Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: ecstatic
  • Music: EFO, "Three Fine Daughters of Farmer Brown."

Word count -- DEADLINE.

Words: 6,418.
Total words: 77,039.
Reason for stopping: end of chapter fourteen, time to work on my page proofs.
Music: Eddie From Ohio.
Lilly and Alice: warming my feet.

What does a two hundred page zombie novel do to its author? Anything it wants. I swear, working on this book is like riding a roller coaster with no brakes. The ride operators are evil clowns, and if I sleep, they'll eat me. I get up, go to work, write on the train. Get off work, go home, write on the train. I feel like I'm in a foot race with my own brain. But I really like what's coming out on the other end; it could definitely be worse.

I did the math today, and realized that I'll only have fifty-nine days between the release of A Local Habitation and the release of Feed. That's nowhere near long enough. That's all the time in the world. So in the interests of only going a little crazy during that narrow window, I'm slamming through Blackout as fast as I can without losing my footing, and I'm enjoying every second of this crazy ride.

Plus it's an excuse to contact scientists and ask them horrible questions.

My baby is turning into a real live book, with a real live plot and real live problems, and I couldn't be happier.
Tags: deadline, word count, zombies
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 6 comments

vincentursus

December 11 2009, 11:15:23 UTC 7 years ago


Plus it's a question to contact scientists and ask them horrible questions.

That sounds intriguing.

seanan_mcguire

December 11 2009, 13:30:58 UTC 7 years ago

It's super-fun.

lastwordy_mcgee

December 11 2009, 14:15:32 UTC 7 years ago

This is one of my biggest concerns, actually, as I sit down to properly write ideas that have been germinating for a while. Do you just pick up the phone and call people, and hope they are willign to talk to you? Admittedly, the guys at the local hunting store were tripping over themselves to help the little lady with the big scary gun and ammo questions, but I don't think I can count on that at every turn. How do you find willing experts?

seanan_mcguire

December 11 2009, 15:30:29 UTC 7 years ago

I've found that if I'm polite and concise, people are usually willing to either help or refer me to someone who can. Not everybody, but the majority. It helps if you're asking interesting questions, and do as much of your base research as possible before you reach out.

Remember that most people in specialized fields want to see those fields represented accurately in fiction. My friend Judi, who teaches sign language, has given me lengthy lectures on how to write sign without doing it wrong. So as long as you come off as eager to represent them accurately, they're likely to want to help you.

Fair enough.

lastwordy_mcgee

December 11 2009, 16:00:04 UTC 7 years ago

I must admit, I am really looking forward to my field trip to the cop firing range, where I will be shown various weapons and how to use them, and then have lunch with several cops so we can discuss how they would react to a zombie apocalypse, personally and professionally.

Thank you -- I appreciate the advice.

silvertwi

December 11 2009, 17:17:59 UTC 7 years ago

That's one thing I'm coming to appreciate about studying at a top University--there are some really awesome professors here willing to help with projects.

I've already convinced my Music Theory professor to critique a music project I'm working on for something outside of his class. I've also been informed that if I wish to NaNo next year in Spanish, the professors would be very helpful since it isn't my native language. (I'm not sure if I'm ready to do that just yet, but I mentioned it as a possibility.)