Off-Topic

If you have not read the Pledge to America, you should read it.

Chapter 9 Sent!

The first Chapter of "Act II" of the Book has been sent.  I really like it.  Early feedback is that I spend too much time on the details of GGL games in Scene 2.  Totally understand this - a lot of it can be pushed back to later chapters when it's actually applicable.  It was good to get it in writing though, I may use whole paragraphs from this chapter later on.


Some feedback I've gotten on Chapter 7 - Yes, Graedin is a whiny apologetic brat in Chapter 7.  This was intentional, but I guess I overkilled it.  I've made a note to tone it down and have him "man up" a little bit.  At the same time, the reader is supposed to understand that he's in really stressed, fragile state right now.  Everybody seems to hate him, people are hunting for him, and his best friend is drifting away.  I have to keep this aspect in.  I'll try to rewrite some of it so that it's not so awkward to witness.

Chapter 9 Writing Complete

I've finished writing Chapter 9. Tonight I will complete the initial proofread and send it to the Alpha Readers.

I'll be very interested in the feedback for this chapter, as it takes the storyline in a completely different direction. Excepting Brand, every character introduced is new and I begin to lay the groundwork for the political and personal conflicts that eventually get resolved.

It's a good feeling when I constantly feel like each chapter I write is better than the one before.  I wonder if my Alpha Readers agree?

Chapter 9 Underway

Last night Em took me to Starbucks.  Yeah, me, at a coffee joint.  We worked on our individual projects amid the smells and the pervasive High School chatter about who-likes-who.

I wrote 5 pages of Chapter 9, and learned that the hard part about having a good idea is forcing oneself to write the necessary pages to bridge the gap between where you are presently and when that good idea will take place.  Last night I wrote the beginning of that bridge.

I have very clear scenes in my mind for this section of the book, Act II:  Brand's Story, but the in-betweens are very fuzzy.  This will likely be my constant challenge.  Lots of authors have great ideas, but can they be bridged with something that doesn't lose the reader's interest?  We'll see.

CHAPTER 8!

Woohoo!  Four chapters sent out now!  Chapter 8 is leaner, better, and more fun than any of the previous chapters, in my opinion.

I hope my readers enjoy it.

The next few chapters will be from Brand's point of view.  I may take a little extra time on Chapter 9 so that I can outline in detail, create new characters, and develop a writing style that suits Brand's character.

I'm thinking the style will need to be:

• Less observational
• More emotional
• More straightforward
• Less emphasis on internal dialog and agonizing over choices and situations.

The point is, Brand will need to be a blunt dude who takes life as it comes and I need the writing to reflect this.

Should be a fun part of the book.

Alpha / Beta Readers

Hi Readers,

I sit before you at my keyboard humbly admitting that I've made a mistake.  I have been sending drafts of chapters to a small group of people and have been calling them "Editors."

OOOOPS.

Here's the deal:  You guys aren't editors.  Not in the strictest sense.  Pointing out gross grammar mistakes or stylistic tendencies that don't work is A-OK with me, but detailed grammar nitpickiness is really unnecessary at this point.  Here are several reasons:

• I am going to grow as a writer during this process.  As a result, much of my roughest early work (ahem, Chapter 5) will need significant rewrite anyway.  I don't want any of us to spend too much time on grammar details when a good portion of the book will get heavily revised anyway.  First thing's first!
• Focus on grammar obscures the information I really need at this point.
• As my self-serving, pity-inspired last blog post obliquely pointed out...I need encouragement.  Encouragement may best come in the form of quick feedback and story-related comments, rather than a mountain of virtual red ink.  (I want to know what isn't working in the story at this point more than anything else)
• Before publication, I will no doubt be assigned a professional editor.  I may ask a few of you to help me out further down the line before I submit to a publisher, but I think it can wait.

I am re-naming you all.  You are now ALPHA READERS!!!  This is a much cooler-sounding title, you must admit.  It also removes the implication that you are expected to hunch over your PC's combing paragraphs for that one evil little split infinitive.

I encourage you to check out this excellent post on the purpose of Alpha Readers:  What is an Alpha or Beta Reader?

To summarize, I have 3 things to apologize for:

1. Sorry for the pity-party in the last post.  I'm better now.
2. Sorry for calling you Editors, and therefore possibly imposing a time-consuming burden of micro-scoping my prose on your busy lives.
3. Sorry for Chapter 5.  It sucks, it really does.  I know this, and I hope you enjoyed 6 through 8 a lot more.

P.S. If a spouse or anybody else wants to be an Alpha Reader, please let me know.  I have absolutely no problem with expanding the group.

A Mini-Rut?

I am facing my first challenge since I committed to finishing my book.  Chapter 8 is really good, in my opinion.  I am almost finished and ready to send it to the editors.

So why the rut?  A few reasons.  Chapter 9 takes the book in a whole new direction.  Up to this point, I still consider the parts I have been working on to be the 'introduction'.  From Chapter 9 until the end, all of the action takes place inside the city of Kilcrest.  I planned this on purpose, as I find "travel" books to be annoying.  There is a habit among Fantasy writers for the first book of a series to begin at one corner of a map and end on the other corner, with the protagonist mixing up into all sorts of shenanigans along the way.

In my mind, this makes it very difficult to explore the characters and settings in detail.  Even the series that I consider to be the pinnacle of fantasy writing, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time begins in this way.  Eye of the World is a great book, but I cannot help but think about how great it could have been if the action had been localized and Jordan started exploring the characters with the same depth he used in the later books.

So I've come to a mini swing-point in my book.  I am excited about it, but it feels as if I am beginning a new story at Chapter 9, and this one's a doozy.

There's another reason I've slowed down lately--feedback has slowed.  Everybody's busy, so I'm not complaining, but I am considering telling all my editors that I really need content feedback at this point and we need to step away from the intense grammar scrutiny.  However, my writing is improving and the comments are extremely helpful, so I don't want those particular comments to stop altogether.

Anybody have any ideas?  I'm thinking about asking only 2 or 3 people to grammar "edit", and asking everybody else to comment on the story, characters, contradictions, and questions.  I don't want my editors to feel they have an obligation to microscope my writing, because they don't.

I don't want anybody to think I don't REALLY appreciate the attention to detail, but I don't want anybody to feel obligated to sit in front of their computers and notate the hell out of things either.

Starting next week I should be sketching out "Brand's Story", the section of the book told from his POV that should span several chapters.  I'm looking forward to this part, it should be a lot of fun.