Richard Raley's Blog, page 30
November 10, 2016
From the Vault: Original FM2 Chapter 2 Beginning
So I recently mentioned that I did some rewrites on FM6 to change some motivations. People often wonder what a rewrite entails. Sometimes it is a second try at an entire chapter, others just certain scenes. Usually I don't go quite too long without knowing I need to make a change. Rewrites aren't like reshoots, they don't require actors, they don't require anything beyond imagination and the words to manipulate an outcome.
Also mentioned in my Foul Mouth Facts posts, my first try at the FM2 school story was VERY different from the final result. It was only a day's worth of work at two thousand words, but I think it's very obvious why I started over. If only because of how WRONG Valentine feels played as a classical trope and well, it's a conversation about socks. Obvious I could and DID do better than that.
Still...let it be a lesson to aspiring writers that you can ALWAYS start over and it won't be the end of the world if you do. As I tell anyone who has ever asked my advice: it's not final until you hit publish. Plus, if you're unknown you don't even have fan expectations on how release day needs to be NOW. Take it easy, rewrite, experiment, and enjoy the experience.
Copyrighted by me, Richard Raley, do not republish, please link back here, early version and only a first draft, there will be typos, not cannon, yada yada.
**************
“I can’t believe they actually consider this a reward,” I said. “I mean, fucking camping? Why the fuck I want to go out in the woods and get raped by a grizzly bear? How that a reward? That’s punishment.”
“I think a grizzly is more likely to just eat you instead of putting the moves on you, dude,” Pocket disagreed.
Like all of Ultra Class ’09 we were busy packing the special hiking backpacks Mr. Samson had supplied for the trip. We’d been at the Asylum for a month. Almost four weeks at least. Twenty-five days to be exact. Twenty-five days of pure joy…note the sarcasm is my tone.
Everyone had gotten to know everyone else. All of us had the names down, even for the quieter kids like Raj Malik. Some more perspective shits even had the likes and dislikes at that point. Pocket and I were good friends already. Twenty-five days and the guy hadn’t screwed me over once. Kinda sad, but that’s the best friend I’d gotten out of anyone at that point in my life. Hadn’t screwed me over in twenty-five days…
“So why I want to go out in the wild and risk getting ate by a grizzly then?” I asked.
“Never been camping at all?”
“You have?”
“Sure. Couple times a year. Parents would close the shops and we’d go camp out in the hills near us or even make a try at camping out on the beach. Those were the best, wake up to a huge sunrise and then go surfing first thing.”
“My luck I’d wake up to a crab clawing my ass.”
“You’ve got a serious fixation on wild animals and your ass, you know that, dude?”
I frowned at my backpack’s quickly filling luggage capacity. “Samson said bring extra socks, how many you think?”
“Two?” Pocket frowned at his own backpack. “We can always dry them out over a fire, right?”
“Two socks or two pair?”
“Two pair.” He chuckled to himself, zipping his backpack shut. “If I’d said three, would you have thrown in three socks?”
“I’ve never understood why sockets always go together. I mean, you might need two to start the day but sometimes it’s only one of them that get wet, meaning you only next an extra one. No reason to replace a perfectly good sock just because you’re stuck in pair-thinking.”
“You’re not really a together kind of person.”
I zipped my own backpack up…three extra socks inside out of spite. “A sock’s got to watch out for himself.”
“Yeah, what if you get mixed up with a black sock, you might get beat up in the hamper.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Just a little.”
“Ass…”
“…hole…”
“…in one…”
“…one sock…”
“Why do I have to have a bed next to you weirdoes?” Valentine Ward asked loud enough for us to hear. It should also be pointed out, because I think I forgot to mention it, that Valentine only recently moved to the States a couple years before her Asylum recruitment, meaning the girl had an Australian accent capable of turning men to butter. Even ‘weirdoes’ was attractive coming from that mouth.
“Why do I have a bed next to a fire hazard?” I asked back, with an accent best described as ‘white trash’. “We all can’t bed next to our star-crossed lover like Pocket and Naomi can we?”
Pocket went red to his ears. Naomi let out a ‘eww’ under her breath that given how often she was staring at the boy had to be fake.
Valentine glared at me. “I haven’t had a discharge in three days, unlike you.”
I gave her a mocking smile. “Heard me did ya? Sorry…I get a little loud…curtains can’t cover it all up…”
Another ‘eww’ for Naomi. Pocket tried to keep from laughing. Valentine just kept glaring. “I’m talking about Mrs. Ambrose clock, you disgusting cretin.”
“Pocket, what’s a cretin?”
“Like a shellfish isn’t it?”
“Really?”
“Probably…listen, stop trying to get me to protect you from Boomworm, I’m not getting blown up for you,” he decided.
“I hate that name!” Valentine snapped at him.
“But it’s a cool name…” Pocket defended.
“Stop using it!”
“Never!”
We all went about getting on backpacks over our shoulders. Given my size it probably weighed more than I did. “Ambrose’s clock wasn’t an accidental discharge, I did it on purpose.”
Valentine’s glaring face went into disbelief, her sharp cheeks helping the expression. “Liar.”
“Nope, managed to figure out how to release an anima pool all on my own,” I bragged, “can’t pool but one time out of a hundred through…probably should have figured that one out first…”
“Now I think you’re a liar too,” Naomi butted in as she walked by to cross the room and stand with her friends.
“Everyone thinks I’m a liar, Pocket, you don’t think I’m a liar do you?”
“I know you’re a liar.”
“Not about this though.”
We found our way out of the Ultra dorms, joining a few more of our classmates outside. It had gotten to the point where we weren’t so much a giant group but mini-groups. The mini-groups had a habit of changed members over the years depending on who was dating who, but there was a general starting point Class 09 always moved back towards.
Library Kids: Valentine Ward, Miranda Daniels, Raj Malik, Isabel Soto, and Athir Al-Qasami. They weren’t so much as friends with each other as connected down the line. Valentine was best-friends with Miranda. Raj was friends with Miranda. Athir was friends with Raj. Isabel was friends with Athir. The circle went one way, but not the other, especially since Isabel hated Valentine.
Soccer Players and Teachers: Estefan Ramirez, Ronaldo Silva, Miles Hun Pak, Debra Diaz, Yvette Reynolds, and Malaya Mabanaagan. Two separate groups in reality, boys and girls. The reason they hung out so much is that Estefan and Debra are both electromancers and electromancers got this weird thing were they always hang out with each other…it’s creepy. Means Estefan and Debra started being a couple like day number two and never stopped.
Gamers: Curt Chambers, Samuel Bird, Nicholas Hanson, and Patrick Brown. Curt was sickly asthmatic, Sam’s a geek, Nick is jock-like, and Rick is full on hippy liberal stoner guy. Only at the Asylum could this group work and it worked because of their love of video games, one of the hardest to acquire contrabands at school.
Jock Girls: Asa Kayode, Nizhoni Sherman, and Eva Reti. Not sure why these three bonded to this day but they were all in the Camping Club and the Swim Club. Eva could play just about any sport you could create and Nizhoni wasn’t far behind.
Girly Girls: Naomi Gullick, Sandra Kemp, Timeeko Lewis, and Robin White. Self explanatory? I think so.
Rich Kids: Heinrich Welf, Jason Jackson, Hope Hunting, Jessica Edwards, and Quinn Walden. To this day I don’t know how Jason got in with these people. He was born on the wrong side of the tracks of Memphis to a single mother working two jobs to support them and at the Asylum he mixes with the most connected kids of our year? As for the other four, wasn’t one of them that didn’t grow up with the Mancy. Quinn’s father was even a member of the Guild of Cocksuckers.
Outcasts: King Henry Price and Pocket Landry. We just kind of worked well together, no other way to explain it.
Loner: Jesus Valencia. Jesus would eventually end up with me and Pocket, but in the beginning he always kept to himself. I doubt you’ll hear much more than a peep out of him until I get to third year.There…all thirty kids of Class 09 dissected. You’re caught up. Write down the tape’s time on a piece of paper if you need to go back to it, I’m never wasting breath on it again.
*
Patrick Hanks, our student-advisor, told us to go to the front of the Admin building and wait, so that’s what we did. Hanks wasn’t going with us for once, on account of the Asylum staff deciding it should be a three day weekend. Three day weekend…and I had to fucking go camping.
Look at fourteen-year-old me not be happy. “This is such bullshit!”
We’d even been woken up earlier than usual. It wasn’t even six, the sun was barely out, and here we were fully dressed in our colors, packed with supplies, waiting on Samson to make a show. Every student at the Asylum but us were getting to sleep in until eight…eight fucking o fucking clock.
Look at fourteen-year-old me not be happy. “Why us? Make the Intras go camping. Punish them. Aren’t we supposed to be getting perks or something?”
“I believe it no more than the rest of you, but I agree with the little foul mouth.” This was Welf. ‘Little Foul Mouth’ was all he ever called me. I don’t think he liked the idea of ‘king’ crossing his lips in relation to me.
“Don’t start him, Heinrich, you always make him go off and it’s too early in the morning,” Valentine scolded.
“Don’t you tell Heinrich what to do, Boomworm,” Hope butted in.
“Leave her alone, Hope!” Miranda defended.
“You don’t tell me what to do either!”
“Look what you did,” Pocket whispered to me.
Why do the geomancer and the floromancer cross the road? To get away from their bickering classmates.
“I don’t get why we fight with each other so much,” Pocket decided was going to be our topic of conversation. “I mean, we fought back in Pismo too, but not like this. One little thing and this dude’s got to tell this dude off and then the next dude don’t like that. It’s like dominos going down.”
“Hanks told me it’s just the Mancy.”
“That can’t be it.”
“He said it would mellow out, something about new mancers meeting each other affecting magnetisms or some shit like that,” I explained not too well. “Mentioned pebbles and ponds too. It seemed to make sense to him.”
Pocket grinned at me, his hands up on the straps of his backpack trying to pull them together against the weight. “So you’re saying we’ll eventually be friends with Welf?”
He was exercising with the thing, but I was lucky to keep standing upright under the backpack’s weight. “Doubt that ever happen. We won’t have blow ups like this one though.”
“Yeah…hope so.”
“Hope so? You want a piece of that frozen twat, my man?”
Without thinking, he pushed on my shoulder. Weight shifted and I went over backwards. I could hear laughter from the other side of the road. “Oh, you rat bastard…” I growled as I unsnapped the backpack and got to my feet.
“Accident.”
“You realize you just guaranteed that none of those girls over there are ever going to want to fuck me, right?”
Pocket’s hand found my shoulder again, this time a firm hold. “King Henry, none of those girls were ever going to want to sleep with you anyway.”
“This place is messing up my grooves,” I muttered, trying to put my backpack back on and not doing a good job of it. “Ain’t a single one of these ladies that like the tough guy act.”
Pocket nodded. “So horrible…you might have to actually be nice to them.”
Also mentioned in my Foul Mouth Facts posts, my first try at the FM2 school story was VERY different from the final result. It was only a day's worth of work at two thousand words, but I think it's very obvious why I started over. If only because of how WRONG Valentine feels played as a classical trope and well, it's a conversation about socks. Obvious I could and DID do better than that.
Still...let it be a lesson to aspiring writers that you can ALWAYS start over and it won't be the end of the world if you do. As I tell anyone who has ever asked my advice: it's not final until you hit publish. Plus, if you're unknown you don't even have fan expectations on how release day needs to be NOW. Take it easy, rewrite, experiment, and enjoy the experience.
Copyrighted by me, Richard Raley, do not republish, please link back here, early version and only a first draft, there will be typos, not cannon, yada yada.
**************
“I can’t believe they actually consider this a reward,” I said. “I mean, fucking camping? Why the fuck I want to go out in the woods and get raped by a grizzly bear? How that a reward? That’s punishment.”
“I think a grizzly is more likely to just eat you instead of putting the moves on you, dude,” Pocket disagreed.
Like all of Ultra Class ’09 we were busy packing the special hiking backpacks Mr. Samson had supplied for the trip. We’d been at the Asylum for a month. Almost four weeks at least. Twenty-five days to be exact. Twenty-five days of pure joy…note the sarcasm is my tone.
Everyone had gotten to know everyone else. All of us had the names down, even for the quieter kids like Raj Malik. Some more perspective shits even had the likes and dislikes at that point. Pocket and I were good friends already. Twenty-five days and the guy hadn’t screwed me over once. Kinda sad, but that’s the best friend I’d gotten out of anyone at that point in my life. Hadn’t screwed me over in twenty-five days…
“So why I want to go out in the wild and risk getting ate by a grizzly then?” I asked.
“Never been camping at all?”
“You have?”
“Sure. Couple times a year. Parents would close the shops and we’d go camp out in the hills near us or even make a try at camping out on the beach. Those were the best, wake up to a huge sunrise and then go surfing first thing.”
“My luck I’d wake up to a crab clawing my ass.”
“You’ve got a serious fixation on wild animals and your ass, you know that, dude?”
I frowned at my backpack’s quickly filling luggage capacity. “Samson said bring extra socks, how many you think?”
“Two?” Pocket frowned at his own backpack. “We can always dry them out over a fire, right?”
“Two socks or two pair?”
“Two pair.” He chuckled to himself, zipping his backpack shut. “If I’d said three, would you have thrown in three socks?”
“I’ve never understood why sockets always go together. I mean, you might need two to start the day but sometimes it’s only one of them that get wet, meaning you only next an extra one. No reason to replace a perfectly good sock just because you’re stuck in pair-thinking.”
“You’re not really a together kind of person.”
I zipped my own backpack up…three extra socks inside out of spite. “A sock’s got to watch out for himself.”
“Yeah, what if you get mixed up with a black sock, you might get beat up in the hamper.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Just a little.”
“Ass…”
“…hole…”
“…in one…”
“…one sock…”
“Why do I have to have a bed next to you weirdoes?” Valentine Ward asked loud enough for us to hear. It should also be pointed out, because I think I forgot to mention it, that Valentine only recently moved to the States a couple years before her Asylum recruitment, meaning the girl had an Australian accent capable of turning men to butter. Even ‘weirdoes’ was attractive coming from that mouth.
“Why do I have a bed next to a fire hazard?” I asked back, with an accent best described as ‘white trash’. “We all can’t bed next to our star-crossed lover like Pocket and Naomi can we?”
Pocket went red to his ears. Naomi let out a ‘eww’ under her breath that given how often she was staring at the boy had to be fake.
Valentine glared at me. “I haven’t had a discharge in three days, unlike you.”
I gave her a mocking smile. “Heard me did ya? Sorry…I get a little loud…curtains can’t cover it all up…”
Another ‘eww’ for Naomi. Pocket tried to keep from laughing. Valentine just kept glaring. “I’m talking about Mrs. Ambrose clock, you disgusting cretin.”
“Pocket, what’s a cretin?”
“Like a shellfish isn’t it?”
“Really?”
“Probably…listen, stop trying to get me to protect you from Boomworm, I’m not getting blown up for you,” he decided.
“I hate that name!” Valentine snapped at him.
“But it’s a cool name…” Pocket defended.
“Stop using it!”
“Never!”
We all went about getting on backpacks over our shoulders. Given my size it probably weighed more than I did. “Ambrose’s clock wasn’t an accidental discharge, I did it on purpose.”
Valentine’s glaring face went into disbelief, her sharp cheeks helping the expression. “Liar.”
“Nope, managed to figure out how to release an anima pool all on my own,” I bragged, “can’t pool but one time out of a hundred through…probably should have figured that one out first…”
“Now I think you’re a liar too,” Naomi butted in as she walked by to cross the room and stand with her friends.
“Everyone thinks I’m a liar, Pocket, you don’t think I’m a liar do you?”
“I know you’re a liar.”
“Not about this though.”
We found our way out of the Ultra dorms, joining a few more of our classmates outside. It had gotten to the point where we weren’t so much a giant group but mini-groups. The mini-groups had a habit of changed members over the years depending on who was dating who, but there was a general starting point Class 09 always moved back towards.
Library Kids: Valentine Ward, Miranda Daniels, Raj Malik, Isabel Soto, and Athir Al-Qasami. They weren’t so much as friends with each other as connected down the line. Valentine was best-friends with Miranda. Raj was friends with Miranda. Athir was friends with Raj. Isabel was friends with Athir. The circle went one way, but not the other, especially since Isabel hated Valentine.
Soccer Players and Teachers: Estefan Ramirez, Ronaldo Silva, Miles Hun Pak, Debra Diaz, Yvette Reynolds, and Malaya Mabanaagan. Two separate groups in reality, boys and girls. The reason they hung out so much is that Estefan and Debra are both electromancers and electromancers got this weird thing were they always hang out with each other…it’s creepy. Means Estefan and Debra started being a couple like day number two and never stopped.
Gamers: Curt Chambers, Samuel Bird, Nicholas Hanson, and Patrick Brown. Curt was sickly asthmatic, Sam’s a geek, Nick is jock-like, and Rick is full on hippy liberal stoner guy. Only at the Asylum could this group work and it worked because of their love of video games, one of the hardest to acquire contrabands at school.
Jock Girls: Asa Kayode, Nizhoni Sherman, and Eva Reti. Not sure why these three bonded to this day but they were all in the Camping Club and the Swim Club. Eva could play just about any sport you could create and Nizhoni wasn’t far behind.
Girly Girls: Naomi Gullick, Sandra Kemp, Timeeko Lewis, and Robin White. Self explanatory? I think so.
Rich Kids: Heinrich Welf, Jason Jackson, Hope Hunting, Jessica Edwards, and Quinn Walden. To this day I don’t know how Jason got in with these people. He was born on the wrong side of the tracks of Memphis to a single mother working two jobs to support them and at the Asylum he mixes with the most connected kids of our year? As for the other four, wasn’t one of them that didn’t grow up with the Mancy. Quinn’s father was even a member of the Guild of Cocksuckers.
Outcasts: King Henry Price and Pocket Landry. We just kind of worked well together, no other way to explain it.
Loner: Jesus Valencia. Jesus would eventually end up with me and Pocket, but in the beginning he always kept to himself. I doubt you’ll hear much more than a peep out of him until I get to third year.There…all thirty kids of Class 09 dissected. You’re caught up. Write down the tape’s time on a piece of paper if you need to go back to it, I’m never wasting breath on it again.
*
Patrick Hanks, our student-advisor, told us to go to the front of the Admin building and wait, so that’s what we did. Hanks wasn’t going with us for once, on account of the Asylum staff deciding it should be a three day weekend. Three day weekend…and I had to fucking go camping.
Look at fourteen-year-old me not be happy. “This is such bullshit!”
We’d even been woken up earlier than usual. It wasn’t even six, the sun was barely out, and here we were fully dressed in our colors, packed with supplies, waiting on Samson to make a show. Every student at the Asylum but us were getting to sleep in until eight…eight fucking o fucking clock.
Look at fourteen-year-old me not be happy. “Why us? Make the Intras go camping. Punish them. Aren’t we supposed to be getting perks or something?”
“I believe it no more than the rest of you, but I agree with the little foul mouth.” This was Welf. ‘Little Foul Mouth’ was all he ever called me. I don’t think he liked the idea of ‘king’ crossing his lips in relation to me.
“Don’t start him, Heinrich, you always make him go off and it’s too early in the morning,” Valentine scolded.
“Don’t you tell Heinrich what to do, Boomworm,” Hope butted in.
“Leave her alone, Hope!” Miranda defended.
“You don’t tell me what to do either!”
“Look what you did,” Pocket whispered to me.
Why do the geomancer and the floromancer cross the road? To get away from their bickering classmates.
“I don’t get why we fight with each other so much,” Pocket decided was going to be our topic of conversation. “I mean, we fought back in Pismo too, but not like this. One little thing and this dude’s got to tell this dude off and then the next dude don’t like that. It’s like dominos going down.”
“Hanks told me it’s just the Mancy.”
“That can’t be it.”
“He said it would mellow out, something about new mancers meeting each other affecting magnetisms or some shit like that,” I explained not too well. “Mentioned pebbles and ponds too. It seemed to make sense to him.”
Pocket grinned at me, his hands up on the straps of his backpack trying to pull them together against the weight. “So you’re saying we’ll eventually be friends with Welf?”
He was exercising with the thing, but I was lucky to keep standing upright under the backpack’s weight. “Doubt that ever happen. We won’t have blow ups like this one though.”
“Yeah…hope so.”
“Hope so? You want a piece of that frozen twat, my man?”
Without thinking, he pushed on my shoulder. Weight shifted and I went over backwards. I could hear laughter from the other side of the road. “Oh, you rat bastard…” I growled as I unsnapped the backpack and got to my feet.
“Accident.”
“You realize you just guaranteed that none of those girls over there are ever going to want to fuck me, right?”
Pocket’s hand found my shoulder again, this time a firm hold. “King Henry, none of those girls were ever going to want to sleep with you anyway.”
“This place is messing up my grooves,” I muttered, trying to put my backpack back on and not doing a good job of it. “Ain’t a single one of these ladies that like the tough guy act.”
Pocket nodded. “So horrible…you might have to actually be nice to them.”
November 1, 2016
Pretty Exhausted Quick Notes
1. My second draft/rewrites are done! Now I just need to finish the last couple chapters. Then do another draft for the last half of the book. Then format it all. Then do my Kindle copy edit. Then give it to the beta readers. All while having major freak out sessions about how it all sucks and how everyone will hate it. Then there will be something weird going on with Amazon on release day. THEN AND ONLY THEN will it be released.
2. I joke but I'm actually really excited about this one. I do wish I had an extra three months with it, but only because it's my baby and I could probably take it from 100 percent to 101 if I spent that time editing.
3. Only part that really worries me is that this is an upbeat novel and there's just piece of my being that rebels at that idea and kind of wants to destroy the good moods...but I suppose that's what FM7 is for!
4. So those of you who thought FM5 was too dark, you should really enjoy this one!
5. Will also say I'm SHOCKED at how well the school story holds its own. I thought it would just get blown away, but it's actually really tense every time you cut back to it.
6. Pretty much had my life consumed by this one. Was editing for 16 hours straight yesterday.
7. Also it's insane what a different place the story is in by the time it ends. Went back to mess with some stuff in chapter 1 to get it ready as a sample for you fans and WOW. Like....this is the same book?
8. Sample should come out late this month.
9. Getting a flu shot today, so I'm using it as an excuse to take a few days off before finishing those last chapters.
10. If I had to bet I'd say Dec 19th is release day. But might manage 12th or drop to the 27th right after Christmas still.
2. I joke but I'm actually really excited about this one. I do wish I had an extra three months with it, but only because it's my baby and I could probably take it from 100 percent to 101 if I spent that time editing.
3. Only part that really worries me is that this is an upbeat novel and there's just piece of my being that rebels at that idea and kind of wants to destroy the good moods...but I suppose that's what FM7 is for!
4. So those of you who thought FM5 was too dark, you should really enjoy this one!
5. Will also say I'm SHOCKED at how well the school story holds its own. I thought it would just get blown away, but it's actually really tense every time you cut back to it.
6. Pretty much had my life consumed by this one. Was editing for 16 hours straight yesterday.
7. Also it's insane what a different place the story is in by the time it ends. Went back to mess with some stuff in chapter 1 to get it ready as a sample for you fans and WOW. Like....this is the same book?
8. Sample should come out late this month.
9. Getting a flu shot today, so I'm using it as an excuse to take a few days off before finishing those last chapters.
10. If I had to bet I'd say Dec 19th is release day. But might manage 12th or drop to the 27th right after Christmas still.
October 21, 2016
Have you read FM 5.5 yet?
KING HENRY AND THE THREE LITTLE TRIPS did far better than any other side work I've published, but not anywhere near what normal novels do. So I know there are quite a few of you that skipped it thinking it was no big deal.
Can't say it was a BIG deal, but it was a deal. It has a lot of info a fan of the series would want to know. Info that when I release the mainline sample chapter for FM6 sometime next month will immediately be spoiled, including a character's death.
So consider this your final warning, buy that book now if you want to read it fresh and unspoiled.
Can't say it was a BIG deal, but it was a deal. It has a lot of info a fan of the series would want to know. Info that when I release the mainline sample chapter for FM6 sometime next month will immediately be spoiled, including a character's death.
So consider this your final warning, buy that book now if you want to read it fresh and unspoiled.
October 19, 2016
Been Awhile Since I Gave A FM6 Tease
"You are not free, Artificer Price. Your master has merely lost you for a time as you have gone wayward. Even if you somehow succeed at defeating the censure, she will reclaim you in the process and she is not likely to let go of your chains a second time. Your life as you knew it before is over one way or the other, surely you see that?"
October 18, 2016
Am Working FYI
So the status bar can be awesome for you fans, but this is a case where it seems like nothing is happening when in reality a whole lot is happening.
Basically I'm working on my second draft at the moment. Yes, two chapters still need to be written, but I realized I wanted to change a character motivation that's been troubling me that deals with those chapters, plus three before it. So I'm going through the whole book in prep for the finale.
So far I'm 9 chapters in, so far so good. I'm very happy with what I've seen, no need to change much, just pruning a bit here or there, small improvements and the like, typos as always, ALREADY. We hates the typos. First time I've even seen the book as a book and not as two separate stories, so that's always fun to view and to manipulate where and when you lot will get those lovely cliff hangers in time.
8 more chapters of that to get through. Plus 3 with partial rewrites, 2 to write, and like 7 I've never even done a readthrough on since I finished them (including the 3 that need partial changes). So yeah, whole lot of work and not a bit of it shows on the status bar.
Just wanted you all to know.
Close and closer to release, step by step.
Back to the mad scientist lab!
Basically I'm working on my second draft at the moment. Yes, two chapters still need to be written, but I realized I wanted to change a character motivation that's been troubling me that deals with those chapters, plus three before it. So I'm going through the whole book in prep for the finale.
So far I'm 9 chapters in, so far so good. I'm very happy with what I've seen, no need to change much, just pruning a bit here or there, small improvements and the like, typos as always, ALREADY. We hates the typos. First time I've even seen the book as a book and not as two separate stories, so that's always fun to view and to manipulate where and when you lot will get those lovely cliff hangers in time.
8 more chapters of that to get through. Plus 3 with partial rewrites, 2 to write, and like 7 I've never even done a readthrough on since I finished them (including the 3 that need partial changes). So yeah, whole lot of work and not a bit of it shows on the status bar.
Just wanted you all to know.
Close and closer to release, step by step.
Back to the mad scientist lab!
October 6, 2016
Quick Notes #24
1. I've already written 20k this month. My mind is currently mush.
2. Under 3 chapters to go. The last conclusion chapter and the BIG FUCKING BATTLE of the book basically. Well, of the series so far actually. You fans ready to go over power level 9000?
3. Of course, finishing the first draft is just the start. Still have Edit Hell after that. The first half of the novel is extremely solid. Second half is on a weak foundation since I really haven't spent time editing it yet. Looking to do at least two more drafts before release, plus formatting, plus copy editting.
4. Damn am I proud of this novel though. Maybe I'm delusional, but even with some of what I need to fix or tune, there's so much good stuff in this one. I mean, if it makes the author laugh and tear up while reading, what's it going to do to you fans?
5. That said, if you're emotionally dead inside, a cynical husk of a human being with the emotional development of a potato that only wants fight scenes with wise cracking super hero wizards...Probably shouldn't get too hyped.
6. Taking the next couple days off. Have new X Men, Warcraft, Jungle Book, and new Star Trek just waiting to be streamed, plus a few more episodes of Luke Cage to watch. So there!
7. Still not sure on release but aiming in December, probably 2nd to the 19th long as nothing weird happens.
2. Under 3 chapters to go. The last conclusion chapter and the BIG FUCKING BATTLE of the book basically. Well, of the series so far actually. You fans ready to go over power level 9000?
3. Of course, finishing the first draft is just the start. Still have Edit Hell after that. The first half of the novel is extremely solid. Second half is on a weak foundation since I really haven't spent time editing it yet. Looking to do at least two more drafts before release, plus formatting, plus copy editting.
4. Damn am I proud of this novel though. Maybe I'm delusional, but even with some of what I need to fix or tune, there's so much good stuff in this one. I mean, if it makes the author laugh and tear up while reading, what's it going to do to you fans?
5. That said, if you're emotionally dead inside, a cynical husk of a human being with the emotional development of a potato that only wants fight scenes with wise cracking super hero wizards...Probably shouldn't get too hyped.
6. Taking the next couple days off. Have new X Men, Warcraft, Jungle Book, and new Star Trek just waiting to be streamed, plus a few more episodes of Luke Cage to watch. So there!
7. Still not sure on release but aiming in December, probably 2nd to the 19th long as nothing weird happens.
September 21, 2016
Quick Notes #23
1. Still working hard on FM6. Split a chapter in two, halfway through the second part, so 4 and a half chapters left to write. Pretty beefy chapters, pretty OMG chapters that the whole book has been building to. I keep hoping that some amazing burst of writing will emerge out of me and I'll magically finish the book in a week, but so far no fairy dust or rainbow dreams to be had. Just me slowly banging my head against the wall scene by scene.
2. It's a weird situation where I'm writing at a very acceptable (even above acceptable) level but acceptable is going to land release right on Christmas (or near enough). I don't know, maybe I shouldn't be so scared of that. Maybe it will help sells if everyone has Amazon gift cards lying around and thousands upon thousands of people just got a new kindle.
3. Doesn't help that my personal life is a country western song at the moment. Guess I should look on the bright side: no girlfriend around, so she can't possibly break up with me!
4. Looks like the 100 degree weather is in the past at least. Heatwave this weekend when it's ALMOST OCTOBER is only expected to reach 97! Woohoo!
5. Just an FYI that the estimate for FM6 is probably off and we'll be going slightly over. So 100% might not be 100%. Don't worry, when I finish the first draft I will be on here strutting around and doing a little dance.
6. Yeah, yeah, I'm hanging on the dark humor to get by at the moment. Don't mind me. Lot to be excited about with this book. So many scenes and revelations I can't wait to hear your thoughts on. So many jokes I can't wait to hear you laughed at. Release is closer than ever. Just, in the final stretch and the book is consuming me. No energy to spare for blog posts! Especially no energy to spare for cheer-leading!
7. Back to the mad scientist lab!
2. It's a weird situation where I'm writing at a very acceptable (even above acceptable) level but acceptable is going to land release right on Christmas (or near enough). I don't know, maybe I shouldn't be so scared of that. Maybe it will help sells if everyone has Amazon gift cards lying around and thousands upon thousands of people just got a new kindle.
3. Doesn't help that my personal life is a country western song at the moment. Guess I should look on the bright side: no girlfriend around, so she can't possibly break up with me!
4. Looks like the 100 degree weather is in the past at least. Heatwave this weekend when it's ALMOST OCTOBER is only expected to reach 97! Woohoo!
5. Just an FYI that the estimate for FM6 is probably off and we'll be going slightly over. So 100% might not be 100%. Don't worry, when I finish the first draft I will be on here strutting around and doing a little dance.
6. Yeah, yeah, I'm hanging on the dark humor to get by at the moment. Don't mind me. Lot to be excited about with this book. So many scenes and revelations I can't wait to hear your thoughts on. So many jokes I can't wait to hear you laughed at. Release is closer than ever. Just, in the final stretch and the book is consuming me. No energy to spare for blog posts! Especially no energy to spare for cheer-leading!
7. Back to the mad scientist lab!
September 4, 2016
Quickest Notes
1. Just wanted to say this would probably be the only update I give for a few weeks. I'm going to get away from the net to try to focus fully on writing. Probably even be throwing my tablet into a drawer!
2. As expected based on my history, August was a tought month. Did do lots of editing and formating work, preparing for release, but not much new stuff written in those last 5 chapters.
3. Looks like December is the major target for release, with October no longer possible and November unlikely. Mostly I don't want to rush this last bit or the editing process. A story this good deserves my time to make sure it's at its absolute best.
4. Month is off to a good start, so there's that!
2. As expected based on my history, August was a tought month. Did do lots of editing and formating work, preparing for release, but not much new stuff written in those last 5 chapters.
3. Looks like December is the major target for release, with October no longer possible and November unlikely. Mostly I don't want to rush this last bit or the editing process. A story this good deserves my time to make sure it's at its absolute best.
4. Month is off to a good start, so there's that!
August 28, 2016
Five Years of the Foul Mouth
SEPTEMBER 1, 2011 was the date when I finally got to share King Henry Price with the world. Not that anyone really noticed at first judging by my sales in those beginning months, but 4 more main novels, 6 shorts and an auxiliary novel later, here we are we a respectable fanbase and cult favorite status, with hopes that FM6--and those that come after--will push the series even farther and wider.
It's an exciting time to be a Foul Mouth fan and to be the writer in control of the slowly unfolding disaster that is The King Henry Tapes. I truly believe that the next five years will be even more exciting. I don't know if we'll manage to finish the last half of the series in that time (since these things have gotten a tad larger than The Fanged Lady was) but surely a number more, filled with twists, turns, and just a bit of cursing.
The first five years has seen numerous covers, revisions, the formation of a beta reading team, the building of a fanbase thousands strong, over 50 thousand copies of FM1 given away, promos, tweets, blog posts, and of course, lots of writing...about a million words in fact.
For you it might have begun five years ago, likely much sooner, for me it was before even that. 2009, fed up with the vampire fad (especially the sparkling ones) and with what the publishers were doing to Urban Fantasy (what's this "paranormal" shit on every shelf?), pulling from Jordan, Martin, Herbert, Erikson, Star Wars, Lost, X Men, Pulp Fiction, and hundreds of other sources of inspiration, I started piecing together a reaction, maybe even a rebellion of all things fad and publisher and "paranormal." I asked questions: what would be a truly unique type of vampire? What would a boy wizard abused and forced to live under the stairs actually act like? Why was no one in paranormal using a magic system and could you make elemental magic almost scientific and unique outside of staff waving and yelling? Why is everyone focusing on the Urban and not the Fantasy? Can you start as low and become high?
I think I've answered some, am still trying for others and have even found new questions in the journey. It started with lots of world building and pieces of blank paper...
Xylomancy? WTF was I thinking?
Then it moved on to the writing itself...
That's right, the first fifty pages of the school story are handwritten because i couldnt sit in a chair due to a pulled back. Yes, yes, there were typos even then. Then of course, editing...which for FM1 lasted almost an entire year. I've gotten a tad faster nowadays.
Anyway, consider this a thanks for the support in my beginning and in King Henry's beginning as well. Neither of us are done yet and there are plenty more adventures to come in the next five and beyond, new worlds to explore, villians to fear, and new heroes to related to. Not all of them will curse, but the first, yes he very much does!
It's an exciting time to be a Foul Mouth fan and to be the writer in control of the slowly unfolding disaster that is The King Henry Tapes. I truly believe that the next five years will be even more exciting. I don't know if we'll manage to finish the last half of the series in that time (since these things have gotten a tad larger than The Fanged Lady was) but surely a number more, filled with twists, turns, and just a bit of cursing.
The first five years has seen numerous covers, revisions, the formation of a beta reading team, the building of a fanbase thousands strong, over 50 thousand copies of FM1 given away, promos, tweets, blog posts, and of course, lots of writing...about a million words in fact.
For you it might have begun five years ago, likely much sooner, for me it was before even that. 2009, fed up with the vampire fad (especially the sparkling ones) and with what the publishers were doing to Urban Fantasy (what's this "paranormal" shit on every shelf?), pulling from Jordan, Martin, Herbert, Erikson, Star Wars, Lost, X Men, Pulp Fiction, and hundreds of other sources of inspiration, I started piecing together a reaction, maybe even a rebellion of all things fad and publisher and "paranormal." I asked questions: what would be a truly unique type of vampire? What would a boy wizard abused and forced to live under the stairs actually act like? Why was no one in paranormal using a magic system and could you make elemental magic almost scientific and unique outside of staff waving and yelling? Why is everyone focusing on the Urban and not the Fantasy? Can you start as low and become high?
I think I've answered some, am still trying for others and have even found new questions in the journey. It started with lots of world building and pieces of blank paper...
Xylomancy? WTF was I thinking?Then it moved on to the writing itself...
That's right, the first fifty pages of the school story are handwritten because i couldnt sit in a chair due to a pulled back. Yes, yes, there were typos even then. Then of course, editing...which for FM1 lasted almost an entire year. I've gotten a tad faster nowadays.Anyway, consider this a thanks for the support in my beginning and in King Henry's beginning as well. Neither of us are done yet and there are plenty more adventures to come in the next five and beyond, new worlds to explore, villians to fear, and new heroes to related to. Not all of them will curse, but the first, yes he very much does!
August 18, 2016
Quick Notes #22
1. 200k! The Pit of No Return is now officially the longest FM book ever AND the longest book I've ever written. My hopes are that it will keep these titles for a long while, although FM7 could get close and I imagine FM12 when we get to it one day will be very hefty. Digitally speaking...
2. Completed my pre-edit. Fixed a ton of little problems, no big problems I can see, no need for rewrties, all looking great. So pleased with this novel, really proud of it. Make you laugh, make you cry, pump you up, SO SO SO much information revealed. Now it's just all about sticking the landing.
3. Have started working on the last five chapters. Should be big chapters, about 10k each, so we're right on schedule with the estimate. About 3k into Session 176 as we speak. Tons going on in it, just like any chapter in this book. I think you guys are going to be shocked when you see just how packed this book is. I mean, it shocks ME sometimes and I wrote it. Not exactly meainginlessly "action" packed, but then I don't think this series focuses on that. When action does happen it happens for a reason, the stakes are high and the consequences are serious. Just moments and scenes and lots of great stuff you've been waiting for. Heck I've been waiting for some of this since I started the series.
4. I'm trying to write a lot, laptop is always open, the PS4 and my kindle are dusty, but this is the worst time of the year for it. It's hot, the air is horrible, half of California is ON FIRE. Seriously, most I've written in August or September ever is 16k words. So I'm fighting history here and trying to do better, but also trying to remind myself not to expect any miracles! Oh if only books finished themselves...
5. TV? What's TV?
6. Video games? Heard about them...all I do is write, edit, ruminate, and watch hearthstone on YouTube anymore...
7. Everyone seemed to like the chapter sample...that was good...
8. FAN QUESTION OF THE MONTH: What Foul Mouth mystery/moment are you most looking forward to seeing solved/play out?
2. Completed my pre-edit. Fixed a ton of little problems, no big problems I can see, no need for rewrties, all looking great. So pleased with this novel, really proud of it. Make you laugh, make you cry, pump you up, SO SO SO much information revealed. Now it's just all about sticking the landing.
3. Have started working on the last five chapters. Should be big chapters, about 10k each, so we're right on schedule with the estimate. About 3k into Session 176 as we speak. Tons going on in it, just like any chapter in this book. I think you guys are going to be shocked when you see just how packed this book is. I mean, it shocks ME sometimes and I wrote it. Not exactly meainginlessly "action" packed, but then I don't think this series focuses on that. When action does happen it happens for a reason, the stakes are high and the consequences are serious. Just moments and scenes and lots of great stuff you've been waiting for. Heck I've been waiting for some of this since I started the series.
4. I'm trying to write a lot, laptop is always open, the PS4 and my kindle are dusty, but this is the worst time of the year for it. It's hot, the air is horrible, half of California is ON FIRE. Seriously, most I've written in August or September ever is 16k words. So I'm fighting history here and trying to do better, but also trying to remind myself not to expect any miracles! Oh if only books finished themselves...
5. TV? What's TV?
6. Video games? Heard about them...all I do is write, edit, ruminate, and watch hearthstone on YouTube anymore...
7. Everyone seemed to like the chapter sample...that was good...
8. FAN QUESTION OF THE MONTH: What Foul Mouth mystery/moment are you most looking forward to seeing solved/play out?
