Asplund Writing Project

Writing Interupted.

2010-01-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

Working once again at getting all my ducks in a column (I think they look silly in rows) and getting back to writing. This is the home of my fiction but I also have a Random Pimpage Blog where I post up reviews of various things I find entertaining. But as it is still writing just not fiction I guess some mention of it should pop up over here as well. The main purpose of Random Pimpage is just to toot the horns of people that I feel are doing a kickass job. You'll never see a review over there of something I don't like - because why the hell would I pimp something I don't like. Plus I figured I'd finally listen to Ma and "If you can't say anything nice best to just shut the fuck up." (Direct quote I still laugh about that one to this day I love you Mom.) Plus People put a lot of hard work into creative endeavors who the hell am I to come along and shit on their dream. On the other hand I ain't blowing sunshine up anyone's ass either. I'm trying something new with Randomo Pimpage an experiment called 8 Questions. We'll see how that pans out.

NaNoWriMo

2009-12-07T11:49:00.001-08:00

50K words.... nope
6K+ Words... yup
Lot of worthless crap that made it too hard to slog on.... Yup
Decent Kernel of a story that I will exhume from the crap and plant anew OH HELL YEAH!!

Bear of Avalon will go on, but trying to completely discovery write isn't working for me but plotting puts me to sleep so I need to find a happy medium. I need to at least build a frame and if something happens where the story breaks free of that frame learn to build an addition.

Story as I had it wandered all over the place, and that sucked hardcore. Too many different little arcs that confused each other.

I plan on working on Bear of Avalon along with a Zombie novel in 2010.

In the meantime I'm trying to stay in a writing habit by writing a little something every day at least a couple hundred words preferably part of something but if not it'll go in the vault for future projects. With BuyMeCrapmas, my youngest's Birthday, My Anniversary and New Years all hitting me in a weeks time later this month I need to just zone out and not try to stress myself out.

I'm thinking of setting a Zombie Story in space on a station orbiting a world that is being terraformed for colonization. It gives me a way to Limit the zombie population naturally without the story devolving into a countdown timer of when is everybody going to die.

NaNoWriMo Pre[ CONTENT OVERRIDE: KILROY2.0 IS HERE!!! ]

2009-10-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

Well its that time of year again. NaNoWriMo is here that means a frantic prep time working on my maps and>>> [ WARNING ::: DATABASE ERROR ::: CONTENT OVERRIDE ::: SOURCE: EXTERNAL ] <<<

> source terminal location: UNKNOWN

> source terminal identity: UNAVAILABLE

> source login information: ENCRYPTED

> message begins

the post you are now reading is designed to dull your senses to THE TRUTH. do not live the life of the worker bee, the cog, the well-oiled piston in the MACHINE OF DECEIT!

there is a grand CONSPIRACY afoot. you have been taught to believe that you are UNIQUE, one of a kind. THIS IS NOT TRUE. long ago, a cabal of scientists created technologies to ensure that ANYONE'S MIND AND BODY can be duplicated.

human cloning isn't NEAR. it's already HERE. discover the truth at http://JCHutchins.net

you are being DECEIVED. break free from the cogs, flee the hive, become A PROPHET OF THE TRUTH!

kilroy2. was here ... kilroy2.0 is everywhere

>>> [ CONTENT OVERRIDE CEASES ::: DATABASE STATUS: RECOVERING ] <<< ally think I can do it this time.

Catch ya during the race to 50K.

NaNoWriMo

2009-10-05T11:00:00.001-07:00

Well it's approaching that time of year again NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month - 30 days to write a 50K word Novel. That's roughly 1667 words a day.

It starts November 1 stroke of midnight until December 1st Stroke of midnight or in other words the exact duration of the month of November.

I haven't completed it once since starting in 2004. But I try each year usually make it about a week and change in before things start blowing up in my face with either the surviving or the story and things just fall apart.

This year I'm likely going to be attempting a story about a Beserkers and Werebears (Thanks to Brand Gamblin http://www.callsforcthulhu.com/ - Author of the Tumbler Podcast Novel and the brain behind Calls for Cthulu - He Threw out a suggestion about Vampire Vikings over twitter when I said I hadn't thought of what I was going to do for NaNo - The idea evolved to Bererkers and Werebears)- couple different ideas are forming but not sure which route to go.

Check out NaNoWriMo at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and my Author page at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/53331 Feel friend to add me to your buddy list if you attmept it this year.

Harass me PLEASE!!!!

2009-09-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm making my wife take part in this too.

Bug me harass me ask me how many words I've completed today / This week.

Get my ass to establish a writing habit.

My current Goals - Daily at least 715 words Weekly at least 5000 words. It's not a uber cake goal but it's something attainable and I can always build up from there.

For now I'm including legitimate blog posts (my prior two calls for help and my random pimpage blog do not count) but in time it will be limited to fiction only. If I can hit 5000 plus by the weekend I get the weekend off if I don't I have to work the weekend until I can get to at least 5000.

Soon as I can accomplish this goal on a regular basis I up the ante and with NaNo WriMo around the corner it's gonna be a race to see if I can get to the point where I can do 1667 a day / 11669 a week which is a little shy of triple where I'm starting.

You can Harass me here in the comments or on twitter - I'm RAsplundJr on twitter

Settings

2009-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Trying to think of a list of Settings to add to my toolkit to help me expand my writing and for something to try when I'm having issues getting something on the page. If you can think of any to add please leave a comment below or email me at rasplundjr@gmail.com or you can hit me up on twitter I'm rasplundjr there.

Adrift at Sea
Airport
Amusement Park
Aquarium
Attic
Bar
Barn
Basement
Beach
Blackhole
Blacksmith
Brig
Bus
Bus Station
Cabin
Car
Car Dealership
Carnival
Castle
Cave
Caverns
Cell
Cemetery
Chemical Plant
Church
Circus
City
Club house
College
Comic Book store
Court
Crypt
Data Center/Server Room
Deli
Desert
Drug Cartel Camp
Drug Store
Electronics Store
Factory
Fair
Fairgrounds
Farm
Fat Camp
Field
Fish Market
Foreign Planet
Forrest
Garage
Gas / Refueling Station
Glacier
Golf Course
Grocery Store
Gym
Haberdashery
Herder's hut
Hold
Hole
Hole, "The"
Hospital
Hostel
Ice Floe
Iceberg
Inside a living creature
Inside a mindscape
Island
Jail
Jungle
Junk Yard
Kitchen
Lake
Launch Facility
Law Firm
Library
Lifeboat
Mall
Mansion
Mausoleum
Meat Locker
Meat Market
Military Base
Moon
Movie Rental Store
Movie Set
Movie Theater
Museum
National Park
Opera House
Orbit
Outback
Pirate Ship
Plane
Play House
Playground
Prison
Radio Station
Rain Forest
River
Rubber Plantation
Savannah
School
Semi
Sewer
Ship
Shipyard
Shoe Store
Silo
Space
Space Ship
Stable
Stadium
Star
Store
Summer Camp
Swamp
Temple
Test Facility
Tobacco Plantation
Town
Train
Train Station
Tundra
TV Set
Under water
Used Car Lot
Village
Volcano
Warehouse
West
Whole Foods Store
Yacht
Zoo

Edited 1:39 PM 9-30 Additional words added. From Myself and Nathan Lowell
Edited 2:15 PM 9-30 Additional words added. From Scott Roche
Edited 4:03 PM 9-30 Additional words added. From Myself

Genre List

2009-09-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Trying to think of a list of Genres to add to my toolkit to help me expand my writing and for something to try when I'm having issues getting something on the page. If you can think of any to add please leave a comment below or email me at rasplundjr@gmail.com or you can hit me up on twitter I'm rasplundjr there.

Some of these may not count as actual genres but they all serve the same purpose for me.

So far I have -
Action
Adventure
Beach Movie
Comedy
Current Events
CyberPunk
Drama
Erotica
Fantasy
Hard Sci-Fi
Historical
Horror
Mystery
Romance
Space
SteamPunk
Thriller
Urban Fantasy
YA

Challenge Result.

2009-09-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

about 950 words 550 shy of where I wanted - this is a very rough idea just riffing off a different definition of hash brownie.... I'll give myself more time to complete teh challenges in the future.

Hash Brownies - Writing Challenge by Richard D. Asplund Jr.

Eric looked in the box for the twenty-seventh time, the hash brownies were still there. Not the kind of hash brownies he thought he was buying, but rather four diminutive beings about the size of a child’s doll stoned out their fucking gourds. His first attempt to buy drugs and all he had to show for it were four creatures that would more than likely try to hump his little sister’s Barbie dolls when he got home.
Eric put the box of giggling faeries on his bedside table wondering what to do next. The brownies seemed to be sobering up, they weren't laughing as much and every few minutes Eric was able to make out hushed whispers that were muffled by the box. Eric tapped on the box. The lid lifted a little two glowing red demonic eyes peered out. "You the new master?" the voice was almost painfully high.
Eric flinched. "Master?"
The eyes looked over it's shoulder. "Apparetnly another not so bright one," the tiny voice spoke to the others. Turning back to Eric the brownie pushed the lid further open so he could see the little creatures face. She looked almost like a tiny doll. "Master, owner, one we serve."
"Look lady I was just trying to buy some pot and got you I have no clue what the hell is going on."
"My name is Myrii. The master sold us to you, therefore you are the new master. You feed us and we help you."
Eric's jaw dropped. "Help me how?"
"We clean, we repair, we help." Came a slightly lower yet still impossibly high voice from inside the box. The second voice still sounded like someone had kicked Mickey Mouse square in the junk.
Eric reached for the lid to get a better look at the one who was speaking. The brownies cried out together, "NO!!" Eric Flinched back again.
"Master," Myrii said. "the light is too bright. It burns our eyes. We cannot come out of the box until it is dimmed or we will be blinded."
"Sorry." Eric flipped off the overhead light and turned on his lava lamp. "Is that better or still too bright?"
"We can bear that light." Myrii climbed out of the box, followed by three males. "These are my brothers Dulli and Synj, and this is our Uncle Duurs."
Duurs bowed before Eric. "Master we serve." Duurs was the one that sounded like castrated Mickey. He snapped something in a language that sounded almost like whind chimes in a gentle breeze, and the younger brownies bowed to Eric as well.
"Dulli, Synj Speak not the language of the humans. Sometimes I wonder if my sister coupled with a Boggan when they were conceived. They can understand you words but cannot speak them."
Eric studied the little figures. They knealt before him dressed in tiny rags. "You guys are the size of my little sister's toys. I can find you more comfortable clothes if you want."
Duurs looked offended. "Master wishes us to go?"
"Only if you want to leave. I do not want to keep you against your will."
"We exist to serve a brownie that does not serve is nothing and we will fade away." Myrii tried to hold back tears. "Mother was given clothes and was forced to leave."
Eric stared at the timy people. "I hope you guys survive longer than the hamster. What do you guys need from me? I need to hook you guys up with something if you are going to help me out."
Duurs answered. "Food, and a dark place to sleep where we will be safe from the bright."
"What do you guys eat and how much?"

Eric ran most of the way home from school. It was hard not talking about the brownies. The rest of the kids already thought he was strange, this would have damned him as a freak for sure. Something was off when he walked in the front door. His dad was at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him.
"Okay boy what's up?"
"Nothing much pops... Something wrong?"
"You tell me. Your ma isn't feeling well so I decided to take the laundry down for her. You want to tell me what the hell is going on in your room?"
Eric's jaw dropped. Did he find the brownies? "Uh..."
"What do you want? Your room has not been that clean since we moved in here. You only clean your shit up when you want something, and you have gone way far beyond the normal I want to borrow the car and twenty bucks to go to the comic shop."
"Well I figured that you guys were sick of yelling at me to clean my room almost as much as I was of hearing it?"
"Thanks Eric. I know this move was not easy for you."
Eric raced up to his room. Soon as he closed the door he killed the light, turned on the lava lamp and pried up the board under his bed. The four faeries looked up at him groggily from their beds he made for them. "You guys worked a miracle in here. Holy crap thank you. I cannot sneak you guys any alcohol but I managed to find you some jerky and couple of snack cakes." Eric placed the food in the corner of the small space for the brownies. He slipped some furniture form his sister's Care Bears playset that was gathering dust in the attic to try and make the space more homie for them. "Umm I don't mean to be crass here but do I need to clean up after you? You are too small to use our toilets?"

Writing Challenge

2009-09-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

Earlier Today I issued a challenge to myself. 1500 words by Midnight with prompts from my followers on Twitter

The words / phrases I received were
Care Bears
Hash Brownies
Demonic
Crass
Political Redemption.

We'll see how much we can work in.

Going forward I think I'll Start taking Prompts Tuesdays 12AM until the following Tuesday then posting 1500 words by Saturday morning 12 AM All times in Central because I'm lazy and not going to convert.

Getting back to a writing habit.

2009-09-24T10:16:00.001-07:00

Okay time to get myself back into a writing habit.

My goal is about 5000 words a week roughly 715 words a day.

Monday I did real good I got 800+ out on an idea about Monster Hunting, Tuesday and Wednesday not so much I might have gotten 100 out yesterday but the computer ate my file tired and feeling ill I said fuck it and went to bed.

Gonna see what I can knock out tonight.

Trying to hold myself accountable and actually write.

Role change.... for Nightgames

2009-07-06T08:25:00.001-07:00

Legion used to be my main bad but his role in Nightgames has now changed.
He is the perfect person to get things done Hive mind infinite bodies as he posses more and more people. He is the perfect grunt, but he is still the demon behind the wheel too. When you have that many vessels in your control why bother sending a third party to do your bidding when you can do it yourself and if you fail you know exactly why not some half baked lie to stop the demon from eating your soul....

More later....

Oh it looks like my main heavies are likely going to be Azazel Asmodeous and Lilith.

bliteotw 2009 pt 4

2009-06-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Odd six hours after getting bitten the wound NOW starts to actually bleed.

Truthfully now I'm getting a little buzzed. Whoa!!! Gravity works... lets make that a lot buzzed.

WTF the black crap on the bandage is actually moving away from the blood.

Is it the allergy med and booze combo or am I that much of a loser that whatever is fueling the zombie horde refuses to allow me in.

Great I can't even gain admittance to the ravening hordes of the undead.

bliteotw 2009 pt 3

2009-06-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

Shit this fucker itches like mad. Liquor not getting me buzzed - I'm guessing that I'm in the midst of the change. Nothing seems out of the ordinary besides the inability to get drunk. I mean I have a craving for sliders not human flesh. Okay maybe the booze is working on some level but I'm still sober.

The bandage is soaked in black ichor. Still not a zombie I can still use words like ichor.

I haven't itched this bad since the chickenpox at six years old.

Why don't any of the other zombies have black ichor leaking from their original wound?

Okay maybe I'm a little buzzed, I'm actually having wound envy of other zombies. I feel like I'm gonna end up the zombie poser. Hey look at Zombie Rich he's totally leaking black ichor let's be mean to him and not allow him to eat the popular kids.

Yeah High School left me emotionally scarred piss off.

bliteotw 2009 pt 2

2009-06-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

Damnit. Got bit. Damn zombie fell out of the tree. I mean WTF how did it get in the fucking tree. Misty and the kids took the van dunno where they're heading. Best that way in case I remember anything after I turn.

Don't feel any different yet. Not sure how long the change is supposed to take.

Benedryl is a good friend, least my allergies won't bug me during the change. Hmmm usually not supposed to drink with allergy meds but ya know since I'll likely be the walking dead by morning bring on the Bacardi Rum Island Iced Tea.

bliteotw 2009

2009-06-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Today started off bad - I mean I was so damned tired that when I heard the scratching at the door I actually opened it and almost let the freaking thing in. I forgot that the cat was eaten last night. I mean it's not that bad over here yet, there are only a couple of the damned things shambling about the neighborhood. Apparently the old cliche about dead mobsters in cornfield isn't that far fetched after all. Wife got mad because I saw my father-in-law limping up the street and I started taking aim. "What?" I whined. "He's walking like one of the damned things I mean he could have been bitten while he was checking on the chickens." She just smacked me and told me to stop being a dumbass. For the record he was still human. Which I guess is good it'd really fuck the kids up seeing me shoot grampa.

REbirithing a universe... man I need a drink...

2009-05-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

Rebuilding the Nightgames universe is a pain in the ass.

Currently taking stock of all the characters and crap I've created for that story world and having to take an axe to it to take it down to it's bare timbers so I can rebuild it.

Basically I'm leaving just a very few core characters and rebuilding. The world has to Support Nightshade, Blake, Legion, Claudius, Sheridan, Lily, and Michael - I'm going to leave things open for other of the characters / creatures / races I created to be able to exist in future stories but right now my main goal is to get the "origin story" out of the way, and then I also want to make sure that Back in Black is done. Then I can worry about the other stories from there.

Slight rewrite of history and religion - Slight rewrite of the Were - Major Rewrite of Vamps - and then working on how "magic" works.

Vamps play a major role - None of the main characters are Vamp but they may come to play. Sheridan / Hunter - is a Werewolf The Majority of the second string characters are Angels and Demons, and then the Princes - humans with angel or demon ancestors who have the divine spark.

I already know how I'm dealing with Fae - Yes I realize this is sounding like a Bad Urban Fantasy stew, but they have a purpose and there is another story budding in the BG of my gourd that deals with them in this universe.

I've not been a total slackass I swear.....

2009-05-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Okay been a while since I posted here I realize it looks like I'm falling back into slackassitude. Actually I've been dealing with family stuff, and also working on putting everything together for a Podcast - The Behind the 8 Podcast - more details there when I can finally get some usable audio, though I'm about ready to just say fuck it you can listen to my youngest give her opinions in the background - Small house crappy sound insulation means that a mouse farts in the back room it sounds like a shotgun in the front room.

I've been working on what I want to do with the podcast and struggling with that - It's likely going to be a mish mash of stuff, media reviews, Hi I'm a big geek and this is what's happening in my life, Rants and more - The main goal is to help me with my fiction writing - Right now my fiction is very muddled with projects bleeding over into each other - I'm trying to step back from my fiction and come back with a fresh perspective, in the meantime since my writing habits suck and I've wanted to do one for years I'm going to try a podcast - There will be things I have to write - I'll have deadlines which I need, and start getting into a writing habit period (mine doesn't even suck it just doesn't exist)then eventually when I can come back to my writing I will try to work on the 1st book in my Nightgames series and if and when I finish it and get a couple passes of editing on it I will release it as a Podcast novel. It allows me to do what I've always wanted to do with this series of stories and maintain creative control I'd much rather bring it in a visual medium but I don't own a production company and even if I did I can't cast myself as the main character in a live action version of this story because my fast ass is in the wrong shape - Nightshade is not round, maybe a little soft in a few places but not round....

Take it Lite
Lates
Rich

The project

2009-02-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Been working and thing trying to come up with a project of all things a D&D Tavern Name generator program came up with it for me. I just sat hitting next a bunch of times and the Blind "something" came up and I passed it by but the next one was the White Lich and the two sorta linked up in my mind to become the Blind Lich.

So a quick idea slipped into my gourd
Fantasy storyline with a tavern for a base of operations (How gamer cliche can you get huh) it gets mroe cliche Tavern is in a part of town that not even the guard want to go into unless they're on the take. But what really got my attention was the thought that the tavern named the Blind Lich is actually owned by a Blind Lich that stays hidden and runs the tavern through his acolyte a mad gnome.

Then the main cahracter Adas started to form in my mind - and his brothers but the characters are for another post.

The setting I still needed a setting - so I think I'll dust off my old Metsys setting and see where this will take me.

Prolly set it over on the Isle discovered by the famed Pirate Rojhey Bandar. Wh really liked naming towns after himself and had a penchant for growing a small pirate camp into a thriving metropolis. Bandar Ruins, Old Bandar, Bandar and the just finished being buildt new Bandar cities are all his former base camps grown to unruly porportions.

Tired so taht is all for now

Off to bed and more nightmares... lets see what stories they inspire.

The Purpose of this blog

2009-01-31T02:57:00.000-08:00

Preface - I am dyslexic (yes a dyslexic writer how odd) please forgive character transpositions I fix them when I catch them but my brain doesn't always catch them. (yeah yeah yeah I can always do this in something with a spell check and copy paste but I'm too damned lazy sometimes and others I'm just in a hurry to get everything down)

Since I could speak I loved telling stories.

Making characters and worlds have always been a passion, but I've always been half assed about it and Since I'm trying to remake the man I am into the man I can look at in the mirror it makes sense. Get serious about my story telling.

I try NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month aka November to the sane) every year and I fail miserably every year. For those that aren't aware please check out www.nanowrimo.org - It'll do more justice than I can but I'll still sum up here. Starting midnight November 1st through Midnight December 1st (11-1 through 11-30) you start writing your novel, and you win or finish if you can complete at least fifty-thousand words. The key is to turn off that perfectionist block and just write, it doesn't have to be 50K of brilliance it just has to be 50K. If I remember correctly the average length for a first time novelist through most publishing houses is right around 100K. NaNoWriMo isn't supposed to be something you can publish right at the end of the month. Writing a work is only the first step. Rewriting and sometimes rewriting again and again factor into the equation too. That's the beautiful thing about writing it doesn't have to be perfect first time through you get chances to fix things.

A writing book I once read states there is no such thing as good writing there is only good rewriting. It also mentions that a good deal of "writer's block" out there is actually perfectionist's block instead. You have to get that perfect word or scene before you move on. That's my problem is that I feel I have to have it right first time. Yes I am a dumbass. I'm trying to move beyond that dumbassitude and into actually writing. We'll see if I can make it or not.

Mur Lafferty in her podcast I Should Be Writing at http://isbw.murlafferty.com says it best -It's Okay to suck, you're going to suck.

What she means by this is not that you suck don't try this at home leave it to professionals. It that when you learned to walk did you start out doing a hundred meter dash in 3 seconds? No you stumbled you fell you LEARNED along the way. Writing is no different a process. You're gonna stumble you're gonna fall but get up dust yourself off and keep at it. Writing is one of those great things in life that you get to do over. God knows there are so many Do-Overs that I'd love to have - most of them embarrassing situations from HS - But that's another post for another day. Basically I want to get back into the habit of writing. When my mental well seems depleted and I can't get my fiction to flow I'll try to update and post over here. Basically if one channel closes off on me I'll force myself to go a different avenue this way I still get writing done and force myself to get words out. Make the writing habit if you will so that I can force my chaotic mind into a more scheduled task. Plus if I can set aside a couple hours a night later in the evening I can prolly get my wife and kids to let me actually write instead of just become more frustrated that I can't get anything out.

**Warning Annoying Fanboy type crap follows**

Personal Note: To Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchins, Mur Lafferty, Chris Lester, Tee Morris, Phillipa Ballentine, P.G. Holyfield, J.D. Sawyer, and any other influece I have forgotten to mention. Thank you. You are all excellent authors / podcasters. You are an inspiration, and I love listening to / reading your works, I can't wait for more.

Well now that I have gotten that out of the way I have some ideas I need to work on.... wow this did work to prime that mental pump to get some fiction flowing.... we'll see if it's sweet nectar (doubt it) or at the very least some rough vodka we can mix up with something else to make something tasty yet intoxicating.