So simple a caveman...

I just found this interesting article about Neanderthal DNA via Colleen Lindsay's blog. I can't read stuff like that without turning it around looking for story ideas.

Even if you're not interested in the article, scroll down to the bottom of it where there's a little sidebar thingie comparing Neanderthal Man and Modern Man characteristics. Even if we did live in a Geico commercial, where the possibility would exist of the article being written by a Neanderthal, that sidebar would be a total clue-in that a Modern Man [sic? I mean, we've got Modern Women too] wrote it. Compare the adjectives associated with Neanderthals (heavy, strong, thick-set) with those associated with Moderns (graceful, softer, gracile). I think it was the phrase "graceful chin and jaw" that annoyed me. That is so totally subjective. Species-centric much?

I could title it "The Unpantsing"

Well, the rewrite is done (although I'm sure I could have tinkered with it all week and not been completely happy with it) and I've finished rereading Evil Outfitters, Ltd. Now I can go back to reading other people's books.

This weekend I'm going to outline my 3-day novel contest book, tentatively (sigh) titled Hilda and Justice. Because I am terrible with titles, that's why. Anyway, I know pretty much what's going to happen in the book; it's the characters and details that I will have fun with. The plot isn't scintillating, although I did manage to answer all the whys; since three days is too little time to focus on beautiful writing, the characters and details are going to have to knock the judges' socks off. I want them not just sockless, but heck, pantsless too.

Hehehe. I said pantsless.

Can I get a rewrite? (whoop whoop)

I got a rewrite request this afternoon from a market I really, really want to break into. It wasn't an easy rewrite, though. I like rewrite requests that go, "Can you cut 500 words and tighten the ending?" This one required me to--gasp--THINK.

So I went for a walk and thought and thought and thought, and when I came home I made popcorn and cut the entire climax of the story and rewrote it from scratch. On balance, I added almost a thousand words. The story is much, much better now. Even if I don't sell it to this market, I'll sell it.

Tomorrow night, after letting it rest for a day so I can go over it one more time with fresh eyes, I'll send it back. I do not like letting rewrite requests sit around weighing me down.

Reading my own book

I'm rereading Evil Outfitters, Ltd for the first time in months and months and months, and while I have made a few small changes, I'm happy with it. I just don't know where to send the damn thing. It hasn't been out to many publishers; it's only gotten three rejects, one no-response, and one request for full from WOTC Discoveries that just folded. Unfortunately, there aren't many big publishers that take unagented stuff. I was going to send it to DAW, but I don't want to print 400-some pages and mail them off just to get them rejected. Talk about wasteful.

I guess I could start querying smaller publishers, but--let's face it--they all suck. If they didn't suck, they'd be big publishers. I might be generalizing just a little bit here.

Book 2 of this binge

I just finished River Rats by Caroline Stevermer. It was even better than I'd hoped. She's got such a clean, elegant writing style--but the story is great too. Tomcat and a handful of friends live on the steamboat River Rat, which they pilot up and down the river, taking mail from town to town in barter for food and goods. It's twenty years after the Flash, and life is hard; but the Rats know how to handle themselves. Only when they break one of their own rules and rescue a man from the poisonous river do things start to go bad.

It's a fascinating book, and it's a fast read. I'm not sure which book I'll move on to next, but I'm glad I chose this one today.

Well, I'm in.

I mailed my entry fee to the 3-day novel contest. Now I've paid, so I have to play.

My plotting/characterizing/worldbuilding is going well. By next weekend I may be to the point where I can start a real outline. Just three weeks left until the contest starts!

Addendum to book one post

I just finished reading Anton Strout's Dead to Me and I liked the second half of the book a lot more than the first half. Also, Strout dropped by yesterday's comment thread and made sad-puppy eyes at me, so now I feel like a heel for praising him with faint damns. I did like the book; it's just not my favorite sub-genre, apparently. I liked the psychometry stuff at the end--that's what I was hoping for during the first part!

Anyway, I think I'll read River Rats next, by Caroline Stevermer. I've been meaning to read it for about a year, even though post-apocalyptic YA isn't my cup of tea either. But I do like Stevermer's other books.