The Keeper

The Keeper

I look outward, unto the world,

And sea

Nothing.

A vast swaying desert of haze gray

I live within this old lighthouse

I am its caretaker

I am its consciousness

I used to think this journey was my own

Now I see, this is about her

This is her story

She is the seeker

And I am the one she seeks

I’ve stood alone on this rock

Inside this lighthouse longer than I care to remember

Each day I awaken to the sunrise

And the calls of seagulls perched atop the cupola

No matter how tired or how weary

I move this body to purpose

I clean the outer walls and scrub away bird droppings

The tide and current provide me with food

I try to remain strong and hopeful

But it has been so long

I fear she may never come

I make sure the beacon’s light never dims

Water levels rise but the foundation remains strong

But how long can it last?

Night falls

And the ocean’s roar is mightier

Underneath the pale moonlight

At our darkest hour… we see clearest

In the distance, could it be? 

Something rides atop the waves

Could it be her?

No

It’s just driftwood

They approach us often

Lost, broken, and looking for the rest of themselves

I light the way for them as best I can

And send them off

They are not her

The storm and rain threatens the signal

I’ve sacrificed it all to keep this lighthouse

To make sure the light shines for her

Hoping and begging for her to see it

Wherever she may be

What makes her so special?
This is for her to discover

Her journey requires it

She must do this in order to break the fog of conformity

She must find her true strength within, never without

Meanwhile…

I walk the corridors

Up the winding staircase

My lantern in hand

Tired yet restless

A chance to stretch my weary legs

I’m running out of time

And yet I am ageless

Alone at sea

Loveless

Yet nothing frightens me more

Than the thought of fading alone

We’re all fading

The beacon, my constant companion

There are days when I just want to sleep

But it reminds me to keep on the lookout for her

This tower, though brutally ravaged by the sea

And mother nature’s wraith

It remains unbroken

An example of strength and fortitude

I lay myself to sleep at night with this in mind

Dreams of her love and our bliss

There is no eternity worth envisioning without her in it

She is my reason

One that shall never fade.

-Nevada J. Wolf

7/9/2011

This one is a part of a set of poems to be included in a chapbook I've been piecing together.  It's full of metaphors... almost nothing is to be taken literally... not even the title. 

I almost never use punctuation... feels restrictive.  I love ellipsis... I use them often instead of commas.

I used the lighthouse keeper as the speaker in this one to give a deeper sense of isolation and loneliness.

Short Story Length

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What is the average length of a Science Fiction / Fantasy short story? 


I think in general Science Fiction and Fantasy tend to run a bit longer than the average Fiction or Non-Fiction piece.  I believe they usually run about 10-15 pages.  The general description says "less than 7,500 words."


I have about 4 pages at 800 words so If I keep going at that pace it should be fine and you could be looking at around 20 or 25 pages.


I always worry that I won't have enough time, space, or room to fit everything and it causes stress!  And we all know stress is a killer of creative juices and energy.  I think I'll shoot for 20 pages.

Creating My Antagonist

So after many months of pondering, I have finally put together a plausible and tangible antagonist for my book "Dis-Ease" (working title).  My protagonists are average citizens turned mental patients thanks to some of the side-effects of their cure.  However, Jacob, my main character, is out to prove to the world that the government is wrong and that these people are not crazy but possess special gifts.  As much as I hate writing politics it makes perfect sense that the antagonist be some kind of government authority or interest group.  The Food and Drug Administration or the Department of Health (which oversees that agency) would be what I was shooting for, and I would create a character who leads the efforts to suppress media coverage.  The goal of my protagonists are to expose the truth on national television and broadcast to the world what's really going on with the cure for Miller's Disease.  Think John Carpenter's "They Live" minus aliens and a brainwashing satellite signal.

A Series is Born

After writing my previous blog entry "Prequels and Sequels: Are Series More Successful?" I took a great deal of time (about 5 months hehe) to think through and weigh out my options for creating a series out of my novel "The Mechanical Room."  I wanted to see if it were even possible to string together the ideas, plots, and stories from the other novels I had formulated, and it turned out to be very possible.

Having painstakingly gone over the story line of the potential series, I found myself writing the second book (sequel to "The Mechanical Room") in my head already.  My sister once asked me about my writing methods and I told her... "When I feel compelled to write, when it's not an option, but a need... when I HAVE to get whatever is in my head out... that's when I know I've got something," and such is the case with this new novel.  I am currently in the pre-writing stages, but I am excited to add to my world and give my character John Noah a bigger role to play, though he will not be the main character in the sequels.  That is my writing style... I tend to have more than one main character because I believe, in life, we all have a part to play and everyone has a story to tell... no one person can do anything alone, though the stubborn may try.

And so the Side Effects series by Nevada Wolf is born (No relation to the 1994-1996 Canadian hospital themed dramatic television series, which I've never seen or heard of before... thank goodness for Google). The first book is "The Mechanical Room," which will be followed by "Dis-Ease" (working title).

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired!

Never try to write, or do anything for that matter, when you are on the verge of collapsing into your keyboard.  I have been working too much lately at my job and haven't had a chance to take a break.  I took some time off a while ago and I think I felt a bit guilty about that because I had just started (within my first 3 months) and already I was taking 5 days off.  So now I've been trying to go as long and as hard as I can ("that's what she said").  The problem is of course sleep deprivation.  I know some writers can function, but really how much quality can you possibly produce?  Doesn't the average human being need at least five hours of sleep?

We had an event Saturday and then another event yesterday (Tuesday) and I didn't get very much sleep either nights.  I come home, check some emails, get on the phone, read up on some articles (not in that order) and try to figure out what to wear for these events.  I never realized how important it was to own a suit until now.  I have been giving my co-workers fair warning that I may collapse at any time so keep an ear out for a thud of some kind.  Seriously, it's that bad... the kind of tired where you are nodding off every 5-10 seconds and when you turn corners you feel your body going a liiiitle too far in that direction.  When I get like this, my fingers don't move across the keyboard as fast or as smoothly, my words end up backwards and jumbled.  I am struggling to write this post.  I need to just sleep!  However, there's no rest to be had, at least not yet.  I still need to sit down and read my novel!!!

Prequels and Sequels: Are Series More Successful?

The thought came to me the other day, as I was watching something... I can't remember exactly what I was watching, but I remember something that stood out to me.  I remember considering taking part of my novel and turning it into a prequel, and then followed by a series that I came up with a while ago.  The series was going to be a stand alone series based on a totally different storyline and in a different setting and everything.  However, one moment it hit me... BAM!  Why not tie all three together?  It seems to me that the most successful stories tend to be those told in a series of some kind.  I'm not saying that single, one-off, one-shot novels aren't successful, but I do see a trend and in the publishing business trends are important to take note of.

As a creative writer, we have to go with the flow of things and pump out those creative juices in large quantities and wrap it all in a nice little package for the masses to consume.  I'm not sure if mine will be too much of a mind trip for people to handle... it's a pretty trippy rabbit hole I'd be taking my readers down, but guaranteed to entertain I think.  Originally, I had a flashback sequence at the end of my story that took the reader back to relive the story but from another perspective in quick sequences.  I think this might be confusing however, and I've been thinking of ways to clean it up.

Well, I'm considering it and I love the idea especially since it gives me an opportunity to cut down that 100,000+ word count that I have now!  Yikes!  I know, I know, I get it from my mother... bless her heart!  Sometimes we can be a bit long winded.

It also gets me excited an enthusiastic about sitting down and writing again which is very important if you read any of my previous posts on motivation and inspiration.  I love the novel as it is, don't get me wrong, but I think it might work better if I take out some of the confusing bits and pieces that could stand alone as a prequel and help set up the story arch.  What I plan to do is to read the novel through once and then determine if it flows or not.

REJECTION!!!!

Every true writer experiences rejection of some kind or another.  I don't think the reality of writing would be as conscious for me if it were not for this part of the process, and we all go through it and you know I think if you take it in strides it can really make you a stronger writer.

So far I have received two rejection letters from two separate agencies.  Neither one of them provided any tips, pointers, advice, or anything really.  Just the generic, "thank you for submitting... we will not be accepting your work at this time... the decision making process it a difficult one... we thank you for submitting... etc. etc."

I would honestly prefer to have some constructive criticism and that way I walk away with something for my time.  Both agencies took longer than advertised to reply and longer than Writer's Market indicated in their books.  Patience, however, is a writer's greatest virtue I believe, and so I continued to wait.

Now, with rejection comes hope.  I am strangely excited that my work is being considered at all and has human eyeballs scanning the pages reading MY WORDS!!  Words by Nevada Wolf!  The other part is that I am aware of the luck factor involved in the submission process and perhaps I wasn't lucky this time around, but who knows.  I will submit to other agencies and one of them might happen to be going through something at the moment and my story may reach out to them and beckon them to invest in me as a new author.

The main thing I want you all to walk away with is never give up.  Keep writing.  Keep submitting.  Every writer that has a book on the shelf isn't necessarily the most "talented" and certainly not "perfect."  They just happen to give people what they want and need in that moment and in that time.  Some stories are timeless and touch every generation.  So let it come from your heart and no matter what... don't quit! I guarantee you your story will touch an audience and that audience will forever be YOUR audience.