Busy week

The editing on Book 20 slowed a bit with an unexpected early finishing of the big project.

I still can't say what that other special big project is. It's gone into the beta testing and tweaking stage. I've selected a few trusted individuals to provide their feedback.

But now that it's to this point, I can switch gears to focusing on editing again. I have a week and a half to make my goal. I'll be digging in to finish that and get Book 20 published.

It'll be a while yet before the big project is ready for a public announcement, but it's going to be great.

Stay tuned!

progress on the projects

I am close to getting sick of fresh garden peas. Yes, even for those of us who love fresh peas, we can reach our saturation point.

Around a year ago, I had a lot of peas put away in our freezer, along with some other frozen foods from our garden... until the door of the upright freezer wasn't shut properly and stayed open overnight. Everything thawed. I discovered that mess the next morning when going into the garage to head to work. We lost a LOT of work and food last year, including all the peas I had picked and shelled and measured and bagged.

I've been waiting to restock that. This year, I planted different peas, but they're good and they are indeed mildew resistant. I had always been losing my 5-6 ft. peas (we give them fences to climb) by this time. I was low on those, so this year, I ordered new peas from Gurney's, and they were sold as mildew-resistant. They are. They're short, however, only 24-30" tall. But, boy, do they produce! Not as much as the other plants, but they haven't stopped, so I've been able to refill what was lost.

We also learned from that loss two things: 1) Don't put the kids' preferred foods in the upright freezer, and 2) put a lock/latch on the door to make sure it can't open. Hubby put a child safety lock on the upright, so it's not a locking lock but a safety lock to keep little kids out of a fridge. When we secure it each time we close the door, we can be sure that door will stay shut.

And, we learned that putting the bagged frozen garden produce into large, stackable Rubbermaid containers help us make a lot better use of the space in the upright freezer. The upright is great for being able to see everything and not have to dig around, but it does have that door-closing issue. Putting bags into bins really helps to keep it organized. AND, if it ever does have a great meltdown again, that will reduce the mess!

Writing Update

I've been editing Book 20 and it's going well. I overcame the whole extreme fatigue issue and really gained a good focus for editing again. It's going well and I still have two weeks until the end of this month. I won't say anything, because I always tend to have something go wrong that delays publication. I'll just keep my eye on the target while giving it the attention to detail that readers deserve.

And once this is published, I'll get into writing Book 23. I can't believe I'll be in the final three!

Other 

The other project is jumping ahead. The development is nearly done and all the little pieces are settling into place very well. There's still a refinement stage, but the major part is done. And I already see how this could expand and grow. It could turn into a full-time job, and it could also turn a profit; but for now, it will start small. I hope to make a public announcement by the end of September. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

quick update

I need to get to bed, but before I do, I want to leave a quick update on the status of Book 20 editing.

I've started the second round of edits, but already in the first round had added 3,000 words. I'll be more into the editing mode this round. I expect more detailed edits of rearranging things and refining them in big ways. Right now, the story is around 46,000 words.

After this next round, I expect two more. Hopefully not a fifth. Book 19's editing about soured me on editing. That was six or seven rounds and I couldn't have done any more, but it was for the best.

Book 20 shouldn't need that much, but the first round was great. I enjoyed getting back to review pieces of the lives of Zaer and Shen after so much time away.

The goal is to finish by the end of August. Barring any interruptions like July pulled, that is very likely.

And work on the new non-writing project has begun. It'll take a month or two to be ready, but that's not as important as the writing.

In the meantime, the description for Book 20 is now posted:

When a Starfire shard calls out to Nya in desperation, she immediately transports the Iludrin to a world where they discover game hunters.

Afraid that the hunters are there for the Keepers, Nya and L'Ni, with an escort of Altorin, are taken to the surface by Zaer and Shen on the Cartegos. There, they find one of the small hunter vessels, but no one is present. While the hunters are away, Shen has an idea to disable it. However, when one of the local creatures attacks, the ship, with Shen on it, crashes over a cliff into the sea and sinks beneath the surface.

The hunters aren't alone, however. Zaer and the others are forced to escape the world with the shard, but what arrives reveals that the creatures of that world were not the only ones being hunted.

Thanks for reading!

Book 20 is coming soon!

Exciting updates

I'm finishing up the final details of Book 22. I "finished" the final stinger scene but have a few details that I've thought of adding and just need to figure out how to fit them in so they best fit the story. It's sort of a developmental edit before I put it aside to work on Book 20.

I've also been reading through the earlier books of the series a chapter at a time (while on the treadmill) and am into book 13. SMH... Oy! I hate finding plot holes. I found a big one, sort of. It looks big to me now but I had kind of spackled it over at the time. It doesn't appear so smooth now, though, so I'm working on how to adjust that with as minimal explanation as possible. I think I have the right idea. It doesn't need much, but it needs something. At least it's not a big oops like I found in Book 6.

And for the final three books, I have also been working out those plots. The surprise development that came about at the end of Book 22 gave me a tool for the final book, so I'm keeping that.

Because of the extra attention to details for the final books of this series and wanting to get some of the details down now, I'll be pushing the release of book 20 into August. 

It will be worth the wait when I take my time and plug in the details for the series ending.

Plus I will have some exciting news for readers and authors of indie SFF in the upcoming months. 😁 I'm putting something together that I've wanted to do for at least a couple of years, but the idea was never quite right and needed time to mature. That idea finally blossomed this past month (like my new roses) and everything is coming together. Say prayers that this is God's will to happen, because I'll be investing a lot of my own money to get started (can't quit the day job, not that I was going to, but, well... you get the idea). It has the potential to really grow into a nice little side business, hopefully by the time I finish the Forgotten Worlds series.

Thanks for reading!

And stay tuned for more details to come!

the end is close

Recently, I was sick (writing delays) and then had an idea for something I had been wanting to do for a few years, but now I have a better plan to make it happen--a small side business that could eventually grow into something more. Those have caused some delay in finishing Book 22 by taking my focus off it.

Anyway, aside from the fact that Book 22 is around 51,500 words and very close to being done, it's not getting quite done. There are some scenes I want to write before finishing this stinger scene. (Yes, the final scene in the works, so VERY close to the end!) I can't quite get myself to finish the stinger scene until I write out some of the other scenes, not all of which will be in Book 22.

Rather, I want to write these scenes related to Book 22 to insert into Book 23 or 24, likely as flashbacks. Book 22 is at the point that there are important details that don't fit into the main plot but would be good to include somewhere. I had an idea like this earlier in the series and by the time I would have implemented it, I no longer had the interest, although the replacement turned out for the better. This is different, however, so I'm not making that mistake again.

I've also been considering the final three books and how I want to set up the action that needs to take place. The final book will be the culmination of all of the series in facing off against the bad guys with some huge revelations and major action. Of course, some revelations about the Paxons and Issan will finally come to light in these last books for the conclusion to be a satisfying ending.

There are some changes yet to come that may or may not be expected, depending on how discerning of a reader one may be, although something in Book 22's ending did surprise me. It fits and is consistent with the canon established in the original Starfire Angels series, although I could just as well cut it out and it never happened. It adds a certain full-circle-ness to one aspect of the series, though.

Anyway, that's where things are. What I write now to use in the last three books is less writing to do then, although that doesn't mean they wouldn't be rewritten. It just means I have something ready to use.

Essentially Book 22 is done, but I'm pre-writing some scenes for the last three books before getting into editing Book 20. I want to get the ending just right.

Thanks for reading.

Rosebuds

I've had a lot on my mind lately, and it's a mixed bag of emotions.

Family matters:

It's been rough for us since Friday evening. My father-in-law (and I love him and my mother-in-law dearly) is dying. Since he was checked into the hospital Friday, he's lasted longer than originally expected, but we know there will be a funeral very soon. I get teary thinking of the situation. I've known my in-laws for nearly twenty-five years; although at that early stage they were only potential in-laws since hubby and I weren't yet even engaged at that point. They accepted me readily and have always been welcoming. FIL was a farmer most of his life and always had a lot of advice about any construction projects for the home or for gardening issues. He loved to woodwork, and we have some of his handy and/or decorative projects, including a paper towel dispenser attached under the kitchen cabinets and stained to match the color perfectly.

It's been difficult and I try to stay busy or I get choked up like the sisters-in-law. It must be a woman thing. Hubby and his brother are keeping it together, although so is my mother-in-law, but she's had a long time to prepare for this. It wasn't unexpected, but it did progress suddenly quite fast.

Writing:

I have been getting writing done and am down to the final two scenes now of the story. Yay! The story came together perfectly with an ending that ties into the opening fun scene but is very serious by the end incident. There's a discovery that will add to understanding the Issan a bit more, and the Inari get more involved, especially since one of the discoveries is an abandoned, hidden Inari outpost similar to Kurtuz but set up so that it has remained undisturbed. It wasn't intended to be abandoned and bears a grim reason.

The book is currently 47K words, so past the point I thought I'd finish. Now, I'm guessing it'll be closer to 50K words in the first draft. The writing is somewhat keeping my mind off of FIL.

Progress is being made towards the final series ending.

Roses:

And just as my FIL is dying, my first rosebud is opening. I don't doubt he would have enjoyed seeing this, being the gardener that he was. I planted three bushes in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Trinity (She is the child of the Father, spouse of the Holy Spirit, and mother of God the Son).

The first plant with buds developed three buds, which is perfect. All three buds are developing and all three plants are taking off with leaves; two plants actually have buds, including the one now blooming. The first one started budding within a week of being transplanted, which is miraculous, but I don't doubt Our Lady of the Rosary had something to do with that.

That's my life right now. I am writing, and it's helping me to take my mind off the death of someone special.

God bless you and your loved ones! Treasure every moment.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Independence Day!

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." - 2 Corinthians 3:17

This is my single favorite Bible quote. It encompasses everything about the faith and true freedom--from sin, from corruption, from worry about this world. In the Spirit of the Lord is a true sense of freedom like nothing else you can imagine, but it requires obedience to God. The best part is that, when you love God fully, you want to obey every edict He has set-- to please Him--and all of that is upheld in the fullness of the truth. You will only find true freedom by strict obedience and humility to God.

But... Happy U.S. Independence Day! It is still a great worldly cause to be independent of corrupt governments like what America suffered under British rule when it was founded. Many of our country's founders were Christians (read this tidbit about George Washington) and even stated that our Constitution only works in a society based on faith in God. It only fails when we kick God out of society. Those who are disappointed in this country need God more than anyone, which fits perfectly with 2 Corinthians 3:17.

Writing:

In writing updates, I had some setbacks. I really need to quit posting when I get close to finishing. It never fails that something comes up and I can't get into writing the way I should. My stage of life and chronic illnesses love to pull the rug out from my plans, along with other distractions.

Writing slowed right after my last update but in a good spot. I'm at 43K words on Book 22, but the climax got a bit more complicated than I had anticipated. I also wanted to be sure no plot holes or inconsistencies existed, so that meant a bit different action than I was expecting. I'm hoping that only about three or four more scenes are left, and those will be somewhat short as events are wrapping up. Maybe this weekend I can finish so I can go on to editing Book 20 so that can be published soon.

Horse time:

If you think writing is bad, that's nothing compared to my horse. Either we have heat, smoke, or rain for weather OR the weather is perfect but I don't have the time or don't feel good. I made it out to see Buddy recently, after three weeks away. But after nearly ten years together, I called his name and his head lifted and he looked; no other horse looked. He knows the sound of my voice. That makes me think of the gospel quote of Jesus - “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" The way Buddy responds in hearing my voice, even after some time away, gives me a different perspective of what Our Lord said. That's a discussion for another time, though.

The good thing is that Buddy is at a boarding facility in a pasture with other geldings. He doesn't have any special supplement, health, or training needs. He can be a pasture pet. Besides, someone would say something if he had a problem, but he's a pretty durable, stocky guy with very little athletic ability, which is what I love best about him.

Buddy is perfect for my age. He doesn't buck or rear. At worst, he spooks, but I've learned how to minimize that risk. I give him a calming supplement first thing before I do anything else, so it has time to work into his system. I've learned that a pad that doesn't press on his withers alleviates some tension for him (by giving him more comfort). And I found a sort of horse Tums from Chewy that sooths any stomach issues like ulcers, at least temporarily. Pain will make any horse more sensitive, especially ulcers.

When I was out this past Saturday, I rode him. I hadn't ridden in about two months, but with him, it doesn't matter. He's still just as good as the last time. It had stormed the night before (quite a night with major natural fireworks show, hail, and something like 13 tornadoes that mostly hit in fields and pastures or didn't touch down; we had rotating clouds above our house, but I was praying the Rosary the whole time and nothing hit us or the boarding facility). What rain fell at the boarding facility left the outdoor arenas wet, so I rode in the grass, not going too far down the road. Buddy is most comfortable when he can see his herd or at least horses he knows, and I didn't have anyone else to ride with. It was fun and light.

Hopefully the gaps between don't go as long from this point on, but we'll see how summer goes.

That's it for now.

Have a wonderful July 4 holiday, U.S.A.!

Almost there...

Book 22 of Forgotten Worlds is nearly finished.

I am at the climax and have just a couple of chapters to go, maybe 5K words max. It's currently at 40K, the minimum for novel length, so this is perfect. It will be right in the target length that I set for these books. Some have grown longer, but most are around 45-50K words in length.

This is just the first draft, so the word count will change a bit, and I'm guesstimating on the final word count of the first draft as it is. If I can get 1000 words/day in for the rest of the month, I'll be right around hitting my goal of finishing by the end of June. Then, I'll jump into editing Book 20, DARKEST DEPTHS and aim to publish that by the end of July, a bit over four months after Book 19 was released.

I've had some issues with writing Book 22, but those were resolved with amazing insights. It turned into another great addition to this series, although I notice L'NI kind of taking over. It makes sense, given his involvement with Nya and his past as one of the enemy, but Nya kind of took a side seat to his presence. She still gets her main story, however.

After I finish this book, the work will only get more difficult--putting it all together for a series finale that makes the wait and dedication to reading it all completely satisfying. The final three books will be the toughest to plan out and write. I know the ending. I just am not quite sure of the details to get there, but that's not unusual. I'll figure it out.

It's been quite a journey writing this series and even more fun re-reading it all, but in another year or a bit more (depending on the lengths of the final three books and the planning and issues that might come up in the first drafts), I'll be done with writing Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. The final few books will see plenty of editing before they're ready. With Book 25, it's done, and I have the title for that. The two before that, I don't know yet.

I can't believe I'm so close to finishing. This has been a HUGE project for me. When I started writing, I never planned a series, and certainly never one like this; but readers asked for more in the Starfire Angels universe, and I loved what I had created, so I continued with it. It has become something I never would have thought possible but a project that I've loved for over seventeen years so far, since the first spark hit me for an angel story like none other at the time. By the time I'm done, it'll be a good chunk of my life devoted to this universe.

Lastly, and back to the update, I want to see if I can do something better for the cover image of Book 22. The more I look at it, the less happy I am with how that image turned out. The general theme is good, but the overall style of the ruins, not so much.

So, that's what's coming up. I'm excited to finish this and present Book 20 to you when it's ready.

Thanks for reading!

writer's block unlocked

I was stuck, stuck, STUCK! As if I'd fallen into quicksand and was only sinking further. The more I tried to walk through it, the deeper I sank.

I could not do a thing of what I had expected... for a week! My mind was completely at a halt. And I had been doing so well with the writing on Book 22 up to that point.

A couple of days ago, I finally escaped.

I realized I needed a different POV scene. I kind of knew, but I didn't know how.

The answer only came after lots of prayer and my scheduled adoration time. I had been so completely blocked in writing that I said to the Lord (interiorly) in front of the Blessed Sacrament--paraphrasing--if you want me to write this to serve you, I need you to make it clear that it's your will, not just mine. (I know that anything promoting sin (i.e. deeply romantic or sexy scenes or gratuitous violence, occult, etc.) does not come from the Lord, so I do exercise discernment.)

He came through and showed me a glimpse at that time of the way out of the mire into which I had fallen. The next time I sat to write, the scene I needed just flowed out onto the document effortlessly, by the grace of God. It was an antagonist POV that added a layer to the story that I hadn't even considered!

Eucharistic adoration isn't where I go for writing ideas. It's where I've had wonderful encounters with Jesus, my guardian angel, and the Holy Spirit; but I'll take writing inspiration, if that's what He wants to give me. Generally, I'm there just to be with Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the Holy Eucharist exposed in a monstrance, and I pray for others; and sometimes He provides insights that completely blow me away. And when I bring a trouble like this to Him, and it's the right time, He gives me something I want.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that the 35K I have written on Book 22 is moving along again after a week of a complete block.

ps--All the rose shrubs are in; we planted the last one this morning. After a night of storms that downed tree limbs in the area (and some whole trees completely uprooted in town), two tornadoes in the east that took lives, hurricane-force winds, thousands without power in the north, etc., they're doing well and one is really leafing out already; the company cuts them down and takes off all the leaves for shipping and they're already growing. Also, I was praying my Rosary and the chaplet of St. Michael through the storm; and we had, at worst, some strong wind, but the corn will recover from that. As for the roses, we didn't kill them--yay! We'll see how they look in a month. I can't wait to see blossoms. 😊

the latest happenings, including writing updates

Summer is here. It came pretty fast, but everything goes faster as you get older.

Horsing around again

Life and weather, and dangerous smoke from Canadian wildfires (last weekend was awful!)... combined to keep me from seeing my horse for longer than I would have liked. Yesterday, I finally went to see him again. He's in a pasture at the boarding facility, has fresh water and friends and gets checked on, so I don't have to worry. He's a tough boy and knows how to cope.

I trimmed his hooves, which were just starting to get long but not terrible and had no chipping or cracking yet. The big issue was a bunch of ticks under his anus (and, I suspect, the same with other pasture horses who were rubbing and rubbing to no relief). My poor guy was miserably irritated by a cluster of ticks. They are terrible this year! I doused them and the rest of him in a strong bug repellant before trimming his hooves and managed to find someone who wasn't squeamish about ticks to pull them all off. Buddy was so relieved afterwards and almost fell asleep with no more flies or ticks irritating him. He enjoyed the process of having the ticks removed too; his expressions through it were hilarious. 🤣

I didn't ride him. I knew I'd be sore after trimming hooves, and riding after that long would only compound my soreness. I started feeling it last night and still feel achy today. I gave Buddy treats, love, and a hoof trimming. He enjoyed that. No work. He's a pasture pet, but he enjoys it and is good when I do get on. Since I'm not competing, we can take it easy. I hope to get out more regularly, but then stuff happens, some of it the same stuff that interferes with my writing.

Cats and crystals

I thought only male cats had issues with bladder crystals.

Nope.

We noticed our old girl (13 years) had bloody urine. Our oldest cat (male) as a kitten did that and had to be put on a special diet for a while, then grew out of it before developing other issues that required him to be on an even more restrictive diet. Boy cats have narrow urethras and are more prone to crystal issues. But female cats can have urinary crystal problems too. I didn't expect that. They just don't have the same trouble with blocked urethras that boys do. A blocked urethra happened to the other old boy (third oldest) several years ago, and he would yowl while in the litterbox and continually lick his sheath area. That clued us in then that he also had crystal issues, but he was already in later maturity when it became an issue for him.

Now, we have three cats who have to be on special food. Only the newest is free to eat anything... so far.

The good news is that our girl, for as old as she is, has healthy kidneys and no infection. None of our kitties are diabetic. They may not like the special foods for their issues, but they're healthier and happier than the alternative. A day after switching to the special foods given to the old boys, she was already getting back to being her chipper self (*sarcastically speaking* - she has tortitude in full!). She was playing again, instead of grumping around in pain. I expect this will clear up quickly for her.

We only knew she was having issues because of a couple of times that she urinated outside the litterbox and it was bloody. It was difficult to confirm which cat it was initially because we have four, but the boys have never gone outside the litterbox. Still, we had to wait until we could observe it so we wouldn't be paying for multiple cats to unnecessarily be taken to the vet.

We caught it and only had to change her diet. She's already doing better, so yay!

Light and Shadows

That is the title I'm sticking with on Book 22 of Forgotten Worlds. The word count is around 30K now and I'm hoping to finish by the end of the month, but that only holds up if life doesn't get in the way.

I still need to figure out a cover, but I know what would work. I just have to find the right image, or multiple images and compile it. It may take some Photoshop work to get something more representative of this story. 

Print Books

Since I read through Forgotten Worlds books 1-10, I fixed some things that I couldn't leave alone. (Book 6 was a mess, like the final edits didn't save or got overwritten until this update. I'm still beside myself since discovering that in the read-through this past year because the bad version was the one that had been available for a few years.)

I love reading my books, but I always see something to tweak. I started reading as a refresher and knew there would be some fixes. Updates have been uploaded for the individual ebooks. I just need to update the print files. I have the print collections for this series unavailable until the updates are ready. It hasn't been a big priority, since print doesn't usually sell for me, and I hate formatting those.

It's something I do plan to finish this summer, at least for Collections 1 and 2 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. I'm still working my way through books 11-15 when I have time. Once those are done, I'll re-release Collection 3 as well.

--------------

That's all for now. I'll post more when I have updates, like a book cover.

Thanks for reading!

Book 22 progress

Now that the grad party has been over for a while, as of two days after my last writing update, I've been making decent progress again on Book 22. Currently, I have just under 23K words, so around halfway done. Based on my last update, I've added around 7K words in twelve days, so between 500-1000 words/day. Aside from writing, a lot of what I've done was resolving the details of the plot. I had to figure out the exact premise of the threat in this before I could really go on.

I also think I have a title for it and started work today to try to find an appropriate cover, although that's not going so well. I am leaning towards a title of LIGHT AND SHADOWS.

As a summary (not the official description), a lot of pieces are coming together in this with the Paxons and the forces preparing to attack the Issan installations. Nya is nearly done with her mission, but a report has reached her of a possible treasure of the angels and they investigate. What they find is a grim mystery, and the Paxons want to share in whatever is found. Tensions mount when L'Ni leads the expedition in a joint venture with the Paxons and members begin to experience hallucinations and lose contact with their ships. When members of the team begin to lose their minds, L'Ni must work quickly to learn whatever killed those on the world before history is repeated and the treasure of the angels is lost.

This is just a preliminary summary of what I have planned for this book. The story is one of an insidious psychosis that builds from a seemingly innocuous start into something terrifying. In a way, this one will be a psychological thriller with a bit of horror premise. It's one more plot variation in this series. No two books are alike, which is what has kept me going. Trying new types of stories within the canon of this universe I've created has been an interesting challenge that has been especially satisfying for me. (The most recent release, ALL THE KING'S MEN, was a medieval fantasy type plot, for example.)

I need to figure out the cover yet for this, but for now, you have an idea of the plot I'm working on.

Thanks for reading!

When the time is right...

Book 22 had some delays from me stumbling to figure out some pieces of the plot, but that has been a good thing. As I'm trying to finish the reveals of some details I want in the series before the big finale, it's getting a bit more complicated to work those into the plots I wanted to use. I no longer get to make up new stuff to set as cannon as I did early in the series; although I had some established cannon from the previous series of the Starfire Angels universe, that was fairly easy to remember. In this case, it's a new setting and situation, so I was having fun discovering new worldbuilding (cultures, technologies, economic systems, etc.) and now have to worry about not breaking cannon. So, more complicated. It's not the end of the world, though.

Reading through the series has been helping (and I found a few things that required corrections). Generally, however, my system of writing two books ahead of what will be published has been a great system for avoiding issues.

Still, I occasionally deal with writer's block, which really just means the subconscious is aware of a problem that the conscious mind hasn't yet identified. Something wasn't working in this, but I didn't have the plot fully outlined. I knew what I wanted to reveal in Book 22 and a general situation idea, but wasn't sure how that was going to happen. So, writer's block set in. I wasn't totally not writing, but it was slow, and had me tweaking what I had written, until things started to take shape. The last few days, the writing has been taking off again as ideas have been coming. The big issues was that I had to let go of thinking things had to be one way in order to let them go the way they needed to go.

Writer's block isn't bad if you give yourself time to analyze the situation in the story and see it from a new angle. My stumbling around a bit on this gave the right idea a chance to come out when the time was right. Instead of forcing a square peg in a round hole, the square peg gets reshaped to fit into the round hole.

The word count on Book 22 is at 16K, or a bit over a third of my final goal. I'm behind where I'd like to be, but I won't force the word count on a bad idea.

Thanks for reading and for your patience!

More tension... never let a plot sputter

A good start to the story always has strong tension.

I would define tension in a story as words or actions that create an expectation that something will happen. It produces in the audience the need to know what comes next. It comes in different levels with multiple issues throughout a book.

This past week, book 22's opening was holding me up from writing past a certain point because it needed more tension. I had some tension in the story that started great but quickly faded so it wasn't enough for my expectations.

This is why in some of the books of Forgotten Worlds I start at a pre-climactic point and then go back (or back and forth) in the timeline to (usually a slow point) where the decision was made to start the characters down the path that led to that point, then the story reaches that opening scene and continues into the climax and denouement. In those cases, such story structures create two questions--how did this happen and how will the characters resolve it? This creates a strong tension immediately where it wouldn't have existed in a linear timeline. This can be confusing for the reader, but if done right works very well (such as adding a time stamp at each new scene or break so the audience knows where in the story the scene takes place).

This technique is a bit different than simple flashbacks. It incorporates flashbacks heavily but focuses on an earlier timeline to bring the story from a quiet beginning into the conflict of the present timeline. It is a true in media res start to a story; but to understand the progress, the audience needs to know the backstory to that point too and gets it in pieces as flashbacks at key points in the present timeline. I've liked it in many SF shows and sought to use it in writing some of these books. I don't like to use it all the time, or it loses its luster and becomes a crutch instead of a novelty; but I have used it in a handful of the books. (I'm expecting that Book 21 is the last book in this series to use that structure, and that one is all over the place, because it uses scenes from previous books in the series amid the structure of flashbacks explaining how L'Ni designed his plan.)

Most of the Forgotten Worlds stories have linear, normal flowing plots that open at the true beginning with some degree of flashbacks that aren't directly in the timeline of that particular story plot or other sequences (from the Starfire memories, a different type of flashback). In these stories, I need more standard writing techniques. That means a way to get reader's attention. Not every story needs to begin with a big conflict or risk of death. That gets to be too cliche. My goal is to keep the series moving while having some fun with the characters in any way I can but to introduce tension as early as I can.

By this point in the series, the readers know my style and the characters and series plot. I decided I could let my hair down a bit with the opening of Book 22... or it seems that way. I had some fun with the conflict that comes into play and the setup for the story. It creates tension, just not the life or death type that I have in many of the book openings. I hate slow stories, but other pieces of the lives of the character than fighting the bad guys all the time have developed.

The problem I had with the first few chapters was that the tension wasn't adequate for my tastes. It sputtered out. The rule I discovered in reading SF thriller books was to never let the reader completely rest on the down beats of the action. There must always be an unanswered question such as "Will it work?", "How will the characters resolve this?", "What did they mean by that?", and/or "Did that really happen?!" Always keep something unanswered and layer those so the reader is always hanging until the end.

In the opening of Book 22, events are misleadingly normal. However, by this point readers can expect in the series that what seems like a normal event won't stay that way for long. The interactions of the characters are fun and, as I mentioned in the last writing post, opened a big door for character development. But when that sputtered a bit, I felt it. It nagged at me.

This past week, I found an answer. I started rewriting a couple of scenes to bring in more conflict to increase the tension but then realized how much I would lose of the good stuff I wanted to keep. So, I moved the new conflict to a different point and added a bit to the older scene, all to increase the opening tension until I get into the big stuff, which is the only way to describe it without giving anything away. Now I feel like I have something to move the story forward again; the writing block is resolved. (This happens frequently while writing and at different stages of every book, but this time, it inspired an explanation using this particular point as an example of resolving the issue.)

Through all the writing and rewriting and organizing, the word count didn't increase as much as I would have liked, but after all of that, Book 22 is at about 11K words, or about a quarter done. I don't have a title for this one yet and probably won't until it's done. I'm waiting to see how the main theme plays out. Every book in the series gives me a few surprises.

Thanks for reading!

Off and running... Book 22

Book 22 writing is off and running. I've been dealing with some issues that slowed down the writing for the last week, but the story is going well overall. The slowdown allowed me to consider some aspects of this and give them more thought before writing. I knew the opening scene that I wanted, had come up with it while editing Book 19. It's just what I needed as a way to set up for an angle on character development in this, although originally it was just for my fun, because I wanted to write it.

Figuring out the personality of the new character (from Book 21) is a bit of a challenge. I barely know him, so it's a learning process. That will come out in this book. I intend to take advantage of his presence in this.

I also know what has to happen in this, but that opening scene gave me a springboard for great potential in character development, not only of the new character, but also for L'Ni (like he needs any more development!) and Nya.

In this book, I wanted to reveal a bit more of a particular history that was never fully explained. Not only that, but I also have a few little threads I wanted to pull together in this book. At this point in such a massive series arc, I have a lot of established canon from which to pull. I can no longer make up all new stuff but have pieces to weave from previous books into the current book. As I said, pulling together little threads. And after the jumbled mess (organized mess) that is Book 21, I decided to keep this one linear, although maybe with a couple of short flashbacks just to fill in a couple important pieces of the story.

This series is outlined, but I've left room for changes like characters coming and going. Book 18's farewell to a character wasn't planned, but I made it work and felt it had to be done. I had storylines including that character to the end, but the series arc has been adapted to the change. I also have nearly a dozen extra plots that I could have used, but I knew I didn't want to go past 25 books, so I narrowed the ideas to what I most wanted. I'm now down to the last few of the approved episode plots that need to be in the story to bring the series to a satisfying ending. I hope you've been enjoying the ones that made the cut. They get tweaked to accommodate the changes that happened before they get written. (Look up the history of JMS writing Babylon 5 episodes through all the cast issues and network threats of cancellations and how he had to adapt that as he went and you'll get an idea.)

Right now, Book 22 is currently at 8K words. It's growing, although I wish the writing flowed faster. I have the story outlined--not scene-by-scene but enough to know what needs to be done.

Once this is done, I'll go to work editing Book 20, likely for publishing around late July, give or take a couple weeks. Book 20 explores how Zaer and Shen met and touches on some of their adventures together. I love those two little besties and hope you do too.

Thanks for reading!

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Final Four

I'm not talking basketball. Besides, that's done for this year.

I'm talking the final four books of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. I can't believe it! Four more books to write and it's done. All this work, this whole journey with these characters... will be finished. I started out with ideas for 30+ possible episode plots but knew that 24-26 would be a good run (and eventually settled on 25), based on a 22-26 episode season of most TV shows from the era before streaming services. Back when we had to record on VHS. Yes, I'm that old. Actually I remember when VHS first became popular, winning out over Beta.

Yikes! How the years have gone by.

How this series has gone by! I started writing Forgotten Worlds in 2018 and released A NEW BEGINNING on April 4, 2019. I'm six years into it and about a year and a half left to go, probably two years until the last book is actually published.

The final four books yet to write.

I finished reading Book 20 & 21 to refresh what I had done with those and make any notes to address when I dig into editing them. The biggest possible issue is that I introduced a new character in Book 21. No one died this time or died and came back. (Did you see that pattern with Ann's and Alric's additions? And they both have "A" names. That's not the case this time.) This new character flipped my plans a bit.

Alric was unplanned too, actually. I just thought it was time to switch things up when he came onto the scene in Book 18. I hope no one hates me for what happened to Vel.

Anyway, this new character changes my plans for the rest of the series a little bit. I've had to consider how I could make use of him or if I need to use him at all. Spoiler alert--yes, I will use him. His addition provides an opportunity for situations I couldn't have done without him like Alric did for Book 21.

I was having trouble figuring out how to use the new character and during one of the three best places for the creative juices to flow (walking, driving, or shower), the spigot of creativity opened... in the shower. I figured out exactly what Book 22 is going to be while moving the series forward in the way I had planned but with some modifications to incorporate the new guy.

Once 22 is done, only three to go. It's not just the final four but the final countdown.

(The music is catchy, but the song actually makes no sense.)

Hang in there a little longer. It's going to be epic!

Thanks for reading!

Catching up

It's been less than two weeks since I (finally!) published All the King's Men. In the time since, I've been reading through the next two books to catch up before starting the writing of Book 22.

When I catch up on my progress, I do some editing and make notes of anything I think needs particular attention for the deep dive edits (aka developmental edits). My assessment so far is that Darkest Depths won't likely need much rewriting. However, Armor will be a beast to edit. It's a complicated back and forth story that gave me some issues in writing it and, although not as long as Book 19 (the longest of all the books in this series and one that feels like it could have been written to be twice as long, but I didn't want to get over complicated on the story). Book 21 has a complex setup of present action amid flashbacks to previous scenes in the series and some new flashbacks, as well as flashbacks to the setup, such as I used in Book 4. It's a weird hodge-podge of flashbacks and very intricate timing on those flashbacks so I don't give away the plan too soon. It's complicated, but that's why it will require some big time editing when the time comes.

For now, I'm making notes (using Word comments and a separate notes file to address more detailed thoughts) for editing consideration. I may attempt some rewrites on Book 21 now to address the bigger issues I already see so I have less to do when the time comes for full-on edits, but I want to get back to writing too.

I hope to start working on Book 22 by the end of next week. With 25 books planned in this series, I'm in the homestretch now. Book 22 will still be a bit of a side adventure, although those are now all focused on reaching the series climax. A few of the early books were more for fun and getting to know characters and the setting (social-cultural, political, trade, species, technology, etc.), everything from this point is targeted towards the finale, like most of the books in the series. I describe each book as a chapter of one large book (like Babylon 5). They all build on one another, even the few thrown in just for the fun of it. As L'Ni tells Nya, I use everything; there's something in each book that advances the series. No story is wasted.

And for fun, something extraordinary happened at our house this morning--all four cats lined up for the perfect picture! This has never happened before, but the spring return of birds to the yard caught their attention so all had to get a good look.

Meow!

Thanks for reading!

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