Daniel J. Hogan's Blog

I started expanding/revising one of my short stories this morning, Slow and Steady. It was a submission I wrote for Shimmer's Clockwork Jungle issue, but it wasn't accepted. However I got back some positive feedback, so I figured I was on the right path. It was my first time doing a short story for a submission, so the draft I sent in may not have been the strongest because I was still learning how to write a short story--and how to work within a word limit.

Slow and Steady is pretty much a steampunk Wind in the Willows. As you can probably guess by the title, It is based on the Tortoise and the Hare fable and involves two inventors who race their mechanical animal machines. The heroes are an old owl woman named Theena and her young duck apprentice, Phillip. Their vehicle is a giant turtle shaped machine that runs on steam. The villain is Count Boodle Bodell, a stocky well dressed cormorant man from parts unknown. His machine is a biped rabbit, but it runs on a mysterious element (the main hook of the story).

Reading over this story again, I realize just how much I like it and how much fun I had writing it. I'm hoping that by expanding it I can make it into the story it should have been. I can expand a few parts and build some things up a bit.  I'm glad I finally got around to writing again, I haven't done much since I finished A Queen's Tale back in March.

I haven't decided yet if this story takes place in the Eyri universe or not. It has references to Magic of Eyri, so I think I might just say that it does but at a different time. We'll see.

...along with some other nifty folks (hit Apple+F, type in Hogan and click Next. PC users, Ctrl+F, etc.)  But yeah, I'm excited about being on the "How Has the Ease of Computer Animation Changed the Monster Movie?" panel with John Scalzi (along with Jeff deLuzio and
William "Doctor" Jones) because he is a popular writer. I suggested the idea for this panel (and the National Novel Writing Month panel), so I'm glad to see it was chosen. This'll be a fun panel, and I certainly have plenty to say on this topic (read my reviews on Beowulf and Cloverfield).

My panels, let me show you them (from penguicon.org/events):

From the Ground Up

David Edelman Daniel Hogan Michael "FREON" Andaluz

"April 20, 2008 10:00 am"

Bare-knuckled, fire-ringed, no-holds-barred action and entertainment when these authors come together to present you with gems from their best works. Bring your books to be signed and sign a waiver at the door because the thrills should be non-stop.

How Has the Ease of Computer Animation Changed the Monster Movie?

Jeff deLuzio William Jones John Scalzi Daniel Hogan

"April 19, 2008 4:00 pm"

Now that the monster can be on-stage early without looking cheesy or costing a fortune, have the basic tenets of visual horror changed? Does this bring the movie closer to written horror?

Guerrilla Marketing-- The Art of Self-promotion

Michael "FREON" Andaluz Daniel Hogan More participants needed

"April 20, 2008 9:00 am"

How We Learned to Love the Dystopia

Sarah Monette William Jones Daniel Hogan Elizabeth Bear

"April 18, 2008 8:00 pm"

Years ago, dystopias were dark warnings of the future and tragic settings but the last few decades have seen the dystopian setting embraced by writer and reader alike as a preferential setting. Why? Do we like the idea of a bleak future? Does it lend itself to stronger characters and more dramatic plots? It's not 1984 any longer.

National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo)

M Keaton Daniel Hogan Lucy Snyder

"April 19, 2008 3:00 pm"

Good idea or waste of time?: Every November hordes of would-be writers as well as established pros unite to attempt to produce 50,000 words in one month. Does it help or hurt writing? What about the pressures of deadlines in general? Does slow and steady out-weigh the adrenaline rush of having to produce massive word counts at the eleventh hour?

The Steampunk Aesthetic

Aaron Diaz Elizabeth Bear M Keaton Daniel Hogan Cherie Priest

"April 18, 2008 10:00 pm"

Gears, corsets, steam, top hats, mad science, and adventure are just a few of the many aspects of steampunk. Steampunk is ever growing in popularity, some are in it for the aesthetic and some are in it for the (sub)culture. Cherie Priest and Aaron Diaz (both Penguicon Nifties) have been experimenting with the visual side of steampunk and are ready to share, answer questions

Writing Workshop: Part 1

Wanda DeAngelo William Jones M Keaton Daniel Hogan Michael "FREON" Andaluz Anne Zanoni

"April 18, 2008 6:00 pm"

Looks like I'll have a busy weekend next month!

I just received a rejection email from the folks at Shimmer, my short story Slow and Steady didn't make the final cut. BUT--I was given some very positive feedback in the email. It wasn't just a form 'not for us, sorry' rejection, they said what they liked and what they felt could have been improved on. I did some non-linear storytelling (flashbacks, etc) in the story and they said the structure caused the story to stall at parts and that maybe the backstory stuff could have been woven in better or cut out.

Am I surprised I didn't make the cut? No, not really. Am I mad I didn't? Of course not. This was my first time writing and submitting a short story for a magazine, I didn't really expect to score on my first shot. The word count limit really threw me some curve balls and I think having to cut stuff out to fit under the limit hurt me in the long run.

And they gave me a very nice P.S. at the end of the email, saying how one of the scenes I described made them smile (the two 'hero' characters were testing driving their steam-powered vehicle and almost hit a family of deer riding bicycles.). I thought that was very encouraging.

I am glad they broke the news to me this quickly too, now I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the month. I think I may tweak this story and make it longer so I can tell everything the way I want to.

I am really proud of myself for seeing this thing through and having the courage to submit this story, it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun.

Just sent off the final draft of my steampunk fable, Slow and Steady, to Shimmer. I'm equally nervous and excited. This is my first time submitting a story to a magazine, so cross your fingers for me. I think I'll find out at the end of March if I got accept for the issue or not. This is going to be a long month.

I spent most of today revising, formatting and revising again. I would have liked to had someone else read it over first before sending it out, but I just didn't have the time. But the good thing about this being a short story was that it was easy for me to read through it over and over again to catch stuff. I did my usual 'read aloud' final pass and caught a few things and decided to reword some parts too.

I'm happy with this story. I wish I could of had a little more space to expand parts of it, but overall I'm very happy with the final product. Formatting it correctly was a bit of fun, and a good learning experience too. Hit some snags in MS Word too, but I ironed them out. I didn't want a header on the title page and it took some playing around before I found a button on the Header/Footer tool bar that said "Different First Page."

I also had to go through the whole story and put two spaces after each sentence ending with punctuation. Oy, that was a chore. Thank goodness for the Find Next feature, I would of went bonkers without it and probably would have missed some periods.

I'm going to celebrate with a glass of pinot noir and an episode of Scrubs. G'night y'all.

I cut my steampunk fable from 4,040ish words down to 3,482 words. BAM! (max allowed was 3,500)

Now I just have to make sure it is in 'manuscript format' and I'm good to go.

Stayed up till two this morning finishing the steampunk fable. Very happy with it and the ending, which has some nice action scenes. Now I just have to cut out about 300 words to fit within the 3500 word maximum. This shall be interesting. But I should be able to do it, cutting things here and there adds up pretty quick. I had already cut it down to 3800+ from 4040ish before finally calling it a night, so I'm optimistic. This is certainly making the story flow a lot faster, which is good.

I'm very happy with this finished draft. I like the characters I came up with and the scenario. Some of the imagery is fun too (and silly), which I think could help my story get accepted. I want to submit this thing no later than Wednesday (two days before the deadline).