It is time for a new look to this blog. Why? Because I say so, that’s why. I haven't been focusing on poetry as much recently as I would have liked to and what I have written I have not been satisfied with enough to actually publish on this blog. I know I am not a good poet by far but the experiments that I performed by writing the poems for this blog have been good for me I think. Now to let you know what I have been up too…
In November, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and as it was such, I wrote a novel (Novel in this case is defined as 50,000 words of more). I was able to complete my novel in by November the 25th and because of the stress of writing that much that fast, I decided to take some time off from writing afterward. I am not a professional writer, nor have I ever taken any writing classes, so the novel was an attempt to see if I could do it and if I enjoyed it. Turns out I enjoyed it quite a bit, plus I think the novel isn’t half bad.
Since that is the case once December rolled around I started the editing process on my novel. So far I am about three quarters of the way through the first edit. I have added about 2,000 words to the original body of work as well as correcting a lot of the grammar mistakes I have made in the initial writing of the story. My ultimate goal by the time I finish all of the editing for the book is to have between 70,000 and 100,000 words. I don’t know how to accomplish this, but hey, I will let the story go where the story goes.
Because of this I am going to start to use this blog as a place where I can update my readers (You) about the progress of my book as I take it through the editing process. I may also place excerpts from the book in here from time to time. In fact I am going to give a little run down of the story at the end of this post and maybe even a small excerpt to tantalize your tastes.
I am not dropping my poetry, for those of you who may have actually found it interesting, I am just adding more to the format than what was there before. Pretty much, this blog is going to cover all of my nonpolitical material. If you want to read my political material you can do so at “Political Discourse”. Just be warned, I have my views that I openly express there and if you don’t like them, you don’t have to read it. If you want to have an intelligent discussion about any of my posts, feel free to comment, but keep in mind, I delete offensive comments.
Ok back to the matters of the book. Here was my original synopsis of my story before I ever started to actually write it…
“The novel is a bit of a fantasy/sci-fi/steampunk-ish story. It is set on a mostly desert world and follows a thief who steals an important artifact that is the key to bringing life back to a dying world. Soon he has all sorts of assassins and government officials looking for him to reclaim the artifact. The problem is nobody really knows what the artifact really does, all they know is the legend that behind the artifact and, unfortunately, that doesn't say how the artifact is supposed to be used. The thief steals the artifact not knowing that it is the artifact from the legend and once he learns what it is, he sets out to learn how to use it; little does he know what the secret it unlocks will change his life forever.”
Little did I know that the book once I started it would take a completely different turn story wise. Turns out that the world isn’t quite a desert world and the main character, Jonah, while he is a thief, does very little thieving in the book. He was supposed to be the only main character of the story, yet I have multiple characters that were in throwaway roles that stepped up and became very important to the story. One of those throwaways even became a second main character by marrying Jonah. The artifact that Jonah was supposed to steal ended up coming to him through legal means and in a form that was very unexpected.
But that is enough about the story for now. I will leave you with the excerpt I posted to the NaNoWriMo site.
In November, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and as it was such, I wrote a novel (Novel in this case is defined as 50,000 words of more). I was able to complete my novel in by November the 25th and because of the stress of writing that much that fast, I decided to take some time off from writing afterward. I am not a professional writer, nor have I ever taken any writing classes, so the novel was an attempt to see if I could do it and if I enjoyed it. Turns out I enjoyed it quite a bit, plus I think the novel isn’t half bad.
Since that is the case once December rolled around I started the editing process on my novel. So far I am about three quarters of the way through the first edit. I have added about 2,000 words to the original body of work as well as correcting a lot of the grammar mistakes I have made in the initial writing of the story. My ultimate goal by the time I finish all of the editing for the book is to have between 70,000 and 100,000 words. I don’t know how to accomplish this, but hey, I will let the story go where the story goes.
Because of this I am going to start to use this blog as a place where I can update my readers (You) about the progress of my book as I take it through the editing process. I may also place excerpts from the book in here from time to time. In fact I am going to give a little run down of the story at the end of this post and maybe even a small excerpt to tantalize your tastes.
I am not dropping my poetry, for those of you who may have actually found it interesting, I am just adding more to the format than what was there before. Pretty much, this blog is going to cover all of my nonpolitical material. If you want to read my political material you can do so at “Political Discourse”. Just be warned, I have my views that I openly express there and if you don’t like them, you don’t have to read it. If you want to have an intelligent discussion about any of my posts, feel free to comment, but keep in mind, I delete offensive comments.
Ok back to the matters of the book. Here was my original synopsis of my story before I ever started to actually write it…
“The novel is a bit of a fantasy/sci-fi/steampunk-ish story. It is set on a mostly desert world and follows a thief who steals an important artifact that is the key to bringing life back to a dying world. Soon he has all sorts of assassins and government officials looking for him to reclaim the artifact. The problem is nobody really knows what the artifact really does, all they know is the legend that behind the artifact and, unfortunately, that doesn't say how the artifact is supposed to be used. The thief steals the artifact not knowing that it is the artifact from the legend and once he learns what it is, he sets out to learn how to use it; little does he know what the secret it unlocks will change his life forever.”
Little did I know that the book once I started it would take a completely different turn story wise. Turns out that the world isn’t quite a desert world and the main character, Jonah, while he is a thief, does very little thieving in the book. He was supposed to be the only main character of the story, yet I have multiple characters that were in throwaway roles that stepped up and became very important to the story. One of those throwaways even became a second main character by marrying Jonah. The artifact that Jonah was supposed to steal ended up coming to him through legal means and in a form that was very unexpected.
But that is enough about the story for now. I will leave you with the excerpt I posted to the NaNoWriMo site.
Beyond the city walls Jonah could see farm lands where the peasants toiled attempting to grow what fruits and vegetables they could in the harsh environment on the edge of the wasteland. The wastelands formed a natural barrier several miles to the west, protecting the city from too much contact with its closest neighbor, Ib.
Ib was a city shrouded in mystery, because so few people are brave enough to make the journey across the wasteland, though the tales that come from the few merchants that do take their trade that way are fascinating. They tell of a city made of metal that is filled with mutants that resembled a cross between a man and lizard, known as Ibians. The merchants speak of the strange backward speech of the Ibian people and the odd customs that they have, including one involving a giant monolithic statue made of a strange black metal at the center of the city. The merchants say that around the night of the twin full moons, the citizens of Ib gather in the massive square that surround the statue and dance the night away while getting drunk on the a vile black sludge that smells of sewage. While Jonah found the descriptions of the customs interesting, the part of this story that interested Jonah the most was in the description of the monolith itself.
The statue, while made out of a strange black metal, is engraved on all four sides with many images of strange animals and plants, the likes of which, no one has ever seen before. The Ibian claim that they are memories of a time long past when the planet was lush and thrived with life while hinting that maybe, one day the planet will thrive once more. There is one particular image, that of a young human female that had once walked the earth, spreading joy and life everywhere she traveled. This female, the Ibians claim, is the one who will restore the world to its former glory, bringing life out of a desolate planet and giving hope to all.
In the image of the girl there is a large sparkling stone unlike anyone has seen anywhere else that is embedded into the center of her stomach. That, the Ibians say, is the key to awakening her. This stone is the prize Jonah had decided would be the focus of his next big heist. If he could retrieve that precious stone successfully he would have pulled off a one of a kind job that no one has ever achieved before and never would be able to pull off again.
Casting an eye toward the sky, Jonah saw it was beginning to get dark, so he turned and made his way down the stairs that led from the bell tower into the body of the church.
As he neared the door leading into the sanctuary area, he stopped to listen and, not hearing anything, he cracked the door open while stepping through. As soon as he got the door shut behind himself as silently as possible, something hit him hard on the back of the head causing stars to swim across his vision.
Hope you enjoyed that little snippet.
Didnt know you wrote poetry. Sweet!
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