Realms of Light: Progress Report Twenty-Three

Here’s where we stand:

Eleven chapters have been posted to the web. No money has been contributed toward Chapter Twelve; in fact, I’m still $2.00 short for Chapter Eleven.

Fourteen chapters have been e-mailed to donors.

I’ve finished writing Chapter Fifteen, and just started Chapter Sixteen.

However, at the end of Chapter Fifteen Carlisle Hsing figured out a big chunk of the mystery — she had to, if I didn’t want her to look stupid — and now I’m thinking I could maybe wrap this up in about eighteen to twenty chapters, rather than the twenty-five I’d previously estimated. That would make for a pretty short novel, though of course it would get longer in rewrite.

I know a lot of authors cut stuff in rewrite, but I almost never do; instead I fill in details I’d skipped over. It’s not unusual for me to add as much as 25,000 words to a 100,000-word novel.

In this case, the first draft might come in as short as 55,000 words — about the length of a typical Ace Double, nowhere near the modern norm.

The up side is that it would be done sooner; the down side is that I’d feel as if I was cheating folks who paid $25.00 for a book that short. If it comes to that, I’ll want to think of some way to make up the difference for donors.

Not to mention whatever standards FoxAcre Press may have; I haven’t yet discussed the matter there.

But of course, it may not come to that at all; I’ve grossly misjudged how long a story needs to be before. The folk-tales in Among the Powers were originally added because the novel was below Avon’s minimum length, and Dragon Weather ran 20,000 words longer than I’d intended.

So I’m going to keep writing it, and see what happens. If it comes out too short, well… the first draft may turn out to not be the entire story.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Twenty-Two

Oh, dear.  I’ve been neglecting this.  I can’t do that much longer, though, as I’m only seven dollars short of having to post Chapter Eleven.

I still haven’t finished writing Chapter Fourteen; I got busy with other projects, household concerns, and health issues.  (Nothing serious on that last, not to worry.)  I’ll get back to it soon; I just need to finish up a report I’m writing that was due today, and then Realms of Light will go back to the top of the queue.

I haven’t written that piece on going back to a story after a twenty-year hiatus, either.  I should do that.

I’ve received a couple of inquiries recently regarding Ethshar serials.  I’m planning to launch one (probably The Final Calling) pretty much as soon as Realms of Light is written, unless Tor or some other high-paying publisher presents me with a serious deadline of some sort.  I can’t make any solid guess when that will be, though.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Twenty-One

Chapter Ten is posted; I’m actually still a few dollars short, but it’s close enough.

Chapter Thirteen is written, and has been sent to donors who signed up to receive chapters as they’re written.

Chapter Fourteen is only about two paragraphs along, as yet.

In case anyone hasn’t already seen me say this, I have every intention of finishing this novel whether any more money comes in or not, but (a) money will make it go faster, and (b) there may not be a publicly-available edition if I don’t get enough to finish the serial; I may instead do it as a privately-printed limited edition exclusively for the donors. This would royally tick off the publisher at FoxAcre Press, who would really like to publish it, so keep Roger happy — send me money!

In other news, I regret to say that the mass-market paperback of The Vondish Ambassador is not happening any time in the foreseeable future; due to cash-flow problems at the distributor’s end, the Cosmos paperback line has been suspended indefinitely. I believe all the existing titles will stay available, but they aren’t adding new ones.

If that changes, I’ll let you know.

Oh, and if Realms of Light flops as a serial, this will not mean no further serials.

One donor asked me some interesting questions about the mechanics of picking up a story after a twenty-year hiatus, and I think that’s something I do want to write about, but I’m not sure when I’ll get to it, and whether it’ll be here or in one of my other blogs.

I think that’s everything.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Twenty

Chapter Twelve is written, and I’ve sent it (and a slightly-revised Chapter Eleven) to donors. I’m a page or two into writing Chapter Thirteen.

I’m getting close to the money required to post Chapter Ten; I should double-check those numbers and see just what’s still needed. Might be as little as twenty bucks. Unfortunately, PayPal made some software changes that have made it harder to check; I had it set up to be pretty much automatic, and now it isn’t. I should see if I can jigger it to work with the updated version.

I know this is going really slowly, and I apologize for that. I really do intend to finish writing it, whether any more money comes in or not; making it available to non-donors, on the other hand, does depend on getting paid.

For those of you awaiting another Ethshar serial, or hoping for some other serial entirely, that’ll have to wait until I’m finished writing (not posting) Realms of Light, but I do expect it to happen eventually, despite the current project’s lack of immediate success.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Nineteen

Been awhile, hasn’t it?  Sorry about that.

We moved on May 21, from a house we’d lived in for twenty-two years to a brand-new one that didn’t yet have all the details finished.  This pretty much ate my life for a couple of months.  We still aren’t completely unpacked.

I don’t have exact numbers at my fingertips at the moment, but no, I haven’t taken in enough to post Chapter Ten.  Money’s been trickling in, but very slowly; I’d guess we’re about halfway there.

And I’m halfway through writing Chapter Twelve.

I’m hoping to get back to work on it soon, when I’ve opened the last of these movers’ cartons.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Eighteen

Chapter Nine has been posted. Finally. Got a donation today that put me over the top.

Chapter Ten is written and has been distributed to those donors who signed up to receive chapters as soon as they’re written.

Chapter Eleven is less than half written, unfortunately. I’ve been busy with other matters, such as page proofs, copy edits, and delivering a new novel to Tor, and also with preparations for relocating — we’re selling our house here and buying one closer to where my wife works. We have a buyer and we’ve found a house we want, so if all goes well we expect to move in early June. Which is exciting and wonderful and very, very time-consuming.

I do intend to complete Realms of Light whether the money comes in for the web serial or not, but unless the cash flow takes a huge jump, it’ll probably be a very slow process.

Thanks to all of you who have supported this project.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Seventeen

Current total: $1,977.00

Chapter Nine posts at: $2,000.00.

I better start getting the files ready.

Haven’t written much of Chapter Eleven, unfortunately; I’ve been busy with other stuff (like finishing Above His Proper Station for Tor, and doing our income taxes). Chapter Ten is written, as donors should know. I have a couple of minor projects to wrap up, and then I should be able to focus on Realms for awhile.

Realms of Light: Progress Report Sixteen

I’ve just sent Chapter Ten out to donors who signed up to receive chapters as soon as they’re ready.

I’ve only just started Chapter Eleven, so it’ll be awhile yet before that one’s ready. Incidentally, I’m now estimating the novel will run twenty-four chapters, but that could turn out to be way off.

I know it’s going absurdly slowly, but I’ve just been too busy with other things to focus on it — not so much other writing (though I’m midway through the third and final draft of Above His Proper Station) as dealing with real estate. Getting our house ready to show was a huge job, and keeping it ready can also be a challenge sometimes. And then there’s all that time we’ve spent looking at houses we might buy when this one sells.

And frankly, it’s not as if there’s huge demand for this story. I’m very grateful to those who have contributed, but your numbers are few. It makes it hard to build up much enthusiasm or momentum.

Still, I’ll get it done eventually.

For now: Chapter Nine will be posted to the web when the receipts total $2,000.00. The current total is $1,837.00. Chapter Ten is written.