June 10, 2006
NOTHING WRONG WITH A LITTLE EXPERIMENTATION
Hello, all. Welcome to Joshua Bales's Novelogue!
"What the hell is a novelogue?" might be your first question.
"Why the hell should I care?" is probably your second.
Both are excellent questions. I'll begin with the first. The Novelogue serves two purpose, in my mind. One is for me to get my feet wet in regards to using WordPress. That's right -- I'm one of those Movable Type refugees. I'll be honest: I like MT. Been using it for going on four years now. I'd still be using it with great enthusiasm if it weren't for the fact that my other blog gets, on average, about four hundred pieces of spam a day. I could upgrade to MT 3.2, which supposedly possesses much-improved spam-fighting plug-ins . . . but that would cost money. I can easily afford it; I just don't want to spend the money. Instead, I've been hearing good things about WordPress: It's free, easy to install, fights spam quite well. I didn't want to completely jump ship with my other blog -- yet -- so using WP to create the Novelogue seemed liked a good idea.
The other purpose of le Novelogue is for me to document the creation of a novel. I began, like a billion other schlubs in the world, working on a book two weeks ago. It's a science fiction tale called Thirty Well Spent, a sort of light-hearted time travel story. I intend for it to be somewhere in the range of 70 to 80,000 words when finished. I'm not a terribly fast writer. I mostly work in fits and starts, so it'll probably take me a while to finish it. Once finished chapters reach a point where I don't necessarily hate them, I'll post them here for your reading pleasure and feedback. I've read a number of accounts where sci-fi first-time novelists posted their novels on their web sites, which were then bought my editors and published for realsie (John Scalzi and Cory Doctorow come to mind). That's not my main purpose for doing this, but hey, if it were to happen -- I wouldn't complain.
As for the second question, the one about you, the reader, giving a shit . . . well, if you'd like to read about the travails of a first-time novelist churning out his bilge like so many monkeys, then stick around. Feel free to also stay if you're only interested in giving me shit. Be aware, though, I respond in kind. If you're an asshole to me, I'll be an asshole right back.
That's about it. Most posts won't usually be this long. I also have no idea how frequent they'll be, either. Guess we'll all just have to wait and see.
JAB
Posted by Josh at June 10, 2006 11:20 AM
Comments
Small correction: Tor bought my first novel through the traditional route (I mailed them a printed manuscript) and I subsequently negotiated to get the right to release it for free online the same day they published it.
Scalzi did indeed sell his book after putting it on his site, though, as did Cherie Priest (Four and Twenty Blackbirds).
Posted by: Cory Doctorow at June 12, 2006 1:08 AM
Tonight, at the Civic Center: John “Teeth-kicking” Scalzi vs. Cory “The Cory” Doctorow! A ten-round bloodbath between two of science-fiction writing’s most brutal heavyweights! Will “The Cory” finish Scalzi with his “Two-fisted Anal Intruder”, or will the Teeth-kicker himself show old Cory what happens when he gets really pissed off and unleashes his “Nipple-ripping Ass-kicking”? Only time (and $89.99 for tickets) will tell!
BE THERE!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: nathan at June 12, 2006 8:06 PM
Cory:
I forgot all about Cherie Priest. Good on you, though, for getting the right to release it on line.
Nate:
Oh! A ten round bloodbath! I’d be crazy not to want to see that.
JAB
Posted by: Josh at June 12, 2006 8:41 PM