Sunday, May 28, 2017
The End Approaches?
After dealing with a temporary case of writer's block, I can now see the finish line. I have about three more scenes to finish, or basically half of one chapter and the end of the book. I have about three poems to write as well, which may prove to be the tricky part. Frankly, I think the additional poetry I added to the first book was so good that I'm not sure I can top it, but we'll see what I come up with. Luckily, the climax of the story is already written. I am basically leading up to that point in the story and easing out of it. I have also updated most of the book covers, completely changing the first two. They are very different from what I first created a few years back, capturing a bit more of the themes in the stories. I find myself going back to look at them again and again. The pictures will get posted here once everything gets published.
Sunday, May 14, 2017
An Update
The first draft of the rewritten first book is complete. All that's left there is the proofreading/editing, which I am receiving help for at the moment. Revisions to the second book have been underway, though it appears that a new twist is developing. I had originally planned for two more scenes, one detailing an event in Almyros and the other aiding in the book's ending, but now I've figured out the basics of an important conspiracy that I hinted at in book one but had yet to develop fully. I believe it would involve three new scenes, but I am still unsure how it all ends. I'm thinking this could delay the book's completion by at least a week, but my personal deadline was the beginning of June. Guess I'll see how it all works out.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Future Revisions
After much thought and getting just a bit more constructive criticism, I've decided to expand the content of the first two books. I am nearly done rewriting the first story, which more than doubles the content. In fact, the length is greater than book three (though both are still just novellas). The extension of book two plays off of the content in the first story, but likely will not be of similar size. There is no way to tell yet.
At the moment, I have just two more scenes to complete before the first book is finished. The additional content really fleshes out the characters used and even introduces more. Some also play an indirect part in book six. There is legitimate character growth over time, and for those who have read the earlier version of the story, the timeline has been condensed considerably. The first edit improved the poetry in the book and the narration, but now the events themselves are less sporadic and include a hefty dose of much-needed dialogue.
Overall, the beginning story should be more enjoyable. I am hoping my improvements to the second book will be just as good, though it will no doubt be challenging because of the story structure. One of the time skips will be tricky to maneuver around, and when the fate of a particular character is known ahead of time, it can be difficult to make their actions appear relevant or engaging. The first story should be complete in a few days, and the second will likely take a few more weeks. After that, everything is slated to be republished.
At the moment, I have just two more scenes to complete before the first book is finished. The additional content really fleshes out the characters used and even introduces more. Some also play an indirect part in book six. There is legitimate character growth over time, and for those who have read the earlier version of the story, the timeline has been condensed considerably. The first edit improved the poetry in the book and the narration, but now the events themselves are less sporadic and include a hefty dose of much-needed dialogue.
Overall, the beginning story should be more enjoyable. I am hoping my improvements to the second book will be just as good, though it will no doubt be challenging because of the story structure. One of the time skips will be tricky to maneuver around, and when the fate of a particular character is known ahead of time, it can be difficult to make their actions appear relevant or engaging. The first story should be complete in a few days, and the second will likely take a few more weeks. After that, everything is slated to be republished.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
The Series is Complete (But Not Published)
A few weeks ago, I successfully completed the novel that ends the series The Epic of Old. It has gone through proofreading, and I am likely going to make one last round of editing to tweak certain details in the story. While that is going on, I have also been editing the five other books in the series. In some cases, I have just updated the formatting, but the first two short stories have basically been rewritten. The events presented haven't really changed much, but there is more content that adds a bit more detail about what is happening. There are also some poems that I completely changed just to make them sound better. Why was this necessary?
The first book started as a way to connect separate poems into a somewhat cohesive story, and they were made when I first started writing poetry several years ago just after college. I experimented a lot in free verse (which is hard to do well), and some of the results just weren't up to par compared to what I can make now. Making adjustments to those first poems can be problematic, because it alters the original source of the material. In fact, it is from so long ago that I cannot even remember what information or emotion I was intending to portray in some of the lines. A good example was The Philosopher's Plea in book two. It had a sporadic rhyming scheme, introduced elements of fantasy that were unnecessary, such as mermaids and trolls, and simply had lines that droned on near the end. So I altered it by adding a simple AABB rhyming scheme, and then organized it so that the meter increased by one syllable every two lines. At a glance, it doesn't look too different, but it reads far better. It also incorporates real themes that the character would actually discuss.
Overall, I need to make sure the first group of stories are good enough to get people interested in the later books (without completely altering them), which I am actually more proud of having written. I think book six is the best one I've made so far. There is a far bigger focus on individual characters. The setting does not change drastically. All of the events happen within two months compared to several years in many of the other books. There is a clear main character. And most importantly, there is finally more showing than telling. A big problem with the stories is that the narration bits are too lengthy, creating info dumps that many readers probably don't care about. Perhaps it's not as big of an issue as I think it is, given how short some of the stories are and how different they look compared to similar narratives, but it is still an issue I am working on fixing.
Some of the formatting issues I am fixing are mainly things of consistency. I had to indent some things differently. Some sections didn't use quotation marks correctly. The chapter heading for every book is changing. There are more sections in the stories that actually read like normal novels, at least where dialogue is concerned, but I am not ditching the old style I used. It is helpful to illustrate a new shift in time or location, especially when not a lot of action is occurring. Also, I noticed that the name of the fantasy planet (Patmos) was only introduced in book three, so I had to sprinkle that in books one and two. I also made it more clear that Hlendvlask was one particular continent and not the world itself. Then, there was also the issue of the appendices at the end of book three. This section originally had some information about the series that I wanted to share with the reader to help book 3 make more sense, but it revealed a bit more than necessary, especially concerning what the gods were capable of and what predicament they were in. When I completed book 4, most of the section got cut, but I still had to include the info about the calendar system. This information recently got condensed and moved to the end of book one as an addendum.
I have no idea when I am going to republish all of the stories (along with publishing book 6), but I know I am doing them all at once. I currently just have the last two stories to look through again, so I estimate that it will all be done in another week. Only time will tell. So what is the plan after all of that is done? Well, I'm still working on the map, which is a fun little side project, but I also have more short stories planned, perhaps approaching the length of the first two books. It would be a series of short stories with a separate series title than the Epic of Old, but I have to make it known that they are from the same universe. They would also need to probably be read after the original series, because these stories would contain certain spoilers that would ruin some of the things revealed in book six. Yet it is a project definitely worth pursuing, because the ideas and events behind these stories are interesting enough to write about. They are about as good as the same idea that forced me to complete book six, which was the longest thing I have ever written.
Once I am ready to get everything published, I will announce it here. It shouldn't be too long now.
The first book started as a way to connect separate poems into a somewhat cohesive story, and they were made when I first started writing poetry several years ago just after college. I experimented a lot in free verse (which is hard to do well), and some of the results just weren't up to par compared to what I can make now. Making adjustments to those first poems can be problematic, because it alters the original source of the material. In fact, it is from so long ago that I cannot even remember what information or emotion I was intending to portray in some of the lines. A good example was The Philosopher's Plea in book two. It had a sporadic rhyming scheme, introduced elements of fantasy that were unnecessary, such as mermaids and trolls, and simply had lines that droned on near the end. So I altered it by adding a simple AABB rhyming scheme, and then organized it so that the meter increased by one syllable every two lines. At a glance, it doesn't look too different, but it reads far better. It also incorporates real themes that the character would actually discuss.
Overall, I need to make sure the first group of stories are good enough to get people interested in the later books (without completely altering them), which I am actually more proud of having written. I think book six is the best one I've made so far. There is a far bigger focus on individual characters. The setting does not change drastically. All of the events happen within two months compared to several years in many of the other books. There is a clear main character. And most importantly, there is finally more showing than telling. A big problem with the stories is that the narration bits are too lengthy, creating info dumps that many readers probably don't care about. Perhaps it's not as big of an issue as I think it is, given how short some of the stories are and how different they look compared to similar narratives, but it is still an issue I am working on fixing.
Some of the formatting issues I am fixing are mainly things of consistency. I had to indent some things differently. Some sections didn't use quotation marks correctly. The chapter heading for every book is changing. There are more sections in the stories that actually read like normal novels, at least where dialogue is concerned, but I am not ditching the old style I used. It is helpful to illustrate a new shift in time or location, especially when not a lot of action is occurring. Also, I noticed that the name of the fantasy planet (Patmos) was only introduced in book three, so I had to sprinkle that in books one and two. I also made it more clear that Hlendvlask was one particular continent and not the world itself. Then, there was also the issue of the appendices at the end of book three. This section originally had some information about the series that I wanted to share with the reader to help book 3 make more sense, but it revealed a bit more than necessary, especially concerning what the gods were capable of and what predicament they were in. When I completed book 4, most of the section got cut, but I still had to include the info about the calendar system. This information recently got condensed and moved to the end of book one as an addendum.
I have no idea when I am going to republish all of the stories (along with publishing book 6), but I know I am doing them all at once. I currently just have the last two stories to look through again, so I estimate that it will all be done in another week. Only time will tell. So what is the plan after all of that is done? Well, I'm still working on the map, which is a fun little side project, but I also have more short stories planned, perhaps approaching the length of the first two books. It would be a series of short stories with a separate series title than the Epic of Old, but I have to make it known that they are from the same universe. They would also need to probably be read after the original series, because these stories would contain certain spoilers that would ruin some of the things revealed in book six. Yet it is a project definitely worth pursuing, because the ideas and events behind these stories are interesting enough to write about. They are about as good as the same idea that forced me to complete book six, which was the longest thing I have ever written.
Once I am ready to get everything published, I will announce it here. It shouldn't be too long now.
Monday, October 10, 2016
Huge Updates, New Book and Map
Work on the last book is coming along amazingly well. I'm on the
offensive and getting around 1,000 words done a day. Sometimes I do
more. Book VI is already over 30,000 words and may end up being as long
as the book before it. I am not sure yet. The goal is to get this story
done ASAP (while still being good), so I will have time to rewrite the
first two stories. I want to add more content to them and reformat them
so they fit better with the other books. I'm hoping I can double the
size of each of them, but there is no telling what improvements will be
made until I get there.
What is different about the last book? Poetry is sprinkled in like always, but never takes center stage. It is sprinkled, like snippets of dreams the reader can piece together. There is a far bigger emphasis on character dialogue and character relationships. Most activities are occur in one location, and are seen through the main character's eyes. There are some larger elements thrown in here and there, but for the most part it is about the experiences of one person and how they impact a much larger group. Because of this new angle, the book will slowly build up its mystery elements as well as the potential threats until the book hits several climaxes. This will present the definite end of the story, though a few side stories might pop up here and there within the large timeline.
What else is new? A better map. I've managed to quadruple the pixel size, meaning I can add so much more detail to it. The only problem is that if I do not touch up the whole thing, it will not look right. The smaller squares won't mesh with the larger ones and it will be obvious that it isn't done. At the very least, it will be a nice side project. Beaches will be more realistic along with mountains. Forests and plains will be better distributed, and rivers will look far smaller. A lot of big changes ahead on that front, but no worries, I still have the old version of the map saved.
Looks like I never even had a post stating Book V was done. Hmm.
What is different about the last book? Poetry is sprinkled in like always, but never takes center stage. It is sprinkled, like snippets of dreams the reader can piece together. There is a far bigger emphasis on character dialogue and character relationships. Most activities are occur in one location, and are seen through the main character's eyes. There are some larger elements thrown in here and there, but for the most part it is about the experiences of one person and how they impact a much larger group. Because of this new angle, the book will slowly build up its mystery elements as well as the potential threats until the book hits several climaxes. This will present the definite end of the story, though a few side stories might pop up here and there within the large timeline.
What else is new? A better map. I've managed to quadruple the pixel size, meaning I can add so much more detail to it. The only problem is that if I do not touch up the whole thing, it will not look right. The smaller squares won't mesh with the larger ones and it will be obvious that it isn't done. At the very least, it will be a nice side project. Beaches will be more realistic along with mountains. Forests and plains will be better distributed, and rivers will look far smaller. A lot of big changes ahead on that front, but no worries, I still have the old version of the map saved.
Looks like I never even had a post stating Book V was done. Hmm.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
The New World Map
Progress on the next book has slowed considerably because of work and many other distractions. I decided to get this map finished before I really got back into the writing habit. It seems I am almost done with chapter two, with bits being added to all of the other chapters as well, but I know I could have had the book done by now if a dedicated effort was put forth.
Nevertheless, my map is nearly complete. I was able to greatly improved how the map looked by doubling the number of colors it used, and have increased the shades of certain areas, such as deserts, snow and water. I'm still working on improving the ocean floor so that it mimics the details of our own oceans, with signs of plate tectonics. The continents have not been updated much because a version of the map is already placed on the cover of the fourth book, but there have been many other things to edit. Forests especially may see changes, and I still need to reduce the overall height of the map, meaning I need to increase the amount of ice around the south pole.
Below are two different perspectives:
Nevertheless, my map is nearly complete. I was able to greatly improved how the map looked by doubling the number of colors it used, and have increased the shades of certain areas, such as deserts, snow and water. I'm still working on improving the ocean floor so that it mimics the details of our own oceans, with signs of plate tectonics. The continents have not been updated much because a version of the map is already placed on the cover of the fourth book, but there have been many other things to edit. Forests especially may see changes, and I still need to reduce the overall height of the map, meaning I need to increase the amount of ice around the south pole.
Below are two different perspectives:
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Gone and Back Again
I have been on a writing hiatus for a few weeks now, getting a bit of a break from the process and focusing on other responsibilities and projects. I did finish chapter one before this break, and I have now begun the writing for chapter two. I am also working hard on translating the world map to its new medium, which will then greatly speed up the various edits I need to make, including the making of a 3D globe of the world.
I want to say that I am improving as a writer as I get closer to finishing the series. At the very least, my writing style has changed from a light story that connected some poetry I wrote in my spare time, to a more fleshed out example of fiction with a detailed world. As I plan out the final books, I know that things will only get better and better. The pieces are in place for one epic ride. I just need to take my time in putting those pieces together for the reader. More details to come...
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