I’ve found that just in working on the characters premises and back stories, they’ve become a lot more real to me.  Not just that they’re more detailed and have a history, but the time I spent working on them has given me some attachment to them, making them more than just a means to tell a story.

I have a few difficulties when writing for characters, primarily keeping their personality and behavior consistent.  When I went back to work on my characters, I added two categories alongside the basic description and back story.  These categories are Aspects/Traits and Premise.

Aspects/Traits refers to what part of myself, ideas, and experiences are reflected in the characters.  I think this gives more depth than just a back story, as you actually use part of yourself with the character.

Premise is the base from which the character is built, consisting of primarily their reaction to their intended role, general personality, behavior, and interaction.  I like combining these into one group since they are closely related.

This has been my largest writing project, both in size and time.  Probably the largest project I’ve completed is a twenty-thousand word research paper for college, which took about a month to complete.  So far, writing my book has been fun, exciting, frustrating, and daunting.

I actually have a hint of sorrow in completing my book, as the fun and joy of writing it will end.  That’s the feeling I have with most projects that I invest so much time in, which makes it hard to finish them.  It seems odd I feel this way even though I know have an idea for the next book.

In thinking of the next book, I just realized I don’t yet have a title for the first book!

‘Oh no’s!’

Anyways, just some random thoughts.  I’m curious to what other people consider when creating a characters, and what methods are used to write for them or develop.

Method 1:  Name List

Yes, I said I didn’t have luck with name lists, but this is a bit different than just looking at name lists.  I strongly discourage alphabetizing, as that’s one of my main objections to name lists:  I don’t want to see five-hundred names that start with ‘a’!  My other objection is in those giant name lists, chances are you will find less than 5% of those names remotely appealing.

Make a list by picking two or more names for each letter of the alphabet for female and two for male, giving you two lists.  Then, do the same for last names creating a third.  From this point, it’s mix and match, baby!

Sometimes, mixing two first names gives you a good sounding full name, or mixing two last names.  I recommend to continually add to this list when you find a name you like.  Even if it’s a name obviously taken from another piece of work (such as Frodo, Zim, Quasimodo, and so forth), you can expand or simplify the names until they have the feeling you want, or they might just fall into place somewhere.

I arranged all the names into a spreadsheet in my word processor to make better use of the space.  Here’s an example to show you what I mean:

Female:

Male:

Last:

With this method, it gets around the headache of mindlessly looking at names lists for hours, which usually are only first names. This method can create full names: first, middle, and last.  Yay!

Method 2: Word List

Make a list of a bunch of words you like, or words that are part of names or places you like.  After you have your list, divide it into prefixes and suffixes, and then it’s more mix and match!  Here’s an example using a couple rows from my lists:

Prefixes:

Suffixes:

I find I like this method best for places.  For an idea of what I mean, here are a few I came up with in less than a minute:  Umber Crypt, Willow’s Bridge, Brickwood, Drifting Flats, Fire Creek, Frost Lake.  Sure, they’re not the best names, but it gives me something to work with.  And, chances are, some of these names are in use somewhere on earth, but it’s not bad for how little time it took.  Also, you never know what might come to you later if you look at some combinations you chose later.  I’ve also used this list with other lists to get some unique names.

Method 3:  Etymology

This is probably my favorite method.  I did some digging around for general etymology of names, and made them into a list prefixes, suffixes, and neutral (meaning either prefix or suffix… not sure what the term is), and included their meaning.  So, I have something like this:

Prefixes:

Suffixes:

While it takes longer to compile a list like this, I feel it’s worth the time.  Take ‘Os (a god, divine)’, and combine it with ‘-Bar/-Ben (son)’, and you can get Osben or Osbar, which you could interpret as ‘divine son’.  Here are some  names I’ve come up which I’m somewhat fond of:  Sigbert (bright victory), Raddis (happy goddess), Hufrid (beautiful mind).  I think these would be great for first or last names.

I’ve also done the same thing with etymology of cities and town.  ’feld/ Auch[en] (field)’, with ‘fos (ditch)’, Auchenfos.  This link is where I found the information to base my list from.  I like many of the town names I’ve come up with using this method.

Method 4:  Foreign Words

This is another fun method.  Find an online translation dictionary, and search for words you like, or words that are good descriptors.  I usually combine two words and try to combine them into one name (think Labradoodle, but with foreign words!  …And, not dogs!).  I used this method to come up with names for demons and entities for my book using Latin or Gaelic/Celtic, and also happened to stumble across a great name for the antagonist.

Method 5:  Naming Conventions

This method is an expansion on the word list.  Each convention consists of a theme: celestial, earthen, bright, tasty, color, happy, and so on.

A sample list of ‘celestial’:

A sample list of ‘troubled’:

I like this list for naming unique items, events, ancestry, and sometimes it makes a unique first or last name.

So, those are the methods I currently use.  Hopefully some one out there will find some of this useful.  Any feedback, additional methods, or angry criticism would be welcomed!

(Along the right side, I added my box.net music folder.  Some of the stuff absolutely horrible, but I don’t care, any more.  However, I would happily recommend Turtle  – by me!)

In an effort to abstain from perfectionism, I gave up several activities of which I was passionate about, and focused on something which I did not have perfectionist tendencies:  my book.  I am determined to finish my book project before turning back to music, art, or language, but what what happens when I’m done with my book?

‘Zombie apocalypse!?’ 

While the odds of me finishing my book are slightly lower than the chance of a zombie apocalypse, I still say, ‘No.’

*frowny face*

Perfectionism plagued my whole life because I never wanted anything I did to be just “good enough”, I wanted it to be exactly how I imagined.  This included school papers and projects, writing simple notes and e-mails, editing a simple paragraph repeatedly, recording or scoring a composition, fussing over every detail of a scene, portrait, or whatever.  In all these instances, everything was “good enough”, but I wasn’t satisfied.  Even though the necessary part of the work was done, I insisted on going back and working on the unnecessary things no one but I cared about.

‘That sounds…  really boring…  or tedious…  and… frustrating…’

And it was!  The issue I have, especially with music and art, is the quality never seemed good enough.  In the time I spent trying to improve the quality by fussing over all the little details, I could have moved forward to numerous other projects that would have greatly improved my knowledge and ability, but nay.

In renouncing my perfectionism, I find myself wondering how I will deal with my passions which have been so closely imbued with perfectionism.  My passion of music was rooted in perfectionism.  The first song I ever learned was Blackbird, by the Beatles, on guitar.  I spent at least a month mastering that song, memorizing every note, until I was able to play along with the recording.

‘You crazy!’

Indeed.  Was I able to learn the song?  Yes.  Do I feel it was worth it?  Yes.  Would I take the path of perfectionism, again?  Nope.

One of the reasons I took on such a task is that I enjoyed the challenge.  And, I continued along that trend with music, making each new thing I learned a challenge.  As a result, in the time I spent dealing with perfectionism on one song that I found challenging, I could have probably learned a dozen other songs that would have added at least an equal amount of knowledge and ability, if not more.

‘That’s… err…  Why did you do it that way?’

At that time, it was my dream to play the guitar in that style.  After learning Blackbird, I learned a Bouree by J.S. Bach, the same one Leo Kottke plays, and then I pursued other challenges in classical guitar.  I succeeded at these goals and challenges, but I could have accomplished so much more if I wasn’t so bent on perfectionism.  In reflecting on this path of perfectionism, I find the result is while I am an accomplished guitarist (in some respects), I have a pitiful repertoire, and little performance experience.

The reason I feel my path of perfectionism was worth it is because it shaped me as a composer/songwriter and musician, giving me a unique playing style.  But, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, it came with a price.  And, I don’t want to pay that price with my future endeavors.

‘This is becoming sort of contradictory…’  

I’m not saying a person shouldn’t pursue a challenge.  I’m saying to not get snagged on the details, or getting it down “right” the first time, or first hundred times for that matter.  Yes, practice does help, but it’s best paced out over time.  When learning a new song or composition, I would play it over and over until I played it perfectly (at least to me), at least once.  Putting in that quantity of work for that one piece in one day is much less beneficial than spacing out that quantity over a longer period of time.  Chances are, I could have learned to play Blackbird just was well as I can today had I practiced it regularly along with various other songs instead of practicing only that one song intensely.  Sometimes challenges are fun, but sometimes they can be discouraging and burn you out (as has happened to me numerous times).

Many of the articles I’ve read on dealing with perfectionism say things similar to, “Tell yourself you did your best,” or “It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be ‘good enough’”.  These are the very things I will struggle with.  Often times I know I could do better, or that it was not my ‘best’, but being aware of perfectionism, it’s not going to be worth spending extra time going back to do better, or to do my ‘best’;  it will be best to simply move on.

‘Isn’t that what they call getting “pawned?”‘

That’s not what I mean.  The point is, instead of using all that time trying to make something perfect by getting hung up on a few more than likely irrelevant details, I could move on to new things that would develop my skill further.

So, what will happen when I pick up my guitar, again?  Or a pencil, paintbrush, or language book?  Remind myself it takes time to develop a skill, and, as I’ve told many people:  Everything is hard until you learn it.

Now I just need to find a way to take my perfectionism out of editing…

‘Yay!  You is done, mang!’

Eh, no… not even close.  I spent a lot of time fine tuning the world and scenario, which is a good thing.  It will require a good amount of editing to make all the pieces fit into the track, and I’m fine with that.

‘Then, what’s the snag?’

As I was writing my book, I tried to have each character represent different parts of myself.  In editing the prologue, the first couple of pages went by just fine.  They just needed a little buffing, and attitude and mood change.  After that, I completely redeveloped two characters (the protagonist’s friends) which added more to the story.  That’s a good thing.

I also ended up adding another character (protagonist’s childhood friend) which will also add more to the story.  In my opinion, it focuses mostly on the protagonist’s present self opposed to past, lacking a lot of his personal aspects.  In just my first edit, I’m wondering how much additional content I’m going to have; I already find myself adding things I had no intention of adding, things that just whimsically come to me.

I am still working on editing the prologue, actually.  Initially, it was about 3,000 words, and now, it’s almost doubled.  It’s not that I’m trying to add content just to fill blank space, I’m trying to develop the story, the characters, and the world.  If worst comes to worst, I can cut out any empty fluff in a second edit.  For now, I will add whatever comes to me and appeal it on second edit.

I do find myself distracted, though.  I was excited about editing and polishing up the first draft, but now I keep putting it off.  I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but it’s something I enjoy.

‘So, why ‘ya putting it off!?’

I don’t know!  This sort of thing always happens to me:  I make progress with a big project and I don’t finish it!  It drives me crazy.  See?  I’m using italics!  SCARY!  And, CAPITAL LETTERS!  And booold!  Oh no!  Exclamation points!!!

Anyhoo, I know I have a work avoidance issues, but this is ridiculous.  I asked myself, “Why are you procrastinating?”  And, my mind tried to come up with various responses, none of which sufficed:  ’Well, I already spent so much time on it.  It’s going to be so much working going back and editing it.  I burned out on it.  It won’t turn out the way I want,’ and so forth.

I pondered various responses, but none of them seemed true.

‘So, why aren’t you working on it right now?’

TOO MUCH ITALICS!  …Ahem…  I don’t have a good reason.  I just get distracted so easily!  I know once I get into it, I’ll be excited, though!  It will take a lot of work to bind it altogether, but I just have to make it something to look forward to.  Hopefully when I post again I will have made progress in editing.  In the meantime…  Look behind you!  A three-headed monkey!

…Darn, that usually works.

Sadie Blue 1995-2011

In previous posts, I mentioned Sadie.  As the title might imply, she died… Friday, November 4th, 2011, approximately 11:45am.

Friday morning, I just finished getting ready for work, and my sister was cursing about something as I came downstairs to retrieve my driving necessities.  I figured Sadie had an accident, which seemed to be the case.  She was laying in a puddle of urine, and another puddle of vomit, which was unusual because her accidents were normally defecation.  My sister has a bad back from scoliosis, so I lifted Sadie out of the mess and carried her outside.  For the most part, she seemed okay, or at least okay for having just thrown up.  She was lucid, didn’t seem to be in pain, and I figured she was just stressed from having vomited.

I washed my hands and forearms with soapy, chilling water, dried them quickly, and went to work, not knowing seeing Sadie scared and covered in urine and vomit would be the last time I saw her.

I came home for lunch to give Sadie her medicine.  I checked the kitchen, living room, and my mom’s bedroom (where she usually sleeps), but I couldn’t find her.  I tried to not worry, figuring she had been taken to the vet office.  As I went to prepare lunch, I spotted a yellow note posted on the microwave reading Sadie had passed away around 11:45am.

I work until 7:00pm, and my mom had left to stay with a friend for the weekend before I returned home for the evening.  My sister works nights, so she was sound asleep, and I had no details on what happened until just recently when I managed to speak with my sister as she was leaving for work.

When I left, neither of us knew Sadie was in such poor shape when I carried her outside.  It wasn’t until half an hour or so after I left for work my sister realized Sadie wasn’t recovering.  Sadie started drooling (unusual for Sadie) and seemed dazed, and continued to gag like she was trying to vomit.  Kim (my sister) called my mom to get Sadie to the vet.  The vet said Sadie had internal bleeding from either an ulcer or a ruptured tumor, and the vomiting was a result of either shock or a minor stroke.  My mom and sister were there to give their farewells, while I was sitting in a cubical talking to strangers who were hundreds of miles away.

Sadie lived to be sixteen years old.  Her last few months of life were depressing;  Sadie had a seizure about two months ago which the vet thought was caused by a brain tumor, and they prescribed an anti-seizure medication.  Around that time, she was barely able to walk due to arthritis and muscle deterioration, and I had to carry her in and up, and up and down stairs.  During that time, I came accepted she wasn’t going to be alive much longer.

It was hard for me to see her in such a feeble condition.  Some days were better than others.  On good days she could get up on her own and walk around.  On bad days, she would just look at me with a forlorn expression, needing me to carry her around.

One of the most difficult things about caring for non-human animals is we can’t always understand what they want, or what they try to communicate with us.

Now, Sadie is many memories that exist between several people, and her body will be a pouch of ash in a jar placed on a shelf.  I feel guilt from not showing more sorrow or remorse, but my heart had already slowly been breaking as I saw the toll aging took on her, and her death only broke it a little bit more.

I did not cry, though I feel tears behind my eyes.  I am not heartless, as I feel a pang of sorrow.  Her end was near, and I accepted the fate of death.  The last time I saw her, she was soiled and scared.  It is this last memory which vexes me.

And, here is one of my favorite songs: “Maybe”, by the Ink Spots.  It seems like the perfect song to close this post.  Enjoy.

Sadie Blue 1995-2011

Edward (formerly known as Little Cat… and Humphry Booker: Cat Detective)

Young Edward

Edward is a cat.  He is big and fluffy.  Oh, SO fluffy!  He weighs nearly twenty pounds, and he’s annoyingly affectionate, and also frustratingly ornery.  He has to eat a special food that increases the acidity of his urine to prevent urine crystals from forming so he doesn’t suffer another urinary obstruction, and now he has a maddening lust for the kibble the other cats eat, and he’s managed to eat poisonous Rimadyl (a pain killer for dogs) three times, equating three very expensive emergency vet visits.

Edward is the sort of cat who will follow you around relentlessly, obstructing your path if he’s hungry.  If you sit down anywhere, he will want on your lap, just because.  If you refuse to let him on your lap, he thinks if he creeps slowly enough you won’t notice (which sometimes I don’t if I’m focused on something else).  If you still refuse to let him on your lap, he will climb up on the back of the couch, chair, whatever, and lay on your shoulder like a twenty pound scarf.

He usually loves being petted, and he isn’t shy about meeting new people.  If he doesn’t want to play or be petted, he will bat at your hands, but at least he’s quite gentle about it.

My mom found Edward, and his sister, Dyna, in the window well of a basement after cycling, only because her friend’s brat dog wanted to eat them and not go away from the well.

‘Oh!  Cute!  Kittens!’  

NO!  She called my sister, asking what to do with the kittens.  My sister told her there was an animal rescue shelter just up the street.  It’s easy for kittens to find homes, too.  However, the next day, my mom brought home kittens…

Doesn’t this seem like it should be the other way around, though?  Kid finds kittens, mom says no, kid brings home kittens, regardless.

Anyhoo, my mom claimed for nearly six months she would find a home for the kittens.  And, she didn’t.  During this time, I refused to the call the kittens by any name, and I continuously urged her to find a home for the kittens.  I called the long haired cat Little Cat (Edward), and the short haired cat Small Cat (Dyna), which annoyed my sister to much amusement.

After they were neutered and spayed, my mom declared we were to keep the cats, and I continued refusing to use their names, as I wanted nothing to do with them.

‘Oh, that’s so mean!  Boo!’

…Anyways…  After having the cats for two, maybe three years, Edward was ailed with a urinary obstruction which was brought on by stress caused by my mom’s cretinous girlfriend bring her filthy, untrained, food aggressive dogs over with her when she visited…  the mere thought of that oafish ogre causes me to radiate hatred and anger…  After the third time Edward suffered a urinary obstruction from her dogs being there, I felt a great sorrow seeing the helpless little beast suffer.  The poor fellow was lethargic, unresponsive, and I truly feared he might perish (which he didn’t though.  Phew!).  I took him to the vet for an overnight stay, my heart breaking seeing him so weak and un-Edward-like.

Upon his return home, we had to monitor his urination, so we had to separate him from other cats, the only viable location being my room.  I carefully watched the booger, making sure he didn’t relapse, and, unfortunately, I bonded with him, and him with me…

‘Awwww!‘

Grrr!!!

Edward is healthy and fuwa-fuwa as ever, now, although he does need to lose about three pounds.  He can be annoying when he wants attention, but he is definitely not the most annoying cat (it’s a tie between Hal and Charlie).  Having a twenty-pout cat on your lap can make it difficult to use a laptop, or eat, as well as stand up.  He will cling to your lap when you stand up.  I love him, even if he is a pain in my butt (literally, some days…  If he wants attention or food, he will latch on to my legs, and if he comes up from behind… yeah…)

Edward: Regal Beast

Today:

I was up late last night, and had hoped to wake up early, around 6:00am,  but failed by over three hours.  This morning, I was woken from a sound sleep by a phone call from my insurance company at 9:19am.  He took my statement from when some (choice of bad word[s] applicable as an adjective or adverb) hit my car on September 6th, 2011 at 7:48am causing nearly $2,000 worth of damage to my beautiful car, and leaving no one injured.

I brushed my teeth and had quick shower to avoid looking grungy.  I ate a bowl of toasted whole grain oat cereal with soymilk, and a rich cup of coffee, and I was off to work at 9:59am to be to work at 10:08am so I could try logging into my computer on time at 10:15am, only to have the computer be insanely slow, leaving me unable to log into the system until 10:19am.

I took a break at 12:04pm and smoked, talked with my lover (we work in the same place.  Yep!), returned to my desk at 12:14pm, and took lunch at 3:15 pm.  I got stuck at three stop lights on the way home, arrived home at 3:24pm, fed Edward, Hal, and Caboose (my catses [redundant plural of cats]), gave Sadie (dying old dog) her medicine, ate a sandwich and rice, and left home to return to work from lunch at 3:44pm, returning to the office at 3:52pm, smoked a cigarette, and logged back into my computer at 4:00pm.

I took another break at 4:45pm to smoke with my fiance (my lover works a different shift which ends at 4:45), returned to my desk at 4:55pm, worked until 7:04pm, because I got stuck on a call during the last two minutes.  Between 7:00pm and 7:04pm I received four consecutive phone calls on my cell which caused my phone to vibrate repeatedly, and I was punching my leg like a crazy person every several seconds to stop the vibrating.

When I was in the lobby, I returned her call to see what was so urgent:  My lover wanted me to go over to her moms for a while, which I did.  I was surprised to have made it there, considering how excessively directionally challenged I am.  It was nice see my lover having a good time with her mother. After spending half an hour or so there, we returned home.  I ate dinner, had coffee, typed a couple comments, and typed up this.

This is how most of my weekdays are.  Long, boring, uneventful, and being some place that bores me to tears.  For many people, this might be good.  For me, it’s an indelible tedium. Fortunately, my lover can always cheer me up!

Having only one chapter left to write, it’s almost maddening how near I am to editing.  And, there will be lots of editing, let me tell you.  In writing the end chapter, dealing with dialog regarding unresolved matters, I solidified various concepts and ideas that I need to go back and straighten out.  Nothing too drastic, just a lot of dialog editing and additions.

Oh, I can hardly wait!  And, editing is not even what I’m most excited about!  ’Whoah, what?  More exciting than editing?‘  Indeed.  And, I’m not gonna tell nobody!  Booyuh!  …Well, okay.  But, it’s just between us, okay?  I whisper to you, with shifty eyes, “I have an idea for another book!”

I’m still quite excited about pulling the laces tight on my book and seeing how it looks.  For the ending I wrote, just after the climax of the story, the protagonist had the choice between continuing his adventure with his new companions, or returning to the safety of his home and living with a hint of regret.  And, I shall not expose my decision!  …I’m trying to laugh evilly, but failed.  Now I’m making a sad face…

Anyhoo…  I would go on with some details about my book, looking for potential feedback (which I won’t get, seeing as this is a new blog with no views [Yay!]) on some of the concepts and ideas for certain areas.  In the meantime, enjoy a nice cup of tea (with mango where available)!

In the comments of this article, a lot of people were saying, “Just make it in America.  G’der!”  I’m with that group, because companies in the US exploit the labor and resources of many other countries.  ’It keeps America safe from pollution, and makes things affordable!’  Sure, by depreciating the lives of other human beings, their culture, and environment.  If these jobs were in the US, the products might cost more because of health and safety regulations, as well as paying employees at least minimum wage and possibly providing benefits (Oh, no!  Not benefits!), but think of the money that would actually be going back into the US by paying people in the US, and having these companies pay taxes (I think it’s unpatriotic to avoid paying taxes!  [...that was sarcasm, but some how felt true]).  And, it wouldn’t be just the factory workers who get jobs, but people who build the factories, people that manufacture factory equipment (well, that one was sort of redundant), as well as people who manage and maintain the factories and machines.  That just terrible!

I wouldn’t have a problem with outsourcing if all companies based in the US had to provide the same rights and wages to workers in other countries.  ’Why?’  Because most of them are currently making profit by avoiding regulations that are in place in the US which saves them money, they pay their workers well under minimum wage, and avoid paying taxes and providing benefits to employees.  If they weren’t able to cut these corners, the majority of all outsourcing would not be profitable.

‘It creates opportunities for growth in less developed countries!  They’re better off!’  Sure, it creates an initial boon.  But, once the company leaves, and they’re left on their own to compete with other developing countries to which are outsourced, they more than likely won’t have the ongoing skill or resources to compete.  For companies that stick around for several years picking up camp, the young people who worked there for their first jobs and don’t have previous experience with other jobs and are unskilled for other typical employment that would be available for their region.

Anyhoo, back to the main topic of the HDD supply…

Not to bash Apple, or make people mad, but in that past a lot of Apple’s computers seemed extremely overpriced for what they were, especially with most decent computers being on par with them in hardware/performance, and I think many of Apple’s machines still are overpriced.  However, they’ve made some steps in the right direction with some of them.  Looking at the MacBook Air, it has a solid state drive, backlighted keyboard, lightweight design (although too thin, in my opinion.  Not enough depth).  I would love to have this laptop because it seems like the ideal laptop, but there’s no way I’m going to pay over $1,000 for it, especially when they only include a 64gb SSD (solid state drive) to start with.  That, and I already have a very nice Toshiba laptop… which was made in… China…  as is the wireless keyboard I used to type this, and the mouse I’ve used to navigate and edit this text…  and the LCD monitor I’ve been using…

So, what does my rant about my thinking Apple’s computers are overpriced have to do with the flood in Thailand effecting their HDD supplies?  Solid state, baby!

‘What’s so great about solid state?’  Unlike HDDs, SSD doesn’t have any moving parts inside it.  It doesn’t have to spin a disk to write, store, or access data saved on the drive.  As a result, it is faster, more energy efficient, and more compact.  If Apple is deprived of its resources for creating HDD, I’m hoping they will take the next step forward with SSD, hopefully approaching the Terabyte range!

I’m also excited to see the next step in multi-core processing!  I think of processors like tiny percolators.  Sure, percolating one or two big pots at a time is fine.  But several small pots at once!  That’ll make coffee faster than you could serve it!  …Just as long as those percolators are made in the US…  or Canada… or Japan… or the UK, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Austria, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, France, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, and other lovely countries, such as China!

‘Boooook?’ I hear you thinking.  Yes, bewk.

‘Well, what’s it about?’  

Well, I’ll tell you!

“A teenage boy discovers a train graveyard that seems to appear out of nowhere.  When he goes to investigate, he makes the acquaintance of a girl from his school, and shortly after, a curious young man who tries to explain his world is only one perception of reality.  They discover their world is in danger and try to prevent a disastrous machination from unfolding.”  Sounds bookish, right?

It is filled with mystery, suspense, paranormal, magic, demons, ghouls, and swords.  Well, maybe not filled with it, but it’s in there.  I may reveal more, later, depending…

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have written about forty-five to fifty pages, and that’s on 8½x11 size 10 Times New Roman font.  That approximates, with chapter headings, footer and header and size 12 font, about one-hundred-seventy standard novel-sized pages.  Probably more than that, as the formatting I’ve been using adds blank pages after chapters and other such.  To be honest, I doubt this book will be published (by a major publisher), and if so, I doubt it will be successful.  (if you don’t care about publishing, skip this section and continue to “So, my book.“)

It’s been a while since I’ve read about publishing, so feel free to correct me, or add additional information.  The main reason I feel I won’t be published is mostly because I read it’s quite difficult for first-time authors to get their work published, most of them are lucky to get more than $15,000.00 for their first book if published, and they don’t see that money until several months after the book is published and set to sale because the vendors will send back unsold books which is deducted from your total royalties and check.  At least, that’s how I remember understanding it when I researched the topic.

Plus, most publishers don’t push your books for you.  You have to either higher an agent/publicist, or contact vendors and do your own advertising.  Of course, there is also the route of self-publishing, which I will do if I cannot get a major publisher.

So, my book.  I decided my book will be thirteen or more chapters, each chapter consisting of five 8½x11 pages, which approximates four to six-thousand words per chapter.  Progress-wise, I have written nine of thirteen chapters.  ’That’s good, right?’  Yes, and no.  The first seven chapters went fine.  They followed my outline well enough while producing adequate amounts of content.  Chapter eight, though…  It started out alright.  However, I quickly found I had less than one-thousand words which fully completed the chapter.

 ’Less is more!’  

In many cases, I would agree.  For this chapter, no.  It breaks the continuity of chapter length.  I soon realized that the next two chapters had the same issue of fewer words completing the purpose of the chapter.  However, the three chapters fit together perfectly with content and mood.  I know I will have the same issue with outlined chapters eleven and twelve, and they will be combined into one chapter, bringing my book to a total of ten chapters.  So, I am left approximately three chapters, which is about fifteen pages, or at least twelve-thousand words short of my initial goal.

However, I still have two chapters to complete, and upon their completion, I would say my book is one quarter finished.

‘But, you wrote it!  It’s done, right?’  

Nope.  Next comes the part I will probably enjoy most:  Editing!  I get to go back, pull everything together, and make it look nice.  During this rough draft, I’ve skipped over a lot of details, character traits and development, dialogue, and laying out the setting.  After editing, I will consider my book half finished.

In writing the apex and anti-climax, I found I need to add additional material to string together the climax with the rest of the book.  So, that’s potentially one chapter. I also feel I can create another two chapters by developing existing chapters during editing, so that should amend for the three chapters I had to meld with others.

And, for those curious about how my day has gone, this morning, after I got out of bed, my right nostril was completely closed off from swelling (I have sinus problems).  Not fun, at all.  After having some coffee, and a bowl of cereal, I watched the Halloween episode of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, which was also the first episode of the series.  Quite nostalgic.  So, why mention it?  Why not.  I like the series.  Afterwards, I cozied up to my computer deks to write another post, and I had a sneezing fit.  During my sneezing fit, I chose to write about my book.  Yes.

-Brett