Myth, the Universe, and Everything

I'd love to say that the reason I've not been posting here this week is because I'm getting such a tremendous amount of writing done on that novel I said I was starting. Unfortunately, no. I'm getting other exciting work done, though! I've just finished ten short scenes for an upcoming art book that Empty Room Studios is putting together. Andrew Schneider and I are serving right now as the two main writers for ERS, so the two of us have been writing a bunch of quick scenes from different genres, using first or third person, past or present tense. I even wrote one in the style of a Norse saga today, which was a real kick. The project will be in development for awhile, but I think it'll be great fun when it's out. (Andrew also worked on Allies and Adversaries on a bunch of the Chronicles of Ramlar characters.)

I've also got a couple of reference assignments and a gig writing a modular adventure for a campaign that isn't Living Kingdoms of Kalamar--which is a first for me. (This assignment also gives me the great pleasure of working with Shawn Merwin again, which is always a treat.) I submitted "Nomi's Wish" one last time to a competition in the UK, and we'll see how that goes. That's one piece I really just want to exist somewhere outside of me, so each time I send it out somewhere, I hope that's the place that becomes its new home.

Other than that, we've been watching a bunch of Star Wars around here; we picked up Star Wars awhile ago, then watched both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi this week. Youtube has completely ruined moments in these movies for me (courtesy of, I believe, coffeeem), and if you don't want to have giggle moments at Vader's expense, don't watch this one, and certainly not this one. Really.

I'm also working on drumming up a few more interview opportunities for Cowboys and Aliens: Worlds at War on the net. If you'd like to promote us, let me know! We'll be announcing a contest on Monday, I believe, so check back both here and on the W@W site for more details!

I've mentioned that getting into writing this third book in the trilogy has been difficult for me, in part because I know that, on the one hand, there's quite a lot to resolve. On the other hand, I resolved quite a lot in Departure, so some of the inter-personal conflicts that had been building have stopped building.

In some ways, I model the forumla for a good trilogy off of the original Star Wars movies--the first trilogy I was aware of as a three-part-whole. The first movie is the set up, introducing the characters, having them win some great success together and solidify themselves as a team. The second is about the personal development of those characters, resolving (at least to some degree) the romantic tension built in the first story, while still building the conflict that holds the trilogy together in an arc. The third brings all the loose ends built into the first two stories together. (Keith Baker is just mean that he didn't do this in his "Dreaming Dark" trilogy, but it is rumored that he may have further books with the same characters on the way, so I won't hold it against him.) Book three probably has large-scale combat and grand special effects--however those translate into prose.

Problematically, my forte is the stuff that happens in part two of my ideal trilogy structure, and now I'm concerned that I've written myself into a corner.

I've outlined the next several sections (I don't call them chapters, because they're really just POV shifts), and I know the major things that have to happen in the novel. Getting there, however, is a struggle, and I'm not writing anywhere close to the five pages per day I really need to get done in order to meet my deadline. (I am managing to get more than five pages done on the days where I banish myself from the internet to write, so hopefully that will keep me on schedule.)

To share a bit of my current writing process with you, I'll describe the documents I have open on my desktop:

( Process hidden here )

Right now I'm listening to the "Chronicles of Ramlar Official Sountrack" while I write. This is the first time I've listened to it, and while I think it's probably a good gaming background, but rather dissonant for writing to. Some bits have been very pleasant, but then they go into what feels like "combat mode," which hasn't been terribly helpful as I'm writing a sneaking scene right now.