My Computerized Slush Pile

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1} A Betrayal of Vows. This was supposed to be the longer version of this particular self-pubbed book, and in fact, I wrote the main plot up to the beginning of the self-pubbed book. Came to stop because I couldn't figure out how to get the two female lead characters to where they are introduced in the story. Wrote 12 chapters all together, equally divided just like in the self-pubbed book. First one I actually did research on. Last opened on July 7, 2008.

2} A Lascivious Limbo. This was supposed to be the novel that I was going to use when I decided to get serious about being published. It was based on a badly written short story that I posted in the first year of this blog (please check the tag "Longer Short Story"). This was the second novel that I did some basic research on, and wrote a couple of character outlines as well. Because I was using the badly written short story as my basic outline of the story, I came to a stop on this one because I had a problem getting my main character from where she was in Limbo to her funeral. Also had a problem in trying to figure out not only how to tidy up all the loose ends, but how to write a funeral and a suicide. This was the book I stopped working on when the idea for Line 21 popped into my head. Last opened February 6, 2010.

3} Blackness In The White Sand. This was also based on a previously published short story called, "The Sand", in which a woman visits a hot new beach that a friend tells her about, has a far out encounter with a hot looking guy, and gets turned into a vampire. I decided to write a novella based on the story, with the plot line being that she has 72 hours in which to find this guy so that she could turn back into what she was, otherwise she would stay a vampire/hybrid and become the guy's right hand man on earth. This one I didn't do too much research on, but I will say it was very heavy on the violence. Also, this was my first genuine attempt in which I tried to write two linear plots within one story, as opposed to writing alternating plots that meet up in the end (like in my second self pubbed book and in the previously mentioned A Betrayal of Vows). My enthusiasm for this story petered out after about 27 pages, mostly because I had too many glaring issues to fix (plotting, pacing, etc.). Last worked on October 29, 2009. The one good thing that came out of this failed chapbook style story was that I was able to take the lessons learned from that and apply them to a higher quality chapbook-style story called "A Troubled Conscience".

4} The Anointed Ones and Persona Non Grata. These were two separately distinct novellas that I was working on separately that were primarily composed of 12 short stories that I wanted to eventually meet in the end. They were of a fantasy type basis and I started applying a few things that I read/learned about in the blog world (like world building). The characters were unusual as well, in that they were a mix of humans and animals, sort of like a Planet of the Apes style of living. My enthusiasm for these eventually petered out as well, when the words started drying up and it became more difficult to write to separate novellas that would eventually merge into one. I wound up posting most of these short stories on FGS in the late spring of '10. These were last worked on October 25-27, 2009, but realistically no new stuff was added since that summer. The one good thing that came out of these two failed novellas, was that I raided a lot of elements from them to create my current headache, Dandelion Tears.

In addition to those incredibly incomplete headaches, I have a few other stories that I wrote back in 2007, in which I've been trying on and off for the past three years to tidy up and make readable.

5} The Grid. This was a story that I wrote during my extremely fertile period of 2006. Originally titled "Underground", the basic plot was about a group of friends getting revenge on another for her abysmal behavior towards them. It was a fun story to write, but after spending a year getting it rejected, I realized it needed a lot of polishing up. So I spent the next few years working on it trying not only to make it readable, but also to fix up a few key components to make less identifiable and more generic to the masses. It's still not where I want it, so it's also sitting in my slush pile until I find the motivation to work on it. Last touched on November 30, 2009.

6} Conversate. Also written during my fertile period of 2006, I took a brief passage from my first self pubbed book and tried to make a story out of it. Twenty+ pages later, it remains the only story I ever written that had no discernible plot to speak of. Nada. Zip. Zilcho. Tried to rewrite it but only got six pages written. Last worked on May 5, 2010.

And finally, I would like to make note of a short story I started last year called "Candy Connoisseur", which was directly based on a person I saw while I was out grocery shopping one bright sunny Sunday afternoon. Do I really need to explain what that particular person looked like? I didn't think so. Anyways, that lasted about five pages before I came to a halt because I couldn't figure out where I should go with a plot of a guy who specialized in taking breast shots of woman for adult movies and his oversized yet self-conscious older girlfriend.