Now I'm being asked what my trilogy is about. I haven't yet summed up 270,000 words into the 20-word soundbite that's needed, but (with some help from Howard vonDarkmoor over at sfreader's forums), I can give you the Hollywood version of the trilogy as follows:
Book 1: Batman meets the Sopranos ... in Thieves' World.
Book 2: Batman goes on a road trip.
Book 3: Batman and Jesus take on Sauron.
Now, I'm not being literal. I'm writing a fantasy story with characters of my own, not any of the characters listed above. I'm just using those names as a frame of reference for any readers here (there are a few, right?).
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Saturday, November 11, 2006
At last!
I finished the first draft of the third book in my trilogy, thus ending the first draft work for the entire trilogy.
It only took 20 months and about 270,000 words.
Now, back to editing and rewriting.
After I have a beer to celebrate.
It only took 20 months and about 270,000 words.
Now, back to editing and rewriting.
After I have a beer to celebrate.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Only one more to go
I only have one more chapter to write. Then ... a long sigh of relief ... and back to editing.
As always, I'm not happy with much of what I've written. But that's what rewriting is for, to clean up and correct.
As always, I'm not happy with much of what I've written. But that's what rewriting is for, to clean up and correct.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Excitement, excitement!
Finished the first draft of the climax to my trilogy last night! Yahoo!!!
Now on to the anti-climax, and sorting out loose ends.
Three chapters more max, maybe two if I'm lucky.
Ahhhhhhh! The light at the end of the tunnel is near!
Though I still have plenty of rewriting and editing to do.
I'm so excited, I'm already getting ideas for my next novel or two.
Now on to the anti-climax, and sorting out loose ends.
Three chapters more max, maybe two if I'm lucky.
Ahhhhhhh! The light at the end of the tunnel is near!
Though I still have plenty of rewriting and editing to do.
I'm so excited, I'm already getting ideas for my next novel or two.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Exhaustion
Usually I don't find writing exhausting, but last night I wrote 1,700 words in the climactic chapter in the third novel of my trilogy. I'm still not finished with that climax, but I had to stop. Not because I didn't know what came next, and not because I was blocked or scared to write more. I had to stop writing because I was drained, mostly mentally but also physically.
Writing is a lot of work, and writing that 1,700 words was tough. It's not the greatest of prose, but it's also just the first draft. I'm still drained from it, but I'm looking forward to getting back at it tonight. Just hope I can finish it. I'm predicting I'll need at least another 1,500 words.
After that, I should only be 2 or 3 chapters from ending the whole trilogy.
Writing is a lot of work, and writing that 1,700 words was tough. It's not the greatest of prose, but it's also just the first draft. I'm still drained from it, but I'm looking forward to getting back at it tonight. Just hope I can finish it. I'm predicting I'll need at least another 1,500 words.
After that, I should only be 2 or 3 chapters from ending the whole trilogy.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Politics? No thanks!
Somebody online recently asked me why I don't write on my blog about politics, daily events or other things that have the potential to drive more traffic to my site. To be frank, the reason is because I don't want to.
My blog is meant to be about fiction writing, specifically about the road I'm traveling trying to be a career novelist. That doesn't mean I won't sometimes throw in a little something else, but I have enough stress in my life without turning my blog into a soapbox. I also have to deal with politics enough in my day job, so I don't want to deal with it elsewhere.
Yes, I have my own opinions about various things. I share them sometimes on other Web sites or others' blogs, but I find it generally to be useless. I'm not going to change somebody else's mind, and usually they're not going to change mine. So why waste the time bickering?
Besides, I'll let my fiction writing speak for me.
My blog is meant to be about fiction writing, specifically about the road I'm traveling trying to be a career novelist. That doesn't mean I won't sometimes throw in a little something else, but I have enough stress in my life without turning my blog into a soapbox. I also have to deal with politics enough in my day job, so I don't want to deal with it elsewhere.
Yes, I have my own opinions about various things. I share them sometimes on other Web sites or others' blogs, but I find it generally to be useless. I'm not going to change somebody else's mind, and usually they're not going to change mine. So why waste the time bickering?
Besides, I'll let my fiction writing speak for me.
Fuzzy mind
I recently read Terry Brooks' "Lessons from a Writing Life: Sometimes the Magic Works."
It's basically Brooks' "How to be a Writer" book, which it seems every top-selling author is doing nowadays. First, let me say, Brooks is not a favorite author of mine. I've read four or five of his novels, but that's been twenty years ago; his writing was okay, but his plots and worlds were too cliche for my taste. He has talent; he's had to, to survive in the publishing world for 30 years.
Anyway, in the recent book on writing, Brooks' first chapter is titled "I Am Not All Here." He goes on, in the chapter and throughout the book, to talk about how there is a joke in his family about how he is always kind of mentally "gone." He's never fully there, mentally, for his family. He's kind of spaced out, or has what I call fuzzy mind. Apparently this is something he has had nearly all his adult life since he has been a professional writer.
No, he's not a victim of some dreaded disease, or ADD, or anything. He's just a writer. And he often lives in worlds beyond our own.
I got to thinking ... that's me. Ever since I began my trilogy in March 2005, I've felt ... it's odd to describe ... but almost as if I'm floating along in this world, our real world. No matter what I'm doing, no matter how important, a piece of my mind is focused on my trilogy.
Filing my taxes? Thinking about the trilogy.
Laying out pages at work? Thinking about my trilogy.
Sending out a resume for a new job? Thinking about my trilogy.
Having surgery? Thinking about my trilogy.
Thank God I don't have kids, because I would not want to distance myself from them mentally. It's bad enough I never see any friends any more, I hardly think about work and my significant other sometimes informs me I'm clumsy and scatterbrained.
No, I'm not. I'm just not all there.
It's basically Brooks' "How to be a Writer" book, which it seems every top-selling author is doing nowadays. First, let me say, Brooks is not a favorite author of mine. I've read four or five of his novels, but that's been twenty years ago; his writing was okay, but his plots and worlds were too cliche for my taste. He has talent; he's had to, to survive in the publishing world for 30 years.
Anyway, in the recent book on writing, Brooks' first chapter is titled "I Am Not All Here." He goes on, in the chapter and throughout the book, to talk about how there is a joke in his family about how he is always kind of mentally "gone." He's never fully there, mentally, for his family. He's kind of spaced out, or has what I call fuzzy mind. Apparently this is something he has had nearly all his adult life since he has been a professional writer.
No, he's not a victim of some dreaded disease, or ADD, or anything. He's just a writer. And he often lives in worlds beyond our own.
I got to thinking ... that's me. Ever since I began my trilogy in March 2005, I've felt ... it's odd to describe ... but almost as if I'm floating along in this world, our real world. No matter what I'm doing, no matter how important, a piece of my mind is focused on my trilogy.
Filing my taxes? Thinking about the trilogy.
Laying out pages at work? Thinking about my trilogy.
Sending out a resume for a new job? Thinking about my trilogy.
Having surgery? Thinking about my trilogy.
Thank God I don't have kids, because I would not want to distance myself from them mentally. It's bad enough I never see any friends any more, I hardly think about work and my significant other sometimes informs me I'm clumsy and scatterbrained.
No, I'm not. I'm just not all there.
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