How time flies

It's been more than two years since I last posted to this blog. With limited time and with altogether too many blogs to manage (entirely my fault), this blog went unwatched. It's not going to be unwatched and neglected any longer. For now.

Here is some history: Time passes, and Blogger decides to eliminate their FTP publishing option. Of course this happens during a time when I have no time to execute a conversion. I am also someone loath to change things, so ... I have let my options expire on my primary blog, Prepare to be Assimilated. I will eventually get some kind of blogging engine hooked up to my primary domain, RLAEnterprises.net, probably WordPress, but until then I'm going to vent my pent-up blogging desires here.

When I last posted on this blog, I was still slogging through book 1 of my story A Far Sun. That book is "complete" and in second draft form at about 120,000 words. Book 2 is also complete (at 98,000 words), but it's still in first-plus draft form. It hasn't been independently read by anyone, though my oldest stepdaughter has the printed draft. She read and commented on the first volume, and her comments were hugely helpful. Author's myopia, you know.

These days I'm slogging through book 3, which has just bumped the 34,000 word count. Progress isn't quite as rapid as I had hoped, but it still may be possible to finish the story by year end. FYI, book 2 got finished at the end of 2009. It's hard to say when book 1 was "finished," because I was up to 145,000 words before I decided to break the story into pieces.

My biggest "worry" of late is whether I can really finish the story by the end of this book. It is still the same basic plot I started with, though in the course of writing I've rather significantly fleshed out certain aspects of my story world. There is a larger, more epic struggle taking place, but it's being told at the level of the individuals involved. I have conspicuously tried not to "boil the ocean," but there is a lot to tell. I am working on making my stories shorter, in general.

I find it humorous that once upon a time I worried whether my antagonist was going to be "bad enough." By now ... well, he's more than bad enough--he's certifiably insane and represents a huge obstacle to my protagonists. Actually, early on I was worried about exactly how he would exert control over others. Now it's very apparent the operative word is "fear." Everyone is afraid of him, and for good reason. He'll do anything and everything to get his way. They could single him out and eliminate him, but he is still very powerful and he does have "friends" who are helping him. I suppose it's predictable that my "heroes" will overcome the bad guy and win the day, but I'm still hoping the way they do it will be somewhat of a surprise.

I have, at various times, speculated on further stories in this "new" world. I made up a language that my natives speak, and they have a history and a culture (of course every made-up story world has these things), and wouldn't you know it--there is more that could be told. On the other hand, my younger stepdaughter thought my "new" story idea too trite and predictable. She may be right, but then again, I haven't written it yet. Most story ideas have been done before. Most are very cliche and trite, as well. It's only in the telling that a story gains some measure of originality, most of the time. I'm not really worried that I may have nothing of value to add.

On a (slightly) different topic: I also have another story I have worked on, from time to time. It's nothing at all like A Far Sun, and the preliminary reviews of the portion I've written (22,000 words, more or less) are very good. The working title is Rider on the Storm, but it's almost a certainty that this title will change. Unfortunately my second choice for a title: Persistence of Memory has been used in a novel, so that name seems even less likely.

This other story is all about time travel, and plays fast and loose with characters moving in and out (and between) different timelines; perhaps even different universes. Some parts of this story are not terribly original, at all (at least for some people), but when has that ever stopped anyone? Yes, one man's tired trope is another man's discovery. If you've read a bunch of time travel stories (or seen your share of time travel movies), then you might find some of the ideas rather well-known. But even then you might find something interesting in what I've got going.

I have also written a short story but I know I need to revise it before it's ready for consumption. I have ideas for a couple other short stories, but those ideas still need to be developed a little more. Short stories are good exercise. They help you develop your plotting and characterization muscles, but in a medium you can much more easily grasp in its entirety. One could say short stories are harder to write because you have to very carefully choose your words. In truth I find careful wordology to be important even in longer works. Particularly when you want your story to be more easily read by younger readers, which I do.

Some last comments on what I think will happen to A Far Sun. It seems very unlikely it will be published either as a graphic novel or as a podcast. As much as I might like to podcast it, it's very long and I am not as good a reader as (I think) is required. (I tend to talk too fast, my voice is a bit too nasal and high-pitched, and I am terrible doing female voices that don't all somehow have Southern accents.) With respect to a graphic novel, my artist stepdaughter has expressed no further interest in illustrating it. What's most likely is that I will shop it out for more "conventional" publishing, but that won't be until I've completed it. All three books.

So, we'll just keep on keepin' on, and see where it leads us.