The Big Let Down

Journal 100: 14-20 August 2023

This one will suck.

I have no plans for this blog at all… and I didn’t keep my promise to try and have five write sessions during the week. The only thing that makes me feel better, is the fact that I hit close to 100 blogs in thesis diary before turning to the Writing Journal… so Legacy numbers I’m closer to 200 than 100.

I don’t have a topic… not that I ever really have topics on these posts. Half the time I just bullshit about something and wait till I hit 1500 words.

I’m certain it has been very apparent.

I guess I’ll just get into the writing for the week.

Words

Only two sessions but each of them hammered out a full chapter.

I hit 5045 total words, bringing the manuscript to 176,315 and I completed chapters 34 and 35. This is the endgame, I’m showing the same scene from different povs and filling in what that character is doing as the “survivors” draw together for the final “save-or-die” scene.

This is the try anything and everything to avert disaster that should not be invertible. If that makes sense… its basically snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. In these two chapters our heroes have fought and worked their way to stop the worst from happening. They’re too late, magic run amok. Flee or stay? One of the characters comes up with a worse idea, accelerate the problem, but control the chaos it creates.

The next chapter is going to be all about controlling that chaos now that everything is out of hand.

I have a few characters missing, a few how are half dead, and a ritual that is beyond mortal skill to deal with. Even my most powerful of characters are finding this situation beyond their skills.

Real Talk Endings

So, a couple things. This is totally BTS and just showing my thought process.

I tend to rush my endings, and rarely do the denouement because the story continues into the next book as well. I feel like I rush through all the action at the end of my book, then do a short bit of clean up and then leave it for the next book to deal with at the beginning. (Sort Of)

The other problem with the end of this book… well not a problem per se… I keep debating on killing or not killing several characters. My tastes shift, and sometimes I want to keep a character who was intended to end here.

The end of this book is supposed to have two characters dead. Thought my notes do mention the possibility of rebirth for those characters. I’m also debating if I will split up the teams and change who the main group is in future novels.

Hybrid Problems

These are the problems with being a hybrid writer. I have an outline that loosely leads the way to the end. But every part of that outline could be discarded or altered.

Worse, the way I write they WILL HAVE to be revised. I change or cause ripples when I write. And have to adjust, replan, reoutline as I go. Mostly because I take so long between writing the “outline” and then sitting my ass down and getting the chapters written out.

I forget details, change my mind, get influenced by other media to make a change. End up liking a character more than I should and thus don’t kill them off. So on and so on.

At this point I’m starting to think that my “outline” is really my rough draft and the manuscript is the first revision.

Future Projects

I’m beginning to think I need to spend more time at the keys. I have a lot to do and I’ve not been devoting my full attention to it.

I need to get my ass back in gear about looking for an agent (though it is so disheartening when most of the agents I want to query still say they aren’t open or looking).

The next novel needs be outlined… I really haven’t worked on it much. I have been mapping and building the city and figuring things out. I know that the story will be a departure from these last two novels. Since none of these characters will appear in there…

Unless I do some chapters out in the wider world. This is one of the things I have been debating on. I intended to have villain POV chapters that showed what was happening on the other side. Dusk (the next novel) will have at least 4 planned povs… Noir, Sanguinis, Barnabus, and 1 of the invaders.

That leaves room for me to do flashes to Kuran and his crew or any of the others.

Then the other project I need to work on is a D&D campaign, also based on Dusk, but also heavily changing the rules of the game. Writing my own mechanic changes and tweaking a bunch of rules.

Finish this novel first….

Media Consumption

I am still working my way through a bunch of Korean shows and I’ve gotten to the point where I’m debating paying for a new streaming service to get even more options.

I’m currently working through a fantasy series called Alchemy of Souls that is both very good and often frustrating. You have a villain that is not held accountable for his actions even when he is obviously a total scumbag. He is literally on the edge of getting executed. But then he does something that makes the king happy, or he just lies enough to walk away.

Very annoying because this show is a total of 30 episodes (most K-Dramas are only 16) and it is just too many episodes of this villain getting away with his bullshit. Also, a character that was written to be a douche that becomes likable and good, is constantly reset to being a total POS. It gets very annoying to put up with him as well, then every so often he does something that makes him a decent person again. Then reset. Ugh.

Our female lead gets changed for the last 10 episodes, and that’s kind of a big issue… but the new actress is great and lovable, but the story changes to adapt this are tough to deal with.

 Other Media

The problem with k-dramas is that they stop me from reading my comics or anything else. I’m falling behind in many things.

I also need to take a day and get my comics sorted back out and empty the box, and I have a paint job to do… which looking at the clock (I got a late start today) I need to wrap this up.

Thank you for reading this far and I hope to write “ The End” sometime in the next few weeks.