Spooky Season
Journal 104 18 Sept- 1 Oct. 2023
First off, all year is kind of spooky for me. I never stop watching horror movies… which actually makes October hard for me when all my friends are saying; “I’m going to watch a scary movie every day in October!”
Meanwhile, I’ve watched all of those films already just for fun.
Hell, last month I watched all of my favorite Friday the 13ths. (And several of Nightmare on Elm Street movies already).
The real title of this blog/journal should probably be the season I say I want to write in the most. With all the rain and colder weather this is when I enjoy sitting at the desk and watching the rain hit the window as I write. Plus, I feel an attachment to all of the months of autumn so I always want to be writing during them.
Of course… I’m not really.
What’s Going On
Invasion 2 D&N is waiting. I will admit that I corrected and revised the prologue and first chapter a little. But the general advice is let it sit a month at least and then come back with fresher eyes and start the revision.
I’m trying to do that.
To that end I have committed myself to other areas.
One of which is the beginning of the outline of the next book. Invasion 3 Dusk. I’ve looked at my older notes, the original outline of ideas from around 2018 or so. I like what I was thinking and I still like the end of the novel. But I’ve changed my mind on a lot of things now.
Old Versus New
Way back, when I was still working on The Ashlands, I wrote a couple pages of notes where I charted the course of a five-book series to follow. The Ashlands was meant as a prequel, or more like the inciting incident for the whole thing.
When I was writing my query letters, I wanted to have something to talk about if the topic of the series came up. So, I made a broad-strokes outline of the entire series.
I think I mentioned the chart in the blog two weeks back?
In the old notes every book fit the same pattern. Dual storyline, where a group of 5-7 people form up to deal with a problem in one place, while I also show a second group that is heading to the same place.
That has two problems. First, that makes every book very “the same” and secondly it feels odd to constantly stop one story to check in on the other. Also, does it dilute the main thrust of each book?
Perhaps I’m being unclear. I feel like the information is lacking. Mostly because I’ve had this discussion in several previous posts but I’ll never remember which ones.
A and B stories
The conceit of the series was that the Invasion itself was an over arching story. The “A-Story” where Slater and Co. are fighting across several countries trying to thwart the mastermind behind everything.
Then in each individual book is the B-Story of the “local heroes” dealing with what’s happening in their homelands.
Invasion 1 had a bunch of tomb robbers uncovering an ancient secret and getting embroiled in a 3000-year-old power struggle. While the A-story was Slater and Co returning to Slater’s home to access information to help them plan.
The tomb robbers and Slater’s home are both in the same country, which just happens to be invaded by enemies from the west. Both groups end up running into each other and help end the war and put back to rights the return of the Pharaoh.
That book ends with us learning that the titular “invasion” was not the one we saw in the book, but rather one that is world wide from great black ships that tear through portals in the sky.
Invasion 2
So, in the second book the A-Story is Slater and Co now head north to figure out what the black ships are. Or who they are. Also, they have a choice of targets to try and topple the carefully laid plans of [main villain].
While the B-story is about a couple finding out their government is selling them out to the black ships. The foreign invaders are searching for a place, and also a number of individuals. So, this couple take it on themselves to try and find the men they are looking for and get them into hiding.
Both of these stories end up running to the same location. With both groups respectively traveling west and east, and meeting in the middle.
The problems
Looking at the very old notes for the 3rd book—these “notes” being a chart and about two pages where I listed the names/ descriptions of 6 characters to form the B-Team of book 3.
I felt that it was just the same thing.
B-Team ends up forming up because their country gets invaded by an army from the south (feels like book 1) As they are mobilizing to fight these ancient enemies, black ships tear through the skies and now key cities are being invaded by another power. A power that is looking for their ancient homeland and several key figures in the world. (Book 2 plots).
The B-team were all made up characters, except for two of them who were characters from old D&D games.
Besides all of this feeling too samey we have an even larger problem. The A-Team. Back in book 2 I left the A-team about 3000 miles away from Dusk. Not only far away, but also heading in a different direction.
A direction I didn’t intend to explore until book five.
So, I’m sitting down looking at my notes on where I ended the book, and then looking at the now five-year-old notes on what I thought I would write for book 3 and it feels wrong.
Book 3 Problems
I had a few problems right off the bat, and I think I had a few solutions as well. I don’t know, I’m still working on things.
Problem 1. Is this a problem? Let me ask you, if you’re reading a novel and you have 2-3 chapters establishing an interesting setting and problems for those characters and then every 3rd or 4th chapter the book suddenly jumps away to another group of people and they’re mostly… traveling? Arguing? Planning their next move?
How does that feel?
Are those chapters just filler slowing down the pace? Are they annoying?
What the hell am I going to do with the A-team? They’re far away and I don’t intend to have them jump over 3000 miles to arrive in Dusk and come in with their egos smashing everything.
So, cut them out.(?)
Problem 2. But then… I don’t like the B-team I assembled. I only like the two old D&D characters, and the rest of them could be interesting support characters. If I’m cutting out Slater and Co, then I only have one set of main characters. But now in the middle of my series we’re taking up with two completely new characters? Readers might balk.
Solution. Bring back other characters that should be in the area.
I’m left with dual stories again, that will come together, but this time they’ll come together earlier in the book. And the importance of A and B are swapped.
Book 3 Solutions
I have the problem that I always feel I need to pay attention to the things I wrote in the past. My old notes, my original ideas, and what not. Mostly because I have discovered that some of my earlier writing and plotting was/is better than the stuff I come up with. Not always, but I was not that bad when I was younger.
It’s difficult for me to cut my ties to older notes. I always try to incorporate those old ideas.
I’m throwing out the old chart… but not really, I’m heavily modifying and accepting that stories grow and change just like we do.
My solutions to the problems were kind of easy. First, none of the novels follow a set pattern, they each try to but diverge every time. I mean even the basic format of the chapters and layout is slightly different in each book—I’m sure that will be a future problem where I’m forced to make them line up better.
I’ve cut down my cast considerably in this next book. At least for POVs. Four main POVs with a fifth/shifting for interludes. I’m messing with the structure of the book, I’ve changed my mind a lot so this will probably be different next journal, but right now its extended intro, part 1 is about the main casts’ lives over the last 30 years, part 2 are the current events in the city just before and leading up to the Black Ships. Meeting of the stories as I get back to the A-team (In this case Barnabas and Jaime who left at the end of Book 1).
What’s Next
Solutions: Less characters, more time in their stories. No secondary invasion, but unrest and events around the country straining resources. Intro of the characters and events that will impact the next book.
Plus, I’m going full shadow elf. We’re going with a “villain” pov….
And if you believe that, you haven’t been reading me much. I’ll reveal it right here… clear as day, my “villain pov” is character who is questioning what exactly her people are doing. Why are they invading another world? Who are they listening too? Who/What is their Godking?
She might be part of the military, but she is a wholly free- thinking character.
It’s going to be a while before I’m ready to create the next manuscript file and start the actual writing. The season is calling me. I want to be at the desk and keyboard, but I also want to be ready and not rush it merely to have the dates on my word tracking chart.
We’ll see how it goes.
Lot to say
I did not intend to run on so long about the novel. I thought it would be a little shorter. But I tend to over write and try for clarity. I think that I tend to make it more confusing by over explaining. But that is how my mind works.
I think I might be at too many words to talk about media and other things…. You all don’t want another thousand words of me talking about K-dramas or comics, right?
I watched several over the last 2 weeks, and even quit one… I hate quitting a show but it happens. I haven’t read any of my comics in the last two weeks, so I need to get on that. And I’ve used my other reading time to…. Get ready… play a video game!
If you don’t know I’m notorious for buying games and never playing them because I just don’t have time for it.
I think I’ve held your time long enough.
Thank you for reading and I’ll have more to say next week.
