Timeline Shenanigans

I basically had two books in limbo for about a month.  One was at 40k and the other at about 37k.  I'm sure you're wondering which one was Universis.  Well, it was the one with the lower wordcount.  Sorry!

Man, how do I get myself into these situations?  Like, what am I doing?  I am great at sitting down and writing.  NaNoWriMo taught me that I can just write, write, write when I need to.  But then, inevitably, something comes to bar my path.

In one of the books I got stuck on a certain scene and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.  I would rewrite it a dozen different ways in my mind and none of them seemed right.  In the end, I knew what I wanted to happen in the scene, when it was all over, so I ended up sort of starting backwards and working my way up to the end result.

In the case of Universis, it was all the timeline switching that was doing me in.  When moving back and forth between three timelines is too much for the AUTHOR to keep track of, you have to wonder what the reader is going to think of all of it.  That's what beta readers are for, right?  Will they be able to keep up?  Only time will tell.

I'm happy to report that I am past my limbo and I've got my mojo back.  All it required was having 4 free hours to just sit down and pull on all my tangled threads.  Now I'm even more excited for what's coming up in the last Five Tribe's book, so I guess it was a good thing?

That's what I tell myself, anyway.

So yeah, I'm currently at 53,000ish words and while it's not as far as I wanted to be by April, at least I'm not lost in a mess of tangled timelines anymore.  I can't believe I'm almost halfway through, guys!!!  Let's pray I can get the latter half done a wee bit faster, huh?

Plodding Away

Well, hello.  Here is my obligatory "Yes, I'm still writing," post.  It's been more than a month, but you won't hold that against me, will you?  Especially since I've been plugging away over here with such determination.

This is about how I feel my skill level is sometimes...

But it's all good news!  I've tripled my word count.  Currently, the book is weighing in at 32,000ish words.  And pretty much all my spare time is carefully, CAREFULLY, working out plotting details.  Just because I have the overall story doesn't mean every detail has been worked out yet.  I mean, even though there are only 3 character perspectives, I've got about 9 people with separate plots and motivations and storylines that have to be touched on and played out.  As I keep telling my writing friend in a whiny voice, "Series are so HARD."  And long series are harder.  I don't know what I was thinking.

So yeah, that's me.  Sitting over here, thinking about how I want to end this book.  Unlike JK Rowling, I didn't write the epilogue before I finished the whole series.  It's funny when I think back on what I was planning for the overall series... IT'S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than that now.  Like, not even close to the shadowy plot in my mind at the beginning of the first book.

The characters have mostly done what I wanted, but the world they live in has insisted on changing all over the place.  Of course, the more things get messed up, the more fun it is to write.  Now I know why Pierce Brown insists on breaking apart all his plotlines in a spectacular way. :D

Next update I'll talk more about my Word Of The Year, but if I keep going this post will be waaaaaaaay too long.

Happy Reading!

Happy New Year!

Well, despite my doubts, I started writing in December.  I know! 

There was a lot of stuff going on up here in Norcal what with the #Campfire and all.  I think I just needed a way to pour out my emotions.

Anyway, that's all good news for you.  As with all my books, I start with the strongest voice in my head first.  Imagine my surprise that it wasn't Luka this time.  Instead, it was Alea.  That's right, people.  She's back.  Her character is going really interesting places in this next book and I wanted you to have a front seat in observing it.  I think she's the only new perspective we'll be getting, though.  I promise I'm not going to be like GRRM and shove a bunch of new characters into my books.

I'm about 12k into Universis (in case you missed it, that's the name of the last book).  I wasn't meaning to be epic with that last title, but it's meaning is what I feel about finishing up this series.  I mean, guys, I've been writing this series for almost 10 years.  My son was a toddler when it started and he'll be in middle school next year.  Holy Hannah.

Universis is my own word, but sort of derived from the Latin word for "All Together", which is what these books will be when it's finished.  It's also what the Five Tribes will be once things settle and Nikka's changes go into affect. 

That's all I'm going to let slip for now, but I will be coming on here to update my wordcount occasionally (hopefully once a month).

Happy Reading!