Quasirandom: Blog

As part of coping with what’s been a rough year, I’ve been rereading long-ass do-over stories from my Favorites list:

A New Past by Charlie Foxtrot - I found myself skimming the long chapters of vacations filled with extended sex but was otherwise engrossed again. I still don’t understand why the “Epilogue” isn’t part of the main tale, as the story’s not complete without it and it’s not like including it makes the thing significantly more long-ass.

A Fresh Start by rjlf - This has the best examination of the science-fictional aspects of a do-over premise I’ve seen. While plot-driven, this drives towards a character-based dilemma in a really effective way and NAILS the ending. It’s also pretty darn fun.

Building a Better Past by tendertouch - For most of the story, it’s an amiable but apparently standard do-over tale. Then comes the twist that puts everything in a new perspective. I like that. I like that a lot.

Paul’s Redemption by novascriptus - The focus here is on using the do-over to become a better person. Paul succeeds, despite being a successful white male in 1950s America. I like that a lot (despite having to read about the 1950s to get it).

Rewind by Don Lockwood - Unfinished, but the penultimate chapter works as an end of an episode, so you can reach a satisfying conclusion if you skip the last one. Or go ahead and get a preview of where things might be going next. The story’s focus is the psychic clash of previous and present existence, with a sidelight on the ethics of changing the timestream. I like both of those things.

A family funeral -- then Covid and recovery -- another, closer family funeral -- and so on and on. I’ve been writing, some, but entirely on a project for a ’nym that’s not my SOL handle. Not that I don’t have anything slated for here, but I haven’t looked at the novel in revision (about 2/3 through that) or the one being drafted (about 1/2 through that, I’m guessing) since, um, January. I’m hoping once my current day-job deadlines ease, I can return to one or the other, ’cuz I do like those stories and want to finish telling them.

>knocks on desktop<

TLDR: Urf.

My ten prose stories so far have 18 romantically-involved characters, 13 of which are points-of-view. Of these eighteen, 4 identify as gay, 12 are bi/pansexual plus another (the fairy) is ambiguously pan, and a grand total of 1 is straight -- a cis guy, wouldn’cha know it. This is pretty darn queer. More queer than I realized till I totalled them up.

As far as gender, 14 are cis, 1 is trans, and 2 are non-binary, plus 1 identifies with a binary gender that doesn’t match her intersex body. Not as queer, but at least not totally cisgendered.

Slicing another way, those romances involve 4 couples, 2 triples, and 1 quad, with no extended polyamory outside the committed relationships. Of course, one of the triples is featured in an actual series, which gives it a little more visibility. Still, a little more queer than the population average.

Slicing in yet another direction, 3 are latinx, 1 is racially ambiguous but presents as white (the fairy again), and the rest actually white. Even less diverse -- and not at all representative of the racial/ethnic diversity here in the United States. Nor of my multiracial family. Nor of my upbringing -- my two best friends in high school were black and latino, respectively.

As far as religion, 6 are identified as Christian of varying levels of devoutness, though the would-be Unitarian and the Quaker are edge cases of Christianity; 1 is a pantheistic pagan (the fairy yet again); and the rest are given no identification, though one is implied Christian by context. Also not very reflective of either my family’s or this country’s diversity.

Things to hold in mind as I move forward. Not that I should write towards quotas, but it’s something to be mindful of.

Also, watch out for fairies—they’ll wonk up your stats.

Reviewing old stories for possible revising and posting, I see that yet again I made the subtle joke of giving the Spanish teacher a French surname and the French teacher a Spanish surname. I honestly do not remember doing that -- I thought it was just the once, in the Triad series. Nope, it’s up to three times and counting.

Reuse a joke too often, and it gets stale. This is one problem with Dad Jokes. And in this case, I don’t think the solution is to swap French with German. I’ll just have to think of something suitably clever and, yanno, actually funny.

And since I brought the subject up, here:

Q: When does a joke become a Dad Joke?

A: When the answer becomes a parent (apparent).

Writing-wise, a pretty good one, despite everything else. I revised and posted a novel (mff) and a smutty narrative poem (Mf), and wrote and posted 2 novellas (mmff and xx) and 2 short stories (ff and mff). Plus elsewhere, under another handle, four fanfic short stories. Not bad at all.

And then there’s the things in progress. I’m actively working on two novels, being 3/4 through revising a mf fantasy romance (though the last 1/4th is going slowly as I’m replotting the fantasy adventure to punch it up) and somewhat less than halfway through drafting a mff romance with all Teh Teen Dramaz. They are both fun enough, I’m switching off between them, mainly when I have to pause to think something through. Waiting in the wings, I’ve 10k words each on two novellas (sweet mf romance and sex-crazed poly friendship) and a novel (mmf superheros), all interested in my attention.

So, yeah, more to come -- soon, I hope. May you all have a safe and happy new year to come!