I’ve been a huge Street Fighter fan since I was a child, the title of this post may have given you a clue. I remember begging my mom for quarters to play Street Fighter II Championship Edition at our local recreation center–I just couldn’t get enough of it. I never really got into it competitively or got the opportunity to play it enough to be really good at it though. That’s probably because I grew up in a small town with no chance of being involved in any sort of competitive scene. But with online capability what it is these days, I’m super excited about getting into V on the ground floor. I played IV a little bit, though I came in on the tail end of it. Now though, I’m really excited to dig deep into V and become decent at it.

But alas, writing comes first.

I’ve been reading The Once and Future King by T. H. White lately. I took a Medieval fiction class while in school and I really enjoyed the Arthurian legend texts that, that gave me the opportunity me to read. I’ve even had my own ideas for Arthurian fantasy, with a twist, that I think I’ll look into once I finish at least Penumbra and 3. That’s a ways away, but I figure I can read some of the more contemporary examples of the genre now to get a feeling for it. I don’t think writing in the style of Le Morte d’Arthur or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight would hold much interest these days…

Having a reliable writing group is something I can’t stress enough. I’m still waiting for feedback on Penumbra part 1, and don’t anticipate it for at least another month, but I just finished reading a full manuscript for the publishing company I do work for that I really didn’t enjoy at all. The forward mentioned a writing group loving the novel, which boggles my mind.

That sounds like harsh criticism, I do realize that. I hold my writing to a very high standard and I have a hard time not holding what I read to the same level of quality. That does not necessarily mean my own writing is of a high quality of course–everybody has their own expectations. For me, that means I demand the works I read adhere to the same standards I set for myself. Admittedly, that may be somewhat unfair, but expecting greatness from yourself is how you work to achieve greatness.

To clarify, that doesn’t mean what I read needs to share the same style or voice as my own work. But it does mean that they need to be technically proficient and concise. That may just boil down to the fact that I just enjoy a good story.

And unfortunately, in the case with this manuscript, it just wasn’t.

That’s not to say that all of the manuscripts I read are bad, in fact I finished one earlier this week that I really enjoyed. It was a rough draft, so it still has quite a bit of work to go, but so much was done well in this rough draft that I can only commend it. It’s a sharp contrast to the other manuscript I finished tonight.

In any case, I need to hit the grind now. Part II for Penumbra is coming along, I hit a breakthrough last night on my way home and I’m excited for the direction the story is going… though I’m a bit concerned that major rewrites may be in store. So much to do!