Not the last, I assure you…
That’s preliminary artwork, done with Adobe Spark.
Today was my first real day of writing, and I got 2,0000 words, which isn’t bad. I’m deep in chapter 4, and the true action of the novel, the March to the Sea, is about to begin.
Or, Volume 2, Issue 4, if you prefer.
Last issue was WW1-related, this one dives into the existential murk that accompanies space travel.
It has the recently-finished final three chapters of Void, and an Alfred Underhill short story, The Tribe.
It’s good stuff.
I just put the most satisfying words – THE END – an author ever composes onto Void. The last three chapters will be available in their entirety in the next issue of Unnamed Journal.
Which means I’ve finished almost a week ahead of my June 1st deadline.
Which means I’ve hit all my deadlines this year – with time to spare. In January I had none novellas finished. Now I have three.
So now what?
First, these need to be revised, and then published. On Kindle certainly, and with paperback versions as well.
I’ll probably go back and revise them in order of composition – Devil, Last Tomorrow, then Void.
So let me set myself some more arbitrary deadlines:
While I’m doing this, I will be working on a full-length novel. It’s the Civil War novel I’ve already started, working title The Sword. If I can get it done over the summer, I’ll be pretty pleased with myself.
Watch this space.
Climax done. Now for denouement.
I’m toying with making rumors of a characters demise greatly exaggerated. I don’t know if I like the character or just didn’t like the death I had planned. It’s all in the soup, folks.
Last time I posted, I sounded a little overwhelmed by the threads I needed to nail down to finish Void. Today, I can safely report that I’ve finished the 6th Chapter, and am confident that I’ve set the third act up in such a way as to be able to be confident of a quick Chapter 7.
In the end, it’s all about character. I stopped trying to create competing motives and just let the protagonist and antagonist work it out for themselves.
I also snuck in a classic philosophy problem, which students of the art should catch right away. Hopefully it’s not too on-the-nose.
Also, since 6 is done, I’ve made 5 available to read on Tablo, for anyone who wants to catch up. Enjoy!
I’ve been told by people that it’s impressive how much progress I’m making in these projects I’m doing. I appreciate their appreciation, and prefer that I’m actually getting things done instead of aspiring to them. But I, as the author, know better. Void is a pain in my butt.
Because I’ve been writing it for a long time. It started as a short story under a different name. I hated it and never published it, not even to Medium, where it could fester quietly forever. But I liked the premise of it. So I reworked it, leaving out some of the obvious alien jump-scares and the uninteresting characters. I switched it over to focus on the single protagonist, so the audience sees everything as he sees them. That way I could draw out the mystery and paint as I went along.
But now I’ve got to make the details work, and that’s the part that always slows me down. I’ve got to write the third act, in totality, and I have to have it done within the month, because the whole third act – about three chapters – is going into the next issue of Unnamed Journal.
So this is going to get done. It’s going to happen. I’m not going to miss this deadline. I’ve hit all the deadlines I’ve set for myself this year. This will be no exception. I don’t have to actually write that much. I’ve already started the sixth chapter.
I sound convincing, don’t I?
In the past, I’d finish a chapter of something and let it marinate, let my juices recharge, get back to the next chapter when I’ve a mind to.
That approach, it no worky.
So the fifth Chapter of Void is finished. I’m not going to post a link to it, because Void chapters are spoken for by Unnamed Journal. When Issue 9 of UJ goes live on April 1st, Void 5 will be available for viewing.
The next issue will have some WW1-related shenanigans in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Doughboys going Over There. Plus, Scarecrows. Subscriptions, they are still free. So what have you got to lose?
So, that’s a deadline I’ve got to meet. I also am still holding to the deadline of getting Last Tomorrow finished/drafted by Easter. Which means I have two more chapters to write. Which means I really need an outline or some kind of methodology of getting me to the ending I want. So I’m working on that, or at least a collection of beats.
So that’s two chapters and a short story for UJ9. I can do that. That’s totally doable.
