There’s something about connecting with a protagonist; of stepping into their shoes, hearing their thoughts, and bonding with them as they struggle. Most of the time there’s some thread of the human condition that connects us to our ‘hero.’ When you’re done bonding with John Cleaver after reading I Am Not A Serial Killer, you shiver in dread. Dan Willis gives us the protagonist role and twists it around on us. John’s not just a lonely teenager. He’s a true sociopath, keeping himself to veins of normality through rules and structure to keep reminding him that everyone around John is a him or her, not an It.

The book sets out a number of promises and manages to fulfill them, but not in a one to one ratio. Instead it gives more and floods us with a creeping dread wondering if John Cleaver is going to finish his goal, or if he’s going to break and become the monster he’s got walled within. Dan offers early in the story that this is a supernatural tale, so when the nature of the fantasy reveals itself we’re not taken off guard. Instead, we’re tempted to want to go deeper and see the world expand. I Am Not A Serial Killer doesn’t do that to us, and I’m hoping the follow up novels give us a deeper glimpse into the supernatural world.

I’d recommend the book on the grounds of being a great supernatural semi-horror. The book itself gives off dread and general ‘creepiness’ but it doesn’t flood you with terror. John Cleaver isn’t afraid and we get waves of his monster’s hunger and anger coming through the pages when a normal person would be running. We can see terror on the part of the murderer’s victims and the town of Clayton, but since we’re along for the ride in John’s head, it’s indirect and doesn’t slip off the page. The book manages to even slip in bits of humor, both dark and good natured, and it gives you a sense of duality as you see things in John’s world.

Post: Starting up a new series. I haven’t been reading enough so I’m determined to start reading two to three novels a month not counting audio books. This is the first review I’m doing for books in the series and I had a lot of fun reading this book in a 36 hour time table. I’ll be putting these up every Tuesday after I dive into the stories over the weekend.

Going over the blogging bit I’ve been thinking over the October mass posting project. I enjoyed the outcome of the project, but I’m not certain what I created was of value. A few reviews of products, a few reviews of podcasts, but otherwise nothing of heavy value. Everything is on the hiddennode.com site so it’s the appropriate web space for those thoughts, but I think that’s too much writing time spent working on the subjects. A paragraph here and there would be fine, but if I’m going to spend an hour-a-day writing it should be on fiction. Except for larger conglomeration posts like this, I think posts of 100-150 words would be appropriate.

The novel is done, I posted about that on the writing side earlier this month. In terms of the keeping tabs on my numbers project, I’m behind. I have been keeping numbers, but except the first weekend, I failed to follow up with posting them. I’ll be fixing that once I have January’s final count. I’m also behind on the numbers I should have written by now. I’m nearing 20K+, but I should be at 30k today, 31 tomorrow. I doubt I’ll make that goal by tonight, but I will be filling it by the end of next weekend. This was just a weird one in terms of family commitments and the day job’s mandatory OT. Excuses, I know, but also facts of the day.

February will be a busy month, as I’ll be starting the editing on the novel. To say I’m worried about the process would be an understatement. This is my first time having a work this big to edit. I’m unpublished, and I don’t know if the work I’ve done on the flash fiction on the past has been up to snuff. I’ll be driving through it, but it’s not going to be at the same pace I write at. I hope to have the first rewrite work done by the end of February but realistically I’m expecting March, April, or even May. I don’t have hard line expectations though, as I know it’ll take time to learn that skill set. I think I may spend the next few days grabbing some editing books to read.

That’s something else I intend to expand on during the next few months. My gaming habits are back up to pre-November, and I need to cut them back down to reasonable levels. Besides spending more time writing, I need to spend more time focused on reading. I have a few books in my Kindle account I need to get to, and I need to start reading the monthly issues of Asimov’s and Analog. I am currently reading two books though, the fiction being HP Lovecraft’s The Whisper In The Dark, and the non-fiction being Carl Sagan’s Demon-Haunted World. Yes, I am aware of the humor in reading those two authors together. Mental whiplash. I’m reading Lovecraft because the short story I’m working on features one of his creatures, and a lesser god I’m making up based on some of his lore. The Carl Sagan book is one I’ve wanted to pick up for awhile and I figured the start of the New Year was a good time to jump in.

2012 is a twelfth gone, and I haven’t hit my markers yet. I have a long way to go to reach my achievements but I think if I can start pulling myself further away from the gaming I will get to the level of production I want. So let’s set some goals for the coming week. Bullet points to follow:

• Write 10,000 words
  • [0/10000]
• Write a weekly blog post of 500-1000 words
  • [0/1]
• Write 3 Mini-blog posts
  • [0/3]
• Finish reading 2 books
  • [0/2]
• Lose 3 pounds
  • [0/3]
• Write a reply to someone else’s blog each day of the week
  • [0/7]

Reasonable goals. I’ll post my progress as I do those mini-posts. Until then.

Want to Download the episode? Here you go.

Want to Download the episode? Here you go.

Want to Download the episode? Here you go.

Want to Download the episode? Here you go.

Word Count today: 2613/4813

Want to Download the episode? Here you go.

Want to Download the episode? Here you go.

The mechanics are appropriate for the system at the time, and while it’s not as action packed as other SNES games, it runs smoothly and can be exciting if you get into the wrong situation with the right weapons. I admit my game play tends to not differ in each play though, typically choosing the same weapons, skill focus, and time spent building up karma. The countless hours spent killing ghouls in the first cemetery alone can outlast the time I spend to beat other SNES titles. By the time I’m fighting the Jester Spirit or having a rave party with a vampire, I’m typically nearly max skilled by then.

One of the things I loved about this game was the fact it lacked a level system. Advancement was just built around experience points (karma) plugged into skills. You built up and became tougher to kill, a better shot, and a slicker matrix ninja. Used to be I’d wait until I reached Drake’s volcano and kill this one serpent over and over again, but these days why bother when I can master my talents long before then? Kinda wish the SEGA game was like that, but I also like that the SEGA game is much more like real table top Shadowrun.

Cancel Your Run Jake.

This isn’t a new approach to NaNo. I know a number of folks who do the outline bit before they proceed into November. I don’t know how many are sitting on completed manuscripts or who is getting works published, but I know it has allowed them to end the month with a stronger draft. 31 days also sounds like a pretty reasonable time to get a decent plot outline ready to roll for a novel. 1 month to outline, research, prep, 1 month to write, 1 month to edit? Maybe If I didn’t have a day job. Still, 1 month to prep, and 2 to 3 to write, then 2 to 3 to edit, I think is reasonable.

I won’t be using any special tools in the coming days though. I’d like to use Scrivener but the Windows version isn’t ready just yet. Likely I will continue writing in my favorite piece of text software, Dark Room. Lovely piece of no-distraction software that is just great for NaNoWriMo. No temptation to check work count, edit, or other device that, while useful for short pieces or editing, keep a writer from just focusing on the important bit, writing.

There’s only five days left and I’m excited about what is to come. I don’t know what distractions, blockades, or other issues will dominate the road ahead, but I won’t let it stop me when I’m this close.

nulloperations