Category Archives: Books/Literature

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 10/10/18 update

Short and to the point:  The latest revisions of Draft Nine of Book #7 in the Corrosive Knights series are going along great.

When last I wrote about what was happening with this book, I noted I was done with the read-through and pen & ink revisions and was about to start transferring those revisions into my Word file.  I estimated it might take two weeks to do those revisions.

Well, it looks like a little less than one week will be enough.  I’m not quite done with it now, but I should be finished with the computer transfers of those revisions by later this week, perhaps Thursday evening or Friday morning.

This is a scorching pace but, even more importantly, it shows how close the novel is to being done.

There remains a couple of sections which required more work this time around, but there were also several sections that wound up needing very little work and which are, for all intents and purposes, ready to go.

So I’m damn excited about what’s going on.  So excited it took me a while to get to sleep last night… After all this time, the light at the end of this particular tunnel is starting to shine very bright!

Books/Literature

On writing… persistence

Yesterday I posted that I was finished reading and pen/ink revising through my latest novel, the 9th draft of the book, and was looking forward to putting those revisions into the computer.

Last night, I slept really hard.

Lights out and goodbye.

Though it may not seem the case, writing is a very stressful, time consuming job.  Job as in work.

I’ve stated it before but it bears repeating: Writing is WORK.  At times very, very hard work.

I started this latest book in the Corrosive Knights series, believe it or not, waaaaaay back in 2014.  I wrote some notes and sequences, amounting to maybe 10,000-15,000 words, then let it go while working on, among other things, Foundry of the Gods (Book #6 of the Corrosive Knights series).

When Foundry of the Gods was finished, it was back to Book #7, the conclusion to the Corrosive Knights series, and for nearly two years now I’ve been working on it and, incrementally, brought it closer and closer to its conclusion.

The first 4-5 drafts of the book were very incomplete, as most of my novels are in those early drafts.  There are some segments that I have well thought out and write.  There are other segments that may be presented as nothing more than an outline.  Perhaps no more than one or two sentences!

Which brings us to the heading above: Persistence.

With each read-through, with each putting revisions into the computer, I move the proverbial ball forward.  Sometimes the ball “moves” many miles forward.  At other times, perhaps it doesn’t move forward nearly enough.

With each revision and if I’m paying attention -and, trust me, I try my very best to do so- the novel slowly emerges.

There are “a-ha!” moments, where you come up with some clever bit or sequence or dialogue that improves everything around it.  But more often than not what you’re doing is realizing this doesn’t work or that sentence is bloated or that sequence is a repetition of a sequence that came before.

Rather than simply cracking open your cranium and letting your thoughts spill all over the page, what I tend to do as a writer is incrementally build my book over time.  I’ve mentioned before that when I’m writing, a day doesn’t pass where I’m not thinking about some part of a book I’m currently on and how do I improve this or that.

This goes on for, on average of late, two full years as I write my latest work.

For some writers, the process is certainly quicker.  Stephen King, as I’ve noted before, stated in his book on writing that he will write a book, put it away in a drawer (to, as he put it, “cool down”), then do a revision and off it goes to be printed.  If he’s to be believed, that means his first run through a novel is very close to what he eventually releases.

I’m jealous!

Clearly what works for me may not work for others.  I suspect if Mr. King took two full years to write a novel he might have given up the career.

But for me, as much of a pain in the ass as it is to so slowly, incrementally create a book, the fact of the matter is that this is how it works for me, and when I get to the end of this particular road I look back at all that hard work and the persistence needed to create it…

…and I’m proud of the work.  So very proud.

And I finally, finally get to have a good night’s sleep! 😉

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 10/4/18 update

As I mentioned in my last posting, I’ve been silent ’round these parts because I’ve been hard at work reading and pen/ink revising the latest draft, #9, of my latest Corrosive Knights novel…

As of today, I have finished the read-through and pen/ink revisions of this draft and, hopefully, by tomorrow or later today, being putting those revisions into my computer.

When I do, Draft #9 of Book #7 in this series will be completed and its off to Draft #10.

So, how does the book “read”?

Quite good.

There was very little I needed to add to the story.  What I did add amounted to some lines of dialogue and clarification to some descriptions but, otherwise, the plot is pretty well locked down.

The best thing of all was that it took me from last week Tuesday, the 25th of September, to today, October 4th, to read through the novel and write up my revisions.  That’s one week and two days worth of work, a very short amount of time given that in earlier drafts it would take me up to several months of time to get to a similar point!

The revisions that are to be made should, I believe, take me no more than two weeks to do.  They are for the most part small though there are two segments of the book that require more in depth work, and these will certainly require a little more time to do.

The big question again looms: How long before I feel the whole thing is done?

Well, the book will require a 10th draft, there is no doubt about that.  It will likely also require an 11th draft.  The question is will it require much more than that?  Will I once again go through 12 drafts before I feel the work is properly done?

Unfortunately, at this point I cannot answer that question, though I’ll likely have a better feel for how much more work the book needs once I start the read through of that 10th draft.

Regardless of all that, the work proceeds quickly now and the book is one more step closer to being done.

As I’ve said before and I’ll repeat here: Hang in there.  We’re almost at the finish line!

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 9/28/18 update

Sorry I haven’t been posting much in the past few days, but I’ve been very focused -and busy!- on draft #9 of my latest novel in the Corrosive Knights series.

This update will be short and sweet:  On Tuesday I began the reading and pen/ink revision of the draft and, in a matter of three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) I’ve made my way through half the book.

This is very encouraging.

The book, until this point, reads quite well and the revisions I’ve had to make on paper aren’t “major”.  Most involve clipping lines or words here and there and adding only minor elements to the pages.

As I said in my last update (you can read it here), as my novels near completion, I find that the revisions that need be made become smaller and smaller and that certainly seems to be the case… at least with the first half of the book.

Today I will be into the second half.  If this part of the book “reads” as well as the first half, then we’re getting really close to the end… and the release of the book!

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Books/Literature

On writing… bloat

Bloat: unwarranted or excessive growth or enlargement; to make turgid or swollen

As I jump into draft #9 of my latest Corrosive Knights novel, I’m particularly interested in finding -and snipping away- anything within it which could fall under the above definition.

I’ve talked before about how difficult it is to write -and it is- but as one reaches the stage where I’m at, where your story is pretty much set and you’re moving away from creative writing and to revisions involving grammar and spelling, one should also try their best to see which sections of your book require pruning.

It’s not as easy as it sounds.

Let’s face it, authors fall in love with their works.  Hell, they wouldn’t spend all that time on them if they didn’t love what they were doing, but the danger is that they get to the point where they may not realize parts of their beloved works, be they something as small as a sentence or two to as large as several chapters, would be better left out.

When I was writing my very first novel, Haze, I very much fell into that situation.  Originally the book featured a very long opening section which served to acquaint the reader with the protagonist.  It went on for way too long before we got to the “meat” of the story.

As I was very much a novice to the whole book writing business at the time, I simply was not aware of this bloated opening act.  Luckily, I didn’t publish the work then and there and instead revised and re-revised the work over and over again and gradually developed an understanding of what worked and what didn’t.

I was also helped immensely by the fact that I put the novel away for a while -perhaps a little over a year or so- before getting at it again.  It was at that point that I realized how much I could get rid of from that opening section without hurting the reader’s understanding of the protagonist and while getting that same reader that much quicker to the “good stuff”.

It was an important lesson for me and I’m fascinated to find book reviews where readers say something to the effect that a book needed “a good editor.”  Usually the comment refers to a book being too long and featuring material that was unnecessary and should have been eliminated.

You know, bloat.

So, in the interests of brevity, here I go into my own novel.

Let’s see what I see…

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 9/22/18 Update

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Meant to post this yesterday but wound up not having the time, but here’s the latest update: I have finished putting all the corrections/additions/subtractions into the computer and Draft #8 of the latest Corrosive Knights Book, #7 in the series, is done…

It took 3 weeks to read the book and put in the pen and ink revisions and 2 weeks to put all those revisions into the computer, for a total time spent on this draft of one month and one week.

It may seem like a long time, but that’s incredibly quick.  Some early drafts of the book took up to five months to get through!

What that indicates is that the book is becoming closer and closer to being finished.  This is logical: Each new draft I finish up should, in theory, make the book that much better/closer to being complete.

What’s next?

Welp, I print the sucker out and get right back to re-reading it and doing the pen/ink revisions.  I feel a good chunk of the book is very close to being complete in all ways while there are a few sections here and there that could use more polish.

Draft #8 found the novel’s story pretty much all there.  I did add a few bits of dialogue here and there to add a little spice to the story and found one full chapter needed to be moved to farther into the book -and, it turned out, pared down considerably- but otherwise things are getting that much closer to the end.

So it’s on to Draft #9 for me.  I’m most curious to see how the book “reads” now and how much I’ll find needs revision.  That, more than anything else, will give me an idea as to how close to the final draft I am.

Hang in there, folks!

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 9/7/18 update

Wow, been a while since my last update (from 8/2/18, a little over a month ago!  You can read it here) of the latest book in the Corrosive Knights series, Book #7…

At that time, I finished up all revisions of Draft #7 of the book and today I’m here to tell you I’ve finished the read through and pen/ink revision of Draft #8 and, starting very soon (either tomorrow, Sunday, or Monday) I’ll start putting all those revisions into the computer.  I expect this will take at least two weeks and then, you guessed it, it’s on to Draft #9.

Now that I’ve finished up this first stage of Draft #8 of the book, things are coming more and more into focus.  The book has pretty much all the elements it needs inside it.  Things “make sense” and all bits and pieces introduced are dealt with/concluded appropriately.

The book and the story I’ve presented, to my mind, absolutely rocks.

But… its not quite done yet.

There is still at least one section in particular which needs work, but otherwise some 80-90% of it now requires I make sure all the grammer/spelling is correct and the way these parts are presented is as crisp and propulsive -and poetic!- as I can make it.

Which brings us the next question: What’s the ETA of the release of this book?

For a very long while I was hoping to get the book released by November and, if that’s still possible, I very much would like it to happen.

But the reality is as follows: It’s September the 7th and for at least two more weeks, possibly a little more, I’ll be finishing off Draft #8 on the computer.  That will take us to close to the end of September.

I start reading the book again and doing the revisions on Draft #9 and, at best, that’ll take another two weeks followed by another two or so weeks to transfer the pen/ink revisions to my computer.  So, we’re looking at getting Draft #9 done near the end of October and, what comes after October?

Yeah.

I believe I’ll need to do a Draft #10 and, its quite possible, a Draft #11.  Maybe even a Draft #12.  My previous books took that many drafts but I believe this one is farther along and may not require quite that many.  That, however, is nothing more than an educated guess and until I get through the next two Drafts, I just won’t know for sure.

Regardless, even going by the most ambitious/hopeful prognostication, it looks tough to believe I’ll be done with this book by November.  Even if we’re talking very, very late November.

So… possibly a Christmas release?  If not that, a New Year’s release?

We’ll see.

Regardless, it won’t be much longer!

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 8/2/18 update

And so it ends.

Today and just minutes ago, I finished the rewrites/revisions on the computer for draft #7 of Book #7 of the Corrosive Knights series.

The process has been difficult to this point, made even more so because, as can be seen from the graphic above, Book #7 in this series is meant the conclusion of the Corrosive Knights series as well as the conclusion of over 10 years of very hard work.  It also didn’t help that I had people over the past two or so weeks doing work on the house as I’m trying to fit in time to do this revision!

As a conclusion to this series, I absolutely want this book to be special.  I want it to wrap everything up in a way that’s going to leave everyone who’s followed along on this magical ride, from the beginning or beginning now, left more than “just” satisfied.

I want you to leave happy.  I want you to leave pleased.

I want you to feel like the time you’ve gifted me for my writings, the faith you’ve put into my story telling, is more than “just” rewarded.

Mind you, the book isn’t done quite yet, though I feel this latest draft represents something I’ve been longing for: The point where I feel I’ve finally, finally put in everything I wanted to put into this novel.

Every story element is there.  Every story beat has been addressed.

Going forward, there may be some very minor things I may add and/or subtract, but the next drafts, #8 and on, will focus almost exclusively on grammatical and spelling issues.

Basically, the car’s built.  Now its time to polish her paint and clean her interior until she sparkles.

I’m likely repeating myself, but I couldn’t be more proud of what I’ve done here and I truly, sincerely, can’t wait to get it into your hands.

Soon, my friends.  Very soon.

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 7/30/18 update

The start of another week so let’s get to it: This week I will be done with the latest draft, #7, of the 7th Book in the Corrosive Knights series…

The work has been to date more involved than I thought it would be, particularly the second half of the novel -and I still have some 50 pages to go!

But the work has been productive and the end result, in my opinion, has been quite good.  This draft of the novel will be that much closer to the final draft.

As I mentioned before, I’m getting to the point where I can look at the series as a whole now, seeing as how I already have Book #8 -the Epilogue- in a rough form, already written but only needing some revisions.

Back to work!

Books/Literature

The Annotated Big Sleep (2018) redux

A couple of days ago I noted the release of The Annotated Big Sleep, a new printing of Raymond Chandler’s masterful noir crime tale originally released in 1939 which is presented here with a multitude of footnotes explaining the ins and outs of this novel.

I’ve read the novel at least three or maybe more times before and re-reading it with the footnotes proved a great delight.  There was one thing, however, more than any other thing that really stuck with me, and has stuck with me, since finishing reading this Annotated edition a few days before, and its worth pointing out.

The footnote in question involves an overview of the novel itself and the novel’s place in comparison to  other similar novels.  It involves the novel’s end and, therefore, involves elements which are clear SPOILERS.

Still, I want to write about this but, if you haven’t read the novel and want to give it a read, look away from here and get the book and read it.  It’s worth it.

Otherwise…

 

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

 

 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

 

Still there?

After the novel’s conclusion and in the second to last footnote presented in the Annotated Edition of this novel, we’re presented with this summary of The Big Sleep’s story:

“What Happened?” Carmen asks (protagonist private detective) Marlowe after trying to kill him.  “Nothing,” he responds.  Raising the question: What actually has happened in The Big Sleep?

There follows a description of the various story elements and characters presented in the novel.  What is astonishing is that you come to realize in this notation that so many things happened before Marlowe but could well have happened with Marlowe there as well as not there!

Characters are killed before Marlowe can “save” them… indeed, other than the one person Marlowe himself kills toward the end of the book, every one of these deaths would have happened whether Marlowe was around or not.  There’s even one notable killing, the chauffeur’s, which is famously never satisfactorily resolved at all!

Further, Marlowe never really “helps” anyone and, despite the book’s opening hinting at Marlowe being a Knight who will perhaps save a damsel in distress -we are presented a painting depicting such a thing- ultimately Marlowe becomes, at the book’s climax, the tied up “damsel in distress” who is saved by a woman!

And if you think even more about it, the mystery presented in The Big Sleep is not such a big mystery to just about all the major ancillary characters in the book.  In the end, the people who don’t know what’s going on are Marlowe, the man who hires him, and the reader.  By the end of the story the reader and Marlowe finally know what’s happening.  However, the man who hired him, the man who desperately wants to know what happened to another person, is left in the dark as Marlowe decides the truth would be too much for him to know.

As the footnote concludes:

Even the dead body, the traditional beginning point of so many murder mysteries, is only located at the end.  The genre has been turned -not so much upside down as inside out.

That last bit really hits home: The genre has been turned -not so much upside down as inside out.

A number of years ago I first saw the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds.  Considered by many to be a stone cold classic, I didn’t like the film.  In fact, though a huge fan of Mr. Hitchcock’s films, I thought it was a bust.  Then, a few years later, I saw the film again and it hit me: The Birds was Mr. Hitchcock taking on the very popular 1950’s monsters-on-the-loose genre… but inverting every cliche there was in it.  Instead of “giant” insects or animals, we have a common bird as the threat.  Instead of an army coming in to fight them off, we see no sign of any armed forces.  Instead of a dashing lead man and woman who live to triumph, we get barely alive survivors and a leading woman who is near catatonic.

So it is with The Big Sleep.  The main mystery involves the disappearance of a person yet our protagonist, for much of the novel, isn’t really looking for him.  As mentioned above, the dead body is located at the novel’s very end.  The protagonist, as mentioned above as well, is in the dark and, like the novel’s readers, trying to figure out what many/most of the other people within the novel already know.  Though he discovers the truth of the matter, he doesn’t reveal it to the person who hired him.

Coming away from this latest reading of The Big Sleep leaves me even more in wonder of the novel.

It bears mentioning again: Get your hands on this book.  Read it.

You’ll thank me later.