Bad news, everyone! I've decided that I'll have to make a sequel to this. It's either that or there's going to be the loss of one of the coolest monsters I've come up with since the breathrobbers*. So I guess it's only kinda bad news, as I may be able to modify it in such a way that I can keep the Weeping Men and close things up the way that I need to. Another option is that I can include all of my Weeping Men parts as a short story compilation that would be adjacent to the actual novel, much like the piece that I started writing on the plane to Orlando.
My idea is that I could have the book itself be published the traditional way (ideal, for me, as that's my actual dream), but do my part to generate interest by having two or three different short stories that I would distribute for free. I've got a few thousand words in the abovelinked short, and I could, if I wanted, take the monsters out of this and have them be doing all the same things, but in the context of the short story. That would give an extra bit of flexibility. On this I will have to think.
Today's efforts were definitely worthwhile. I arrived at UVU a little earlier than I have in the past, as I no longer have my WWI class, and I got to work immediately. Before my typical start time arrived, I had finished one chapter. With that crossed off the list, I wandered about the library for a time before leaving to pick up a smoothie and munch on some granola bars. I got back to work at 1:45; by 3:45 I was finished. The two hours yielded a chapter that I'm not happy with (too much dialogue; I've ranted about this before), but will keep for the nonce. Thanks to all of that effort, I can cross two chapters off my outline. Additionally, I've modified some things as I've gone along, and I think I may be able to squeeze out another chapter by adding a logical--but, for me, unforeseen--change.
So I'm pretty pleased. I dropped in over 6,300 words today, which amounts to, I don't know, almost 15 pages? Something like that. With that addition, I've topped more than 280k words in the book. I'm coming closer and closer, but the goal just will not happen. It can't--there are too many things going on in my life to be able to plan on that. Since the goal itself was arbitrary, I can't beat myself up too much about it. But it is a good indication to me of how I actually write--I'm extremely thorough, so whatever I think will take "just a chapter" to do will actually take significantly longer than that to do. I'm okay with that.
Yeah, so I finished my work for today. What's my reward? I get to go see The Avengers with my smokin' hot wife. Pretty cool.
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*In Impetus, I created these creatures called breathrobbers, which were humans (once) but had been experimented on by the Terrans (the bad guys). They had no nose or mouth--just this gaping black hole where their faces should've been--long claws instead of fingers, and were covered in cuts and scars from their own hands. They also were blind, relying on hearing and their strange sense of air. See, they fed off of hot air--preferably that air that they could ingest from a living creature. They'd eat animals in the woods, but occasionally they'd rob the breath from the humans they came across. The use of their talons was twofold: One, they could keep a hold on their prey long enough to actually drain them of breath; and two, they could cause the person to scream, which expelled the air in a more appetizing way (to them). These guys actually gave one of my alpha readers nightmares, which is pretty cool, if you ask me. Especially since I didn't have the nightmares.
My idea is that I could have the book itself be published the traditional way (ideal, for me, as that's my actual dream), but do my part to generate interest by having two or three different short stories that I would distribute for free. I've got a few thousand words in the abovelinked short, and I could, if I wanted, take the monsters out of this and have them be doing all the same things, but in the context of the short story. That would give an extra bit of flexibility. On this I will have to think.
Today's efforts were definitely worthwhile. I arrived at UVU a little earlier than I have in the past, as I no longer have my WWI class, and I got to work immediately. Before my typical start time arrived, I had finished one chapter. With that crossed off the list, I wandered about the library for a time before leaving to pick up a smoothie and munch on some granola bars. I got back to work at 1:45; by 3:45 I was finished. The two hours yielded a chapter that I'm not happy with (too much dialogue; I've ranted about this before), but will keep for the nonce. Thanks to all of that effort, I can cross two chapters off my outline. Additionally, I've modified some things as I've gone along, and I think I may be able to squeeze out another chapter by adding a logical--but, for me, unforeseen--change.
So I'm pretty pleased. I dropped in over 6,300 words today, which amounts to, I don't know, almost 15 pages? Something like that. With that addition, I've topped more than 280k words in the book. I'm coming closer and closer, but the goal just will not happen. It can't--there are too many things going on in my life to be able to plan on that. Since the goal itself was arbitrary, I can't beat myself up too much about it. But it is a good indication to me of how I actually write--I'm extremely thorough, so whatever I think will take "just a chapter" to do will actually take significantly longer than that to do. I'm okay with that.
Yeah, so I finished my work for today. What's my reward? I get to go see The Avengers with my smokin' hot wife. Pretty cool.
-----
*In Impetus, I created these creatures called breathrobbers, which were humans (once) but had been experimented on by the Terrans (the bad guys). They had no nose or mouth--just this gaping black hole where their faces should've been--long claws instead of fingers, and were covered in cuts and scars from their own hands. They also were blind, relying on hearing and their strange sense of air. See, they fed off of hot air--preferably that air that they could ingest from a living creature. They'd eat animals in the woods, but occasionally they'd rob the breath from the humans they came across. The use of their talons was twofold: One, they could keep a hold on their prey long enough to actually drain them of breath; and two, they could cause the person to scream, which expelled the air in a more appetizing way (to them). These guys actually gave one of my alpha readers nightmares, which is pretty cool, if you ask me. Especially since I didn't have the nightmares.
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