Paksworld

The book has moved from the backstretch, where it was interfered with by sprinter-bred short story attempts, and is now on the turn toward home, though I can’t claim “homestretch” just yet.   It’s running smoothly at this point–10,000 words this past week, which is quite nice (the 3000 word day made my fingers hurt; I’m pretty much limited to 2000 on the day after day thing.)   I’m a little over 89,000 words right now, and it will reach 90,000 words today.   Getting that short story concern out of my mind really helped.   I can now hold the existing story (and what I know or surmise about the part that’s not written down yet)  in my head and see better where it wants to go, like a jockey who’s finally worked a horse out of a bad pocket and has open track in front.    The story-horse is on the bit, eager to get to the finish line.

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Sometimes when I agree to write a story for an anthology, I get the idea quickly, and the story rolls right out.  Novels don’t require “ideas”–they require a character who wants their story told.  But short stories for anthologies require an idea, because nearly always the anthology comes with a set of requirements: length and the date it should be turned in, but also thematic elements or tone or both that require coming up with  story that fits  it all in neatly.   Read the rest of this entry »

So tonight the ms. stands at 70,000+ words.   This is after chunks removed and chunks added over the past few weeks.   Front end writing toward the end, and backfilling gaps both.  More chunks remain to be removed, but I’m waiting on the larger ones until I’m closer to the end.   There’s quite a bit of back-filling to be done; some of the writing has been fairly skeletal…the skeleton needs muscle, tendons, skin, and clothing.   Aiming at a finished length of ~120,000, which means 50,000 to do between now and the end of August.  Doable as so much is fleshing out the scenes and the transitions between scenes  (drat–I just has an opossum on the window-screen beside me.  Young one, but well past the cute stage.)  The story itself is moving well into the final stages.

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I have been struggling for some time with a lesser bad guy who is one of those characters you wish would make better choices–and you give him chances to make them–but he (or she, as in Barranyi in the DEED) just will not do it.  Barra’s reasons were mostly pride, arrogance, resentment…she was furious that Paks had a chance to be a paladin and the gods didn’t choose *her*.  Basically, Cain’s dilemma…how come Abel’s sacrifice was accepted?   This one has very different motivations. Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday morning I head off for the first convention of the season, Keycon in Winnipeg.  My convention seasons have shortened, due to age and LifeStuff, so I’m especially happy this year to be able to make an international trip after having to cancel plans for LonCon.

I won’t be back until the following Wednesday.  I am going computer-free this time, due to other LifeStuff involving electronics and lack of time to deal with complications.  An old-fashioned notebook will go with me–it often sparks my writing anyway–and so will yarn and knitting needles.   Read the rest of this entry »

NewBook is now over the hump in rough draft, having crossed the 60,000 word midpoint for this book.   Its first 40,000 words or so have been reworked to improve characterization (which will lead to smoother progress later on. )   It’s unusual for me to have the mid-book slow-down due to characterization problems, but so it was this time.  I expect another slow-down period transitioning over the 2/3 to 3/4 finished problem area, but–if I fixed the characterization problems–that one will be plot related and usually means a mistake made between now and then.

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I received in today’s mail a copy of the POD edition, which has a large PROOF on its last page, and some notes already attached saying “I’ve got this one, go find another one to fix.”    But close, yes.  And a quite attractive paperback, IMO.  Of course I found things that many goings over by many eyes did not catch before this (my proofreading on the screen is not as good as my proofreading on paper!)  but so far I consider them minor.   The front looks about the same on paper as on the screen; the back cover has the same border, the harp & tree centered toward the top, and a blurb.  Plus the very un-archaic-looking ISBN barcoding, but you can’t have everything unless bind it yourself.

Bluebonnets are really coming on now, and of course the rest of the week will be about church music, getting to rehearsals and services, and not losing the theology for the music minutiae.  Next week a houseguest.   And writing.   I am not ready for any of this stuff.

There are days I wish I were Granny Weatherwax and think of knitting stockings like that, but my present form is more that of Nanny Ogg, who in other ways I don’t much resemble.  Yet.  Anyway:  Stuff has been going on, of several forms and various levels, and you folk have been neglected.  My apologies.  The neglect, or partial neglect, will probably continue at least another two weeks.  Things that Ought to Have Been Done have Not Been Done because things that Ought Not to Have Been Done were done (partly by others, partly by me) and got in the way of the Ought to Have Been Done ones.

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We’ll start with the heads-up.   A few weeks from now there’ll be a podcast up on Gamer’s Tavern, in which we have a discussion of the Deed of Paksenarrion and its connections to RPGs, and other stuff.   I don’t know the date yet, but will post it on Twitter when they tell me.

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First, for those wishing for a print form of DEEDS OF HONOR.   A POD version will appear.  I don’t know when yet, or have the details, but sales were good enough in the first couple of weeks of the e-book to trigger the “How would you feel about a POD version?” question from the powers that be.  And I said “Sure, fine, let’s do it.”    More when I know more.

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