Forging Ahead

It's been a long time since I last posted on here. Too long, actually. I'll bet you're wondering if I've fallen asleep at the anvil. Well, I haven't. And neither has God. I've been busy--I do film composing, and there've been a few projects that have been coming up that require work. In addition to that, I've also got school that I'm gearing up for, and the County Fairs with my mom's Dairy Goats (www.sequoiawood.com)

But all in all, as exhausting as this summer has been, it's been a good one. Well, if you could call it a summer! I believe there have been less than ten days this year that broke one hundred degrees--even right now it's only eighty-two, and it's the middle of August! The heat of the Forge is welcome, then. :-)

What have I been working on lately? I joined a critique group called "The Anomalous Sandbox" a bit back, and got my original Prologue critiqued. Very humbling. Very constructive, and appreciated, but it really helped to put things back into perspective. I'm not Tolkien, I'll put it that way. But then, I'm not writing like a two-year old, either. There were some grammar and mechanics problems cited, but I started applying them right away in my next chapters. I also added a chapter that would come even before my original Prologue; the new one introduces a character who will pop up occasionally in the first couple of series, and becomes your main character once you reach the fourth series, "The Sect Wars". I finally pushed on ahead in my chapters, writing my way along through Chapter 10, which I finished about the middle of last week. your first eight chapters introduce the entire setting, giving you the background, where things are at in the struggle, etc. They also introduce you to most of your key characters, including Richard Holmton, one of your Main Characters. Chapter 8 ended with one of Richard's friends, Paul, leaning forward with the words, "Richard, it's time to take charge. You were made to do it." Thus, the end of all down-time is signaled. Chapter 9 introduced a completely new twist to the whole story; you meet your second MC, Joseth Gornath, and his family. Richard is on your "Light Side", while Joseth ends up being conscripted into your "Evil Side", the Trojans (yes, decendants of the people of ancient Troy, from the Iliad). A quick dinner scene, including a prank played by Joseth on his wife, Liciana, terminates with some devastating news. Joseth ends up in an argument with his father, Asius, over whether or not he will join the Trojan ranks. That night, he has a dream which will prove prophetic over the course of the next four books of many things to come. In the morning, troops arrive to escort Joseth to the fortress in New Troy, and things don't go over so well. Thus ends Chapter 10.

Everything is beginning to escalate quite nicely--the original outline looked a lot more action-packed than what is coming out, mostly because it's the key scenes of action that I end up building my story-line around. I note those down, and run with my ideas as I go along and as the story builds itself. The only conversations written down or noted are the ones on which the plot hinges.

Next will come Chapter 11 the exact content of which I have yet to decide upon. I believe it will contain Joseth's conscription into the Trojan forces. Chapter 12 will revert back to Richard Holmton, and we will see him and his friends being trained by the often crusty, occasionally mischevious, but very seasoned and always grave veteran Spartos (his personality is sometimes reminiscent of Yoda). Don't believe me? Just wait until the books come out! Yes, I know--it's quite the combination of characteristics, and a superb recipe for loads of fun. Saying of which, I have to say--he is probably the funnest of all the characters to work with!

I also began an outline for Xor: Retaliation, the fourth book in the series "Xor Sector". It will be something of a tragedy--your hero, Vargus, succeeds in fulfilling his mission only to find that he is too late to save the Shadow Organization. (Xor actually means Shadow. In the words of one: "Few are the Shadows of Light; even fewer those with the wisdom to seek them." A quote from the fifth book, "Shadowcloak", and riddle of a passphrase.)