Read the first 3 chapters of The Last Fedora at writer's group last night. They seemed to like it. Pointed out a couple of cliches: "deep wells" for eyes, and "soothing the savage beast."
They also thought the 10 year old character was way too precocious for the age. Easily fixed, actually. I can make him 12, 13, or even 14. I'm thinking 13 right now.
One of the readers hadn't heard of Golem's. I figure anyone who tracks down a book called, The Last Fedora: The Gangster Golem Chronicles, is going to know what a Golem is.
Back to the salt mines. Trying to get Tuskers III right. I always know I'm in trouble when I have to fiddle with the structure of a book. I don't know why this sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't. It doesn't really make the book better or worse -- just harder to write.
I had another brainstorm. Do it in 3 parts.
Z Day, Minus One.
A continuation of the characters from books I and II, with a heavy emphasis on a Tusker named Napoleon.
Z Day, Plus One.
The new characters and how some of them meet the characters from the first two books.
Z Day, Plus 523.
This is set a year and a half after the events in the first two parts. Bringing all the characters together in one final confrontation.
Z Day Plus One is more or less written.
I have a bunch of material that originally was going to be threaded through the story, but which will have to be rewritten as a separate Z Day Minus One.
Z Day Plus 523 will have to be written pretty much from scratch.
I'm going to do something different I think. I'm going to outline each of the first few chapters; be clear about what I'm trying to accomplish before I write them. Don't know if this will work, but I'm going to give it a try.
It is going to be a challenge to make the first part of the book work, but that's okay. I probably need a challenge.
But, damn. I wish they all came as easy as The Last Fedora or the first Tuskers book!
They also thought the 10 year old character was way too precocious for the age. Easily fixed, actually. I can make him 12, 13, or even 14. I'm thinking 13 right now.
One of the readers hadn't heard of Golem's. I figure anyone who tracks down a book called, The Last Fedora: The Gangster Golem Chronicles, is going to know what a Golem is.
Back to the salt mines. Trying to get Tuskers III right. I always know I'm in trouble when I have to fiddle with the structure of a book. I don't know why this sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't. It doesn't really make the book better or worse -- just harder to write.
I had another brainstorm. Do it in 3 parts.
Z Day, Minus One.
A continuation of the characters from books I and II, with a heavy emphasis on a Tusker named Napoleon.
Z Day, Plus One.
The new characters and how some of them meet the characters from the first two books.
Z Day, Plus 523.
This is set a year and a half after the events in the first two parts. Bringing all the characters together in one final confrontation.
Z Day Plus One is more or less written.
I have a bunch of material that originally was going to be threaded through the story, but which will have to be rewritten as a separate Z Day Minus One.
Z Day Plus 523 will have to be written pretty much from scratch.
I'm going to do something different I think. I'm going to outline each of the first few chapters; be clear about what I'm trying to accomplish before I write them. Don't know if this will work, but I'm going to give it a try.
It is going to be a challenge to make the first part of the book work, but that's okay. I probably need a challenge.
But, damn. I wish they all came as easy as The Last Fedora or the first Tuskers book!