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The End of It All...of 2018.

12/27/2018

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Hello, and welcome to my last blog post of 2018.
Don't worry, though, I'll be back in 2019.
The personal notes first. We had planned to drive to Metamora, Illinois, today (Thursday) and visit our granddaughter for a day or two. But our female dog (she's about 13 years old) has been in pretty bad shape this week. Yesterday we thought she might not live out the day. She just lay in one spot on the floor and her total movement was to change positions in a circle on that spot. She hasn't been eating, she's been in pain, and her tail, which is usually wagging whenever she's awake, has been mournfully motionless. We made an appointment with the vet on Monday for today.
She has pancreatitis. So they gave her a shot of antibiotic and another for pain. We'll have to give her pain medication for the next seven days, so our trip to visit our granddaughter will be delayed. Maybe next week.
On another sad story (or not, depending on you POV), the Denver Broncos are 6-9. However, there are extenuating circumstances. Out of the eleven starters on offense, eight of them are out injured. There's a reason backups aren't starters, and when a team has to start its fourth-string tight end, or start their back-up tackles in the guard positions, a lot of success can be hoped for, but not realistically expected.
I am frankly having a difficult time with the fantasy series. There are two—well, at least two—reasons for this. The most obvious one to someone looking in from the outside is that I've never written a series before.
Yes, I did write a two-book story, the two Just Lucky books, and there might be enough left for a third. But it was never a series. It was written as a single book. A single book of over 300,000 words.
By the way, did you know that Lord of the Rings was a single book? Yep, originally Tolkien wrote it as a single book. But at that time paper was not available in sufficient supply to publish a decent number of books that size. So, for the purpose of publication and sales, he broke it into three separate volumes.
I did the same but for a different reason. The chances of having a 300,000-word book published by an unknown author may not be impossible, but the odds ain't good. Even a well-known author with a proven reputation will have trouble. Stephen King's volume VII of the Dark Tower might be close to that, but King's salability is a matter of record.
Anyhow, that's the obvious reason—I've never written an intentional series before.
The less obvious reason is that all my creative writing--books, stories, poetry—has come from external inspiration. Something I've read, or heard, or experienced inspired me to write the story or novel.
I suddenly had an idea for a story.
Not this time. Instead, I decided I would write a fantasy series of at least three books. There was no external inspiration for the story.
When I made the decision, it took me only a few minutes (really!) to come up with the main theme of the series. And I'm now 14,000 words into it. I have ideas for several events, characters, problems, puzzles, etc. beyond the six significant characters introduced so far. But...
This as close as I can come to a cliffhanger in a blog post.
Next time I will expand on that "But..." and tell you the silly reason I decided to write a fantasy series. Also, which kind of series should I write? I haven't quite decided that, either.
Until then, please be safe, be well, and be well-read.

  

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Beginning the End, And Beginning the Beginning

12/14/2018

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While I was away I finished Song of Susannah and I'm now well involved with the final volume, The Dark Tower.
One of the really different things about this part of the story is that Susannah, a beautiful black woman with no legs below the knees, had become pregnant by a demon. As part of the complication, she develops an additional personality, a white woman named Mia who is the mother personality for her baby—her "chap."
What is very different is that Mia actually splits from Susannah and becomes a physical person—with legs. There's some spooky psychology going on there, also, and King is outstandingly creative with the situation...and of course just the situation itself is outstandingly creative.
There are some horrible incidents in this series...violence, demons, cannibals, vampires, and suicide. But this is definitely not a work of horror. I doubt an author could produce a seven-volume series of horror without getting pretty repetitious. So, any of you that are inclined to not read this because it's written by King and King writes horror, don't cheat yourself.
This is a far-reaching and unusual fantasy series. And it's really good.
As for my own writing: Saving Atlantis is still being considered by two publishers. One of them, Red Sage Publishing,  has had it for about four months. They say that if they like it initially, four months or longer may be the wait time before an author hears back. After the first of the year I'll send them a follow-up letter if I haven't heard back from them.
When I submitted the manuscript to Gnome on Pig Productions, who published my Just Lucky books, the editor/publisher said she really liked the synopsis. They are busy with other stuff, so I don't expect them to respond until late January, if then.
I'm 12,000 words into the first/second draft of the first volume of the Lying Swords series. It's the first/second draft because lately there's been so much time between writing sessions that I need to go back at least a few pages to get a feeling for the flow. While I reread, I make alterations.
One of the neatest things about writing novels is when the story surprises the author. I had just such a surprise during my last writing session. The swords, that had a semblance of sentience anyway, since they were able to answer questions, unexpectedly developed even more. They don't like to be touched by any but their owners.
This provides all kinds of possibilities going forward. Part of the ongoing story will be that people—some bad, some good—covet the swords. But it will be difficult to control two deadly sharp blades that don't like their handlers.
There is also the matter of a second, almost identical, set of swords that don't speak. They do have their own unique properties.
That's it for now. I've posted another clip from one of my novels on my author's page, F.G.Waiss, Author. Please take a look if it pleases you. And, please, read something!
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    I'm a former teacher and current warehouse grunt that loves writing.

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