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ID 17221332 | Dreamstime.com |
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Forgotten Worlds - filling in holes
I just had a HUGE answer of the Forgotten Worlds series explode into creation. I've been stumped about something about the series for a while to reconcile it with certain aspects of Christian faith. I was on the treadmill (walking) and the spark of inspiration created a whole explanation to completely solve the issue. (Walking, showering, driving--those three activities always produce the biggest creative explosions.) I eliminated a confounding issue that could have meant extraordinary mental gymnastics to explain a gaping plot hole.
And it is absolutely fitting for this series. It couldn't have been more perfect!
This is the part of writing that I love. Those pieces of a puzzle that one has to piece together for the bigger picture to make sense. It happens many times throughout the course of a book and a series, especially one like Forgotten Worlds.
It happened back around books 4-5, and now this piece will reconcile something big and fits perfectly in the context of the series and previous parts of the Starfire Angels series. It's really coming together so neat and tidy. I'm giddy with excitement over this.
It only took how long for the idea to spark? Everything in the right time. The best part is that it's perfectly logical in this story and lets me do what I've always wanted Starfire Angels to do as a Christian science fiction series.
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Progress on Book 16... and other publishing updates
Book 16:
I have been working on Book 16, although not making the progress I would like.
Changing my original outline for the book kind of threw some kinks in my creative process. I had an outline for an idea but decided that I needed to fill in some gaps of the story and went a different route to attaining a similar outcome.
Book 16 is about Seska's past, but I didn't want to reveal it in a similar manner that I did for L'Ni in Book 13. Rather, I thought that was too lazy since I had done that walk through a whole background already, and I like these stories to each stand out. So, I developed a different idea for revealing more about her. Writing ebbed and flowed as the ideas came. Then I took some time to evaluate it.
Unfortunately, I don't do well with writing when I feel like I have to attain a goal instead of writing a story. And that happens as a series grows. Complexities arise because the reader is now (as am I) familiar with characters and some of their experiences, so staying true to that gets more complicated. I can't just make up stuff but have to keep in mind what has been revealed; and I worry about what I don't remember, because there's so much to remember at this point and not every little detail is in my series wiki document.
I had to answer some questions to figure this out, such as what the purpose of the story in the series was--every book has to be leading to something important in the series--and also what is the climax of this story and the important characters. What do I want to reveal with this? These required some thinking time and led to other questions, most importantly of which is how to increase the tension, but I resolved enough to continue writing.
I also had to be able to inject some action into the story and reveal something about the changing relationships among the characters.
And that was another question--is it time for a new character or for something to happen to one of the existing characters?
These are just a few of the thoughts that go through my mind in continuing this series. Growth and change are always important or the story and/or series becomes stagnant. I love my characters, but they can't always get out of a situation without scars and sometimes they can't always get out of a situation alive.
Right now, I'm about 1/3 to my target finishing length with this one, and the pieces are coming together. The politics of this universe are about to get more complicated in the war against the Issan. Will the good guys have sufficient support to take out all the Issan installations in time?
In the meantime, Books 1-13 are available digitally from major retailers. I'm working on getting them out in paperback. Individual hardcovers would be too expensive, but I will have more hardcover omnibus editions, although those will be from Barnes and Noble.
Omnibus collections:
I have been fighting with printer services to create hardcover omnibus editions (Forgotten Worlds Collection 1 (Book 1-5) & Collection 2 (Books 6-10)). There are some issues with them that I seem to have found at every turn of creating the print books. However, in the process, I've also learned. The hardcovers are only available from barnesandnoble.com. Collection 1 is available now. Collection 2 is coming and should have been ready a few months ago, but BN Press's service has been a bit of a nightmare. Nevertheless, it's the best option I have for hardcovers of these doorstopper sizes. I'm glad the books are shorter length individually, but I probably should have planned for 4-book collections instead of 5-book collections.
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| CLICK IMAGE TO PURCHASE |
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| FORTHCOMING IN PRINT |
And as you might have seen in a previous post, these are both on sale as paperbacks from Amazon. (see also the promo below)
Individual paperback books:
I am working on these. The first two Forgotten Worlds books are now available as paperbacks and I've submitted the files for VotC. I'll work on a book 4 -- IN DARKNESS, LIGHT -- paperback soon. I am pacing these because of the time and cost of setting them up. I looked into hardcovers, but the price of hardcovers for readers is not worthwhile. For the price of two individual hardcovers you could buy a 5-book omnibus. The hardcover omnibus is also cheaper than the individual paperbacks, but not by much.
Paperback prices:
A NEW BEGINNING... $8.99
THE RULE OF YONDER... $9.99
VAULT OF THE CELESTIALS... $9.99 (coming soon)
When I get these caught up, I'll start on the Dark Angel Chronicles books.
That's all for now.
Have a good weekend!
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| Click image to purchase Collection 1 on Amazon |
Monday, December 5, 2022
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