Author: CKCombs

Shitty First Draft

Shitty First Draft

There is a Sir Terry Pratchett’s quote that is a part of my personal gospel: the first draft is just you telling the story. The gist is that we should not be self-critical about the first draft. We should blaze ahead with creative abandon rather than get in our own way at such an early…

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What Stories Would You Tell?

What Stories Would You Tell?

After a friend reminded me that HBO had created a series based on Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, I picked up my copy of the book. When I first read it, close to its publishing date of 2014, I was reminded of The Stand. The idea of a flu killing most of the…

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Update on the Novel in Progress

Update on the Novel in Progress

This week, I spent some quality time finalizing the order of events in my haunted amusement park novel. I’ve got 20 chapters planned, many are in their third draft. A few need to be written whole, probably up to about 20k more words to write, then edit. Knowing my final outline, progression and chapter layout…

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Exercise in World Building

Exercise in World Building

I’m working my way through Ursula Le Guin’s Steering the Craft. In chapter 9, Indirect Narration, or What Tells, she warns against the info dump style of telling the reader about the world their are entering. If you’ve read fantasy or sci fi, you know what she’s referring to. That scene early in the book…

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NaNoWriMo2021 wrap-up

NaNoWriMo2021 wrap-up

I’m writing this on November 29th, two days before the official end of this year’s NaNoWriMo writing marathon. And even though the month isn’t over, I can do a wrap-up post because I ‘won’ by hitting 50,000 words on November 20th. That’s the earliest I’ve ever won this challenge. I’ve got over 73 thousand words…

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NaNoWriMo2021, First Week

NaNoWriMo2021, First Week

The first week isn’t even over and I can already report that this is more of a challenge than the last few have been. Not that I don’t have the time to write. And I’m making my word count quota every day. The challenge is in the content. And the approach. The topic is dating…

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Brace yourselves: NaNoWriMo is coming

Brace yourselves: NaNoWriMo is coming

Here we are again in mid October with another NaNoWriMo rushing toward us. Last November, I started my Haunted Amusement Park story. I’ve been working on it since then and the story has gotten stronger, the characters and their motivations have gotten deeper and my sense of confidence about how it will be as a…

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Feel the Alien Sounds

Feel the Alien Sounds

What if there was an alien language that humans felt in their bodies more than in their ear drums? And what if those feelings and interpretations were uncomfortable to humans? That’s what I’m playing with in my newest short story. This is one I’ve shared part of before, the one with the murderous toddler. I…

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