i don't know why call it failed exactly. you definitely got an elevated sci-fi fantasy world cocinando that's got cool superpowers, mysterious disrupters, politics, class conflict, and a complicated family. I would love to read it complete. people might not realize how hard it is to pull off; sam delaney makes it look easy! i.e. the old "write what you know" doesn't apply and there's the demands of the particular genre and the demands for non-stop originality in sci-fi fantasy must be doubly brutal. (uhh...I've tried it as an acolyte of the far less difficult hard-boiled dystopian/early denis johnson fiskadoro school...the result was pretty gruesome) from which i retreated, beat down. it's really a kind of love letter to other lovers of the genre. much appreciated.
your really kind, evan. but the truth is so much of it is a hot stinking mess. but im trying to figure out a way through and perhaps when youre feeling it you can try the fiskadoro project again. that's a fantastic novel and well worth honoring through inspiration.
thanks for responding and the kind encouragement. my own failed project is with me like a kind of grief, but I think that phase is done for me, bro, maybe it was just a necessary way of working through the agony of influence toward finding my own voice, a work in progress.
What's cool is that I didn't need an explanation for "math," or "rings." Just (albeit vaguely) understood it...I don't think that makes me brilliant. Perhaps it's somewhat more relevant language - two years later? And, as usual, I love reading your work, anyway.
This makes me curious what the 'awful' parts look like. Is that something you'd be willing to share? If readers here liked it, or were even big fans of it, would that shift your feelings towards the work at all?
matthew, how about a hundred pages on worldbuilding nonsense that doesnt deepen character or excite incident? reading it was akin to ingesting wet concrete and letting it set within. im trying to revivify the project but its going to require a 90 percent cut of the materials.
Maybe it will be better to ask post-revivification. However, the original sounds fascinatingly terrible. In your very first post you described one of your favorite readers being unable to finish a single chapter -- in your second, you added "it was dead even at the sentence-by-sentence level."
I so want to get a look at some point, especially in contrast to this provided section from the 10% viable part.
i don't know why call it failed exactly. you definitely got an elevated sci-fi fantasy world cocinando that's got cool superpowers, mysterious disrupters, politics, class conflict, and a complicated family. I would love to read it complete. people might not realize how hard it is to pull off; sam delaney makes it look easy! i.e. the old "write what you know" doesn't apply and there's the demands of the particular genre and the demands for non-stop originality in sci-fi fantasy must be doubly brutal. (uhh...I've tried it as an acolyte of the far less difficult hard-boiled dystopian/early denis johnson fiskadoro school...the result was pretty gruesome) from which i retreated, beat down. it's really a kind of love letter to other lovers of the genre. much appreciated.
your really kind, evan. but the truth is so much of it is a hot stinking mess. but im trying to figure out a way through and perhaps when youre feeling it you can try the fiskadoro project again. that's a fantastic novel and well worth honoring through inspiration.
thanks for responding and the kind encouragement. my own failed project is with me like a kind of grief, but I think that phase is done for me, bro, maybe it was just a necessary way of working through the agony of influence toward finding my own voice, a work in progress.
More!
What's cool is that I didn't need an explanation for "math," or "rings." Just (albeit vaguely) understood it...I don't think that makes me brilliant. Perhaps it's somewhat more relevant language - two years later? And, as usual, I love reading your work, anyway.
This is a super intriguing sample, Junot. I’d definitely be interested in reading more.
This makes me curious what the 'awful' parts look like. Is that something you'd be willing to share? If readers here liked it, or were even big fans of it, would that shift your feelings towards the work at all?
matthew, how about a hundred pages on worldbuilding nonsense that doesnt deepen character or excite incident? reading it was akin to ingesting wet concrete and letting it set within. im trying to revivify the project but its going to require a 90 percent cut of the materials.
Maybe it will be better to ask post-revivification. However, the original sounds fascinatingly terrible. In your very first post you described one of your favorite readers being unable to finish a single chapter -- in your second, you added "it was dead even at the sentence-by-sentence level."
I so want to get a look at some point, especially in contrast to this provided section from the 10% viable part.
Yup it's the ending for me. Def looking forward to reading more