Writing Colonies XXIV: SITREP - Canceron is finished; starting Aerilon

 Handy-dandy graphic ...

My attempt at a Gulliver's Travels-style tale within the Kobolverse is complete.  It was fun, but perhaps a distraction.  I don't know if I will include in Canceron as it does not directly impact the story (a few characters reference it and some themes jibe), but for now, it's in there. 

If you're interested in such things, here is the map of Canceron included in Book Six:

Click to embiggen

For those keeping track, Book Six: Canceron is currently 164 pages long.  That's 354 pages in Volume Two and a grand total of 1,636 pages in Colonies of Kobol thus far.

Now, on to Book Seven: Aerilon ... I'm doing something a bit different again and focusing on a singular story that bridges the period between its initial colonization and them being (and wanting to remain) on their own.

Thanks for reading.

SITREP: What's ahead for 2021

Happy New Year, first off.  It would be difficult for 2021 to be worse than 2020 for most of us, but let's not invite that particular jinx, shall we?

The thing I'm still working on, of course, is Colonies of Kobol.  I still believe that I am more than half-finished with this sixteen-book epic and it could easily top 2,000 pages (across three volumes) when it's complete.  I am currently working on Book Six: Canceron and still have six to go after it's done.

While it has been lengthy, writing Colonies has proven very enjoyable.  In large part, this is due to the fact that I'm able to dabble in multiple genres as I tell the prehistory of BSG.  I got to do some good ol' Cylon action in Book One; some knight-type religious warfare in Book Two; some Game of Thrones-ian castle and political intrigue in Three and Four; a soupçon of Lovecraftian horror in Six ... That's on top of me finishing what Syfy wouldn't when they cancelled Caprica (I rounded off that show and started the Cylon War in Thirteen); showing the arrival of the Final Five, the creation of the humanoid Cylons, and the forming of Cavil's "plan" in Fourteen; and writing an epilogue to BSG itself with a story set on our Earth, both after the Colonials arrive as well as in our own future, in Sixteen.  Still ahead: a western, some Hornblower-style naval action, the origin of the Colonies' favorite sport, a deep dive into the history of Tauron, and more.

2021 marks the tenth anniversary of my publishing Lords of Kobol, so it is my hope that I can publish Colonies this year.  I don't know if I can pull it off, but I'm certainly going to try.  I managed to write some seven hundred pages in 2020, so I guess it's possible.

Your continued support is appreciated.  Follow this blog or my Twitter or Facebook pages for the latest updates.  If you'd like to help me out, you can buy and read my previous books here (please rate and review), or if you'd prefer, I have a PayPal "tipjar" here.

Thanks for reading.

Writing 'Colonies' Part XXIII: Have I gone mad?

Yeah, so ... I'm still working on Canceron, that hasn't changed.  Remember how I said I had an idea about how to build up the first part that I didn't like?  How that part was too slight?  Well, I had an idea about how to add some content and context, so I started writing the other day.

I may have gone mad.

Once you read what I've written (this is the first of the planned four such parts of new material), you'll understand my question.  You might even recognize its inspiration.  Read it after the JUMP.

Writing 'Colonies' Part XXII: SITREP - Canceron is finished ... maybe?

 

There you go.  That's the handy dandy graphic.

As I stated last time, I finished the first part of Book Six and, immediately upon hitting that last period, decided I didn't like it.  So I moved on to the planned second part of the book.  That's what I just finished.  (About seventy pages, for those keeping track.)

In the back of my head for the last few weeks, however, I've been thinking about the first part.  Is there something I can do to salvage it?  I do kinda want to tell that story in more than just a throwaway line in the second part.

I came upon a possibility last week.  I won't spoil anything now, but it involves a somewhat involved endeavor: writing a book within the universe and then inserting portions of it into the narrative of this story as a companion.  It would be like if I decided to take Adama's and Roslin's favorite book, Searider Falcon, write the whole thing, and then sprinkle chapters into Colonies of Kobol for flavor.  I mean, I probably won't write an entirely new book just to put pieces in this one, but I will be writing several chapters that require a whole different mindset and writing style than I've employed thus far.

I'm going to give it a go.  If it works, great.  The story of Canceron gets that much bigger.  If it doesn't work out, then I'll just move ahead to Book Seven: Aerilon.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for reading.

Writing 'Colonies' Part XXI: Taking Canceron in a Different Direction

If you saw last update, I abandoned my initial start of Canceron just as I finished the first pass on those chapters.  (They were just too thin or slight compared to everything else.)  So I've pushed ahead with my planned second part of the book.  As of now, it will be the only part of Book Six, but I may go back to the first part and redo things if I get inspired.

Telling the stories of empires conquering worlds and such sounds exciting (and it is), but as I did chapter after chapter, I found myself ... repeating myself.  Castle intrigue and the like.  I pared back what I could of such repetition (and I likely have more to do), but I've been working to find new ways to tell the stories of these worlds.  Sometimes that means new genres.

If you'd like a taste of what I mean, you can read one of the early chapters of Canceron after the JUMP.

Writing 'Colonies' Part XX: Book Six - STARTING OVER

Well, shit.

No, my computer didn't die (again).  I still have the thirty-ish pages I started on last week.  Let me explain it by recounting that special moment from yesterday afternoon.

The first part of the book (not half; part) is about how the Virgo and Leo settlements on Cancer come together to form their own government after their respective empires abandoned them, thus forming the oldest (and what would become the largest) democracy in the Twelve Colonies.  So, I'm typing the final sentences.  Type, type, type.  Put the period on, delete the extra spaces, and finished.  I leaned back in my chair, glanced at the preceding paragraph or two, and said, "I hate it."

Somehow, as I wrote these thirty pages in the last several days, the thought didn't cross my mind.  I believed everything was going OK and according to my outline.  The characters were fine, there was a flourish of humor, some action, ... yeah, I didn't like it.

What was the problem?  It feels too slight.  Not just because the story was told in thirty pages.  The first part of Book Three: Leonis isn't much longer than that but I like that section of Leonis perfectly well.  No, there was just something missing.  It feels too thin.  It's like I didn't have anything more to say than, "Here's what happened.  Plot, plot, plot."  Sometimes my writing can downshift to that kind of beat-by-beat storytelling, but that's typically in action scenes and the like which demand it.  

Yeah.  So I will, basically, start over.

I will not attempt a rewrite at this stage.  I will, instead, skip ahead to the meatier portion of my Book Six outline which details the struggles of a mining community against the leadership of a company and their government.  Right now, I think this section alone will comprise Book Six. 

(Will I include those thirty pages in the mythical Colonies of Kobol - Special Edition?  Maybe.  We're still pretty far away from that, though.)

Thanks for reading.

Writing 'Colonies' Part XIX: SITREP - Book Five Is Done, Starting Book Six

It's a dark story, but Sagittaron's portion is complete.  They are at the mercy of the Virgan and Leonan Empires for centuries and some might say (like Tom Zarek) that it continued into the federal era post-Cylon War.  

Colonialism continues in Book Six: Canceron.  I've decided to tackle it in a different way and (perhaps) somewhat lightheartedly.  That's the first half, at any rate.  The second half will look at the consequences of the planet's choices from the first half.   As for the "worldbuilding" element, I've taken a cue from the QMX map which reveals that one of the major cities is named "Mangala."  Among its uses on Earth, Mangala is Hindu for the planet Mars.  Mars you say?  A great entry point for people who followed the Lords of Kobol. 

Writing continues ...