NaNoWriMo and Queen of Men

I have been working on my book for NaNoWriMo, which challenges you to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. I'm a bit behind, but I have come up with an outline for my new as-of-yet unnamed novel. I only have about 450 words of the actual book so far, but I am excited to see where it goes, even if I don't end up hitting 50,000 words by the end of the month.

After working 12 consecutive days due to elections, and due to a need to burn several vacation days, I will be taking all of next week off. This will be the first time I've taken that amount of time off, without having somewhere to go. It'll be pretty great. It is my plan to commit a large portion of time during that week to my novel Queen of Men. I could, of course, spend that time focused on my NaNoWriMo book instead, but it has been my intent for some time to use this week for Queen of Men. That book is completed, and is currently sitting at about 47,000 words. It needs more description, detail, and development, and more explanation of things. Maybe after this coming week, it will be ready for the first person, other than myself, to read it (that would be my better half). I will also likely spend some time during that week on the NaNoWriMo book, as well as some time on other things (cards).

A Chronicle

You'd think that, after not blogging for over two months, that I'd have a lot of interesting things to say. Well... you would be incorrect. :)

My wife and I have seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 four times in the theater, and we both agree that it is the best film in the series. Looking back at the entirety of the eight-films, and it is really quite impressive what they were able to do. Eight films, made over a ten year period with four different directors and only one noticeable casting change. While not perfect (but what movies are?), I enjoy each of the movies quite a bit now. It was a little sad that Harry Potter's big screen adventures have come to an end, but they ended on quite the high note, with a movie that will do quite well on my overall list of movies. I now enter a time where I don't have too much to look forward to for theatrical viewings; that is, until next year, when two of my most anticipated movies in years come out - The Dark Knight Rises, and most importantly, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

I have finally done something that I should have done years ago: I have read the entire Bible. Up until last year, I had not read chunks of the Old Testament, including most of the minor prophets (except Joel, of course). Nor I had a read Isaiah or the entirety of Job, and several other books. But that has now been rectified. In the end, my favorite book continues to be Revelation.

The driving force behind this (other than simply wanting to read it) was my Bible-based card game, Reclamation. I have read all 66 books of the Bible since last October, and I now have a comprehensive list of card titles from the entire Bible. The list contains 22,063 card titles. I am going to work on that list for a little while, cutting it down and cleaning it up, then will use that list to recreate a set of cards for the game, and then use those cards to playtest the game later this year.

The Boy Who Lived

Tonight I will be attending the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the eighth and final film of the franchise. I have gotten quite excited for this one, as it has the potential to become my new favorite of the series. Thus, I present the way I order the movies currently, which has recently shifted around a little after my wife and I rewatched all seven in anticipation of the eighth one.

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
   
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
4. Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

In other news, I have been becoming a bigger fan of soccer the last couple years. I watched a bit of the Men's World Cup last year, and have watched quite a lot of the Women's World Cup this year. In fact, I have made soccer my third favorite sport, jumping over basketball (but still behind football and baseball). I know some people may find soccer to be boring, but I've found it to be rather exciting, especially when I can root for the USA. The USA's recent games against Brazil and France have been quite entertaining, and I still enjoy rewatching Abby Wambach's goal against Brazil with two minutes left, saving their game. What a great play. I just find it sad that I won't be able to watch all of the championship game against Japan on Sunday. But now I might need to follow professional soccer more in general.

Answers

I am creating this entry to answer the question posed on my last post by my most vertically-challenged sister-in-law.

1. We saw lots of neat things. We had several sightings from the boat of humpback whales, and a few killer whales. We also went on a whale sightseeing boat ride, where we got a bit closer to many whales, including one that came right up beside our boat. We also saw seals and sea lions, including several that were sun tanning on a buoy. On that trip, we also got pretty close to a glacier and a good sized waterfall. Pictures are on Facebook. :)
2. We had four stops along the route. Three in Alaska - Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, and one in Canada - Victoria, British Columbia. Juneau is where we did the whale and glacier tour. That tour was pretty spendy ($159 a person, for 4 1/2 hours), so we decided to only do one such tour. We just walked around Skagway and Ketchikan, which were neat little tourist towns. In Ketchikan, we saw a guy walking around in a bigfoot suit. We walked a little bit into Victoria as well. Megan had never been to Canada before, so that was neat.
   
3. The food was great, and we ate too much of it. Who can complain with a 24/7 pizzeria? They had all sorts of tasty foods. Most of it was buffet style, but we went to the main restaurant a few times. And I drank a lot of chocolate milk.
4. Like a lot of things in life, Lasik does have its downsides, and being able to now see my face clearly all the time is certainly one of them. I would now like to apologize for forcing all of you to look upon that face for the last twenty-nine years, and will now being wearing a paper bag over my head from now on to ease the suffering. :)
   

Roughly Visible Icebergs

I have completed my rough draft of Queen of Men. At current, it is 41 chapters, with 45856 words. I had planned for an epilogue, but decided not to add it, at least not yet. There is a lot that happens in this book, and the rough draft is somewhat bare bones, so there is a lot of room for growth. I see the book finishing up at around 90,000 - 100,000 words in length. I am pretty excited to go back and start working on it more, beefing it up and adding more detail and descriptions.

While I have already talked about this with most people who read the blog, my Lasik surgery on May 6 went well, and I absolutely love being able to see. It is so nice not having to deal with glasses and contacts, and I like being able to read the time on the alarm clock at night without moving closer to it. :) I would definitely recommend it.

My wife and I recently got back from our Alaskan cruise. It was great fun, and the mountains in Alaska are beautiful. I have always loved mountains, which is why Colorado has been, geographically, my favorite state. Alaska may end up topping that. I have now been to 40 states, after getting to Washington and Alaska on this trip. Only ten more to go. :)

Lasers

The most interesting and exciting revelation of my recent life is that on Tuesday, April 26, I went in to TLC Vision in Edina for a Lasik consultation. While my vision is not good (my contact prescriptions are -7.50 and -8.00), I am still a good candidate for corrective Lasik surgery. Now, I had been planning on doing it sometime over the summer, but then decided to move it up a bit. I thought it would be nice to have it done before my wife and I go on our Alaskan cruise later this month, so my surgery is scheduled for this Friday, May 6, which is 4 days from today. I am certainly quite excited for it. I will be taking Friday off from work, arriving at TLC around 8:30 in the morning, and I should only be there a couple hours. My wife will then drive me home, and I will hopefully be unconscious for the rest of the day while my eyes began the healing process. I would appreciate prayers for the procedure, that all would go well.

In book update news, I have made it through chapter 31 in the Queen of Men rough draft, with the outline currently having 39 chapters. I really am excited for this book, as I feel that I can tell that my writing has improved since writing The Second Shadow. On a side note, I continue to monitor The Second Shadow on Authonomy.com; a month or so ago, it was ranked about #430, and now it sits at #212. Still a long way to go to get into the top 5, but progress is good.

Book Update

I haven't gotten much work done on Queen of Men recently, but I have now completed 21 chapters of the rough draft. Since my last blog entry, the book's outline has increased from 29 total chapters to 36 chapters, and I wouldn't be surprised if it hits at least 40 by the time the rough draft is completed. I have had 2 people finish reading The Second Shadow since I had manuscripts printed at FedEx Office, and the response has been positive, with some good feedback.

In other news, I have started playing softball, which I am quite excited about. We've only had a couple practices, and games don't start for over a week. It's good fun, and healthy. I have been doing some exercises at home and eating better, and am excited for the warmer weather, as I'd like to try to be more active, riding more bike and playing more tennis.

Queen of Men

Just an update on my work on the new book. I have reached chapter 14 in the rough draft of Queen of Men. I have added a couple extra chapters to the outline, making there 29 currently, though this will likely expand. By comparison, I think the finished rough draft of The Second Shadow had 15 or 16 chapters, and through lots of lots of edits, it now has 31. It's a bare-bones rough draft, in that there won't be a lot of detail yet, but I'm just getting the storyline in place. Oddly enough, this rough draft will quite possibly have less words than the original rough draft for The Second Shadow, which had 41,000 words, but this story has more storylines and characters, and room for expansion. I enjoy the whole writing process, but this initial writing is my favorite part.

I haven't had many inspirations for things to write about in my other blog, but hopefully I'll come up with something soon, as it's been a little while now since my last entry. I may end up going back and expanding on a couple of the other entries.

Character Creation

I do love to write. While I certainly enjoy the fantasy setting, and think you can do a lot of neat things with it, the story won't work if the characters are uninteresting, or the characters don't become real enough, or for some reason the reader just doesn't feel invested in them. One of the books we read recently in the Cooper Book Club is Gardens of the Moon. While I did like the book, I didn't like it nearly as much as most other books, because I never really came to care much about the characters, except for a couple small exceptions. Otherwise, it didn't really matter to me what happened to them, and to me, that weakened the entire story. You have to care about what happens to the characters in the story.

This is going to be something that I try to do in my writing. I have no idea whether I have succeeded or not, because I am looking at the characters from a different point of view than the readers. It's very interesting to me to write a character, because for me, once the character is created, they start to take on a life of their own. I can envision each of them in my mind; they become real to me. Yes, I am the one writing them, but once I have designed the character in a certain way, it no longer becomes "What do I want this character to do next?", it becomes "What do I think this character would do next?" It is odd, but I start caring about the characters in a book I'm writing long before the book has even finished a rough draft. Creating a character makes you care about it, and even though I am the one writing it, I am excited to see what happens next in the character's life.

Book Notes

I have submitted an order to print out several copies of the manuscript for The Second Shadow, that will be shipped to a few family and friends. I will be picking them up from Fedex later today, and hope to have them in the mail Saturday, or at least Monday. I am certainly excited to see what people think of it as it is now.

I have begun writing the rough draft for my newest endeavor, Queen of Men. The outline currently has 27 chapters, and I am now in the middle of writing chapter 6. I will likely finish the rough draft within a few weeks, and then begins the rather long process of editing, expanding, and polishing. I have no long-term timeline for the work on the book, but I certainly hope it takes me less than three and a half years to get the book ready to be submitted, which is how long I have been working on The Second Shadow.

A few random thoughts: While the story should dictate length, in my mind at least, I am aiming to have this book be around 90,000 words (The Second Shadow is 81,000). I am currently planning this to be a standalone book, and not the first of a series. While I sometimes like the idea of writing a longer series, I think I need to work on and improve my writing and story planning a bit before I take on an extended project like that. The Lords of Sargoff series (of which The Second Shadow is book one) is planned as a trilogy, and likely no more, and I think it will be a while before I tackle something longer than that.

Reyin

Below is the first chapter of my new novel, Queen of Men. It is certainly still a rough draft, but I thought I'd see if I could get some initial reactions to it. I have continued to develop the story, and am quite happy with it at the moment. But it will be a little while before I post more details about it. :)

--------
Reyin

The children ran in circles and screamed in delight. Reyin chased his sister around the yard as their mother smiled. It had felt like an age since the skylords had seen fit to bring sunshine. Fourteen days of grey clouds and harsh rain had preceded this, and only on such a long-awaited day would she allow her children to run about in the mud.
Birds flew about and chirped, but the mother paid no mind, her thoughts returning to times long lost. She enjoyed the moment’s rest, though unaware that they were not alone. There was something nearby that no woman or child had seen: a pair of eyes in the dark of the forest, watching the boy as he ran. The hands reached into a pocket and removed a small glass vial. The green liquid within it bubbled wildly.
The mother had watched for nine years as Reyin had grown from infant to boy, and she sought to not miss a day of his maturing, as it felt only so recently that he breathed his first breath. Yet she frowned upon the memories of his first days, as so often she had thought him lost; his body would convulse and then lie still, only to awaken again. She believed he would not last, yet the days passed by and his heart tread on, and for that, his mother loved him more than all else. He was her marvel.
She had kept his presence silent, for she knew the Queen would not allow him to linger, as no man is able to do. There were underground groups of Men, as she had learned from the mothers of the village, and the time was near that she would send him there, for it is better to be in hiding than to be of the shackles and made to work endless hours. She was glad her second child was a girl, for that one she could keep. Elna was a lasting joy, while Reyin would fade. In her heart, the mother had already begun preparing herself for the day she would no longer have a son.
For the moment, she drowned these thoughts in the sounds of her children as they ran about. She smiled as Reyin approached and took a drink of water from the cup beside her.
“Mother, won’t you come run with us?” he asked, but she smiled and shook her head.
“I have not the vigor of your youth,” she replied. The boy laughed and returned to chasing his sister.
Then the girl screamed, and the woman lurched forward. Her son had fallen into the mud with a splash, his body turning limp. The mother picked him out of the mud and laid him on her lap. His eyes were vacant.

* * *

Reyin saw a darkness around him, and he sought to scream, but there was no voice in his throat. A form appeared before him with the palest of skin and dark dreadlocked hair. He sneered at the boy with a devilish grin and spoke in harsh tones.
“Mordi Thorus a lin orra. You will not escape me this time Thorus,” he said, laughing cruelly. “For this time I found you first. Your blood shall be spilled this day, this very hour, nearly this very moment. And you, Marith, you will not be spared either.”
Reyin suddenly noticed the woman beside him, her face fair and her smile true. She reached her hand down and took his in hers.
“He cannot harm you, my boy,” she said softly, “for his powers are not of your world. You are the hope of humanity, and through you the nations will prosper and endure through the darkness. He fears you and the light you will shine into the night, for he is a night dweller. Do not fear him.”
The man scowled at her and unsheathed a long sword. “Foolish woman,” he said, “his mind has not yet returned to its true self. He may have been the world’s savior before, but in this life, with this mind, he cannot save them. He cannot stop the world from perishing.”
“The hope of the humans is not yet lost,” Marith said.
The man sneered at Reyin. “Mark my words, Thorus. Whether you know that name or not, you will fall this day, and your kingdom will remain a darkened memory. The Soul Keepers will fail.”
“Son, no, please!” came his mother’s screams, and then he saw her once more.

* * *

“Oh, thank the lords!” she said, holding her son to her chest. “I thought I had lost you!”
His sister placed her arms around him, and the three of them sat in a quiet embrace. The mother gentled kissed each of her children on the head, and smiled, wiping tears from her cheeks.
“Perhaps the lords do shine upon us,” she said.
Elna then turned her head toward the forest, and screamed.
A figured walked toward them from the forest; his skin was pale and his hair was dark. He held a sword in his muscular arms. Reyin turned to look, then his body wrenched, holding tightly to his mother.
“Who are you? What do you want?” the mother yelped. He did not answer.
Suddenly, the mother and her children were surrounded on all sides by several figures, both men and women. They held swords in their hands and stood in defensive positions, facing the pale figure as he approached. They moved to stand in front of the mother.
“Protect Thorus,” they said, or chanted, as the man came lunging at them. His sword tore through the first defender with ease. A defender swung at him, and his sword passed through the man as though he were not really there. The man swung his blade and lopped off the defender’s head.
“He has the beacon!” the defenders cried with desperation, but still they stood in defense. One by one they swung their swords in vain, only to be chopped and pierced and laid out upon the grass.
A figure suddenly appeared beside the mother and her children.
“It’s you!” Reyin screeched as he sprang to his feet. Marith smiled gently at him and took his hand.
“Do not worry, love,” she said. “The beacon is not the most powerful of magical artifacts.”
Only four defenders stood before them and the attacker. One by one they fell, and then there were none. “Your time has come, Thorus,” the man said, “for all your shields have cracked!”
“One last shield remains, oh weakened assassin,” Marith said. “You will not touch him.”
“Will I not? My blade thirsts for more, and I cannot now deprive it!”
He lunged forward, but suddenly stopped and stood up straight, his sword dropping to the grass.
“You should listen to me, foolish one,” Marith said. A sword in her hand now protruded from his stomach. “For you have killed your last mark. You have failed.”
The man fell to the side and then was still.
Marith turned and smiled at Reyin, and he couldn’t help but smile back. His mother and sister stared at him, wide-eyed. “There, my boy, you are safe now,” Marith said gently. “Come to me now and I will hold you close, like I did in the days of the last age.”
Reyin could not recall ever being held by such a woman, but at that moment, he did not care to question it. She took him in her arms and vowed never to let go. Reyin turned and gazed upon the lifeless body of his attacker.
“Who was he?” I asked.
“A fool, Thorus, and nothing more. Only the most foolish would dare bring harm to my love.”
She kissed his cheek and looked into his eyes, smiling.
“For, my dear Thorus, it is well known that only I have the right to smite you.”
A blade suddenly passed through him, and he fell to the ground with a painful squeal. Reyin tasted blood and saw only blurs. Dark figures appeared around him, and Marith vanished into the air. The dark figures stooped above Reyin’s fading form and spoke with fearful voices, ignoring the wailing of his mother and sister.
“She was the assassin,” one said. “The other was simply the tool. She has done it. They have once again sent our king away.”
“Indeed. Now we must wait for the final attempt. Only one remains.”
And with that, Reyin breathed his last.

Question Answered

I have decided on what my next big writing project will be. I had thought about continuing with books two and three for The Lords of Sargoff, as I would like to do some day, but I also know that continuing an unpublished series isn't really going to help me get published. It will be more likely to catch a publisher's eye with multiple completed projects, as opposed to a completed trilogy. Thus, I have begun notes on a new novel.

I have taken the basic idea of my previously posted short short Thorus and expanded upon it greatly. The book, tentatively titled Queen of Men, is a fantasy novel that will be a bit more complicated than The Second Shadow, and should also be longer. After finishing The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, I decided that is the kind of books I would like to write. It is about the reading level and detail level that I would like to write at. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing The Second Shadow and would love to see it published, but I would like to now try writing at a more detailed level. The Second Shadow's storyline is pretty straightforward and there aren't really too many characters, and really only one plot line to follow.

The outline for the new book already has several groups of characters traveling different story paths, though they are all connected. I have the rough draft of the first chapter done, but that is based on the short story Thorus, with some significant changes. So I may post the first chapter here at some point, just to see what people think of it.

TEC, Manuscripts, and Catwoman

This coming Thursday marks the start of the next TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) weekend. This time, I am serving as AC (Adult Coordinator), which is much more front-and-center than I am used to, and a big step out of my comfort zone. But I think it will go well. I am excited and nervous.

I have requested that my wife read the manuscript for The Second Shadow, and assuming that it meets her approval, I will then send out paper manuscripts to some family and friends. Anyone who would like to read it is more than welcome to - I can provide a digital copy, or I can send out a printed copy.

In movie news, it has been reportedly confirmed that Anne Hathaway will play Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. This is an interesting choice, but one that I must wait to see before passing judgment. Considering that I was leery of Heath Ledger playing the Joker, and that instantly became one of my favorite movie villains, I have faith in the choice. The film's predecessor, The Dark Knight, is my favorite non-Star Wars, non-Lord of the Rings movie, so my excitement for the film will be very high. If this one and The Hobbit are both released in 2012, it could make for a very exciting movie year.

What's Next?

I think I may send out printed manuscripts to certain people earlier than expected, likely in February (or even late January) instead of April, assuming that I am pleased with the book after my current read-through. I will be interested to see what these readers think of it, and whether they think it is ready to submit to publishers.

On a side note, as (hopefully) my editing on The Second Shadow is coming to a close, I must now decide what my next major writing project should be. Here are some of my current options.

1. Books two and three of the Lords of Sargoff trilogy. I have outlines and a couple chapters written for both books. While I will likely write these eventually, even if The Second Shadow never gets published, I do wonder whether it would be better working on something else first, since if book one never gets published, the rest of the series won't either.
2. I have ideas on expanding Thorus into something novel-length.
3. The Case for Death.

I have a few other story ideas that I either have a few notes of, or are just ideas floating around in my head, as well as a few other short stories that I could likely expand into something longer.

But we shall see.

Manuscripts

This is going to be the year that I submit The Second Shadow to publishers. I have had ambitions of submitting it in previous years, but there was still work to be done. It just wasn't ready yet. But I now feel like it is getting close. I have a little more work to be done on it, including adding some extra character descriptions. My plan is to finish up those additions and then do one or two read-throughs, and then it will (hopefully) be at the point that I feel it is *almost* ready to be submitted, where I will then hope to get a few people to read or reread the manuscript. I have been working on the formatting of the pages, and when I send it to a few friends and family to read, I will possibly have it nicely printed, so those people can mark errors and make notes. I hope to be able to do this sometime in the spring, perhaps around April. Then perhaps I can make edits based on those rereads, and be ready to submit it sometime in the fall. That, of course, depends on the feedback I get from those rereads, as if the suggestions are that the book requires a bit more work, then that will obviously delay submitting it, which would be fine. The manuscript needs to be quite shiny and perfect when I submit it. I will be very excited when I am able to submit it.