More Progress On The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Book 2 Update)

The writing continues…

The chapters keep flowing for The Secret Army, which is very encouraging.  I’ve recently gotten a few emails from fans asking about the book, and some new 5 star reviews for The Ghost Planet on Amazon, all of which encourage me to keep writing.  I always get inspiration from people who enjoy my writing and want more!  Thus is the way my enormously over-inflated ego operates.  Ha ha ha.

I’ve started consolidating all the various scenes I’ve written for the book into a single word file.  I tend to write scenes and save them in their own files as the inspiration hits me, and there were getting to be a LOT of files I had to keep track of, so I decided it was time to start putting them in order.  When I copied these scenes into the master draft, I was shocked to see I already had over 100 manuscript pages written – and that’s just from the beginning!  I haven’t even added the scenes I’ve written from the middle and the end of the story yet.  I’m starting to wonder just how many pages I actually have written by now, and I’m estimating that it could actually be anywhere from 150-200 pages.

My mom, who is also my loving editor and self-proclaimed biggest fan, was sure to tell me not to make this book “too long” when I spoke to her on the phone today.  Some people have criticized The Ghost Planet for being too long of a book.  Honestly, I don’t understand that criticism.  Personally, I love long books (well, as long as they’re entertaining.  If they’re boring, not so much).  I am writing space opera here, so the books are GONNA be thick!  The Ghost Planet was essentially 3 books collected in one volume so as to tell a complete story.  I’d set out to write something that was meant to be a big, epic tale, so I see the length of the book as reflecting that.

My response to my mother is that I’m not going to edit myself at this stage of the game.  The story will be as long as it needs to be for me to tell the tale I want to tell.  Once the rough draft is completed, that is when I’ll start going through and figuring out what can be cut.  These big tales can be problematic because certain things which may not seem important to the reader early on can come into play in the series at a later time, and need to be properly set up.  So an editor or reader who doesn’t know where the story is headed might be able to say “this should be cut,” but I say “no, that needs to be in there for something in book 5 to make sense.”

So it is definitely a fine line to walk.  I don’t write big books just for the sake of making them big.  I write to tell a story, and sometimes, that story requires lots of pages.  The Secret Army could very well end up being longer than The Ghost Planet.  I have no idea at this point.  All I know is that I’m having fun writing it, and enjoying the time I’m spending with the characters at the moment.  Seeing the story start to take form and begin its metamorphosis into an actual novel is truly exhilarating, and I cannot wait to get it finished so that others can read it.

The chapter I’ve been spending the most time on recently is what I’m calling the “Grand Hall” chapter.  This is where Jack is attending a state dinner in his honor, and is being introduced to the various races of the Regalus Empire.  It’s an extremely long and complicated chapter – so much so that I’m actually probably going to end up dividing it into two separate chapters.  Lots of important characters and different aspects of the universe I’m building are introduced here, and I’m trying to make sure it’s interesting and entertaining as opposed to being one big infodump.  So far, I’m very happy with it, as it’s shaping up to be lots of fun to both write and read (I’ve probably read through it about 50 times by now).

The Grand Hall is also the part of the book I get to introduce the character of Kimlee Evenstar, someone who is going to play a big role in the series, and who will be quite an influence on Jack.  Whether that influence is a good one or a bad one remains to be seen though.  Kimlee has an interesting backstory, and her first scene with Jack has been a blast to write.  Hopefully others will enjoy it as much as I do.

And just as Kimlee impacts Jack’s life, there’s another character named Mourdock Skyborn who has a major impact on Anna’s life as well. Book 2 is going to heavily feature the dynamic between Jack, Anna, Kimlee, and Mourdock, and how these four characters interact with one another.  Both Kimlee and Mourdock have important roles to play in the story going forward, and I’m looking forward to seeing reader reaction to both of them.

I’m also proud to say I’ve completed the Introduction, as well as Chapters 1 & 2.  I probably struggled the most with figuring out how I was going to start this book off, but once I finalized a concept I’d been toying with for the last part of the book, an idea for the beginning came into place that I really liked, and that’s what I went with.  I feel the first 1/3 of the book is very close to being done, and will probably be the thing I wrap up soonest.

So there you all go, my two fans who check my blog!  (Hi mom!)  Yet another update.  I’m happy to say I think I’m still on target for finishing the first draft of The Secret Army by the end of April/beginning of May.  Then the editing and rewriting shall start.  Regardless, things are moving along nicely!  If any of you wish to comment here or email me words of encouragement, please feel free to do so.  Sometimes, hearing from readers can really help tear me away from my Youtube addiction and start getting busy writing again.  Ha ha ha.