Stephen C. Merlino's Blog, page 3
January 24, 2017
THE KNAVE OF SOULS – Progress Update
I posted like mad over my November retreat, but stopped during winter break, and though I’be been writing since, I haven’t posted. I was in France for some of that. Here is a terrifying picture of my family and I at 13,000 feet in a glass box over an icy crag of the Alps.
SO! ENOUGH FOOLSHNESS! AN UPDATE!
I’m sending Chapter 52 (The End) for peer crit this Saturday! Feels great, too. I’m pretty happy with it. PLUS, for those of you who agree with me that 2.5 years to write a book is too long, it’s coming in at about 160K words, which is 30K words more than the first book, so, hopefully that 20% more Harric, Caris, Sir Willard, Ambassador Brolli, and Father Kogan will make up for some of the wait.
Below, some of the crit notes from the Chapter 51 peer crit session. I love scribbles. I find beauty in these artifacts. Hope I don’t become a hoarder.
December 16, 2016
December 9, 2016
November 13, 2016
4-DAY WRITE = COMPLETE DRAFT
This was my view for three straight 12-13-hour days of writing. Many many thanks to my uncle John and auntie Sue for letting me camp at their dining room table in their absence.
And guess what? I revised and polished two chapters, wrote two new chapters (including the last), and completed the draft!
Better than that, 90% is ready for the copy editor, and the rest just needs the usual critique and development.
November 9, 2016
Perspective From Samwise Gamgee
Thanks to Jeff Weaver for this quote from The Return of the King.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Samwise saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
October 30, 2016
September 19, 2016
September 14, 2016
Knave Progress Update: Four Chapters Away…
Der Bierstube
School started, and production has been chiked off, but I am determined to finish the writing by Oct 1…
September 8, 2016
Denver Conference Time!
Just landed in Denver for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference, where I get to do a little teaching and writing and bookselling and a lot of learning, and where my good friend CRAIG HOLT’S novel HARD DOG TO KILL is a finalist in the Colorado Gold Writing Competition!
