Scott's Case Files

Feeling The Burn

They say that Real Writers don't have to write - they NEED to write.  I used to feel that all the time, like an addiction.  When I wouldn't write, I'd feel this literal burning in my veins and I looked for places to write things down.  My thoughts throughout the day were dreaming of later that night when I could sit down and spill all of my ideas across a page.

Not so much lately.  But at the moment, I'm feeling it.  I'm feeling it BAD.  Real bad.  I need my fix.

I'm working on two novels simultaneously.  And, yes, I realize that it's not the smartest tactic to take, but it's not something I honestly have control over.  They're two completely different stories, but through my day I dream up new ideas for each.  So I could ignore one over the other and potentially lose the other's ideas forever or I could just do what my subconscious wills and write them both.  So that's what I'm doing.

Should you be thinking of me and wondering what I'm doing this weekend, when I'm not doing Xmas things I'll be curled up on my couch under a warm blanket, laptop on my lap typing away, a video running absentmindedly in the background, ferrets frolicking...and stories being written for the first time anywhere...

The Chosen Contest

White Wolf, in strange form, has started another writing contest.  I say strange because in all their years of existence this is only the second such contest that they've had (the first within the last year).  So maybe with the first contest they found that it did some good and maybe revitalized their product line a bit.  I can only guess.

But back on track to the contest.  This contest is called The Chosen Bloodline Writing Contest.  For those of you not familiar with the concept of bloodlines from a White Wolf point of view, I shall explain.  A bloodline is a divergence, either politically or supernaturally, from one of the main blood-based clans of vampires.  The difference in a bloodline of a clan could be as simple as a group of vamps following a specific leader or it could be as big as changing what they look like or even a new discipline (vampiric power).

In Vampire: The Requiem (White Wolf's main vampire sourcebook) each clan's listing includes a section on bloodlines, giving a one sentence description of that bloodline.  The contest, then, is to expand on that bloodline from one sentence to it's own main listing which will then appear in an upcoming book of bloodlines.

The 'Cast Is Coming

Okay, so I probably played around with the XBox and watched more DVDs than I should have to get the podcast out and published, but in my defense I was also inspired with one of my novels (I'm working on two) and had no choice but to write, write, write!

I not only wrote a good twenty pages over the weekend (which is alot) but I made a breakthrough on the world-creation side of the house - a huge, integral one that I really needed to make.  I obviously can't go into details, but suffice it to say that it was a major problem that I was looking at and I've solved it and it works!  When it came to me, it was a real sense of accomplishment - that great feeling that blossoms in your chest when significant things happen.  You know the feeling I mean, don't you?

So, my apologies for not getting out the podcast this past weekend as expected, but I'm working on it and it will be out very soon.

A Lil' Vamp Story

Every so often I submit a piece of material to White Wolf in an effort to get into their pool of freelance writers from which they draw talent to write their sourcebooks and what have you.

I've never been successful.

I actually posted this fiction submission attempt a while ago in Word format but I'm trying out podcasting here and figured this was an interesting experiment, so I've turned it into a kind of audio book podcast for your listening (hopefully) pleasure.  I tried my best to get in character and hit it here and there, so if my performance wasn't the best...well, I don't do it for a living, right?

Here you go.  "My Precious One"

Download precious_one_podcast.mp3

The music included in this podcast:
"Don't Quit Your Day Job"
Written & Performed by:
Derek R. Audette - (C) MMIV
(Creative Commons)

WoD Contest - The Last Word

Well, after more than a few delays, White Wolf FINALLY announced the winners of round one of their three round novel writing contest.

I will make a long story shorter by saying that I was not amongst the 100 chosen to proceed to stage two.  I have to admit it - I am surprised.  I figured that I had something fresh and interesting to work with that would have worked well within the new World of Darkness as they're creating it.

I had even begun writing chapter one in anticipation of going to the next round and it's pretty good.  The bottom line is, though, that they won't be taking in feelers for WoD novels for quite some time, if ever, so what I've got is really a dead end, sad to say...

I've decided that I want to keep trying with White Wolf and elsewhere.  Possibly submitting my material to them in hopes of writing source material on the White Wolf side and fiction with other publishers.  I still want to write for an RPG.

We'll see how I do.  Right now, I still have to deal with my failure.  The only thing that would crush me more is buying the novel that wins the contest overall eventually and finding that it's a complete piece of shit.  Beaten by an utter piece of shit would destroy me.

WW Contest Delay

ARGH!  The agony of the prolonged wait!

White Wolf has delayed the deadline for phase one of their novel writing contest.

Basically, the contest was to include stories based on Werewolf: The Forsaken, the release of which was delayed which would in turn allow writers in this WW installment to have a mere two weeks to read the new source material and get their submission together.  Quite unfair to that lot.

So I understand it, but that doesn't lessen the suck-factor one iota.  I'm not upset at White Wolf or this decision, but I want to find out if I advance in this contest and the date for finding out is now delayed an entire month.  Not knowing is like being on the chopping block of the guillotine and not knowing whether or not your sentence has been stayed or if you'll be shortly looking up at yourself from the basket.

I feel VERY good about my submission.  It has alot of plot to work with, it's intriguing, and it's the very best that I could plow into a mere 250 words for this phase one.  But you never know.

Le sigh.  April 15th it is.

WW Synopsis: Submitted

Well, following up on a post from late last year about the White Wolf Fiction Contest, I've just now sent my submission out.

In this first phase, you have all of 250 words to:

• include a brief description of the novel’s protagonist
• include an overview of the plot of the novel
• involve one of the Vampire: The Requiem or Werewolf: The Forsaken signature characters. They do not need to be protagonists in your novel, but at least one of them must play an important role.
• demonstrate knowledge of the World of Darkness.
• include your full legal name, date of birth, street address, phone number and email address

That's quite a bit to include in a mere 250 words (believe me, they go FAST!) and still convey the fact that you have a good idea for a story as well as the creativity and style to pull it off.

100 submissions out of however many they receive will continue on to phase 2 - writing the first chapter.  We'll see if I'm amongst them.  I may just write that first chapter now and see how it goes...

WW Writing Contest!

My favorite gaming company, White Wolf, is having a fiction writing contest starting January.  I, of course, have to enter.  I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't try.

The contest consists of three rounds and builds up to a full-on novel.  The first round takes the top 100 entries which are one-page synopses of an actual novel.  The winners there get $50 and an invite to the next round.  Round two is a submission of a first chapter of the novel.  The five winners there get $1000 and an invite to write their novel.  The overall winner gets a $10,000 advance on their novel based on the finished first draft.  They allude that the other four could have potential book deals as well.

I am working on my own novel now and if I were to enter and advance in this contest I'd have to diverge from that.  But for the chance to work with White Wolf, it's completely worth it.

The only thing that freaks me out when I submit anything to a company is that you sign a statement saying that any submitted work becomes their property.  So let's say that I submit something and it loses but next year they come out with a novel or adventure or some such based word for word on my idea.  I'm no lawyer, but I don't think there's a thing I could do to stop them.  Now I haven't heard of a single underhanded move made by White Wolf in this vein, so it really is in my head.  Because I respect their product, I'll assume that if they did want to use one of my ideas they'd buy it from me.

Anyway, I'll be submitting come January and we'll see how I do.  It's one entry only and I have a couple ideas.  Now I just have to figure out which will make me stand out in the crowd and be marketable at the same time.  Tough decision.

The Novel...Continues

So I've been working on my novel.  I took a writing hiatus from it to kind of work out the specifics of the future world in which it takes place.  I figured out alot, and still have alot to do, but I wanted to get back to the business of writing and work out these things later.

I have to empathize with God - it's hard creating a world.  I know just how She feels...

Jacking In On The Hub!

I just found out today that my first installation of Jacking In made it to the IGN Hub itself - the main IGN page - this time around.

Pretty cool!