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Book News

gate in the seaWith the first novel of my new series now in my editor’s hands, I started to work revising my rough draft of book 2 — only to get a brainstorm last week about how to address some lingering concerns I had.

I figured out how to fix up the smallest point of view arc, consisting of three chapters, to make them far more compelling, and then made the adjustments to the next to last chapter necessitated by changes to those three. And now I’m feeling more confident about the work in progress than I have in any book since The Bones of the Old Ones.

Marching On

dark summitThe days have marched on at their steady pace. I’m still struggling with insomnia of a different sort than I usually have. This is the more traditional kind, meaning that no matter how tired I am, my mind races for hours, and if I should jolt awake at night I can’t get back to sleep. I’m still trying to find the best solutions to the problem. I’ve had some better writing days, but no truly good ones, and today I’m going to hunker down and get some work done around the house. Maybe some honest-to-God manual labor will help wear me out even more so I can feel more sleepy.

Still, I got some changes made to the first novel and turned back over to my editor. There are more changes I want to make, many of which were suggested by Ian Tregillis, John O’Neill, or my wife, and I also need to get to starting the next draft of the second book.

Spurred by renewed talk about the historical swashbuckler Captain Alatriste I’ve been working my way through it, although I got sidelined when my daughter started reading the Everest expedition/disaster memoir Into Thin Air. I started reading it myself and got hooked, then read another similar volume about more recent climbing season, Dark Summit. I’m not sure why, but I’m occasionally interested in reading about mountain climbing, probably in part because I can’t imagine ever doing it myself.

I have an interesting looking e-book by an up-and-coming sword-and-sorcery writer I’ve been meaning to start, and I’ll probably tackle that next.

 

Insomnia

insomniaI’ve been wrestling with terrible insomnia for the last couple of weeks. I can get to sleep just fine, but I keep waking up.

Apart from the month following my mom’s heart attack this has been the worst impediment to my writing since I became a professional. Progress in the last ten days has slowed nearly to a crawl. I can exist, but putting words down in any kind of clever way has felt more and more like a vertical climb.

I’m taking some medical action now under physician advice and hope soon that I can return to my usual work pace.

Writing Flurries

hulk computerI finished the rough draft of a new novel, the second in the sequence of three I’m developing. I used the same process I used to write the new sections of the first novel (of this new trilogy) and it worked even better this time:

  1. First, know the characters and what they want
  2. Outline the events I’m most interested in seeing, arising from clashing character motivation
  3. Sketch out the arcs (this book has two major POV and three minor)
  4. Pick an arc and start drafting.

I started my novel career by writing books  deliberately drafted to sound as though one person were sharing a story with you, the listener. It’s been a bit of a shift to write novels with multiple points of view, but I’ve gotten more and more practiced with it. 

Skelos Magazine

raidersSo here’s a cool thing: a kickstarter for a brand new sword-and-sorcery e-zine from some real sword-and-sorcery experts. The mag’s going to be called Skelos, and it’s masterminded by none other than Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, and Jeffrey Shanks, Robert E. Howard scholars all. Hearing that these three are behind it fills me with glee — I look forward to reading whatever treasures they unearth, and, heck, I look forward to submitting some day as well.

I hope you’ll join me in backing this one.

In other news, I’m closing on the conclusion of the second major arc of my new book. It seems hard for me to believe, but I might actually be finished with the rough draft for the whole thing by the end of the month. This arc should conclude no later than early next week, and then I’ve got a couple of chapters from minor arcs to draft. This is pretty rough still, and some of it is mostly framework with dialogue, but it feels solid. I suppose I’ll know how solid after I let it sit unread for a few weeks and return to it. A writer’s fear is always that it’s much, much worse than you think it is…

Dedications

beyondpoolstarsI generally put a little thought into each book dedication I write, but yesterday the one I drafted stopped me cold and left a very long shadow through the rest of the day.

As I’d hoped, I finished revising my fourth Pathfinder novel last week and sent it back in first thing Monday morning. The only part left on its to-do list when I got up was to draft the acknowledgments and dedication. The acknowledgments were simple enough — I was grateful to several people who’d provided guided and feedback, and thanked them accordingly.

But the dedication… When I sat down to write this book two summers ago, my friend Kris was alive and well. And last summer, when I revised it, he was doing fine. Last fall he passed away on an operating procedure after a perfectly normal minor surgery went terribly wrong. And so the book is now dedicated to his memory.

Revising Away…

pool of starsI’m nearly through the revisions of my fourth Pathfinder novel, and you know what, I quite like it. I just finished Chapter 6 and it’s one of the finest chapters I think I’ve ever written.

Wish I had the sense that more people were reading these… I’m just not seeing a whole lot of comment about them either out there on the ‘net or even on the Paizo boards. I’m starting to think that those Pathfinder fans who’re reading the books are reading them in the order they were written and haven’t gotten to the more recent books yet, like my third Pathfinder book. And I’m starting to think that maybe people who ordinarily read lots of fantasy don’t read tie-in novels? I dunno.

Right — got to get back to revising. Have an excellent weekend!

Of Hats and Teeth

deckerI’m getting ready to switch hats and work on something else. I’ve been steaming full speed towards the conclusion of my newest book, but, as often happens, a previous book has popped up with editorial comments. This is my fourth Pathfinder Novel, Through the Gate in the Sea. The comments aren’t too extensive, so I hope to finish it before the week’s end and get back to the new book. Of course, if the other book needs more time, I’ll have to give it, because I want it to head to print in the best shape I can manage.

In other news I’ve been enjoying the fantastic weather here upon the sea of monsters. I’m heading into town in just a few moments to learn just why I have shooting pain when I chew on the right side of my mouth. It’s probably those darned tooth crowns. You see, when my wife and I were first starting out and were very badly off, financially, I thought I could save us a little money by not visiting the dentist for a few years. I had incorrectly reasoned that because I brushed and flossed appropriately my teeth would be okay.

Turns out that I was wrong. I ended up with three tooth crowns and root canals. I’m pretty sure that there’s no living root beneath this crown, so I’m not sure where the pain’s coming from, but I assume I’ll know very shortly.

 

Nominations

Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard

I was delighted to learn that Bill Ward and I have been nominated for the Robert E. Howard Foundation’s Black River award for our Conan re-read series. That’s certainly not anything either of us was expecting, and it’s quite an honor. My friend Bob Byrne and Black Gate itself are among the other nominees, and I’m pleased for us all. It’s just good company to be in.

pic2786972_mdI’ve been very busy the last few days both with working on a synopsis of the 2nd and 3rd books of my new series, and, in the early morning, play testing my friend Dean’s new board game. It’s a blast, and I mean to talk about it when I’m just a little further along with it. You can click here for some preliminary details.

Friday I’ll have some details on some cool old stories I’ve been reading.