Dynamic Synapse Protocol is on Amazon.
Tag: Novel
My friend wrote a book
Stuart J. Warren, of his-own-blog fame, wrote a book about a robot who activates in the wilderness and stumbles on an automated society. Humanity, apparently, has been wiped out completely, and this robot tries to adjust to a brave, new world of logic, code, ailing technology, and fervent racism against long-gone Creators.
My small contribution was as one of Stuart’s beta readers. Here’s the cover:
Dynamic Synapse Protocol is on Amazon.
The Novel I wrote when I was Ten — “Old Endings”
Today we finish a hundred pages of literary abandon.
When I was ten, I wrote The Hero on Foot: The War of the Bowl. It was a fantasy travesty, an attempt at fascinating narrative by an immature writer that ended in drivel. You can start from the beginning by going here.
But we’re done. This is my last post on THOF:TWOFB (huh, not as catchy as LOTR) covering the final chapters.
Thank the gods there never was a sequel.
Chapter Eight
Our ‘hero on foot’ has come a long way. Javis has befriended wizards, slain knights with silly names like Sir Venice and Sir Treacle, been healed by a pontificating ogre, ordered a ‘hot squirt’ in a cathedral dedicated to cats, and tossed an urn into the face of his deadliest foe, then beheaded the guy.
But now Javis has to deal with something even stranger.
A fight between a demon and a zombie.
The Novel I wrote when I was Ten — “The Only Fucking Battle in the War of the Bowl”
The Hero on Foot: The War of the Bowl is a trash book. Every page, every sentence, every word. Trash. And I can say that because I’m the book’s writer (in my defense, I wrote the abomination when I was ten). The manuscript is a compilation of every overused fantasy trope bound by poor syntax and grammar. Want to start at the beginning? Go here.
Today we will look at the only battle in the promised ‘war of the bowl.’ Spoiler. The battle is trash.
Chapter Six
A recap. Our hero is chilling in a cathedral. His mentor is hanging out in a cave. The villain is unconscious, carried around by his friends.
So basically nothing is happening.
But this chapter isn’t called “The Battle” for nothing.
The Novel I wrote when I was Ten — “The Cathedral of Cats”
This is Part III of the book I wrote in middle school. If you want to start from the beginning, go here.
In 1999, when I was ten, I wrote a book. It was called The Hero on Foot: The War of the Bowl and it was the worst thing ever written. Some twenty years later and I’ve recovered that particular manuscript from my parent’s attic—and out of my immense generosity, I’ve decided to review, summarize, and post excerpts for your general amusement.
The book was a poor imitation of Lord of the Rings with the One Ring to Rule Them All replaced by kitchenware. Tolkien’s decision to use a ring makes sense. A ring is ceremonial, has intrinsic value, can represent the union of souls, has a sense of permanence and significance. Today, we wear rings to show our devoted love, or alma mater, or sport’s team, or membership in a secret society. A bowl? I guess you use it to eat cereal.
There’s a delight in watching bad movies. I hope y’all will equally enjoy bad literature.
Chapter Four
If you’ve missed the story so far, all you need to know is that our hero is badly injured and lost in the woods. That’s really all you need to know. Seriously.
Javis Kyle is discovered by an ogre named Lars. Apparently my ogres are smart, compassionate creatures.
And this is what ten-year-old-me thinks smart people sound like:
By the way, Lars is dressed like a gentleman scholar. I hired an artist to recreate this.
The Novel I wrote when I was Ten — “A Wizard with a Beard for a Robe”
This is Part II of my summary of the book I wrote in middle school. If you want to start with Chapter One, go here.
In Several Short Sentences About Writing, Klinkenborg says every good writer starts with a good sentence. They write a good sentence, then write another. But there isn’t a single, decent string-of-words in The Hero on Foot: The War of the Bowl. Even the title chonks like a basketball-sized cat.
But that’s why we’re here. Not to read literature, but to laugh at ugly prose. The following is the first book I ever wrote.
Enjoy?
Chapter Two
First, a recap. Our hero’s family is dead, his village destroyed. Okay, recap over.
We find our protagonist living in the woods Into the Wild style.
Is it?
Is it cool?
I imagine my fifth grade teacher writing “cool” like John Oliver says “dope.”
(John Oliver also has an unimpressed “cool” but the gifs were too grainy.)
The Novel I wrote when I was Ten — “New Beginnings”
The following is the first ten pages of the book I wrote in middle school. This is a roast, not literary lesson. Come chuckle with me at an author who tossed into his novel everything he thought was cool without regard to plot or complexity or voice or how to tell a good story.
Might be fun.
Prologue
The book begins with a prologue in italics because of course it’s italics. The prologue is less scene, more opening scrawl of Star Wars. It’s pure, unadulterated exposition. Horrible, unnecessary exposition.
We’re introduced to the ancestors of our protagonist for some reason. These early knights migrated to a mountain and created a town. It’s not complicated. They were accompanied by a Talking Cat.
The Cat is murdered and never mentioned again.
That is nearly all I say about the Silver Bowl. While the artifact resurfaces later, its function, its purpose, its abilities are never explained.
Obviously the idea of a tempting, powerful metal object was stolen from Lord of the Rings. Ten-year-old-me must have ransacked his brain meat trying to think of an alternative to The One Ring and settled on a bowl. Maybe he was eating cereal.
The Novel I wrote when I was Ten
This is my latest installment of project failures.
Think of it as Literary Confession, except these deeds were not done, remain unfinished, or never started.
Read on. Who knows? Maybe you can steal from the ashes.
I’ve finally reached the age where my sexy friends get married and less sexy friends write books. My pal Stuart Warren has written two, and if you’re not careful, he might write another.
Currently, I’m working on YAF about a squirrel who is magically turned into a human. But Roco wasn’t my first novel.
No, I wrote my first novel a long, long time ago. In 1999, when I was ten.
It was called
and was 100 pages of the most garbage writing ever conceived in consecutive order.
(And, hey, I’ve read Stuart’s books.)
A few months ago, I recovered the manuscript from my parent’s house. The unpublished genius was wedged between short stories I wrote in middle school—”Vulcan” about a giant volcano exploding; “Fallen Chick” about a baby bird falling to its death; “Remrok” about an art contest between cavemen. Each of these stories was a crowning achievement in my literary life. Now? I feel bad for the trees they’re written on.
The book is a very poor amalgamation of Arthurian legend, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, 90s pop culture, a ten year-old’s love of cats, and puns.
It includes:
- A bowl-shaped knockoff of the One Ring To Rule Them All
- An insolent rendition of Taran, the pig-keeper hero from the Black Cauldron
- A cliché hero’s journey that begins with a village ransacked by barbarians
- Gratuitous violence that reads like John Wick fanfiction
All laid out in forty pages of godawful prose:
And poetry: 
The worst thing? It was a school assignment. Someone was forced to read this sword-and-sorcery swill.
In fact, my fifth grade teacher’s remarks are scattered everywhere:
They don’t pay teachers enough.
I will be posting the plot of The Hero on Foot: The War of the Bowl (my wife calls it of the Bowels) throughout July alongside my best impression of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Feel free to read along and laugh at mediocrity.
If anything, this will be a lesson in failure.
You can begin here.
Desmond, Write 