Moving

Just to let all of my loyal readers know that my primary site is now at www.overlordmpress.com

See you on the other side (site)!

Melange and Morsels are Available !

Melange and Morsels are now currently available via Amazon, for Kindle. I'll be making them available through other channels soon. Check out www.overlordmpress.com for details!

Taking Longer Than Expected

So, if anyone out there is still reading the blog (I hear crickets...)

Ok, one of you. Thanks for standing by.

I planned to have the writing out a few months ago, but Limbo persists. Sometimes, its a fun (and/or sadistic) dance that leaves your joints cracking for all the world to hear. At least then you get a laugh out of the ordeal. Some situations give us a Limbo that is essentially clamping down on all available choices...

For example: signing a year-long lease in a new geographical when you're not sure how long your job is going to keep you there. Staying with family is only friendly for so long, but luckily the conflict is only minor. Thank God it's nothing like what I've written for my characters! I would not want to be them or have their families. But signing a lease for a year only to find out I'm getting transferred again would be financial suicide. So... I'm stuck in Limbo.

And I bring up the lack of Internet again because that lack of permanent digs is really what is creating the holdup for the Internet, which in turn holds up the rest of my livelihood. Believe it or not, I'm actually laughing now, because I find myself thinking that a few years ago I would have gone completely nuts without it, I was so addicted to those online games (when you're neglected, lonely and depressed, you can pick up a quick group of "friends" to play with for a little while, who "need" you (need a tank, a dps or healer) and you feel included. Now I use it as an excuse to hit the sewing machine, or the workbench, or the treadmill.  Funny how that works.

So: I have a few things I am planning to publish for peanuts. One is a collection of micro fiction (Melange), the second is a collection of flash fiction (Morsels) and the third is a fantasy novella that I had been brooding on how to write for several years called The Falconer and the Wolf. Okay, eight years actually, since the last time I went to the Ren Faire and watched the falconry exhibition and was inspired to write something about them.  I didn't know what at the time, except that it would be about a wolf who fell in love with the falconer (heavy Kij Johnson/Neil Gaiman references here in my brain). I didnt think I has enough meat to make the story interesting or different. So I sat on it, until the ideas popped into my head through some random connections and voila! The story was born. I'll let you know when it's available. 

I'm hoping very very very very soon.

Life is Strange...

... When you have little access to the Internet.  One doesn't realize how much of their livelihood depends on it, especially when that new aspect of livelihood is rooted in reaching people through the way they find most comfortable.  A lot can --and has-- happened since my last post.  Settling into a new job, spending more time with my family, friends from my hometown all consume the bulk of experiences, and its been wonderful.

 I've also been into MMA in general and UFC in particular. There's a lesson here, watching these guys pummel the crap out of each other then shake hands or hug and congratulate one another:

It's nothing personal.  When life throws crap at you and it knocks you down, you can learn from the experience and move on.  The fighters that turn into jerks and hold grudges don't survive long.  The guys with the better attitudes do. Thank them for each punch and kick then move on to the next fight having learned something valuable.

50 Gallon Bucket of Ideas

Coming up with 50 story ideas isn't so easy, even when the fiction surrounding it is only 55 words long. Some days are just flooded with ideas, and then for a stretch I'm crawling across the wastelands looking for water. Instead of trying to stick to one genre, I just jotted down whatever came to mind. Here's how I battled it out to fill the "50 Gallon Drum":

Randomly picking one of Georges Polti's dramatic situations (check the search engines and you'll find a lot of information on this)

Randomly opening the dictionary (yes, an actual hard copy dictionary. Will be useful in case of an apocalypse, if we can still read)

Randomly opening the yellow pages (yes, we still have a few of those, too)

Pulling books from my shelf and randomly opening them

Let me explain a little more about the last one, in case I give the impression that I am plagiarizing. I am distinctly not using anything about the core of the story or any specific parts thereof.  What happens here is that I open a book, and I'll use one of my Sherlock Holmes mystery collections.

I randomly picked "The Adventure of the Empty House," and I read a line about Holmes checking for anyone following him.

That gives me the idea of someone walking home, with the dread of being followed. Now, I can take it the typical route of horror or drama or I can give it a comic twist. I don't try to play too long with something that doesn't interest me at all, but I try not to go through too many rounds before trying to work am idea up. Then it stops becoming random.

To continue with the last tip, if something I read is interesting but I can't necessarily find a conflict in it, instead of discarding it altogether, I do a second random opening. Same book, but this time I get "The Greek Interpreter" and a line about giggling in a venomous way. I love it, because now I have the idea of someone being stalked through the darkness, followed by a creepy giggler. 

And of course, now comes the barrage of questions, letting me know I've got something intriguing: Why is he giggling? Why is he following this particular person? Where is the 'victim' going? 

Those are only a few of the tools I use and I certainly don't use them for entire novel or novella story arcs, but for individual scenes or the very short fiction I've been writing lately, these work just fine.

Here's to your own bucket filling quickly.

For those ready for my first attempts at self-publishing Melange should be available by the middle of next month, barring any major catastrophes. 

After some thought and experimentation, I discovered this essentially works on Kindle too (I don't have Nook to test it there), but if you open a book and randomly slide the marker ball thingie, you get essentially the same result. Just don't do it to a book you haven't read unless you like spoilers.

Gone but not forgotten

I know its been a while since I posted anything, but life has an annoying habit of getting in the way.  I recently moved to another state and am trying to get life back in order.  Luckily I have such an amazing and supportive family and a great crew of friends too. 

So the writing is back on track and I  hoping to have Morsels out by the end of the month (living with limited Internet access is practically insane nowadays, but it can be a blessing).  I also have a shorter project planned - Melange.  A series of microfiction inspired by the enthusiasm I witnessed during a Google search. 

Melange describes it - science fiction, horror, post-apoc (of course!), modern "lit" fiction. Different moods too - I go for everything from serious and dark to silly.  I will post again here when it's available for Kindle and Nook.

Here's hoping you pick up a copy and enjoy it!

Flash Fiction is not just Fiction Written in a Flash

...as I am discovering.

But what an exercise! Flash fiction truly forces the author to pick the meatiest words and the central punch in order to realize the entire story in the crunch of word counts. I worked on the flash fiction anthology, Morsels, and looking for alternative markets, stumbled across this gem of a contest:

Be Brilliant in 55 Words or Less

So, I entered. I won't post my story, "Mourning Chorus," here.  If you visit the site and read the story, let me know.

It's listed under the name Victoria Burke, not T. R. Neff. And it should be easily recognizable by the image of a "familiar mushroom cloud" (which is a cheesy graphic I did years ago when I was first learning Bryce. Nifty program, by the way, if you are into 3D graphics).
 

Update: As of 18 JUN 2013, the story still has not been published. The folks who vouched for the sites validity are now scrambling with "ahhhhs" and "uuummmmms."

Since the site seems unwilling to publish it, I will.


"Mourning Chorus"

Fallout rains from a sickly morning sky.  Sour winds carry howls of dying victims. I tuck us into a bathroom without windows.  Ignoring my own pain, I wrap my arms around my sons’ shoulders. To stay strong, I sing a hymn. Soon, my boys join in.  Four of us, as a chorus, thwart mortality, unafraid.

Edit: This entry was finally added, but too late to qualify for May's prompt. I still got some reactions, which are greatly appreciated and even more valuable than the cash at this point in my burgeoning career.

Also, my non-apoc story "Rictus" is published there as well. That graphic isn't mine, however. 

A Foray into self-publishing - Morsels

Welcome, or welcome back.

I've been crazy-busy working, taking the writing classes and delving into my writing in a way that surprised even me. I realize I am becoming more and more intrigued with the idea of self-publishing.

And I've almost finished an anthology of flash fiction to throw out there, to see how it does. I plan to put it up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and possibly iBooks (if I can get the file to format correctly. Like I said, I am still learning).

Here's the (potential) cover:

Not terribly professional. Maybe not even evocative. But it was cheap enough (meaning "free") for this experiment.

Wish me luck.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Anyone who bothered to read this site before may notice the change of name.

That's right, it is now 'Neff.'  Or I should say it is once again 'Neff.'

Long story and it all ends the same, so I will spare the details. Needless to say, I now have much more time for my writing, and have delved into it oh-so-deeply. Nothing like a little conflict in your own life to spur on the creative, cathartic juices.

That said, I have a list of projects that I am working on, and am trying to get published by one of the "Big Houses" in order to earn myself a little street-credibility. That said, I am seeing there is a lot of merit in the self-publishing route, through digital channels. Not that silly vanity press bull, but actual sales via Kindle, Nook, iBook, etc. I am playing with the first option, and writing a few little stories to experiment with on Kindle. Yes, these are all in progress. I'm a naughty kid (If you believe in that sort of thing, I am also a Libra. Supposedly we are extremely good at concept, and equally atrocious at completion).

Novels:
Umbra (A Post-Apocalyptic Mystery)
Dross (Eschatology in a Fantasy Setting)
The Opal Necklace (Alternate History/Fantasy)

Short Stories:
The Adventures of Ennid the Havoc (Belly of the Beast, Time After Time, For The Love of a Pearl) (Adventure - of course - Fantasy)
The Falconer and the Wolf (Fantasy Romance)
Clones are People Two (Sci-fi)
The Othermen (Classical Sci-fi)
Into the Water Deep (Adventure Sci-fi)

The mini-project is an anthology of Flash Fiction, to which I will post a link when I have it published.

Oh, yes... I really, really, really want to do a fanfic story for EA's underrated "Undying" title. I even have a (droll) title for it: "Undying Legacy." I don't know how well that would go over with any publishers out there, seeing that I went "playing in someone else's world," but I had most of it written before I read somewhere that it's a no-no and I could be treading on some very special toes. The storyline, after all, was written (or at least made more coherent and relatable) by Clive Barker, of whom I have been a fan as long as I can recall. I would prefer not to insult him.

NaNoWriMo

It's over. I don't know whether to be happy or sad, but I think with any event important enough to someone, there's a mixture of those feelings. Births, weddings, funerals, a month-long series of writing sessions. And if you don't believe me about the 'happy' at a funeral, you've never been to an Irish wake. Or any at all. Occasionally people who don't leave their homes will crawl out of their hole for a funeral and you get to see that person you haven't seen in years. Albeit under unfortunate circumstances. Or maybe fortunate. If you don't think that's true, you've never had a terminally ill relative whom you were happy to see at peace, finally.

But anyway, its over. Now I don't have to look at it for a month. It also means I can start writing that Other Project that started percolating in the back of my head, enticing me with its rippling physique just begging me to leave my current project and come play with me. I guess it's time for a little tryst...

NaNoWriMo

It's that time of year again, for budding novel writers to embark upon a journey where they wave goodbye to their internal editor and set sail for uncharted waters, waiting to be created with the stroke of a pen or a key.

For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo is Chris Baty's creation, National Novel Writing Month (although in reality, they should rename it InNoWriMo for all the international attention coming its way.  NaNoWriMo encourages everyone to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days during the month of November.  There are no losers, and thousands of winners as you challenge yourself (and possibly a few friends along the way) to beat the goal by the deadline.  50,000 may sound like a lot, but 1667 words a day is absolutely doable. Thousands of people each year cross the finish line, and then some. Some do it in 20 days and stop, others just keep going.  A few mainstream novels emerged from the NaNoWriMo phenomenon, with Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen as the first title off the top of my head.

NaNoWriMo a time of encouragement - like I mentioned, there are only winners here, and everyone is encouraged to encourage everyone else.  A few people comment that they cannot produce under that kind of pressure, but from what I understand of the publishing industry, you have less time than you think to churn out a novel you've contracted to write, and NaNoWriMo is as good an exercise as any to practice getting those words on paper in a hurry. First draft novels coming out of NaNoWriMo a lot like clay or a good block of stone. You have to have a mass of material ready for the hands and the tools to work it into shape (take it from an artist who works in the medium. Its kinda hard to chisel thin air).

So anyone who wants to join me and everyone else for the month of November, just visit www.nanowrimo.org and let the creativity fly, soar, sing!

For my NaNoWriMo, I have chosen a fantasy genre story set in a world quite similar to the classical Roman era:

A Filamene slave butts heads with Vindecen Consuls to prove that someone framed her wrongly-executed master for the murder of the Empress.

A Second Chapter for the Undying

Imagine if you will, a place of great evil, a location so drenched with an immortal, demonic being that its horrendous power reached out across the waters and poisoned the hearts and minds of countless monks and an group of mischievous children dabbling with the occult.

Clive Barker's Undying is by no means a new game, entering video game reality in 2001, on Saint Valentine's Day, no less, with a doughty protagonist aiming to help his old World War I friend investigate -and hopefully end- a deep family curse.

While quite a few of gamers out there might argue that the graphics and game engine don't hold up to today's standards, I argue that the story is transcendent as opposed to flashy-but-droll games that sparkle for a little while but whose light does nothing to warm you.  Undying doesn't just warm - it still holds a blowtorch on your soul.

That said, if you are truly interested in the game, plenty of resources exist to explain the first-person-shooter, survival horror, timeless gem that is Undying.

My point here is to create a formal request to revisit this game and give it a sequel.  So many requested a reboot, but some things should remain immune from Do-Over Syndrome (how many movie remakes are there which are horrifying flops compared to the originals?)  We can go the safer route and ask for a second story for Patrick Galloway, his further travels into the realms opened up by the insanity of the Covenant family. What really happened when the men in black robes found him and drug him into their boat? Where did they take him?

Like any fan, a few ideas are swirling about in my noggin on what became of dear old Patrick, and whether or not he remained a pure soul in light of all the atrocities around him.


In general, I oppose fan fiction, if only because too many out there in this world use it to craft ridiculous Mary Sue characters and twist and manipulate the original author's vision until the story is a muck of ridiculousness, banality and porn.  These writers seem compelled to turn their 'favorite' characters into something they are not instead of staying true to what made them love the character in the first place (sadly, this is probably true of their real lives, trying to turn someone they fell in love with into this sludgy, stereotypical highly-sexualized version so they may gratify themselves and are shocked when it doesn't work because that 'other' is actually an 'individual' who has wants and needs of their own, which is why the first party is falling in love with a fantasy and turning it into porn... and the vicious cycle continues...).  Among the muck piles, however, there are a few gems here and there who strive to advance the story(ies) we have all come to love and do so in passably good fashion.

As I am dreaming up a little story of my own to answer some of the questions about the Standing Stones and the fate of Patrick Galloway in order to break my own rule and play around with a little fan-fic in time for Halloween.

Halloween Creeps Near

Autumn ranks as my favorite season for the perfect temperatures (warm days, easy-to-sleep cool nights), the gorgeous re-gowning of the trees in fabulous colors and the fun, family-oriented holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I'm a little more homesick now, since living in a Metro area I miss out on a lot that happens in an more agriculturally-oriented locale like my hometown in Southcentral Pennsylvania.  Farmer's markets abound with the bounty of the harvests, and the products that rely on those bounties - apple cider, pumpkin pie, candied yams. Thinking about all of this is making my mouth water and I am going to have to get home as soon as possible before I miss out on all of my mother's wonderful baking, recipes handed down from our Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors.

But back to Halloween... Mom brought me up in a Christian home but she didn't deny me the fun of the holiday that so many would shun because of its (now mostly forgotten and what kid thinks/cares about these) associations with devils and demons and witches. I remember dressing up as Buck Rogers (yes, I know, boy's costume but I didn't care), an Indian girl (yes, I know, not politically correct), Cheetara (yes, I know, goofy cartoon. But that one got the most compliments, as well it should, since I had three family members working for days to get everything right) and a ninja (yes, I know... oh, wait, what should I know? Ninjas are frikken awesome!).

My gal-pals and I from middle school would get together and have a sleepover after terrorizing the neighborhood in our varied getups. Eight or nine of us girls crammed into the living room of one of our homes, to watch all of the greats like Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and we did a lot more laughing than spooking out as we drank can after can of Jolt Cola. Hyped up on caffeine, we would try to freak each other out with the creepiest ghost stories, which usually just turned into descriptions of gore-fests not much different from the movies we watched.

Halloween speaks to me differently now, as I enjoy it more vicariously through the younger nephews and nieces, and I do look forward to the day when I get to take my own kids around the neighborhoods for some "Trick or Treat." If some ridiculous politicians haven't banned it by then, at any rate.


But, to tie this in with writing, the stories... those stories stuck in my head, not so much the gory ones but the creepy ones that tickle your imagination in the dark, and not in a good way. They fed my passion for others like them, ones written, and I discovered Stephen King (who can write wonderful horror outside of some of the more gory episodes), and Clive Barker, and learned to appreciate the classics like Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," and the varied crypterpieces of Edgar Allen Poe.

Fall will always enchant me, such a magical time of year, and I can only look forward to the burst of creativity exploding like the colors of the season.

Tools to Make Writing Easier

Several years ago, I stumbled across this wonderful program called "Scrivener"  (sorry PC folks, the program is just for Macs at the moment, but they're working on it). The robust software specifically designed for writers seemed to answer all of my prayers* except for one - portability.  Fast forward several years, when my dearest husband bequeathed me with an amazing tool for a writer on the go, such as I - the iPad.  Now picture me scrambling to get to the App Store, pecking away in the Search bar for an iPad version of Scrivener.  I am not setting out to write a horror story here, but alas, I found my hopes savaged by the lack of a portable version of my favorite writing software. 

Or so I thought - a ray of possibilities shone on me, and its name was "Index Card." And - get this - it works with Scrivener through another program called "Dropbox."  Unbelievable goodness.  I've been able to take my work with me and create when the mood hits me, (making my right brain dance like a mummer) and keep it all neat and tidy (earning a nod of approval from my left brain).

I don't get anything from these endorsements from the folks who created them, but I will point those of you who are interested in learning more about them in the right direction and to the programmers I give a hearty "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" And some word-of-mouth, which proves useful to those wanting you to buy something.

Scrivener, from the folks at Literature and Latte, can be found here.

Index Card you can locate in the App Store, or take a look at it here.

*At least those involving the left side of my brain's desire for organization. And readable text. You should see my printing and handwriting. Blecch.

Working on "The Sentence"

So I am creating "The Sentence" for my blog, and here's a few:

If you like heroes who struggle in the bleak aftermath of nuclear destruction to not just survive but to thrive in a radioactive wasteland, you've come to the right place.

If your kind of hero solves murder mysteries against a fantasy backdrop resembling ancient Rome, you've come to the right place.

Techno-freaks rejoice!  Cyberhacking and sleek ships are the way of the future, jacking-in and letting the ride begin!

(Okay, okay, that one isn't really a sentence, but maybe it gets the point across.)

Obviously, I've got to spend some more time on this. I will be back.

First Blogs are the Worst

This one is just to get started.

If you stumbled across this site because you happened to find my name in a search engine... happy coincidence and welcome.

If you came here from one of my other blogs - Meltdown Cafe or Dreaming Cat Gallery, thanks for stopping by to look at this one.

The post I just finished over on Meltdown Cafe got me thinking - I really need to start one just for my writing, so as not to try to cram too much of everything into one blog. I am also somewhat OCD, and don't wish to mix types too much. Art can stay on art, post-apoc on post-apoc and writing on writing. I can allow them to cross genres every once in a while, but not often.

Let's see how this works out.