originally posted by Jeffrey L Watson
Here's a place for Janny to post status updates for Destiny's Conflict which will be opened for all users to post to after Initiate's Trial has been released.
I have chapter I underway, as of yesterday.
No moss grows on a rolling stone…
originally posted by Annette
Janny must be busy writing. May was such a long time ago, could we please have an update Janny.
Certainly - and you bet, I'm hard at the writing now that the production shuffle is over. It's been a hectic time for me, fall was filled with travel and a need to address some art issues to bring in additional income. In many ways, life by itself has been complicated, and the next book is an arc ending LIKE NO OTHER. Expect it will blow Stormed Fortress out of the water.
Easily.
There will be explosive events and unveilings, backwards AND forwards, and that is taking extreme care in the planning, that the events unwind smoothly and without any sag and bloat. More, this is the PENULTIMATE - and I am making sure there are no false steps or dropped threads. And that the scenes, each one, known as they may be for years, also include a surprise zinger or an inspiration to make them come alive to me.
Update at this moment - I am past page 100, draft, exact count would require me to shuffle papers that aren't numbered consecutive.
One set AND two - are going to totally blow your mind. Even more than the opener of Initiate's Trial, but ;X - can't remove the authorial duct tape, the spoilers, even hinted, would be extreme.
Brace yourselves, reinforce your ceiling, and walls, in case you bounce off them rather hard.
Because You Have No Idea…!!!
originally posted by Annette
So you are somewhere in chapter set 2, thanks for the update Janny.
As much as I would love a spoiler, just your thoughts as you write it would be nice so we perhaps get an idea as to the pacing and it would encourage us to guess what is going on. Spoilers can wait till it is handed in and the artwork done, then we can all get excited when we know when we are getting the book. Besides I suspect it will be harder to give us snippets this time without giving to much away. We can wait, but would be nice to see how excited you get as you are writing it, I really liked reading through the past status threads especially the Initiate's Trial thread. It livened up the waiting.
Peers up from brain boiling, double bubbling toil on the new book - gads, it's been quiet in here!
originally posted by Annette
We are all hiding here in the shadows, waiting for a status update.
Working chapter 3 main. Past page 154. Thank gosh all the production, holidays, taxes, major travel, and other (personal family) issues are resolved…the fall was one traffic jam of obligations. At this stage, the story is in the groove for this set, and the count should advance pretty rapidly.
originally posted by Jon Moss
Woot! What wonderful news to brighten up my Monday morning.
Best wishes, Jon
originally posted by Annette
Thanks for the update Janny, nice to see your up to chapter three.
originally posted by Sleo
Yay!
originally posted by Lynne
Brilliant!
Page count was 167 at the close of last night, and climbing at a decent clip…how fast can I finish the last two scenes of chapter 3 main?
Bets? Care to speculate?
originally posted by Annette
Perhaps finish chapter 3 main just in time for a Valentine's day celebration?
I would expect you to that bit planned out by now and be just playing with the words and angles to get the most out of the two scenes.
Well the scene in progress is finished, and the next, formulated in fragments like 'stepping stones' - so it's apparent what shape it will take. This is a gift, it means the writing may well flow very nicely to the end point of this phase of action. (never count on that milestone until I am there, though).
Threads set in motion in Vol I are solidly braiding themselves into the planned for, aligned convergency. YAY!
Page count at the moment is solid and passing 170. Remains to be seen if I can nail down anything more tonight. I've about ten, maybe fifteen, ?? pages left to wrap this section. Remains to be seen if the finale of main 3 also encompasses 3a.
Chinese number puzzle, it is. Slot this bit here, so that bit can slide in there, so you arrive at that precise sequence, and of course each move affects all the other ones, up, down, sideways, past volume, and future cascade. Anyone who thinks this is easy…!
It always seems to take until Chapter Set V to ramp these books up to full swing.
The aim is to surpass Stormed Fortress's tension by lengths. Are you ready for the adrenaline? Happy writer face with duct tape applied to stifle the chortle that can't be shared - filled with spoilers. ;x
Am starting into the last scene that will wrap up this section…so 3 main is nearly there.
Nailed it - draft of 3 main is filled out at last; page count (current) 185 pages.
WHY has this last ten pages TAKEN SO LONG??? (subtitle, damn, Has She Been Watching Football?)
(sub-whisper, nope, she still HATES football, and in fact her house HAS NO TV SERVICE).
Here's your keyhole view into the Author's Journey through 3 main.
The first bit wrote like a storm because the scenes in question were on the 'boards' for a good several decades. This is a major intersect plot point, I've seen it coming for AGES.
The wrap up ten pages DO finale that scene, but - this is the PENULTIMATE VOLUME. It HAS to move the Action forward on several fronts at once. You have to 'advance' several characters' worth of experience to PREVENT BLOAT - otherwise, you'd have to Increase the Blasted Brick Size to recount those bits in TEDIOUS detail. Best insert the fiery responses where the action IS HAPPENING. So - to this end - WHICH Points of Views MUST be shown. Which are in MY head, but not shown.
Since the 'action' in these books proceeds ONLY forward and Simultaneous - I had to 'chart' the progress and plot threads of OTHER CHARACTERS who are NOT present, NOT included, (though could have been; they were Each considered, and discarded).
But I had to know where these bits were, what they were DOING, and decide how fast to ramp up their threads (or not) and (if not) logically weave in a REASON to stall the ramp up so when it was time, the gun was properly primed and loaded to go off.
What Else: oh: on several more counts, THIS SCENE picks up stuff foreshadowed all the way BACK to Vol I. Which also entailed looking up a scene in Vol 1 to pull a direct quote. (Can you stab at guessing which? hee hee!!).
And; there was another choice of 'problem' - do I handle THIS bit one way, or Another way…(where is Khetienne? Where is Arithon's pleasure sloop…were were EACH last seen in the books, which vol, what locale; and DID THEY ROT or WERE THEY MAGICALLY PRESERVED.
What in HECK did this stuff have to do with a landlocked scene in the mountains - huh??? Well, grin, you'd be puzzled if you test read the scene, but as to WHY this stuff bears on it, Only The Author knows and she's not telling.
:X
More: this IS a 'difficult' scene for the author to write because of what the characters are doing… ;X again.
Lastly, the final scene - I tried it from ONE point of view and hit a major stall, FAIL signal…paused and reconsidered. Then hit on another character's POV (writer's short for point of view) - voila!! - all of the bits I'd gathered to finish fell into place.
Until last night - hit the wall again, and realized, the original POV WAS needed - that one only offered the perspective to ring in the finale to this scene.
So you see: writers sometimes are BUSY AT ALL HOURS, even if you don't see the page count flickering upward. Creativity is not mechanical.
And man, I will NEVER EVER (grin) start another series that runs with so many layers…I do know that everything for this arc will be into snowball convergency by about Set V – and all the really REALLY cool stuff just blasts into place thereforward. Getting there - step by step. Necessary to be so careful, to avoid Sag and Bag.
I have heard whimpers from readers who THINK that this book will split. NO WAY. It's smack dab on schedule to end the series in 2 vols. You shall see.
NOW, why is it so danged Quiet in this place?
originally posted by Walt
hmmmm…
Landlocked scene in the mountains…
Foreshadowing from CotM…
Angst about the ORIGINAL Ships of Merior…
Eyat related???
POVs galore… characters in the background…
You, Madame Storeyteller, are a flirt! (grin)
Time to start marking up my brand new bopy of IT…
On another note, when we moved a year ago, we never hooked up to a TV service… It's been pure bliss! The kids only grumble a little.
;^)
originally posted by Jon Moss
Such a tease she is!
I live blissfully without television (or would except for my husband's infatuation with Formula One racing). I would much rather read a book or walk my dog, then watch television. However, that being said, I do love a great movie (which to me is just another form of a book).
Thanks for the update Janny. Your creativity struggles are very much appreciated.
originally posted by Clansman
A tease indeed (especially mentioning something about "test read the scene"), and the football reference! My guess is that DC is not going to take 7 years to write?
We are on the edge of giving up broadcast/satellite/cable television. We watch more Netflix than we do TV, and the former costs 7.99 a month, and the latter 60.00. If only I can get PBS to stream Masterpiece, Frontline, Nova, etc., I'll be alright. Can't miss Downton Abbey (I know, sentimental melodrama, but it is fun, and the actors can actually act). The series I like are often on Netflix, or I can download them from iTunes, or elsewhere. Select purchases of viewing is a whole lot cheaper than shelling out 60.00 for 300 channels I don't watch.