Challenges

On the nanowrimo forums, there are threads to help people get to 50,000 words.  Some of these are challenges, and the concept of these challenges inspired me to do my own in the Walker series.  Three novels of the five have a challenges in them.  But it all started with Novel 1.

The challenge for Novel 1 was to see how often I could get my male main character, Walker, naked.  (And recently I just thought of another place for this to occur.)  Why?  I think because I started out with him naked, and I thought, "cool, why not?"

The Prequel, or Novel 0 (I really have to rethink my numbering scheme), has a minor challenge:  a greeting.  Basically, if possible, whenever Walker and the vampire meet, Walker flips the vampire Valor, straddles him, and threatens him in some way.  Why this?  Because I had an image when thinking up this novel of Walker doing this after a long time apart and saying something funny about how they keep end up meeting this way.  I really don't think I can have Walker do this more than a couple times in the novel, but we'll see.

The final challenge came to me recently upon thinking why I am turned off by much of current fantasy fiction:  The ubiquitous romance subplot.  Well, I can't write romance--every time I do, it ends up bad, and instead of happy endings, I like killing people off (at best) or making them have ulterior motives (at worst), or both.   So that lead me to thinking of something related to the ubiquitous romances, but in tv/movie media:  The rampant, pointless sex scene.  Now that I could work with.  So, in Novel 3, the challenge is rampant sex, with bonus points for making it pointless.  Why that novel?  Because I already am using sex a couple times, one time to make a plot point and another time for humor.  So why not?  Oh, and don't worry, it's not erotica.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but that would be a major upset in tone for this series.

As of yet, Novel 2 and Novel 4 do not have any challenges.  Probably because they are more serious, and the other novels have a stronger sense of humor running through them.  But anyway, that's what I'm doing in this series:  Challenges.  Don't ask me why, I think it's fun :-)  And I can't see traditionally published novels doing this.  :-)  And I get bored easy.

So what about you--are there any challenges you can add to your novels?

Walker Novel 2 & Characters & Donald Maass

As I worked on the KPP2 of Novel 2, I realized I never posted the revised KPP1. I'll have to rectify that this week.  The major changes in both key points dealt with changing characters.  The Wonder Twins, though I love them, are removed from Novel 2.  Why?  Because as I worked on the outline, I realized they didn't have a recurring role in that novel.  It hurts, but they didn't . . . fit.  Sad, but true.  Just like in real life, huh?  Sometimes you spend less time with certain friends because they just don't fit into your life anymore.  By removing them, I strengthened the relationship between Walker and Maha, his desired lover.

Same in KPP2.  Instead of Smiley, Walker's out-of-place, off-reality friend, it is Maha's voice he hears.  That make his understandable hatred of her after his rescue that much stronger.  Doesn't make it any more reasonable.  But it's there.  He's not very reasonable in that world.  Hard to be reasonable when you are a walking wound, hurting.  But, also, removing Smiley here meant removing him from KPP1--so that happened too.  I think it helped strengthen Coustin Bustis's role in Walker's life because she is a minor character that is seen across several novels--a little bit in Novel 1, more in Novel 2, somewhat in Novel 3.  I like her, too, because like her cousin, Walker's wife, she is provides levity through her sexual attraction, joking with, and baiting of Walker.  Also, she is a kinder version of Walker's wife, although that makes her a tad less fun.

I made all these changes on characters before I started really re-reading Donald Maass's books.  He believes in complex relationships in novels.  That is, characters who have more than one role in the main character's life.  He says these are the "most absorbing" ones in novels.  To that end, he suggests combining characters.  When I first read that long ago and took his advice, it really changed how created characters.  It made them so much richer. Unconsciously, I still try to do that today.

Speaking of Donald Maass. Did you know he has a new book coming out? I bought it and another book I had been eyeballing (a sequel to Martin Lindstrom's Buology, which I adore).  I used my membership, a gift card I had earned from B&N ¹, and online coupon.  Except for a few cents, the gift card covered the entire cost.  Don't you love it when you and a book are meant to be?  It's is supposed to ship in a few days--that is another reason why, if I can, I order books from B&N.  Their freebie shipping?  They don't punish you by adding an extra two weeks to the delivery time; rather they try to get to you fast!  Unlike some other online *cough* Amazon *cough* venues I could name.


1 Note: I have B&N's credit card, and love it.  It means free gift cards after 2500 points from non-B&N purchases.  But using it to make B&N purchases has benefits too--a discount of . . . I can't remember.  It's not much, but it usually comes close to matching the s&h fee or the sales tax, so I'm happy.

Updates: Launches and Retirements

 

On Launches.....  

I have recently finished the first KPP1/beginning edits for all novels.  My goal is to get the KPP2s, the launch points, done this week.  What are launch points?  I read something in Donald Maass's (lit. agent) workbook about building interesting or tense content between opening pages and the main events of the novel.  He called it "bridging conflict."  When I started writing out of order, I felt that there had to be something to balance the climax section of the novel.  So, I started thinking about what the beginning meant.  It is a hook, an introduction to the important elements of the novel.  The climax is the key scene before the denouement, or end.  Now, I couldn't have an idea as important as the climax in the beginning, but I could have something that started the plot ball rolling. Something that moved the reader and characters to the main conflict.  What was that point?  I called it the launch point.



Not all novels have them, especially in shorter works where I have what I call a climatic ending.  Where the climax and ending are so close in timing and meaning to each other.  In that case, to provide balance, the beginning also launches.

The other thing about beginning and launch points is, like climaxes and endings, they generally abut.  That is, I do not have any content in between the beginning and launch, just like I don't with the climax and ending.  Walker Novel 2 differs from this setup.  I think one other novel might too--Harem?

Anyway, that is what I mean by launch points.


On Retirements.....

What is the saying?  Sometimes the best plans of mice and men go awry?  Well, I recently worked up a schedule for my Walker series, and I realized to get it up on January 1st, its going to take a lot of work.  Except for nano, I don't have the time for side stories right now.  More, I find it hard to shift between the series and an unrelated project.  Why?  I have an obsessive personality, one that makes it hard to get interested in other material when I am more interested in what I am already working on.  I realized I better not mess with that, since my obsessions, they never last long. Some of it has to do with my writing process (more on that in another post).  I tend to see the novel in my head, certain scenes, like a movie, and I will go back to those bits and keep replaying them.  But eventually, like a song I play too often, I tire of it.  I obsess, I get bored, I move on.  So while I am in the obsessed mode, I need to finish the Walker Series.

To that end, I decided to cut out some of the editings--the obsession killer--planned.  I still will write a certain key point or event, for example, the beginning scenes.  Then once all beginnings are done across the five novels, I will edit them to a polished state.  But in general, unless the scene is giving me problems, I won't squeeze another edit in between.  Also, I won't edit them again once I say write two parts, like an event and a key point that are near each other.  That was to be my "merge" edit.  I don't have the time or patience.  Rather, once I get to the point where I am writing the tertiary events (the third level of events, including key points), then I will start editing after write them for a section or a block.  Then I will start merging them together.

In this way, by retiring side stories and extra editing sessions, I hope to be done entirely with the series by November 1, giving me time to work on my nano and giving me time to work on formatting the series for publication.

We'll see how it goes.

The Difference Frequent Editing Makes

Well, the first KPP1/Beginning of Walker Novel 2 is clean-edited ¹. I can definitely feel the difference in it and in the newly written KPP1s of Novels 3, 4, and Harem. Namely because this isn't the first edit for either of Novel 1 or 2.

That is why I think my current method works. After I write all the new blocks, that same week I go back over them and flesh them out. Then once they are all done, the following week (like this week) is dedicated to line edits or polishing.

After this week, and it should only be this week because I am on track, I will start on the KPP2s/Launch Points, going through the same process again. Not so bad, methinks. Not so bad at all.

==================

1 Notes:  I don't have time to post the new version today, but I will this week.  However, I really hate cutting it up into so many blocks to make blogable.  I may end up hosting it on my webpage and posting a link to it here.  Not sure yet.

Walker Universe Series: Novel 1: KPP1 (Edit Pass One)

WALKER UNIVERSE SERIES:  NOVEL 1
FIRST KEY PLOT POINT:  BEGINNING

Early Draft, Edit Pass One

Copyright ©  2011  Jodi Ralston

My sometimes-wife had the knack for finding me while I was in the bare.  It was how we met and how she found me now when I was knee-deep in the teardrop pool at the first House of Health.  She of course was fully clothed back then; this time she barely was.  A sheer dress.  And stringy golden breast-band and loincloth almost rivaling the size of the golden kohl around her eyes.  In other words, dressed to impress.  Dressed for trouble.

It didn't help matters any that she was carrying my bundle of clothes.  Clothes I had left with the attendant to purify.  Ketesha did not offer them up as she stopped before me.  Instead, her gaze raked me up and down, lingering on the silver, healing waters, then ascending somewhat higher as she tutted.  "Such is a pity."  She stroked my clothing.  "Truly."

"Ketesha-Uret."  I stepped out of the pool, and made a grab for the clothes.  She pulled them away, teasingly.

"Ketesha is so . . . "  She cradled my clothing like a pet cat.  "Formal, my love, for our relationship."

"Where's the attendant, Ketesha?  What are you doing with my things?"

"I sent her away so we could . . . talk.  But I suppose that can wait until your prescribed time is finished here."  She pouted as she held out my garments to me.  I took them.

"Beware of strange women; that is how you got in this mess."  

Beware the woman you know in Tesha's case.  Well, let her keep her supposition.  It would save me from her prying out the truth, and me from a certain matrimonial vow, vows which I have never quite figured out were legal or fictive or some singular combination of both.  My only regret was that exaggerated word of our encounter would get back to her sister.

Getting more exaggerated the longer I stood in the natural wasting thoughts on it.

I carefully shook out the first piece of clothing.  After all, Ketesha-Uret was the pharaohine of suprises.  Like this one:  somehow I had gained a pair of pants.  Scale-armored pants.  For once, not made out of candy prone to melting.  I arched an eyebrow.

"I remember the measurements that wear on you best.  You'll need the pants and jerkin where you we are going."  After one final look, she turned from me, and strutted away.  Turned out she was even more sheer and more narrowly-stringed from the rear.

At the door, she looked back over her shoulder, hand resting on the minature god's-eye pedestal.  She rubbed its dripping tears for luck.  "What are you waiting for?  There is no groom here, my Pheteh."

"The name is Walker," I told her, and I scowled down at my garments.  Scowled, not because I had been caught looking, which was bad enough, but because I had had been stupid enough to look in the first place; that way lay only trouble.

I gave the pants one last, good shake, and turning up nothing suspicious, pulled them on.  I investigated the rest of my garments and found more surprises.  Not only had scaly jerkin and pants replaced my gold-sheened kilt and forked vest, but the underclothing looked distinctly serpentine in pattern.  Dressed, I followed a suspicion and my garmenter to our next stop, the anteroom.  My high-laced, standard-issue sandles were gone from my cubby-hole; in their place, real boots made from some real serpent, pebbled dark.  The footwear attendant/greeter was also conspiciously missing, but I had already chosen not to raise a complaint against Keteshsa's meddling.  After all, I didn't often meet an opportunity to wear pants.  Damn, I missed pants.

I actually felt that I came out ahead until I went outside and I saw Tesha beside what had become of my mount.

I rushed down the steps to Horse's side, and ran my hand over his flank, over the plated metal that shone like gold.  It almost burned under the sun.  Horse swiveled its head around on me, cobra-like hood expanding along its falcon-horse head.  The acursed thing even had wings now, scaled wings, and so deeply forked of a tail, it might as well have been two; this it flicked at me like a whip, forcing me back a step.

"Katesha, curse you, you don't mess a man's horse!"

Katesha laughed.  "Horse?"  She reached out and stroked the blunt nose, and Horse's metal plating blushed beneath her touch, hood retreating, a clear indication of her corrupting influences.  "Your mount was never meant to look like a horse.  It is an upgrade befitting a man of the mehnset."

Was there nothing left to my Horse--or inside it, for that matter?  I fumbled over its rump until I found the proper scale, and lifted the storage hatch lid to begin inventorying the rest of my gear.  First and most importantly, I retrieved my mehnset from the mounting inside the lid.  The snake looked all right, but in this sun, It was hard to see.  So, I relied on feel and hoped it didn't cost me.  The magic, gold metal coiled up my left arm--as it should--however, it too was in a foul mood and tightened painfully on me before subsiding with a hiss, resting its head against the back of my fist.  It never opened its eyes once, too disgusted by the situation at large.  Who could blame it?  Changing a perfectly good representation of a horse to this . . . whatever it is.  Mech-monstrosity.

Beast.

Bribe.

That was not the end of her upgrades.  She had replaced my back-up weapon, one that few knew about for good reason; instead of a simple boot-knife, I now had a pair of overly ornate, snake-eyed switch blades.  Blades, I found out shortly, that I could barely squeeze inside the hidden sheathes in my boots.  Blades that I would have to re-envenom, a process my mehnset found rather demeaning at the best of times.  I hoped at least she had properly disposed of the old ones.  Mehnset venom was nothing to mess around with.

As for the rest of my stuff?  Too hard to tell, what with my eyes watering from the glare off the beast-bribe's skin and my sunglasses turning up oddly absent.  No choice, I closed the lid, giving up on counting my losses until I was safely back at the base.  Make that safely indoors the stable.  So, I grabbed onto the embedded pommel and swung my leg over the beast-bribe's back, almost getting a crotchful of rippling-hot wing scales.  I shoved that wing aside once I settled in my seat--fortunately, a cool seat.  The wing bumped me back, and I was sure, if It weren't for my pants, the base's doctor would be treating me for a rather unusual abrasion.  I pushed again the wing away with my thigh.  Beast-Bribe briefly squished my leg to its side in return.  I gave up.  "How are you supposed to ride with those things."

She shrugged.  "One supposes in the mode of high fashion befitting one in such the employ of the Pharaohine.  Don't damage it overly, dear.  It's all rented."

"Under whose name?"

She smiled and crossed her arms over the thing's shoulder.  With one finger, she caressed edge of its hood.  The bribe trilled back.  "Under Ytben."  She shifted her eyes to me.  "Pheteh and Ketesha-Uret, of course, my love."

"That name isn't worth the paper it's written on."

She stood upright, startling the mech-beast out of its daze.  "How would you know?  You weren't there when I had it drawn up."

There was no arguing with her or our supposed marriage.  What little money I could afford went nowhere on the lawyers who had tried, far too expensively, to pose an argument.  If one could not quite assume one was married, one cannot quite assume one was divorced either, no matter how eager one was to try.

"Shouldn't you offer a lady a ride?"

Find me one, and I'd be happy to.  But my former horse had a mind of its own making, and without waiting for my response, it folded itself in place over its legs, pitching me against its neck in the process.  At the same time, it nearly gave me a new kind of abrasion when its back expanded to accomodate another passenger.  Ketesha demurely settled into her perfectly molded seat before shifting her skirt out of the way of sub-optimum passerby exposure.  By the time I found my less-than-customized seat, the bribe was rising again.  Somehow it nearly dislodged me in the process--again--while Tesha in her precarious pose hadn't shifted a muscle.  In fact, she had found a way to cross her legs.

Enough was enough.

She could keep her mech.  I'd go hide out in the House of Health until it had returned to normal and she preyed on one of her other sometimes-husbands.  I shimmied my leg over the top, and found myself in a less than comfortable parody of her own position.  The wing had locked my leg into position.  My seat warmed and bristled, threatening sunburn and more, in inoppurtune places.   She draped an arm over my shoulder and toyed with the back of my neck.  "Rather comfortable, isn't it?  And roomy.  One could practically do anything atop him.  One doesn't even have to be so flexible any more."

Choosing the lesser of two evils, I swung that leg back onto the proper side of the trap, and sighed.  "You're going to sell me to the--"  I caught myself and looked around at the bazaar-goers.  We were being watched, but no one wanted to stand within hearing distance of a menhset; after all, that meant its bearer could hear the watchers as well.  "--to the vampires again, aren't you?"

She withdrew, rigid.  "You should know I possess more sense than that."  She plucked at my sleeve.  "Do you have any idea how much these would cost to buy?  I'd never recoup their loss or my standing with the creditors if I let you go off to a harem in these."

Well, she could if she did business with the greater harem holders, but none of them would have anything to do with her, after her last deal.  "So I'm safe as long as I'm well dressed?"

"Precisely."

"What's keeping you from just stripping me down beforehand?"

She scoffed.  "Men, you only have one thing on your minds, don't you.  But I am flattered you miss me so."

Reassuring that:  In her mind, she connected my nudity only in regards to intimate acts with her; It was also quite unreassuring for entirely the same reason.  But continuing to argue down this path would only lead to more equivocations of increasingly uncomfortable nature.  So nothing was left for it but this:  I turned in my seat, stared her in the eye, and entreatied her for a straight answer.  "Tesha, what do you want?"

She pulled out a case from an unbeknownst-to-me side panel on the bribe, and rubbed on some golden lipstick.  Next golden blush.  She continued peering in the mirror, angling for the perfect application of irritation on her audience, before, at last, she handed the mirror off to me.  "Hold this."  And pulled out a veil from the same panel and said,  "Hold it right there."  Then she began to affix a body length veil over her dark hair with its attached pins.  Sensing that perhaps she might lose the mirror, much less the last of my silent patience, she dropped the veil into position over her face and said,  "I want you to ride."  She plucked back the mirror, and pointed with a finger.  A golden-nailed finger.  Perhaps derived from real gold.  Which she took a moment to admire.  "Mmm."  Then:  "In that direction, my love."

"No--"

But the shiny bribe said yes with its taloned feet, and its consent was the only one that mattered.


(end of KPP1)

Progress Report 3-2-11 so far

Progress Report:

• Walker Novel 1: 2062 words edited on KPP1, this pass done.
• Walker Novel 2: 1088 words edited on KPP1, pass incomplete ('tis long).
• Monthly Fiction: 4 handwritten pages (and twice that many notes), done yesterday.

Not bad for being depressed (partly because of writing expectations not met; mostly because an oppossum raided our chicken pen last night and killed several chickens, including one of my favorites).  Although being depressed is the worst time possible to make decisions, I decided that I'm going to give Dole this weekend yet to see how far I can get.  I tend to overestimate word count, after all; it may not be 30,000 words.  My insane goal?  To get it half written before the weekend is up.  If I can manage that, it might still make it as a March fic.

March Story and Adult Content

For a while, my March story was stalling.  I even posted on DW Smith's site when I saw that it happens to him too, and he was kind enough to respond.  Then on the car ride home from work last night, I had an idea on how to get me excited about it again.  The problem?  If I do so, it is longer, closer to short novel length (i.e., 20,000 to 30,000 words).  That means it won't be done this month.

Also, I realized that I may run into problems with "adult" content (and not just on this story).  Blogger allows adult content if you label your blog as Adult.  Not my preference, but I may have to, especially since Bluehost.com, my website host, doesn't want content "deemed adult related."  Dole, my March story, does have some sexual content--though not explicit.  A couple of the Walker novels make allusions to sex, nudity, and some other situations--though, again, nothing explicit.  All have mature language in them.  Maybe there is a way to censor the scenes the way people do with curse words.  Not sure.  All I know is everything just got more complicated.  Darn.

Quick Progress Report

Walker Series: 

• 1178 words written on Novel 3, KPP1.  Is done for this pass.
• 1593 words written on Novel 4, KPP1.  Is done for this pass.
• 2351 words edited on Harem/Prequel, KPP1.  Is done for this pass and posted to crit group.

Daily Ideas:

• Nada.

Monthly Story:

• Nope.

So, some progress is done.  Though, I wrote over on Walker Series, at the expense of exercise and Monthly Story/Dole, it was worth it.  Tomorrow, I hope to edit Walker 1 and 2.  Then lightly edit all of KPP1s the next day.  Then Saturday, a day ahead of schedule, I hope to implement my new method of revision.  That is, in one week I write, say, all KPP1s.  The next week I go over them, revise them, make them good.  (Which is when I can post them too.)  Then the week following, I rinse and repeat with KPP2s.  The only area where this will really get tricky is when I get on the events, what I call tertiary level (with KPPs being primary).  But I'll simply give myself more time to write, and I should be good.

With my new schedule?  It looks like likely October is a more likely post date.  Not bad.

Anyway, as I have to leave in a bit, I'm going to save writing on the Monthly for tonight. It's a story I am struggling with.  One hand I like the idea and the story works, but it is different for me and it is . . . well, I'll save that for another post. 

That's what I've got so far.  Hopefully, by early next week, the revised Novel 2 KPP1 and the new-to-the-blog Novel 1 KPP1 can be posted.  Cross your fingers, anyway.

Not So Bad

Today is my official start on goal for my Walker Series as well as for my monthly fiction.  I had a late start, because of the evil free Starz channels.  Even so, I wrote about 700 new words on KPP1 (Beginning block) of Novel 3.  Then I revised Harem's KPP1 (about 1600 words).  There should be one more part to Novel 3's KPP1.  Harem needs one more look over on its opening.  It feels a little . . . stark, not quite finished.  Then Harem goes off to my crit group for an edit.  Tomorrow, I hope to finish up both of those KPP1s, so that on Thursday, I can get a move on to the KPP1 for Novel 4.  I know right now any of my key plot points are going to have another full-fledged edit at a later date.  They are the hardest to write, but the most important.  I'll have to revisit them after I get in the groove of later writings.

As for monthly fiction?  Nada so far.  Despite my late start on the Walker series, I managed to write over my allotted two hours.  So, I will have to take a break then get some words down on it.  It too is a vampire story, just like Harem is.  But Blood and Bread (aka Dole) won't be as "fun" as compared to Harem.  In fact, it is rather bleak.

That's all I have time for.  Let you know how it goes later.

Posting and Writing

Tomorrow swiftly approaches.  I have printed out my outlines and record sheet.  I have a plan of how to write and edit.  And I have a goal of having everything ready to publish on the three main sites, Smashwords, B&N's Pubit, and Amazon's Kindle by the end of September.  So, what is left to print out and prepare?  What I will post this blog and how I will post it, that's what. 



The easiest decision is on the Walker Universe.  Out of the five short novels (Prequel/Harem and Novels 1 through 4), I will post Novel 1 and 2 to the blog.  Why?  Because I started with Novel 2; it only makes sense to continue with it here.  And having Novel 1 up also makes sense.  You see, I started posting primarily to record and share my method of writing, and these two novels are prime examples.  Although, Novel 1 is not complete, it is the closest I have to that state.  So, it will serve as a good example of how to edit using my out of order method.  Novel 2 is still mostly unwritten, but it was the first novel I started writing out of order on, so it serves as an example of writing that way.  You might remember how I was breaking the part up into different sections to write.  For example, there are seven main parts called Key Plot Points that include things like beginning, climax, and ending.  I also have different levels of events depending on how important they are, now called Secondary Events and Tertiary Events.  So, I will post each KPP, SE, and TE as they are complete at the time.  I revise as I go, basically (more on that in another post); that means, I occasionally will post a new version of a section or if the changes are minor I may simply post a revision note.  My intentions are though to show this novel all the way to the end.  So, while the final version will have chapters, I will probably still segment it up differently in the blog in order to better compare the last version to the earlier versions.  So, basically, I will be posting on two novels at the same time, one section at a time, with writerly comments too.

Now, on the monthly fiction.  I'll post my intentions on how I will write and edit these in another post, but basically I want to follow D. W. Smith's inspiration and post each story once it is completely done.  I don't know if I will post different drafts yet, especially since I don't intend to write out of order on these.  But either way, I want to keep it up until the next story is posted.  Also, I will put it up for sale on the Main Three Ebook Sites as soon as it is done.  I intend to do this every year, from January through September.  October I need to work on plotting my nano novel in November and working on getting an omnibus version up and ready for sale.  December is simply recuperating time and preparation time so that I have ideas ready for January's monthly.  So, basically, the monthly final version is going up and staying up until the next monthly's final version.

Those are my plans for posting so far.  They are subject to revision, but I think they are a good start.

Walker Series Outlines

I'm further behind than I thought on the Walker series, but sometimes you cannot force ideas.  No matter how hard you try, sometimes you just can't.  Today I have to make my changes to Novel 2, the one I was posting on the blog.  But once I am done with that, I believe I will be at a step where I can organize and print out my outlines.  I'll likely save that step for Monday, the last day of this month.  Today, I'll focus on last tweaks to my outlines' content.  So, maybe they will not be quite as ready as I wanted, but they will be strong enough where it counts to start writing and revising on them come March 1st.

Lost Stories in Walker Universe Series

I wrote in my last post I regret not being able to write all the stories I wanted to in the Walker Universe Series.  What can a writer do when that happens?

Well, if the stories can still logically fit within the timeline of the series, the stories can be written.  Not quite doable here as I have the tendency to have short time settings covering weeks or days--even between novels--excusing Novel 2 which covers several decades, sorta.

Sometimes you can strip the stories of their identity and put them in a new unrelated world/series/story.  Could be possible in my case.

They could be made into fanfic for yourself or possibly for readers.  Gary Paulsen wrote Brian's Winter for that reason.  It wasn't called fanfic, but that is what fanfic writers often do--write a story on a What If basis.  Then somehow the alternate universe Brian's Winter became somehow canon and used in later books.  I'm actually toying with a similar idea for Walker Universe, inspired by the fact that Gary Paulsen played with chronology.

Those are some possibilities.  Not sure what I will do, yet.  Depends on how final and satisfying the series feels once done.

Character Drift in Walker Universe Series

I've been working on Valor's Tale, a side story set in the Walker Universe Series, and I realized that vampire story doesn't really fit the series or even the character anymore.  That made me realize I no longer really want to show his tale in a story of its own.  It just doesn't quite fit when everything else is from Walker's pov and is about Walker primarily.

The problem is that originally I intended Valor to be far more prominent--but then again, I also planned on about 7 or so novels in this series.  But the more I worked on this series, the more I narrowed its focus.  There are stories I mourn not being able to write, but they wouldn't work with the story as-is.  

So what is left to do?  Well, I need to glean from the other outlines who Valor morphed into and see if I like it.  Then once I settle on his character and background, I need to include that in Harem, the surviving side-story.  That is really where Valor will get his most face time.  After all, he is important to Walker.  Just turned out he became more of a minor character than I expected.

Update: Walker Universe

Phew, what a day for updates.  But I do have one more to make on Walker Universe.  I've been busy this week, especially this four-day weekend, working on the outlines of Walker Novels 1 - 4 and two side-stories/novels.  I have a rough outline for novels 3, 4, and side-story Harem.  I need to flesh those out and do a firm write up on key plot points and events for all of those.  I also need a firm outline on novels 1 and 2, which mostly need organized into a clean outline.  Finally, I need to start the rough outline of side-story two, Valor's Tale.  Valor is the vampire who once owned Walker, which is shown in Harem.

I am cutting it close, but I feel I can get enough to start working on the key plot points at least starting in March and complete the lesser events later if need be.  I'd prefer the whole six story series to be plotted and ready to write come next month.

But either way, this is a great learning process.  Not only do the novels play so much off each other--a change in one necessitates a change in another to make both novels work--but the more I work with these outlines, the more I get the sense of the story lengths.  Novels 1 - 4 are going to be short novels, ranging from just under 70k to just above 40k (aka 70,000 words to 40,000 words).  The earlier novels are longer; the latter ones shorter.  Harem and Valor's Tale are more iffy.  I intended them to be about 20k a piece, true novellas.  However, they may rival the shortest of the proper novels.  But that is the power of ebooks:  freedom of story length. 

These novels would be doomed by NY traditional standards, every single one of them.  Electronic publishing, especially self-publishing, is a far more open-minded world.  Now, I have the freedom to tell the story in the length it wants to be, for I don't believe a story has to be a certain length to be complete and compelling in and of itself.  Whether Novel 4 is 40k or 400k, it will work as it stands.

But you know what this means?  If the series turn out close to my expectations, I will end up writing (and with all hope, publishing) somewhere around 250,000 words this year.  That is close to three traditional fantasy novels worth!  Wow, don't you think?

Walker Updates: Changing Things Up

I've been busy changing things up on Walker Universe series.  As I work on the outline of one novel, I find plot, world-building, and even characters to change in another.  That is why I am holding off on any writing until all four planned novels and two novelettes are outlined. 

Plot-wide changes are not the only thing I am changing up.  Since these will be self-published novels, I am free to break certain rules I couldn't before.  Normally, a writer must keep the same format for each novel in a series.  In this series, I don't have to.  For example, in novel two, much of what happens to Walker in Paradise isn't shown.  In novel three, he is being interrogated and has to make the story of what happened to him good for a reason.  In other words, novel three is like a giant flashback.  This simply isn't done in a series meant for traditional publication, but you can experiment and play more when you are self-publishing.

Over all, I'm very excited about these changes.  I hope you, readers, will be too.

Thinking with the Heart

This week, I intended to work on Walker Universe.  Instead, I chose a different path, one where I could both write commercially and for myself, one where I could write something the publishers might deem acceptable while keeping the most precious ideas for myself and my faithful readers.  In following this path, I followed my mind, my reason, and in doing so, I failed.  I hadn't wanted the traditional market exorcising out what made me and my writing tick, so I did so myself, and thought I could be two different people.  In my attempts to protect my heart, I had forgotten to follow it.  The novel idea failed.  I was lost.

The failure cut deep.  I took it to heart that I was therefore a failure.  Why had I wasted so much time?  I should have been working on Walker.  So I went back to Egyptian studies, to play catchup on Novel One, to ease my way in.  I did this because the headache of my recent failure was too strong and painful that I feared ruining something precious to me.  But in studying ancient Egypt, I realized something important:  though my project failed, it did not fail its purpose in my life.

This is what I learned.  The Egyptians believed the heart was the source of both thoughts and feelings, unlike in our times where our heart symbolizes the seat of our emotions and our brain the seat of our reason.  In our world, thoughts and feelings are often in conflict with each other.  In the Egyptian world, they must have lived in harmony.  That is what I want for my writing.  Harmony of mind and heart.  Passion and reason.  Projects I love that earn me my living.  This is what my failure taught me:  I cannot have one without the other.  My plans for my writing career must include the satisfaction of both reason and passion.  Though my plan needs to be developed, I can see that path ahead of me.  Though I am not ready to walk it, at least, I will not choose a path upon which I will be lost.  No, not when I am ready to think with my Egyptian heart.   

Walker Novel 2: Key Plot Point One, Two, Three: Index.

Walker Universe Novel 2: Working Title: Paradise

(c) Jodi Ralston

Key Plot Points One, Two, and Three: Edit One

Important Caveat:  This novel is being written experimentally--that is, out of order.  Below is the correct reading order.  You can also find the same on the Works in Progress Page.  

• Key Plot Point One's Parts:  One, Two, Three, and Four
• Place Holder Summary #1 (Between KPP1 and KPP2):   Entire Post.
• Key Plot Point Two Parts:  Entire Post
• Place Holder Summary #2 (Between KPP2 and KPP3):  Entire Post
• Key Plot Point Three Parts:  Entire Post

Walker Novel 2: Key Plot Point Three: Edit One.

Walker Universe Novel 2: Working Title: Paradise

(c) Jodi Ralston

Key Plot Point Three: Edit One

Important Caveat:  This novel is being written experimentally--that is, out of order.  I will post the correct reading order as I go on the Works in Progress Page.  

For those interested in reading what came before this point, I will post an Index shortly.


By suppertime, I was finishing up work on what I termed the Final Project. Horse hated the entire idea. Over the last while of our time together, he did everything he could to jar the thought from my mind. He almost succeeded. A small band of survivors almost succeeded. Hope of escape almost succeeded. Any desire to fail at the Final Project died with them. Everything came to an end. Not everyone was so fortunate as to choose that end.

Besides, the horse would survive. He survived before my coming, survived the mist, and would survive me taking leave. He was a survivor. I was not. I didn't have the heart for it. I didn't particularly want to die, but I was resolved to escape Paradise. Permanently. Leaving nothing behind for it take. Over the year, I had come to see that this was the only way left me.



It had taken me a week to gather the necessary supplies. Wood for the fire. Accelerants. The drug. The drug was most essential. Paradise was a reality full of pain, which it shared with me at every turn. And at every turn, no matter how terrible my wounds were, my flesh knitted and my scars disappeared. All scars but the one from before this world. Either way, I wasn't about to die in pain. But I knew what would happen if I took such drugs before I set the fuse. The pain would fade and I would forget it while it lasted. Fuse first, then drug. So as there was no turning back.

I dumped the last of the accelerant on the pile of wood. Tossed aside the keg. I did not watch where it rolled, or this reality took it. I was beyond care of making waste and leaving signs. From a belt pouch, I fished out a fuse the length of my arm and my lighter, flicked open the lid, and poised my thumb over it to strike.

One last time the horse sent me an image of what he preferred. Me walking away and riding off with him like we had done countless times before. Tempting. That being, if you had somewhere to ride off toward. I had watched a population in the hundreds of thousands dwindle down to pockets of tens of thousands, then wind-scattered husks of hundreds. I didn't want to be the sole survivor. The last man standing. The inheritor of hell. I would die first.

In fact, I was planning on it.

I struck up a flame, and set it to my fuse. Its end sparkled to life.

That image was overlain with a new one I took for a last gambit, one last play for my life. Horse's talent was deception, after all. It was how he really survived. But the image persisted. Then, I felt the change myself in the ley-paths. Even this could be a lie, so often it had been a lie, that I didn't know why I did it. But I did. I turned around to look for myself, the smell of waiting accelerant stinging my eyes.

But this was real.

Someone had come through that damn schism.

Again.

But it wasn't the man I expected never to see again.

No, these were people entirely different. Just across the way, past my horse, they stood out, dressed in white leather kilts and vests and mounted up on gleaming mechanical, chimeral beasts. They possessed golden, living weapons snaking up and down their arms. There were four of them--colonel, captain, lieutenant, and vampire--three of which were women. Being close enough to the schism, I could recognize faces, put names to those faces. Impossible faces staring back at me: the same three as last time, from another reality entirely. Impossible but true faces, since my scar wasn't going wild. My heart began to beat for a reason other than a crazy mess of anger and fear and hate. It beat for hope. I didn't like the sensation. In fact, I liked it about as much as I liked heart attacks.

They hadn't seen me yet. Staring at the snakes coiling and recoiling around their forearms. They saw me soon enough. Life being a little more normal here and the ley-paths far broader, the human three lucked upon a ley-path that lead in my direction. Far wiser, the unknown party, the Regulator, hung back by the schism, rubbing her wrist.

"Horseman," Hepren said as they rode within proper hearing range. "Can you point us in the direction of Queen's City? 'Fraid our maps are a little out of date."

My horse let them by. Surprisingly. Then it was Hepren's turn for surprise. He reined in his beast, dipping his head to peer under the brim of my hat. "Walker? Damn, mate, is that you?"

His voice was rasp to my nerves. With each word he spoke, the more I remembered the last time I had heard his voice, and it hadn't been him. The unforgiving part of me rather desired to smash his smile in. But I didn't move from my place. I didn't say a word.

"It is!" His smile grew even bigger. "I didn't recognize your--well, anything, mate."

Cousin Bustis laughed and slapped her hands onto her hips as she came up short on his heels. "Walker? What the schisms do you have on?" The others smiled too, one in particular getting his yucks in.

I knew what I looked like to them. Black top hat. Black duster. Black vest. Black shirt. Black chaps. Black leggings. Black boots. Black cowboy hat. Black overlarge belt. Black holsters with black guns with black stock. Black kerchief. Black spurs. Black gloves. Black everything, to match an immoderately sized and prettified black horse bearing more color in his white and gray streaks than his owner did. In other words, a gross parody of a native tough. To them, something to laugh at.

Didn't have a particular problem with that. Laughter was disarming, and it tended to make others underestimate, put them off their game, making it just that much easier to come out on top. And you had to come out on top in Paradise. No, the problem I had had nothing to do with their reaction; it was with my name in their mouths. Walker had died a stupid pointless death. The Outrider hadn't.

But they didn't know who they were dealing with.

After a bit of awkward silence and lack of response on my side, their laughter died down. Their awkwardness grew.

Till this point I had been ignoring to the best of my abilities the most familiar interloper of all. Though my horse took pains to point out her intense looks despite my protests. I didn't want to hear her speak; didn't even want to look at her. At that, Horse pointed her out all the more. Part of me still desperately disbelieved all this. Couldn't happen, not after all this time. Not with these people. But the little changes, like the promotions, were disconcerting and opened the way for suspicion to take root. As it was, damn, but they looked real. Too real. Impossible, frozen-in time real.

Then . . . then there was the vampire. When all other hope of rescue withered on the vine, I still held out that a past encounter of that nature might bear fruit. But as the years wore on, I gave it up, discounted Valor as dead. He had that kind of luck.

Even so . . . even so, I watched them until the slow fuse heated my fingers through my gloves, recalling another reality. Another choice. One I knew as one hundred percent, genuine real.


Then she spoke, and there was no more sense in fighting it. Those words "Why didn't you acknowledge the aerial drone we sent" were too her to be not real.

I looked down at the match and decided I didn't particularly want to die, and maybe now I didn't have to. Maybe. Had to have a think on it. Automatically, I plucked from my utility belt a cig. It would calm me down, not drop me into a coma like the vial would. I lit the cig with the last bit of my fuse, put it to my lips, lifted my head to the sky, inhaled, and blew. Already, I could see things far more clearly. I dropped the fuse and mashed it underfoot. Horse was ready for me, shouldering people aside as he trotted up, twitching with eagerness. I sucked again, settled things in my head for sure, and mounted up. "What are we waiting for?"

And I headed to the schism, my ticket outta here. One far more pleasant than that which I had piled up and was leaving behind.

Home.

(end of KPP3)

Walker Novel 2: Place Holder Two, Version One

The following summary covers the more important bits that lie between the posted KPP2 and soon-to-be posted KPP3. For those interested in this novel for the story's sake instead of the writing method, I hope this summary will help catch you up and not spoil your reading pleasure.

Summary of Main Events between KPP2 and KPP3.

Last we saw Walker, he had recently been taken by the mist-men. He emerges after some time (think, weeks at minimum), worse for wear. He teams up with the demon horse who waited for him and they make for Queen City, a cut-throat, degenerate, paranoid place where naturally he runs into trouble. But unlike before his experience in the mist, he is more than ready for it. He shows he is someone not to be messed with, and before he retires for a well-deserved rest at the hotel, he manages to get a job in the trade of "killing things and keeping those who pay alive." Basically, it is the start of his occupation as Outrider.

Other Notes.

Basically, time passes pretty quickly once he reaches Queens and shows not only how messed up he is but that he is no one to mess with. He is a dangerous man, hurting. And he will hurt for a long while. But most of this is off-screen from that point to the point of KPP3--although, I will likely write novellas and novelettes based of this material. This novel simply cannot do it justice and the focus of this novel is elsewhere. The novel is about him experiencing hell, yes, but it is also about his escape and eventual return, and the need to face his hell to truly conquer it and escape for real. During his return, the reader shall see more of what broke him.

Final Note.

Placeholders like this post will be replaced from time to time. The summary gets updated as I write and edit more of the novel. Later on, they will be replaced entirely by the text from the novel itself. For now, these will have to suffice.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the process so far. I know I am.

Belated Snippet of Walker Novel Two

Normally I wouldn't post a snippet on Saturday, but yesterday got away from me.  So here it is.   A little setup and a little spoiler.  Walker has been rescued (that is KPP3, under revision now thanks to a nifty new idea that is gonna effect the rest of the novel from this point onward).  He is currently back in the border-guard/mehnsettir barracks.

========================

Walker Universe Novel 2: Working Title: Paradise

(c) Jodi Ralston

Snippet #1

Maha gestured me to a chair and bid me to sit.

I declined.  And pulled out another special blend cigarette to replace the dying one.  Lit it from it.  After a deep puff, I asked, "How long have the Regulators been deceased?"

That put her out of sorts.  After a moment of a recalculation on her part, she answered, "Six months after you were exiled."  She eyed the cig.  "Put that out.  You know regulations."

I ignored her and stubbed the dead on out on my hip and flicked it into her gold-plated trash basket.  Even it bore her name.  "Six months.  Exactly how long ago was that?"

She gave me a look.  Then gave my cig a new one.  Considering the damage smokes have done to my mind, eh?  I tapped it on a paper-free edge of her almost entirely-paper-free desk.  Her face alternately colored than paled.  Then firming her look, she ponied up, "Six months ago."

A year.  A year.  A year.  One godsdammned year.  That was how they counted the time they robbed me of.  One year.  [1] My fingers crushed the cig better than my heel ever could.  I pocketed it.  Waste not, want not.

"You seem surprised, Walker."

And she had gone blind in the interim.  Surprise was the least my emotions.  Then again, she always found it easy to read what she wanted to in me. 

After a moment, I managed plainly enough, "Time flows differently when you are the other side of the equation, Colonel."

Her title was like a slap.  And she returned to the true business at hand, moving to slide behind her desk.  Keeping her desk and duty between us.  She was always good at that.  "You are the current sole heir as Regulator to both Lands, Walker." [2]

=======================

Footnotes, spoiler-heavy.  Some sections have been whited out, so that if you want know, highlight the area with your mouse.

[1]  It will be explained later on that due to a device on Paradise, his place of exile, he has been gone far longer than one year.  It was in fact, 50 years by his reckoning.  How did he survive that, without aging?  Well, I have a few excuses in place, but he won't learn the real reason until probably Novel No. 3. Back to story.

[2]  In novel number one, in Romeo and Juliet fashion, the heiress of the Regulator's from the Land he calls home married the heir of the other Land.  In the first novel, couriers are introduced.  They can carry objects, magically miniaturized inside themselves.  They can even carry souls, memory, personality.  Walker is a former courier (no one know this, it is illegal for mehnsettirs to be one), and due to circumstances, he ended up carrying the heiress inside himself and having to marry the heir in her name.  His too--for, in this world, there are such things as name-marriages, or in name only marriages.  This is the type of marriage he has to both heirs.  The main purpose of this kind of marriage is usually to marry an heir to his or her sibling.  This makes it so that all children of either person can be potentially heirs, along with the sibling, without the siblings having to actually have children together.  Sorry, I found the whole sibling-marriage thing of pharaohs in Ancient Egypt icky.  This is how I used that penchant but got around it too for my higher-ups.