Experimental (Mental?) Speed Writing

I’m about to embark on an experiment (woo, sounds ominous!) I am literally on the brink of finishing my new novel, Jinn Nation; and with other projects looming and real life annoyances threatening to consume my time in the next week, I’m going to try and push myself to complete it in the next couple of days. The grand finale chapter may or may not get written – I don’t want to rush this part and my ideas about how it will play out are still fuzzy – but I want to at least reach this point. I’m three chapters and roughly 10, 000 words away from my goal. 5, 000 words a day doesn’t seem impossible, especially because I plan to use Write or Die (see my last blog post if you don’t know what this is).

I’ll be starting this today and continuing on Monday – Follow my progress on Twitter!

But what the hell is this novel about? I hear you ask…

Jinn Nation picks up the story of the vampire Dylan, right where I left him at the end of Dunraven Road, ostracised from his kin and witness to their demise. Dylan takes immense joy in immortality and delights in freshly-let blood; using his tall, toned physique and mesmerising azure eyes to lure countless unsuspecting mortals to untimely deaths.

Having never been alone in his long unlife, he becomes obsessed with the idea of belonging – an obsession that leads him to a preternatural race of creatures called the jinn. The jinn were human once, just like vampires. Unlike vampires however, they need to eat the gleaming, still-warm organs of unwitting victims in order to maintain their incredible strength and agility.

Dylan joins the jinn and for a time he revels in this new companionship, never telling them the secret of his vampiric origins. Then he meets Christa – a strangely childlike woman with the power to control minds and read thoughts; and is instantly intrigued. Together they set out on a blood-soaked road trip that crosses the United States and the Atlantic Ocean; finally leading them beyond the thinly veiled doorway to the mysterious Inbetween.

…Wish me luck

Social Networking: The Life-Draining Succubus

I decided I should start doing the ‘author thing’ and go pimp myself on some social networking sites. Which is hard. Mainly because I get embarrassed when I have to write about (or talk about…) myself, which seems a ridiculous thing for someone who writes a blog to say, but there ya go. Shyness is an evil bitch… and it seems even more pathetic when you’re shy in the shiny virtual world.

Anyway, I’ve been trying out Twitter, as you might have noticed from the flashy new RSS feed on the right I didn’t understand this site to begin with. It’s just status updates, right? But I was gradually sucked in by the giddy thrill of following people like Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross – It’s like legal stalking! Ace. Apparently, celebrities are even twittering without their knowledge – A Twitter account purportedly belonging to the Dalai Lama was recently suspended after it was exposed as a fake.

Bolstered by the dizzying heights of my success (12 followers and counting…), I turned my attention to MySpace, which had always seemed to me a particularly terrifying beast. You have to actually admit to what music you listen to! And which books you like! People will surely laugh at me… I actually tried MySpace before, but deleted my account after a brief panic attack and transferred my affections to Facebook (where I can hide in cyber space, safe in the knowledge that only the people I personally choose can gawk at my profile… and maybe laugh). But this was going to be a more professional, author’s profile… So I closed my eyes and got on with it. Two hours and a lengthy list of pimp-your-space type sites later… I came up with this effort. No, the large picture on the right is not me, I only wish it was. Some of the pimp-your-space type sites are truly awesome, and provide pictures as life-affirming as this:

Heh heh heh…

I also have profiles at Wonderlands and Vampires & Slayers (which is overly obsessed with Twilight, but other than that small slight against humanity, seems cool). These are both Ning sites, which I love the idea of because you can create your own social network there in a matter of minutes. This is great if you have an obscure interest, let’s say bareback hamster racing, and want to form a community of similarly enthralled bareback hamster racers.

So there we have it, I’m fully pimped out. I’m one of those annoying internet people screaming “Look at me! Look at me!” Gah.

If you use any of these sites, feel free to come and say hello (just don’t tell me if my profile made you laugh…)