Last night, I wrote out two pages of the second draft of "Her Black Prince." I didn't get as much done as I wanted due to the holiday rush, but it was progress. I did it by hand because I was tired of staring at computer screens and it was nice to revert back to my childhood days, where everything I did was in pencil and pen.
Once I finish "Her Black Prince", I have another short story titled "Ten Thousand Suns", which I want to complete next. After that, I am going to try to get "Innocent" and "Ecgtheow's Way" published again. I am still surprised that "Daughter of the Seven Seas" got accepted before those two works. Although the former was excellent, I personally felt the latter two were better written.
I've also been working more on the backstory of "Fionnuala." Both "Her Black Prince" and "Ten Thousand Suns" resulted from excerpts that I had written to discover what happened in the lives of my characters before my novel begins. I'm almost finished, but there are about two or three more events which I need to develop before I can write another draft of the book.
That's it for now. Happy New Year!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
"Her Black Prince" Outline Finished
Merry Early Christmas Everyone!
After spending the past few weeks in North Carolina, I've come back to spend Christmas and New Year's with my family. Since I've been back, I created a brief outline for "Her Black Prince", in which I added an additional character to create a greater dilemna for Magnus.
One valuable lesson I learned from writing is that it's important to throw your characters into the worst situation possible in order to generate as much intensity and excitement possible for your readers. This works not only in books, but films and even television as well. Granted, you don't want to torture your character as though they were an animal. That's not excitement. That's sadism. What you want to do is throw them into an extremely difficult scenario that will test the very core of who they are and force them to decide whether they will stand strong like men and women or fall apart like sissies. For example, a man of God lives in a hostile culture where he is given an ultimatum: give up his faith, or watch his family die. He has two choices: lose his loved ones, or lose his soul. What will he do? Will he turn his back on his savior? Will he sacrifice his family? Will he rely on God to deliver him? Will he try to handle this in his own power? Now you have intensity! Now you have excitement! Now you have a "super glue" story, one that will keep readers stuck to the edge of their seats!
Enjoy your Christmas, everyone, and be sure to remember the greatest gift that mankind ever received during this season: Jesus Christ, our Lord!
After spending the past few weeks in North Carolina, I've come back to spend Christmas and New Year's with my family. Since I've been back, I created a brief outline for "Her Black Prince", in which I added an additional character to create a greater dilemna for Magnus.
One valuable lesson I learned from writing is that it's important to throw your characters into the worst situation possible in order to generate as much intensity and excitement possible for your readers. This works not only in books, but films and even television as well. Granted, you don't want to torture your character as though they were an animal. That's not excitement. That's sadism. What you want to do is throw them into an extremely difficult scenario that will test the very core of who they are and force them to decide whether they will stand strong like men and women or fall apart like sissies. For example, a man of God lives in a hostile culture where he is given an ultimatum: give up his faith, or watch his family die. He has two choices: lose his loved ones, or lose his soul. What will he do? Will he turn his back on his savior? Will he sacrifice his family? Will he rely on God to deliver him? Will he try to handle this in his own power? Now you have intensity! Now you have excitement! Now you have a "super glue" story, one that will keep readers stuck to the edge of their seats!
Enjoy your Christmas, everyone, and be sure to remember the greatest gift that mankind ever received during this season: Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
New Fionnuala Origins Story: Her Black Prince
It's been far too long since I have posted. Anyways, things are finally settling down now that I have moved to North Carolina. I've found a good church and am making friends and getting to know people, including at my local library, where I have come in so much to use the computer that the librarians are signing me in before I even reach the desk!
Anyways, as far as writing goes, I've been working on Magnus a lot more, figuring out what his life was like before "Fionnuala" begins. I've written an excerpt which I will turn into a short story titled "Her Black Prince", that takes place when he is fifteen. It will take place in the same world as "Heart of Flesh" and "Daughter of the Seven Seas", only in a different country and twenty-five years before Cassandra is born. I hope to have it ready for publishing next weekend so that I can start submitting it.
Anyways, as far as writing goes, I've been working on Magnus a lot more, figuring out what his life was like before "Fionnuala" begins. I've written an excerpt which I will turn into a short story titled "Her Black Prince", that takes place when he is fifteen. It will take place in the same world as "Heart of Flesh" and "Daughter of the Seven Seas", only in a different country and twenty-five years before Cassandra is born. I hope to have it ready for publishing next weekend so that I can start submitting it.
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