Simon (Plague Jack) Watts's Blog, page 7

BOOK TWO PROGRESS REPORT

The first 50,000 words of book two, The Wild War, have been completed. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long. There have been some needless distractions along the way. Part of the reason The Wild War is taking longer to write is because SoaS left every character geographically isolated from each other. This means that every character now has to stand on their own. This is a good thing, because it allows me to push myself as a writer in new and exciting ways while I try and avoid Middle Book Syndrome. I’ve said before that tWW will be better than SoaS in every way and I mean it. I’m about 1/3rd of the way through and I hope to have The Wild War released by the end of the year.  

“I want to turn Voskeer into a city of the future, unlike anything which has come before it. Let our technological achievements and culture shine brighter than ever, while our soldiers push the Hunt back into the Nixus fields.” -Queen Minerva Roselock, Sins of a Sovereignty 

At the end of SoaS, in response to the Wild Hunt’s stolen new weapons, Queen Roselock decides it’s time to give Eldred free reign to remake Amernia’s capital as he sees fit. This was one of the biggest choices in my book, and it’s one that was easily overlooked among the character death and tears. Although mostly, her decision was in response to the invention of these… 

So far I’ve written….  

A prologue/3500 words-This couldn’t be more different than the opening of SoaS. That’s all I’ll say. 

Three Salus chapters/20,000 words- Yeah, Douchebag McGraw is a POV now. Who knows, he might grow as a character. Or he could not. I’m really happy with how these chapters turned out, and they were an absolute blast to write. Expect to be surprised. 

Three Queen chapters/17,000 words-Roselock has grown considerably since the last book, and her partnership with Eldred, as well as her relationship with Joseline, have softened her. This is, so far, a much more optimistic book than SoaS. Voskeer (the capital) is heavily influenced by New Orleans, my favorite American City.  

Like this, with added high fantasy and steampunk elements.(Yes that is Princess and the Frog concept art. I have a wide variety of influences.) As the industrial age begins, Eldred’s machines have become commonplace within the capital, and not everyone’s pleased with the new changes. 

One little Joseline chapter/8,000 words- Joseline is a surprising character, and I have grand plans for her. 

And the epilogue/2,000 words- Mmmmmm sequel bait. 

 I leave you with this. Keep in mind, until it’s published it will be re-written 12423423423423765 times. 

“Look Auntie,” said Joseline, pointing to the black night sky. “A shooting star.”

High above, a shimmering yellow streak raced through the sky. It spun once before plummeting downwards, trailing sparkling yellow fire as it fell. The sentinels formed a shield wall around the Queen and Joseline, as a golden hummingbird came to hover before them, its eyes glowing blue with flame.

“Hello, again,” said the hummingbird. “Do you know who I am?”

“Move aside,” the Queen ordered the sentinels. ”If he wanted to kill us he would. I know who you are, Calcifer.” 

- Excerpt from The Wild War, Draft one.

Also check out this survey post I did. It deserves more love. 

Analyzing Survey Results

Back in December I launched a poll asking Goodreads users for advice. My poll asked readers how long they wanted to wait for a sequel. 57 People voted, and this blog post will discuss the results, as well as a few self publishing realities.  

64.9%- DID NOT CARE when a book was released, or how big it was, as long as it was a fun and interesting read. This surprised me. I personally cannot enjoy a work of fiction if the ending isn’t satisfying, and short works run this risk.  

31.6%- WERE FINE WAITING as long as it was worth the wait. They specifically wanted the author to hold nothing back and wanted a big work they could lose themselves in. I’m in this camp. 

3.5%- WANT MORE AND THEY WANT MORE NOW like the greedy devils they are. This group isn’t getting what they want, because it’s not worth pissing off the other 96.5% 

I am a slow writer, and it usually takes me about three hours to finish one manuscript page. Sins of a Sovereignty had a manuscript of around 150 pages. That means, at three hours a page, Sins of a Sovereignty took me around 19 straight days worth of writing for the FIRST DRAFT. Here are my publishing options. 

OPTION A: Release The Wild War (Amernia Fallen Book Two) in two parts. Part one would inevitably end in a cliffhanger, and would be unsatisfying to read, with plot points and character arcs left unresolved. In theory, I could make more money this way, but it would double my editing and cover art costs which might take me ages to earn back. As a reader/watcher/obsessive consumer, I know how agonizing the wait can be for part 2 or 3 or 13 of a beloved series, but I would still rather wait years than face disappointment. HOWEVER, as an author I feel the compulsive need to get my next book out as soon as possible. Everything I’ve heard from other self-published authors have told me that the faster you can get your work out there, the more likely you are to be successful. Some even advocate not marketing at all until you have at least three books published.

OPTION B: I take my sweet time and release a big brick of quality at the expense of efficiency. This is the option I am heavily leaning towards. Sins of a Sovereignty attracted a lot of fantastically written reviews, and I don’t have the luxury of releasing a mediocre or underwhelming second book. 

As of now I’m about 50,000 words into The Wild War, which is half the length of Sins, but nowhere near done. I expect The Wild War will be around 150,000-200,000 words upon completion, or around 450-600 pages. I’ll be doing another post in a month or so discussing book two and hinting at my plans. If you read Sins, and you’re reading this now, I’ll leave you with this. 

The Wild War, whether in one or two parts, will eclipse its older brother in every way. Discussion is welcome.  

neil-gaiman:It’s been a long time since I posted this. I keep...

neil-gaiman:

It’s been a long time since I posted this. I keep running into people who tell me it was, for them, a lifechanger or a lifesaver, so I thought I’d put it up again. Everything I know about a life in the arts, in about 20 minutes.

Amazing speech by Neil Gaiman. A recommended watch for anyone who wants to be a writer, or just needs wisdom in their life. 

Stuff I like

Ilike books, which is obvious, because I write books. I like other
things too, so I’m gonna start collecting my thoughts on the various media I use to procrastinate.

VIDEO
GAME: SUBNAUTICA

DISCLAIMER:
This game is only available as an early access title, which means
it’s very, very far from finished, and the developers could pull it’s
plug at any moment. But they won’t, because they’re great people.

You
may not know this, but I really, really love the ocean. In fact, my
boner for the ocean is almost as big as my boner for alpha builds of
ambitious video games. When Subnautica was announced it was nearly
the best day of my life. In Subnautica, you play as a sole survivor on
an alien planet. The catch is, that the entire planet is covered in a
luscious ocean infested with beautiful alien creatures reminiscent of
the works of Wayne Barlowe. Craft a submarine, explore caves, spell your name in the sand, and
fall in love with one of the most imaginative worlds in video gaming.

Get it on steam for 20 bucks. 

ANIME MOVIE: REDLINE

Fiction is an amazing thing, capable of forcing us to challenge ourselves, our ideas, our motives, even our very way of life. The right piece of fiction can give us insight into another world, or another persons inner psychology. Redline does none of these things. Most accurately described as Speed Racer in space, Redline is by far one of my favorite action movies, and this is coming from someone who thinks the action genre is the literally embodiment of all corporate evil. Anyone can make a dumb film, but few people can make a dumb film intelligently. Redline is an under-appreciated gem of an animation, and took a notorious 7 years to make. Just look at this animation. 

I love this art style so fucking much. 

I don’t often want to turn my brain off. For the times I do, I’m thankful I have films like Redline. The best part is that it’s legally on youtube for free, HERE. 

GRAPHIC NOVEL: THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, Parts one and two.

I have a big crush on Alan Moore. Mr.Moore, if you’re reading this, I think you’re a mighty special guy. TLoEG is essentially fan-fiction, except in the hands of Alan Moore it’s extraordinarily good fan-fiction, answering the age old question of “what if there was a Victorian era justice league?” Well according to Moore, there would be a lot of death, amoral behavior, and really strange sex.

I love these books, although they’re not for the feint of heart. It takes great care and precaution to write someone else’s characters properly, and Moore does it splendidly. I don’t want to say too much to avoid spoiling anything, just go read it! 

The inescapable force of Fantasy tropes.

Trope: a word, phrase, or image used in a new and different way in order to create an artistic effect

There is a lot of hate against certain tropes in the fantasy genre, and that hate has been hard earned over decades of lazy storytelling and cardboard, bland characters. Some tropes are more common and lazy than others, and some are so rare you wouldn’t recognize them as tropes. For a period in my life I hated tropes as well, until I discovered a wonderful little website called TVtropes. TVtropes (for those of you who don’t know,) is a site dedicated to the obsessive cataloging of any and all tropes, and I do mean all of them. Tvtropes takes anything I was ever proud of dreaming up and takes a big shit on it. If you’re a writer, and you want to realize you’ve never actually had a truly original thought in your life, go read some Tvtropes, it’s quite humbling. I guarantee you’ll feel like shit afterwards. DON’T DESPAIR! Writing comes from life and history. Since we have thousands of years of recorded history, it’s safe to guarantee that by now virtually everything’s been done before. I dropped my hatred of tropes once I realised that true originality is an impossible pursuit. That does not mean that creators shouldn’t find ways to combine the tropes, but tropes in fiction are as unavoidable as air.

I wrote Sins of a Sovereignty in part as a deconstruction of tropes. I’ve said before that the short story version of SoaS was written to attack heroism. As I fleshed out my story I intentionally waged a personal war on every trope which had ever annoyed me. Tropes can also be a useful literary tool. When the reader recognizes a trope, they immediately jump to a set of assumptions about said trope. In the first four chapters of SoaS we are introduced to the main characters, and each is presented as a common fantasy trope. By the end of each chapter, the readers expectations have (hopefully) been subverted.

I built the main characters off some of the most stereotypical fantasy tropes around in a conscious effort to subvert them. The brave veteran warrior, the snarky sorcerer, the evil queen, and finally the silver tongued rogue.

One of my least favorite fantasy tropes is attacked the most heavily, Medieval Stasis. Truth be told, I’m really rather sick of medieval settings. I hide this resentment in the beginning of SoaS, and it’s not until the end I show my true hatred of Medieval Stasis emerges. There are medieval fantasy works I like, mind you, but I enjoy them for character more often than setting.

TIME TO JUSTIFY MY USE OF ELVES AND DWARVES

Let me start by saying I know why people hate them. As a story’s feature they’re boring. We’ve seen them before, and the genre has endless possibilities, so why use them at all?

When I was working on SoaS in the early days I heavily debated just this. I wanted SoaS to be a short book since it’s my first novel, which left me 3 options.

Make everyone human: This posed a problem, since I wanted the plot to be centered on a have-vs-have-nots racial conflict. I could have made the have-nots blue, or given them feathers, but that seemed even more half-assed than using elves and dwarves.

Make a new race: I actually do this repeatedly in SoaS, they just aren’t heavily featured. I addition to elves and dwarves Amernia also has faelings and gilnoids, which serve as an amalgamation of fairy and troll myth. Also in Archipelago are giant praying mantises, troodons, sentient ant hives, and djinn. However, I wanted Amernia to be diverse, and adding four new races properly would have bloated the book by at least 50,000 words. That wasnt an option.

Use cliche races but make them largely irrelevant: Sure, the plot of SoaS deals with a brewing war between human and elfkin, BUT, the racial conflict is largely superficial. The focus in SoaS is not on race, (although many characters are racist,) but instead on technological development and character, Character, CHARACTER. I prioritize character over virtually everything else, and I don’t think SoaS would be a better novel if Calcifer looked like this. 

Exciting Announcement!

You all have no idea how frustrating it’s been keeping quiet this past month.

TWO GREAT THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.  

THING ONE: Sins of a Sovereignty has been professionally edited by the fabulous and talented Eliza Dee at Clio Editing. She did a wonderful job making my prose clean and professional. Because of the cost, I was hesitant to hire an editor at first, but Eliza was well worth the investment. Being professionally edited opens up a lot of doors for me, and I’m excited to get back to promoting.

THING TWO: New cover. HOLY SHIT NEW COVER. This beautiful piece of art was done by the very talented Polish artist MKW over at deviantart. I cannot express how much I love his work. Just look at it! I love it! He’s brilliant and I had a great time working with him. When browsing artists I looked for someone who was talented with both A:color and B:character. Michal delivers. Someone give this man more work!

Currently the new cover is only available in the Kindle Edition, but the paperback will be live soon. Progress on book two has begun, but very slowly as I divide my time between work, friends, wife, family, and writing. So far the Prologue and Chapter One have been completed. I’m also working on a SoaS lead in short story which I hope to be done with by Mid-October.

I was also doing a weekly blog series about some of SoaS’s side characters. I plan to get back to blogging, hopefully on a weekly basis. Previous posts below.

ELDRED-The Blood Queen’s mysterious pet mutant.

EVRILL- A virtuous chemist with more than one dark secret.

PHINEAS- A cynical duke with a compulsive eating habit.

 

CHARACTER PROFILE: ELDRED

As always, this post is filled with spoilers, read at your own risk, blah blah blah. 

“Nature often draws concepts for men to perfect.”-Eldred, Sins of a Sovereignty 

Back when SoaS was just a short story there were a lot of things just thrown in there with a Meh, fuck it, whatever this is fantasy, I’ll do as I please, attitude. One of those things were the sentinels, which I never figured would end up being so important. In the short story, Eldred was referred to as the Archmage, and was a much more derivative and boring version of the old wizard archetype. He didn’t become relevant until I needed to explain the sentinels which serve as the Queen’s bodyguards. 

. 

(Big Golden Robots you say? Where have I heard of that before?)

More on the sentinels later. For now, more about Eldred. 

Eldred was resurrected by Cambrian (for reasons unknown,) and brought back as a sorcerer roughly 20 years before the Rose Rebellion. During this time, Cambrian was far more liberal with who he gave his gift, and there were more magic users in Amernia than at any point in history. The power a sorcerer has at their disposal weakens with how many other sorcerers they have to share it with. (Which is why Calcifer and Pierah are noted to be abnormally powerful.) By resurrecting so many sorcerers, Cambrian could guarantee that their power would be manageable, but he would still have hands in Amernia if he needed them. In theory. 

"Before they were hellions trapped inside a bottle they were spoiled pretentious sloths, drunk on their own power and happy to layabout dining on cake. Just like Phineas, he chuckled. What sort of god gifts power so recklessly?”- Clark Pendragon

Disgusted by the hypocrisy of Amernia’s sorcerers, Eldred sought to abandon their kind. Valuing knowledge above all else, Eldred mutated his brain, and ascended his mental capabilities at the cost of his own body. The other sorcerers would attempt to mimic the success of Eldred’s mutation during the Green War. They failed, and became the monsters known as hellions.  

"Instinctively Eldred blinked to protect his eyes from the light but it did little good as his eyelids had long since become translucent. There were no creatures like Eldred. He was the Hellion that had inspired all Hellions, but unlike his mad brethren, Eldred still maintained his sanity. He was more or less completely immobile, more coral than man. Three massive twisted trunks of brain erupted from Eldred’s skull and clung like vines to the rock and stone behind him. His torso was bare and skin stretched from him like roots, sticking his body to the wall. Red tendrils supported the bulk of his weight and grew from the sockets where his arms and legs had been."- Sins of a Sovereignty 

No longer would Eldred hunger for food, or desire a woman’s touch. He had become less than a man, and yet somehow so much more. For decades Eldred has lived in his lab, advising anyone who asks for his guidance. Although no longer a sorcerer, technically, Eldred is a strange sort of mutant. His augmented brain allows him to possess the empty preserved souls of the dead, (which inhabit his machines) or the souls of lesser creatures, such as the Gremlins which he uses as a slave race to build his machinery. Eldred is essentially a fantasy Supercomputer.

(Like this, but fleshier.) 

Many are suspicious of Eldred. Perhaps with good reason, perhaps not. Eldred see’s himself as a teacher of men, and he has taken quite a liking to Queen Minerva Roselock, admiring her strength, wit, and courage. 

Eldred’s inventions range from musical instruments, such as the piano and saxophone, to robots such as the sentinels and drones. It’s important to note that these robots have no A.I. and are controlled by Eldred directly. In theory he could manufacture a robot army and use it to take over Amernia and then the world. But why would he want that?

Eldred’s goal is to further progress. A friend of progress is a friend of Eldred. Still some questions remain. 

1.Can the Queen trust him?

2.How much does Eldred know?

These questions will be answered in time. 

More on that later ;D

CHARACTER PROFILE: DUCHESS VERONICA EVRILL

“This morning started like any other. I made my rounds through the hospital and checked on the test subjects. 3, 9, and 17 died while I slept. 20, 16, 1, and 10 were breathing but just barely, as the plague began to take them. I could have wept, Clark, and I would have, had it not been for subject 5. When his bandages came off the dog rot sores around his lips had faded, and his skin lost its yellow sheen, and his eyes were bright and alert. I think I may have found a cure….”-Sins of a Sovereignty

WARNING, I CANT TALK ABOUT EVRILL WITHOUT GOING INTO SPOILER TERRITORY, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Evrill is a character who embodies all the hope of scientific discovery, and all of it’s demons. I see Evrill as an amalgam of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Marie Curie. Both real life geniuses ahead of their time who suffered because of their discoveries. Evrill’s lived a long life, so buckle your seatbelts kids, it’s gonna be a long blog post.

The Evrill family arrived in Amernia when the country was conquered by Vaetor. For hundreds of Years the Evrill clan lived in their mountain home, Harpy’s Point, isolated and removed from Amernian politics. Veronica Evrill has a sister, born when she was 22.

A vicious plague struck Amernia, and claimed the lives of Evrill’s parents. The Dog Rot plague weakened Amernia, and the Amernian people quickly became dissatisfied with Vaetor, who still ruled Amernia from across the sea. The sinking of the Yellow Keep ignited the Rose Rebellion, as Gabriel Roselock led a crusade against Vaetorian rule.

During the Rose Rebellion Evrill struggled to maintain order in Harpy’s Point. Seeing opportunity in the cave systems exotic wildlife Evrill began to conduct experiments with Cave Salamanders, who can regrow maimed limbs. Through her research Evrill was able to develop a vaccine for Dog Rot just as Amernia gained independence.

Evrill’s research preoccupied most of her time, and left the Duchess little opportunity to serve as a surrogate parent to her sister. Against Evrill’s wishes, her sister married into the Stolke family and left Harpies Point for good. It was during this time Evrill began to study Dragon Anatomy.

Her research into Dragons led to the discovery experimental weapon, Nixus. The unstable compound was famously deployed in the Green War before testing was complete, and left Capricorn, one of a Amernia’s proudest cities, permanently shrouded in poison fog. Thousands died in the fallout, and Evrill has never forgiven herself for that day. Haunted by her mistakes, Evrill retreated to Harpy’s Point, where she spent the next decade furthering her humanitarian efforts to try and make up for her terrible misdeed.

(Thanks Adventure Time!)

To Evrill’s disappointment, the constant exposure to chemicals left her barren. The closest thing she has to a child is the sorcerer Calcifer, who she tries, “and fails” to be a voice of reason for in the young man’s chaotic life. Pendragon shares many of the same regrets as Evrill, and it’s perhaps because of this the two share a special connection. I don’t know if I would call what they have love, but there is an intense bond hiding beneath the surface.

Evrill tries her hardest to lead by example, putting her ideals before all else. She somehow manages to give her people hope, when all else seems grim. I find her committal ideals to be both admirable and infuriating. Evrill is someone many people aspire to be, but few have the strength to become. I’ve said enough for now….

More character profiles coming soon. 
This blogpost was originally posted on my goodreads. 

CHARACTER PROFILE: ARCHDUKE PHINEAS ASHEN THE GREAT

"The Great Archduke Phineus Ashen had earned his title not for his accomplishments but for his size. Already today the Duke had feasted upon two dozen pancakes drenched in honey butter, served with a side of six poached water iguana eggs and six links of raptor sausage imported from the jungles of Azmire. To wash all this down the Duke had chugged a flagon of syrup. His hunger satiated, he then opened his mouth and stuck an ivory stick down his throat. After the Duke had spilt his breakfast onto the palace floor he then chugged four flagons of mead to purge his mouth of vomit. Hungry once more, the Duke began his second breakfast." -Sins of a Sovereignty

Phineas was a character inspired by a real life Frenchman named Tarrare. Born in 1772, Tarrare was afflicted with the unfortunate curse of being always hungry (to this day, the exact medical causes are unknown.) Unlike Phineas, Tarrare never got fat from his eccentric diet, but stunk so bad that few dared approach him. Tarrare was accused of cannibalism more than once, and it’s been recorded that Tarrare would eat puppies, snakes, and cats whenever he could catch them. No I’m not making this up. Check out the article.

(forteantimes)

Phineas had the good sense to cook his food, but his family line is cursed with endless hunger. SPOILER: As we see in his bastard and estranged son, Fat Peter.END SPOILER Born to a humble family, Phineas quickly discovered he had a knack for counting coin. This earned him the attention of Duke Brarian Ashen, who employed Phineas as his new accountant. When the Elfkin rebelled and started the Green War, Brarian was accused of trading with the enemy and was beheaded by Sir Clark Pendragon. Phineas was appointed as Norfield’s new Duke and took his predecessors last name as a show of respect and as an act of defiance. The murder of Brarian Ashen has haunted Phineas for years.

(Here is a vaguely similar fat guy from Monk)

Norfield’s neighboring city, Capricorn, was gassed only a few months after Phineas was appointed. Elf and dwarf refugees began pouring into Norfield, and suddenly Phineas had more on his plate than even he could handle. For 10 years Phineas has fought to maintain an uneasy peace in Norfield. Because of Norfield’s unique situation, and Phineas’s job as Amernia’s treasurer, he was given the title of Archduke. Being Archduke grants Phineas little more than a slight pay raise. Hardly worth the jobs endless stress.

It’s easy to write Phineas off as a simple Glutton, as Pendragon and many of Phineas’s own subjects are quick to do. Phineas’s obesity and endless hunger isolate him, making him a joke in the eyes of his people. Phineas has come to jealously resent the people he serves, while they see him an engorged symbol of everything wrong with the ruling class, unaware of his roots or personal struggles.

I try not to present readers with black and whites, but to me, Phineas is one of the many unsung heroes in my tale.

"You’ve played your part in a fair share of atrocity, haven’t you Clark? But, to be fair, so did I. We’re both partially responsible for fogging the elves and backing the dwarves into a corner,” said Phineas. “That’s another thing you and I have in common, Pendragon. We’ve both done our part to make this world worse. Of course, me more than you by far.”- Phineas Ashen, the GREAT

This blog post is part of a series and has been reposted from my goodreads.