{"id":1045,"date":"2014-11-04T22:07:42","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T06:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2014-11-06T23:30:53","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T07:30:53","slug":"runnin-with-the-pack-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1045","title":{"rendered":"Runnin’ with the Pack – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Runnin’ with the Pack – Part 2<\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Participant-2014-Web-Banner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Love<\/a>

Love a boy in wolf’s clothing, don’t you?<\/p><\/div>\n

So it’s been four days of NaNoWriMo<\/a> craziness. I am happy to report that I am nearly half way to my goal: 22,252 words written thus far<\/span><\/strong><\/span>!<\/p>\n

That’s 22,252 out of 50,000… about 48%. That’s HUGE!<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

Whoo-hoo! (insert Wolf Howl<\/strong> here)<\/p>\n

But I know this is only the beginning. And to be honest, this was because the week leading into it I had a fair amount sorted in my head. But now, well, we’re catching up to where I am still debating how things are gonna play out. Organically (because I am a through and through\u00a0pantser\u00a0<\/em>when I write), I am already seeing deviations of where my wolves are taking me. Beyond where I thought I was going to go.<\/p>\n

But it’s like that for me. I have a goal, I have an arc, but what happens is that my characters are fully formed in my head by the time I put them down to digital bytes and bits. They are present – front and center – and they often know their world better than I do! And that, from me, the God of their universe – and yet, my characters still surprise me.<\/p>\n

It was that way with Angels of Mercy<\/strong><\/a>. It’s turning out to be the same with HO’M,O too.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The final cover artwork. Blood included.<\/p><\/div>\n

Hank O’Malley is one helluva discovery for me. The past few weeks I’ve been absorbing my Appalachian dialects, polling my husband’s past because he was born in West Virginia and grew up in and around there.<\/p>\n

And here’s the funny thing: Normally, I listen to film scores when I write. I tend to think cinematically, so my stories tend to be that way – so orchestral scores seem to be a perfect fit. The odd thing? This time I seem to fluctuate between those scores (usually of the Danny Elfman, John Williams or Bernard Herrmann variety) and something completely off track – I am also finding myself drawn to listening to Steve Grand<\/a><\/strong>‘s offerings. They aren’t contemporary to the time I am setting the piece (1956 in West Virginia) but there’s something homey and irrefutably connected about Grand’s take on things that I just seem to be goin’ with it and not askin’ too many questions along the way – mostly cause I don’t have time to spare for this if the book has to be done in 30 days.<\/p>\n

If it works, it works – right? Steve Grand being the emotive core of my boys in Sparrow’s Holler? Well, that’s fine by me.<\/p>\n

As much as Jay Brannan<\/strong><\/a> proved to be the emotive core for Angels, Grand’s music is the wellspring for my wolves of Sparrow’s Holler. Who knew? I sure as hell didn’t. I just put on Steve’s latest releases and three or four rounds of the playlist and I was writing like a fiend. Who am I to question the muse of the project? It coulda been worse… and Steve is far above anything like that. Like Brannan, Grand inspires me – I love men who are living their lives openly and with such conviction I think that is what I am emotively responding to and imbuing my characters with. Grand and Brannan both are openly gay artists, brilliant and accomplished writers in their own right, and if they give me little creative spark to play with – I am all the better for it.<\/p>\n

So yeah, that was a surprise in and of itself. But for some reason it works – I dunno, maybe cause I could see Steve as one of the wolves? What do you think?<\/p>\n

\"Grand<\/a>

Grand fanboy here and proud of it! #teamproud #teamgrandfam<\/p><\/div>\n

But it’s more than that. I think the reason it’s clicking is because there is a solid thread of warmth that weaves its way in Grand’s work. A humanity that I need to be reminded of as my wolves take over. Grand’s music addresses this beautifully. I think that is why I’ve navigated his way.<\/p>\n

(Sidebar: I can’t wait for the album to drop – hint, hint Steve-a-rino) <\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe that’s why I am tunin’ in as I write about my werewolves of West Virginia. \u00a0And with so much of the were<\/em>\u00a0lore established in the M\/M genre, I am having so much fun putting my spin on things. Meaning that just because you’re the Alpha of the pack, doesn’t mean that you’re the one in control. I’ve got a new take on things that I hope will give my story an edge to it that hasn’t been present in the gay weres stories that have been out there before. Hank is an Omega in the pack, but in a way that’s never been done before – and it could prove to be an epic game changer.<\/p>\n

Either way, H<\/strong><\/span>ank O<\/strong>‘M<\/strong><\/span>alley, O<\/strong><\/span>mega (where the title HO’M,O<\/strong><\/span> comes from – the main character of the story) – has that same quality Grand puts forth in his music. The exuberance and the temperance of a life that is rooted in who he was brought up to be. Yet, his life experiences are starting to color that. But the story isn’t a happy one – it’s a dark tale – I mean, they are werewolves after all. That’s not to say there isn’t hope and love threaded within the tellin’ of the tale. Cause there definitely is…<\/p>\n

For a boy who was a loner, just work at his Mama’s general store and school to mark the passing of time for him, his world has been slowly evolving around him. He hasn’t paid much attention to the subtle changes in the 8 boys on the football team who always run together. Boys who used to taunt him and shake him up from time to time. Now, there’s a subtle difference in the air. It seems the Cavanagh High School Wolves means a helluva lot more in the town of Sparrow’s Holler than anyone thought.<\/p>\n

Hank chides them in his mind and refers to them as “the pack”. Those eight boys, alternatingly mischievous, brooding, and lust-filled \u2014 these boys are always together. And they rule the school with an iron paw. Their word is law – even when held up to the Principal himself.<\/p>\n

And then there’s Hank. Loner that he is – not seeing how these boys have been slowly circling him. Moving ever so much closer – as if their own continued existence depended upon Hank joining their ranks. And they’d be right about that. \u00a0Hank is something special in the way of Omega’s within the pack. He’s different in ways that the boys can’t even imagine. Hank is the dark hero of the tale.<\/p>\n

So yeah, 22,252 words out of 50K goal. And I am only in chapter 2! Yeah, so gotta figure out how I am gonna reign this one in so I don’t go for another 205K word epic like my first volume of Angels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’d like for this to be a side line of short stories that have a greater arc to them. Like those serial short films that our parents or grandparents went to in the 1940’s and 50’s. Slim offerings – a morsel at a time.<\/p>\n

At 22K words and only two chapters in? I think I have my work cut out for me to start moving forward at a greater clip to get to my HEAFN (Happily Ever After, For Now) for the first installment. I need to think like those directors of those quickie shorts of the 50’s. Gonna have to tuck in my inner Cecil B. DeMille and think more like oh, I dunno – (face palms and realizes that I generally<\/em>\u00a0watch epic films) one of them directors of those classic horror movies of that era. Ya know, like Don Siegel (yeah, I just IMDB’d it) like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers?<\/em>\u00a0Or better yet,\u00a0Erle C. Kenton<\/a>\u00a0of House of Dracula<\/em> (where Lon Cheney, Jr. makes his appearance as Lawrence Talbot\/The Wolfman). Yeah, that’s more like it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, enough of this – I need to be writing the novel again.<\/p>\n

Earbuds in place, Grand’s Stay<\/em><\/strong> is cued up – time to go run with the wolves again.<\/p>\n

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@stevegrandmusic – thanks for givin’ my boys something to run with!<\/p>\n

Peace – OUT!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Runnin’ with the Pack – Part 2     So it’s been four days of NaNoWriMo craziness. I am happy to report that I am nearly half way to my goal: 22,252 words written thus far! That’s 22,252 out of 50,000… about 48%. That’s HUGE! Whoo-hoo! (insert Wolf Howl here) But I know this is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[377,94,365,270,261,48,229,216,234,5,4,198,476,3,108,52,32,260,445,396,145,18,325],"tags":[472,454,452,27,471,470,463,464,467,469,163,735,453,442],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors-voices","category-characters-reimagined","category-fanboy-moments","category-gay-community","category-geeking-out","category-giving-back","category-imitation-as-flattery","category-journey","category-language","category-mm-lovefest","category-homoerotica","category-men","category-musical-muses","category-novel-writing","category-novels-vs-media","category-not-safe-for-work","category-pathos","category-science-fanboy","category-supernatural","category-the-craft","category-words-have-power","category-writing","category-young-adult-realities","tag-author-challenge","tag-gay-weres","tag-homo","tag-jay-brannan","tag-movie-scores","tag-music-soundtracks","tag-nanowrimo","tag-nanowrimo2014","tag-sparrows-holler","tag-steve-grand","tag-storytelling","tag-supernatural","tag-werewolves","tag-west-virginia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75tPU-gR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1037,"url":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1037","url_meta":{"origin":1045,"position":0},"title":"Runnin’ with the Pack – Part 1","author":"S A Collins","date":"November 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Runnin' with the Pack\u00a0- Part 1 \u00a0 So my first day of writing in the NaNoWriMo contest is coming to a close. I do have other things to do and write, ya know. I think I've knocked this one out of the park though. It's a solid first effort. \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1020,"url":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1020","url_meta":{"origin":1045,"position":1},"title":"Happy Halloween All! It’s all about the Were’s today…","author":"S A Collins","date":"October 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Halloween All! It's all about the Weres today... \u00a0 \u00a0 I am ready and rarin' to go with my gay werewolf story set in a fictitious town of Sparrow's Hollow, West VA. It sort of came to me (as most of my stories do) as I signed up for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"That be WERE'S in them thar hills! (And that's a very good thing!)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17082-werewolf-pack-in-the-rain-1920x1080-fantasy-wallpaper-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1088,"url":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1088","url_meta":{"origin":1045,"position":2},"title":"Our Dirty Little Secrets – Part 2","author":"S A Collins","date":"November 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Our Dirty Little Secrets - Part 2 \u00a0 \u00a0 My on-going conversation with Savannah Smythe\/Jayne Lockwood on the craft of writing, how gay authors are under represented in our own literary house, and my forthcoming novel - Angels of Mercy. Check them out over at the following locations - Savannah\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"Author pal - Jayne Lockwood\/Savannah Smythe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/jayneicon_orig.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1774,"url":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1774","url_meta":{"origin":1045,"position":3},"title":"3 M\/Musketeers Podcast – Ep002 – It’s Like Chocolate","author":"S A Collins","date":"May 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"3 M\/Musketeers Podcast - Ep002 - It's Like Chocolate \u00a0 So our second episode is up and boy is it bang on brilliant! Brad Vance stopped by and we had a real blast talking about his works and what it was like for him coming up in the industry. Brad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3MM-300x300.jpg?fit=300%2C300&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1158,"url":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1158","url_meta":{"origin":1045,"position":4},"title":"When is a goal not a goal?","author":"S A Collins","date":"November 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"When is a goal not a goal? Answer: When the 50K word count has been reached but you ain't done with the danged book! \u00a0 \u00a0 So my NaNoWriMo goal is within sight - I'll have my 50K tucked away by this evening and I'll post it for validation. Whoo-hoo!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"My newly created cover image.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/homo_banner.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/homo_banner.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/homo_banner.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1065,"url":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1065","url_meta":{"origin":1045,"position":5},"title":"Running with the Pack – Part 3","author":"S A Collins","date":"November 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Running with the Pack - Part 3 \u00a0 \u00a0 Another Badge Achieved! \u00a0 \u00a0 25,009 words! <-- That's HUGE! \u00a0 I've broken the 50% mark in the story. Three chapters in and I am half way to my goal. \u00a0 So where are things now? Well, Steve Grand is still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"nanowrimo_calendar_wallpaper_by_moonfreak-d301g6e[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/nanowrimo_calendar_wallpaper_by_moonfreak-d301g6e1-300x168.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1045"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1064,"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions\/1064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}