Sunday, February 28, 2010

BOOK 3 WEEK 8

Each novel is divided up into three books or acts that indicate a big location or story change. I finished the first act of this book this week with a honking big cliffhanger. I guarantee you will not see that one coming! I'm really proud of how well that turned out.

I have to admit I am quite amazed that I'm this far into the book already. Only 8 weeks and I've written almost 50,000 words and I get the feeling I'll hit the middle point in a week or so. It'd be nice if I could do the whole novel in twenty weeks. It took thirty weeks to do Doctor Who: Shadows of the past so this would be quite an accomplishment. Even if it is a short as 100,000 words that's still longer than the average book.

I still think it's kind of funny that these books are getting shorter but I know that shrinking will stop with the third book. The fourth one will really have to be a big one.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

BOOK 2 FEEDBACK

I've been very flattered by what people are saying about the second book. It's very exciting to see how much people like it. Now that it is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble I can start sending out notices to the papers and hope someone really picks it up.

The hardest thing to get used to is when someone comes up and will quote my own book back at me. It's very complimentary but it's still kind of surprising. I have to admit there was one time it caught me so off guard it took a while before I realized it!

BOOK 3 WEEK 7

Really had the best week writing so far and that's saying a lot because I've had lots of good weeks. I wrote 20 pages over a four day period and they came together really good. I worked out the average words on three pages at random and it totals out to just under 8,000 words. At that rate, for this book to date, I've got 44,000 words done. Like the other books this one is divided up in to three sections with each being a different act and change of locations or themes. I'm very near the end of the first section.

I've noticed the books are getting shorter. The first book was 170,000 words and the second comes in at 128,000. I really don't feel this one will go over 110,00o or so unless the sky opens and a whole new subplot falls out. I can't deny that there have been sudden changes like that before so I wouldn't make any bets on the final length yet.

There's lots of new characters showing up in this one. Sometimes, when those characters return in another chapter I have to go back and look them up. It's silly but there are so many of them I forget what their names are! YIKES!

Friday, February 12, 2010

DR WHO

I haven't heard anything yet about my submission to Big Finish. They said they hoped to have them all read by the end of February. I don't know if that means they won't contact us until after that or not. I guess 'no new is good news' in this case.

They also opened up for more submissions. They are bringing back the Short Trips range as audio adventures instead of printed anthologies and were looking for short stories that could eventually be read by an actor from the series. The limits was 2,500 words and no previously existing friends or enemies but all 8 original Doctors and companions were fair game. They stressed to remember that this is not a play but a short story.

I submitted a 1st Doctor and Susan story set directly before An Unearthly Child.

BOOK 3 WEEK 6

Had a really good week and maxed out a 17 pages in four days.

I wrote one scene that kind of got away from me and I'll have to really think about whether I can use it or not. I keep in mind that I want a PG-13 rated book but it went over the edge and well in to an R rated scene. At the same time I think it might be okay cause it's a step up from a scene in the first book. It's keeps the whole thing fresh by doing something new and taking the characters a bit further.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

ADVERTISING

I've contacted the people who take care of advertising at Realms of Fantasy magazine and talked to them about putting something in the April issue. They will do a professional layout for a 1/6th page posting. It's the most I've invested in the series so far but they have a circulation of 25,000 readers.

BOOK 3 WEEK 5

Had a really good week writing again. One of those nights when they sky opened and a bunch of ideas not only fell out but they landed in just the right order! Brought a whole new character out that has a major effect on Gallif that I didn't expect.

Spent four hours trying to figure out how to get Gallif and Lincilara across a river. Too dangerous to swim, worked on the possibility of having her fly, finally figured out a cool way to have her walk across.