Sage Mullins: Blog

So, after several years of inactivity, I’m writing again.

Before I get into the details, let me say that I’ve also been working on another project – a light edit of Lightning in a Bottle to fix typos and awkward phrasing. At the same time, I added a short blurb to Chapter 45 which resulted from reader feedback.

Over the years, three different readers have mentioned the same theoretical scene, citing it as an obvious occurrence, and questioned why I didn’t include it. After the third reader brought it up, I realized it was a missed opportunity. So, I went ahead and wrote it in to the story. It’s the new October 22, 1983 segment in Chapter 45. Don’t worry, it doesn’t affect the plot in the slightest. It’s just a short little blurb, a slice of life thing, that shows a fun aspect of Pat’s pre-knowledge of history (in particular, rock & roll history). While I was at it, I very briefly detailed a heretofore undescribed LiaB show, and took the opportunity to name-drop a few songs that readers have pointed out as egregious omissions from LiaB’s play lists.

Now, on to the new stuff. First of all, I’ve been working on a new story that, regrettably, I’ve had to put on the back burner for now. I’ve cranked out a prologue and four chapters. The story has time travel, post apoc, and sci-fi components. It’s about a female protagonist who gets transferred through time to a post-apocalyptic future. It’s a very ambitious undertaking, and sadly, it seems as though I’ve written myself into a corner.

As a reader, I’m a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, and I’ve always wanted to create a story of my own. The problem is, writing one of these post-apoc accounts – and in particular, the story I’ve crafted - seems to beg for an extensive knowledge of things like military tactics, firearms and ammunition, and I just don’t have a large knowledge base there. Unlike many authors here, I have no military experience. Continuing on with this story will require a great deal of research/education on my part, and I just don’t have the inclination for that at present. I’m similarly disinclined to attempt a major re-write. So, I’ve reluctantly shelved the story for now. It’s a shame, because I really believe this could end up being a great story. I will say that I hope to be able to go back and pick it up in the future.

At the same time that I shelved that story, I discovered that my muse was pulling me in a different direction. Almost on a whim, I found myself constructing a universe in my mind for a different story (or stories) set in the future. This was an enjoyable exercise, and it didn’t take long for me to switch gears and start working on another story.

I envision this endeavor to be a series of multiple short to medium length stories taking place nearly two hundred years in the future. There is no time travel here. Once again, it involves a female protagonist – actually two of them. They are detectives/spies, and also musicians. It’s generally lighter fare than the post-apoc stuff, and the subject matter is well within my comfort zone. Concentrating on shorter stories makes it much more likely that they’ll be completed. I will say that I’m unlikely to post anything until I reach the point where I’m 100% sure the story will get finished.

So, that’s the latest in my world. With any luck, I’ll have some new material in the near future.

Seven and a half years between blog entries? Is that some kind of a record?

Thanks to all who took the time to write. I am doing very well. In this case, "very well" is a synonym for "busy in real time", which indicates why there has been no new material from me for so long.

One question I've been asked quite often - do I intend to make Lightning in a Bottle available on Bookapy, or other commercial sites? The short answer is no.

Here's why - first of all, there's a few age-related issues in the story. Pat and Diana were seventeen during their relationship during Pat's senior year in high school. Plus, there's that scene where Pat fends off the advances of his sister's fifteen-year-old friend. These issues, by themselves, could perhaps be dealt with, but it would take a substantial rewrite.

The bigger problem is my extensive use of copyrighted song lyrics. In a couple of critical moments in the story, I interweaved song lyrics with the narrative, and I simply don't want to change that. It would impact the story in a negative way. In particular, I'm talking about the "Suddenly" and "And So It Goes" scenes.

So, bottom line, LiaB will remain a free story, available only on this site.

An Unwanted Alias - a story which does not have these issues - might be a candidate to turn up on Bookapy at some point. It's also a candidate for Finestories, in edited form - it wouldn't take too much editing to bring it within parameters.

Also, a few words about Song of Adelita. I've sat down on a couple of occasions and tried to pick up the story. It isn't coming. That story originated from a much different part of my life, so many years ago, and I'm finding I can't get myself into the state of mind required to continue the tale.

Going back to Lightning in a Bottle - I may do a minor clean-up type edit at some point. There's a few instances, especially late in the story, where I repeat earlier dialogue and narrative, and I'd like to fix that.

As always, I have a few ideas for stories bouncing around in my head. We'll see if any of them actually make it out for public consumption.

To sum things up: Yes, I'm still out here. No, I haven't made any progress on Song of Adelita. Yes, there may be something else in the works.

I've made several attempts at sitting down and picking up with SOA, and it just isn't coming. Problem is, that story originated from a time when my life was very different than it is now, and I simply can no longer relate to the issues in that story. So, I've decided to shelve it for the time being. I hate abandoning stories, but at the same time, I don't want to fabricate a quick, phony ending just to be able to label the story "complete."

Which brings me to the other item here: the same sci-fi/post-apoc story I alluded to in earlier entries. I'm finding that I am motivated to work on this story. The issue up till now was that the plot was a little too complex, and I couldn't seem to pull it all together in my mind. I'm learning that when this occurs, the best thing to do is simplify. I've hit on a couple of ideas to streamline things a bit, and I'm just about ready to let the words start to fly.

Right now, I just have chapter 1 written, plus an outline. The story doesn't have a title yet. I will tell you that it has a female protagonist - let's see how well I can pull that off. I plan to use third person omniscient POV, which makes that challenge somewhat easier.

I'll need to get several chapters composed before I even begin to consider posting, so watch here for updates.

Maybe it was a form of unintentional foreshadowing when, in the later chapters of Lightning in a Bottle, Lisette was declared the runner-up in the Miss New Jersey pageant. I had no way of knowing that the story itself would finish in second place in three Clitorides Awards categories - Best Erotic Story by a New Author, Best Do-over Sex Story, and Best New Author 2014.

All kidding aside ... that's far better than I had a right to expect. Lightning in a Bottle was, more than anything else, an attempt to try my hand at constructing a tale in a genre that has given me so much reading pleasure over the years. I got over half a million words out of that attempt, and no matter what I come up with from here on in, LiaB will always hold a special place in my heart.

I'd like to offer sincere thanks to those who voted for LiaB, and give another shout-out to those who provided editing and content assistance - Seattle22, LastCallAgain, mcguy101, Tendertouch and Bandit IRA. Congrats to all the other winners, most especially rlfj for "A Fresh Start" and G Younger for "Stupid Boy." There's certainly no shame in finishing second to either of those outstanding stories.

Yeah, that couple that showed up at the very end of the story looked kind of familiar, didn't they? :)

I heard from more than one reader that when the story was in the early stages, it was difficult to gauge where I would be taking the story. This was probably partly due to the fact that it's a very different story from Lightning in a Bottle. However, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I'd like to give one more shout-out to those who provided editing help: to B4Lurker, who provided top-notch grammatical editing; to Lupusmag, who gave me some much-needed input on cultural matters; and to mcguy101, who offered the same invaluable plot and character feedback that he provided for LiaB.

Looking ahead, I'm about to get very busy in RT for a few weeks, and I'm glad I was able to wrap up AUA before the crunch hits. My posting schedule is, and probably always will be, erratic. However, I'd like to think that once I start something, I do eventually finish it.

With that in mind, my first order of business is to finish Song of Adelita. You will likely see a new chapter of SOA appear in the not too distant future, to ward off the dreaded yellow-stripe status. I plan to keep writing, but to hold off on posting subsequent chapters until I have the story almost finished. Then, I'll put up the chapters at a rate of two or three a week, until the story is complete. There are probably between 12 and 15 chapters to go.

Further down the road, I'm still allowing the story I mentioned in an earlier blog post to percolate in my mind. It's a time-travel tale involving travel to a post-apocalyptic future.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading, and I'll post occasional updates here as to how my writing is coming along.