It’s been quite a few weeks since the last writing update. Apologies on that front. I hope you’ve been enjoying the commentary behind The Medusa Coin in the meantime. Lots of cool tidbits still to come.
NaNoWriMo
Today is the last day of the craziest month of the year. The challenge of writing 50,000 words in a cohesive project can be daunting but I enjoy the challenge it brings every year.
So how did I do?
I fell just shy of 65,000 words for my latest novel, The Lost Outpost. My original outline called for it to be much shorter but as I started I realized how much story was being left off the page, how much was actually necessary to flesh out some fantastic character beats.
The Lost Outpost is my first foray into the space opera/space military genre. Needless to say it was rough at the beginning. I spoke with my uncle about this recently, explaining to him that as I was drafting I was learning about the world. Not the best approach but one I think will strengthen future edits.
He didn’t quite understand. If I came up with the story how could I learn about it as I was writing it? The Lost Outpost is a singular moment for the characters involved. One tiny piece of their history that I knew back and forth across the board. A plot based event. But who were the characters before this event? Where did they come from? How did they come together? Every nuance, every tick, every colorful remark had to be explored and understood and with each one I discovered that much more about my own story.
Reading
Coilhunter by Dean Wilson – I love sci-fi westerns or “steampunk” novels. Why, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of how inventive they have to be on a world-building scale. Coilhunter was fantastic with this. Enough information was offered to glimpse the larger scale events going on behind the scenes but it never overshadowed the narrative being told. Fast-paced and a great cast of characters, Dean Wilson did an amazing job setting the tone for this series – so much so that I immediately ordered the sequel, Rustkiller. Mission accomplished, sir!
Strip Jack by Ian Rankin – The Inspector Rebus series is fast-becoming one of my favorites. Rankin is a master at the genre with a sleek mystery immediately clouded by dozens of little events occurring in the background of the narrative. Each and every one is important, though not for the same reason but Rankin weaves them in and out of Rebus’ life so incredibly well they are never overwhelming to the reader. A fantastic mystery novel that kept me guessing until the end. Can’t wait to start the next one, The Black Book.
Thanks for reading.
