Preparing for JulNoWriMo and 50/90: Spanner's "Pretty City Arc" and the Soundtrack

If I were doing WriDaNoJu, this would be the beginning of Panic Time. Instead, besides editing Spanner Book 1, I'm making belated preparations for JulNoWriMo and 50 Songs in 90 Days.

For JulNo, I'm going to return to Spanner Book 2 and pick up where I left off, or not long thereafter: the Pretty City Arc that takes up the middle section. Chapters 31-39 even have their own single-volume name: "Died Pretty". Shira and Team Spanner go down to LA to rescue the Shelley twins from their grandfather Governor Brinkman's final betrayal, only to find something more shocking — but I won't spoil the surprise. They'll also find out the most degrading and horrible things about the fashion and entertainment industries, leading to the violent confrontation with the Media Industry Association of America brass in the final third of Book 2.

For 50/90, I'll start work on the techno soundtrack to Spanner — as in what I've been hearing in my head (or the kind of stuff I've been writing and drawing to) since 1992. This includes the virtual-reality sequences in Book 2. Many of the fight scenes will have drum & bass soundtracks.

Meanwhile, the Chapter 1 final edit turns out to have one final pass left in it. I'm adding a few lines, putting in a couple more themes important later in the story, initiating a few more plot threads, and making major changes to two scenes. Then I can declare it complete and move on to Chapter 2, in which I'm adding one detail to one of the scenes new to Revision 4: Shira takes her shirt off — and fails to attract male attention despite being completely naked above the waist. Why? Because all the men are too busy beating each other up. Over beer. So she laughs at them. When the tear gas starts to fly, she goes into Game Wars to greet her darling cousin Karen half-naked.

July's coming up fast, so I'll want to start making my JulNo and 50/90 preparations while there's still a June. I've also set a goal for the rest of June: complete the Fourth Revision edits of Chapters 1-4 and Interlude 3. I can do it. Here goes...