone suggests something you'd never thought of:

"You know who I thought would make a perfect comic book masking character? Selina Kyle."

That's how great ideas get started. Thanks, Val, as always.

Oh incidentally? We'll be calling that Project AC. Consider it on a backburner... but still bubbling.

Done! Ding! Gratz!

Another part of Project SG* is done... woo! Largest part yet, which is surprising as I thought it'd be short... I'm just having too much fun.

I think the next part should write like butter too... er, does butter write? You get my meaning. Smooth like butter. Flow like butter. There's butter involved. Well, on my toast.

It's early dammit, and I'm on a writing buzz! More soon.

*What, no guesses yet?

Purring right along

Work on Project SG is proceeding much faster than I expected, which feels fantastic. I blew through over 7,000 words in a day on this past weekend, and I've added another 7,000 since then. To put this in perspective, I literally was stuck on previous chapters for years. So this feels like lightspeed writing by comparison.

Part of the reason is that I'm not just writing erotic scene after erotic scene, and that there's plenty of character stuff... much of which revolves around erotic stuff, and thoughts about sexuality and masking and disguise and deception. But still. It's considerably easier to write. A lot like action scenes, sex scenes can get really tough to do without sounding shit... although unlike action scenes, I usually find I have a very good personal system to determine if a sex scene is working or not. (Now you know, non-writers, why erotic fiction takes so damn long to write. Frequent breaks. I find a wife helps with that....)

Anyway, just wanted to say to the world "Woo-hoo, I'm writing!" and then get back to it. By the way, has anyone guessed what Project SG is yet? I'm willing to guess it'll disappoint a few people, but ah, who cares - I'm having a blast....

Alphabet Projects

So, what the hell am I working on, apart from reducing my gut? A few things.

Because I'm a pretentious git, I'm not going to tell you their titles, but instead will assign each thing a Project name. And a letter. That way we all get confused together. ("Was that Project A, B or C?")

So here's the current lineup....

On the front burners:

Surprisingly, Project SG has come back to life. I didn't think this one was really dead, but considering I'd written myself into a corner not once, but twice on this, I wasn't sure if I'd ever move it forward. In the end I decided that the second corner could actually be seen as just a different take on things, and sprang forward from there. In other words, I let the characters do what the hell they wanted to do, and the results have been fun.

Been working on this one a lot this weekend, so stay tuned and you'll even find out what SG stands for (unless you have an encyclopaedic knowledge of what I've written, in which case you know already).

Project T is also progressing quite well, which is a very old idea that I finally got around to start telling. Not sure what made me progress with it. I can see one potentially huge stumbling block with this, which basically has the main action of the story being kind of boring to describe, believe it or not. So I'm sort-of plotting around that as best I can, but I haven't found the real 'spine' yet. God, I sound like a wanker... which is good, because I am.

On the side burners:

Project SF is half-written, but I'm not in a hurry to finish it because I don't think it'd ever be made. That should let you know it's a script. Anyone want to star?

Project TNG is a new idea, and no it's got nothing to do with Star Trek (Nerd alert!). The genesis for this one was a very simple image - a man revealing himself to be a woman - but from there it quickly became very, complicated. The plotting is already a big ol' document and as I continue to plot it, I get a bit worried I couldn't possibly ever sit down and write it. It doesn't help that the plot is positively labyrinthine, with more twists and turns than is usual, and I have this feeling that it's not one story... it's actually two, told from different perspectives.

Still. I like a challenge.

Project G hasn't really gotten to the point yet where I really want to write it. The idea is original, but it'd involve a fair bit of research and I'm not sure I'm anxious to do it. It has been partially plotted though, so I feel it's only reasonable to include it here.

On the back burners:

Everything else. Well duh. But seriously, this includes everything that's either half-written (step forward, Father Knows Best and Housesitting), abandoned just after birth (NightSpider... pfeh) at the vague idea stage (Project SWM, for example... really must write that one down) or sitting in a folder marked Do not share this with anyone, ever.

And there you have it. A bunch of stuff I may never even finish, but as of today, at least two of them are being worked on, actively. In one case, very actively. Doesn't mean you'll like what I finally finish, of course....

Manifesto density

So, new blog. Yahoo's blog facilities are shite, and frankly I can't see myself saying anything there I wouldn't say somewhere like here. So here I am.

This blog will not be about masking and stuff like that in general. Been there, done that. I don't need to waste any more time than I already waste just looking for masking stuff, and to be honest, I don't even look that hard any more. (For the uninitiated; spend a lot of time on YouTube and Yahoo!).

Instead, this blog will be about writing. How I am still doing it. How I will probably continue to do it. And how I will bore you to death with talking about it. So there.