Three Feasts

Journal 107 23 Oct-5 Nov 2023

Well, I skipped last weekend for the holiday and thought that perhaps I would talk about that… holidays. I mean normally I would talk up nanowrimo, but I skipped that this year as I’m still working on world-building and outlining for the next novel.

Part of me wonders if I’m super procrastinating right now… but then I realize that delaying the start of the next novel isn’t the real problem. The real problem is that I haven’t looked at my agent list in a long time. I’m not sending out query letters. I’m not working very hard at getting the first books in print.

I really should be doing all of that.

So, delaying the start of a fourth book is probably not the burning issue here.

And talking about the fact that my family turns Halloween into a feast holiday so I have three of them at the end of the year isn’t really much of a topic either.

That’s what the title means… three feasts.

Titles are weird

I’ve always had a weird affinity for titles.

There was one summer where I decided to try my hand at poetry and I wrote about thirty poems over a month. In every case I sat there and thought about what I wanted to write about, then stared at the paper until I got a title. As soon as the title was on the top of the sheet, I wrote a poem.

I changed up rhyme schemes every so often and length and just one take wrote a whole poem and moved on to the next.

I used to do similar things with short stories. Though in that case I would have a slightly better idea what I wanted to write about. A character or a setting, genre tropes, and then I would write down a title.

As soon as that title was out there, I knew the basics of the story.

It’s amusing to me that now I have trouble with the titles of the novels. I consider them place holders. Mostly because I don’t think they’re compelling to the reader. They are more about revealing what the main topic of the book is about.

Titles

Ashlands. It’s a travelogue across the Ashlands, where the setting is as much a character as the people struggling in it.

Pharaoh’s Gambit. Despite my thinking the wrong definition of “gambit” the story hinges on how the return of the Pharaoh to power thwarts the schemes of my villains.

Daeria and the Necropolis. Is about what’s happening in Daeria and how those people are being used to create problems in the Necropolis. A more accurate title would probably be Daeria to the Necorpolis and then it would be travel from one city to the other (which is literally a third of the book).

Dusk. Dusk is a country and a city, and it just so happens that 80% of the story happens inside the city and Dusk is a crucial component to the story overall. While not literally the middle of my world map it could symbolically be considered the fulcrum between East and West.

It is so funny to me that my poems, shorts, and the titles of my notes for my RPG games all have excellent titles, but my novels are just spoilers really. Or just super simple.

I guess the more complex the story the simpler the title.

Though sometimes I really want something poetic for the title. Something pretentious and fun.

Words?

I have been working on the outline. I’m now working on a more comprehensive history of the “invaders.” Working on their history and key characters and fleshing them out from the enigmas I presented in the last two books.

I’m trying to reconcile the “monstrous invaders” I used in three different D&D campaigns over 20 years ago with the more realistic and nuisance characters I create as an adult. When you’re sixteen your friends don’t ask as many questions about the villains as when we’re in our 40s. At least, among my friends.

Though even back then I had one of the invaders as a good character, questioning her orders and trying to save her people from their “godking.” So, even back then I had the ground work laid for more complex, conflicted characters. But I never really wrote out a definitive history of my “villains.”

And if I did write out a history (and I know I had different names and a different version of the social hierarchy back in the day) it was thirty years ago and I simply don’t remember it nor do I have access to whatever notebook it might exist within.

Luckily, my memory is good enough to remember the main points. (only I had to change some details because it used copyrighted material and I also adapted things to link characters together and make a cohesive story from five separate stories).

This is all a long way to say I have been working on lots of background and history that only affects a single character, and will not be revealed in the book. Except to help to determine how that character acts/reacts to everything.

Time Sinks

I will admit that I have also been reading, watching lots of movies, and even playing some video games to fill the time. I’m most of the way through a Japanese import of Super Robot Wars T right now. Having a hell of a time smashing giant robots on battlefields.

I’ve watched a bunch of good k-dramas recently and strongly suggest people watch Again my Life, From Now on Showtime, and Love is for Suckers. All three of those were a lot of fun.

“Again my Life” is about a prosecutor trying to take down a corrupt politician but he dies in the first episode. But the grim reaper gives him a chance to go back and try again. It’s really good.

“From Now on Showtime,” is about a shaman who uses ghosts to be the greatest stage magician. But also has a cop hunting a killer that is an evil spirit that possesses bodies. Most of the shows with this premise are dour slogs with super unhappy endings, but this is more upbeat, humorous and while it has a bunch of elements that I didn’t like, it was overall a great show.

“Love is for Suckers” stars one of my actress crushes, Lee Da Hee, as a producer who has to work on a reality dating show, and she casts her best friend as one of the bachelors. Of course, they have been friends forever, but love each other and it comes out over the course of filming the show. It was fun… I’ll admit I just watched it for Da-hee.

Losing Steam

Once I start talking about tv and media I know I’m losing things to talk about. I should really plan some more topics. Something a little more interesting for you folks.

I’ll try to think of something over this week and I will also push to get my ass back in gear. Perhaps its time to man up and get my query letters dusted off and sent back out. Then again all of my favorite agents are still coming up as closed.

I’ll figure things out.

Thanks for reading this far.

Be well.