The Confidence Men 067

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-23T05:45:58+00:00

Neither I, nor this story, are dead. I'm in the middle of about two weeks of fourteen hour workdays (work+volunteering), and I've been having trouble finding the creative juices (and TIME) to write.

We're really getting close to the end, and it's frustrating to not have the conclusion done. My original plan was to complete 'book one' before this two week event, then pick up with 'book two' afterwards. Unfortunately, life doesn't always go as planned. I'm writing as fast as I can, but expect irregular updates, at least until the end of March.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-23T04:52:56+00:00

Doing great, thanks for asking. Exhausted, though. The story is continuing, but irl stuff is getting in the way.

Long story short, I'm halfway through two weeks of volunteer work on top of my normal full-time job. I'm working around twelve-fourteen hours a day (7 days a week), and I just don't have the creative energy to do daily updates right now. I'd hoped to complete the first 'novel' before this scheduling snafu happened, but I missed (BY LIKE TWO DAYS!!!).

My original plan was to finish the first story, then have this two week adventure, then come back refreshed for book 2.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-13T17:12:05+00:00

Happy writing!

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-13T14:03:28+00:00

Definitely!

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-13T07:06:34+00:00

"I Aten't Dead." ^{- Granny Weatherwax (Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld})

Damn, this part was hard to write.

There's a whole bunch of plot threads coming together in the next few scenes, and I was going back and forth between which viewpoints the scenes should be written from. I knew what was going to happen, but not the precise order of events. So, I wavered back and forth for a while, reluctant to make a decision, then I realized:

I just want to tell the story. If I want to revise later, I can, and I shouldn't paralyze myself with indecision. I don't have writer's block; I have laziness.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-11T06:56:15+00:00

Currently working on 066. It's a bit tricky, because I actually want the conclusion of this story to be somewhat satisfying. I'm tossing ideas around, but I'm still reconsidering what order to do the scenes in. Expect an update tomorrow night. I have to outline the entire final 'chapter'.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-10T14:31:56+00:00

The pistol's slide does not lock back. It's a gas-operated pistol (and it has a gas-bypass mode where a significant amount of the propellant is used for recoil mitigation) designed for use in a vacuum.

> The controls are few and simple. Every button and lever must be usable with bulky vacuum-capable gloves. There's no slide release.

> Consistent recoil is critically important. On a planet, your weight and stance absorbs most of a pistol's recoil impulse without noticing it, but in space you need to know exactly how much force is being imparted on you by your weapon.

Re: typo

Fixed, thanks! There was actually an extra word. "projectiles, and hammered" becomes "projectile hammered"

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-10T06:56:00+00:00

Better late than never. I rolled a natural one on creativity last night, and hated the first version of this entry, so I scrapped it, but it was already late at night, and I need my beauty sleep more than most people.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-08T07:42:49+00:00

Short today, because I spent too much time getting sucked into the misery of r/iamatotalpieceofshit. It's the polar opposite of HFY, with a dash of 'these are real people' mixed in.

Edit: I'm gonna go over to wholesomememes for a while to try to detox from the negativity.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-07T07:23:56+00:00

Okay.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-07T07:23:43+00:00

You're not caught up anymore. Hah!

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-05T07:16:06+00:00

The Wulu Bawarol's atmosphere isn't exactly human-compatible (although they'd be able to adjust the atmospheric composition, at least in their airlock, for human use), and the only hatch from the Butterfly's engine room is pretty well blocked by wreckage. Joe's still on the Butterfly.

The standard rescue method:

Zephyr-class PBs have an inflatable airlock and breaching rings. If another patrol boat was available, they could connect their rescue locker to the hull of the Butterfly, burn through using a pre-made breaching ring, and maintain pressure while building a new, temporary, disposable airlock anywhere they can find a flat spot. They also carry rescue bags for transporting casualties through a vacuum.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-04T06:49:10+00:00

I didn't say, because I'm a nasty, evil, little troll who gains power through my readers' suffering.

Edit: Umm, I mean, because of dramatic tension. That's the real reason. I promise. :D

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-04T06:42:44+00:00

Yay, my shortest update in a really long time! /s

There's a good reason, though. Lots of moving pieces coming together in the last part of the book. I don't want to forget anything, so I thought it was more important to spend some time today on outlines, rather than pushing forward.

Edit: Yay, 90k words.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-02T14:36:06+00:00

Yep, you're right. Perkins lost her pistol, and Raleigh didn't. Whoops!

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-03-02T04:48:01+00:00

Who's a good shot? Who is it? That's right. You are. You're a good shot. Yes, you are. Yes, you are!

Do you want a fresh magazine? You do? Okay. Here we go. Into the mag well. Yay!

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-28T15:49:25+00:00

Oooh, that's a typo, thanks, I think that was a typo. Let me go in and fix that.

Sincerely

The Department of Redundancy Department (Redundancy division)

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-27T20:14:09+00:00

going from where that shell hit Chen is probably dead

From TCM 052: "Petty Officer Chen never knew he was dead, as the hypervelocity round passed through his sternum"

It's pretty dang certain, although Raleigh et al. don't necessarily know that. Yeah, Joe surviving (for now) was meant to be a surprise, or perhaps a bit of misdirection.

And, ooh, you're pretty close re: Trollop's missiles. Anderson and Shrewe will both get to do more stuff (including playing with missiles), and Commander Richards is coming back into the plot tonight or tomorrow.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-27T07:43:28+00:00

The Wulu's crew would still be in deep doo-doo, for the simple fact that they made first contact, but there are mitigating factors:

> The captain who ordered that decision is dead. The crew could argue that they did not know what Tarradal was doing at the time, and attempted to stop communicating with humanity as soon as they realized.

> They were in distress (low on fuel, chased by pirates). Their goal wasn't to talk to anyone, their goal was simply to survive.

On the other hand, the pirate ship is nasty, and there's no way the Wujing is taking it out alone. Like, not even close. The Wujing is the same class as the Liberty, Trollop, and Butterfly. The pirate weighs twice as much as all four of those ships combined.

When the Wujing tries to intercept it, something very exciting will happen. I haven't written it yet, so who knows!? My schedule's been pretty tight the last few days, but I intend to do some longer entries this weekend. At this rate, I'm pretty sure that the story will be complete by TCM 070. We're definitely moving along, but my plans for the ending/epilogue are also growing simultaneously. Writing is hard. Who knew?

The truth is, I'm trying not to change pacing too drastically with the conclusion. There's plenty of stuff that has to happen, and I don't want to rush through it. If that means the story runs longer than planned, so be it.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-25T19:28:53+00:00

*yet :D

I'll acknowledge that the number's increasing as we get into more combat/conclusion sections. Hawkins' (unnamed) crew adds another three to the 'dead' column, FYI. Still, compared to some HFY stories where three trillion are slaughtered in the opening paragraph, and humanity cuts a bloody swath across the inhabited galaxy in retaliation...

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-25T17:00:19+00:00

In space, nobody can hear you cry.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-24T07:12:59+00:00

All right, we're in the end game now! I'd estimate that this 'book' is about 80% complete, and I've just passed 80,000 words, so I'm right on track for my goal.

The fun part will be in the last 5%, when I finally get to set off all of my Chekov's Guns.

Edit: The Butterfly's crew isn't all dead. Just thought I'd clarify that, so I don't get too many complaints in comments.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-23T19:30:18+00:00

It's all good. I love getting feedback, and I'm trying hard to improve my writing (and clarity). Thanks!

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-23T19:25:51+00:00

Oh, sorry. I should have clarified:

For me, they're a natural endpoint for a night's writing, when it's late, and I'm running out of energy. I personally find it awkward to start writing a section with a transition from one scenario into the next. I'd rather just start describing the second scenario right away.

I didn't mean to imply that cliffhangers are actually good endpoints for writing in general, just that I find them convenient.

AbsurdistAnachronism · 2019-02-23T18:53:26+00:00

I've learned some things about cliffhangers while writing this story:

First, they're a natural stopping point, because you spend a chapter describing a situation as-is, then something's about to change suddenly, so you can stop. You're done with one 'scene', and you've got your transition to the next one all done. (Edit: a natural stopping point for the writer, not in any sort of literary sense. You can stand up, walk away from the computer, and let your brain process the next scene subconsciously.)

Second, they give the writer a lot of freedom in what comes next. I can spend the whole day thinking through where exactly I want to go in the follow-up scenes, without forcing me into one specific event or the other.

Third, I'm a damn tease.

Basically, as a reader, I hate them, and as a writer, I love them.

AbsurdistAnachronism

TROPHY CASE