Category: Progress Reports

Work in Progress: “The Dancing Teacher”

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 4/1/17

Last actual wordage added: 4/1/17

Pages added, 4/1/17: 2

Current page count: 17

Current word count: 4,506

Estimated final page count: 20-30?

Deadline: June 1, 2017 (anthology)

Comments: Hmm… I haven’t always posted about this one.

I’m writing this for a specific anthology I got invited to, so it needs to fit a particular set of parameters. As originally planned, I’m not sure it did, but then I didn’t have all of it planned out. I had the set-up, and I knew how I wanted it to end, but the stuff in between was very vague.

As a result, I’ve backtracked a couple of times. The most recent one was tonight — sort of. I decided I needed to do a drastic rewrite, so I saved what I had in a separate file and looked at what to cut, and wound up not cutting anything. I just picked up where I’d left off and added a couple of pages. I may yet wind up reworking it, but I think I want to finish this version first, just to see whether I can get to my planned ending from where I was.

I did make a few changes; originally the viewpoint character didn’t have a name, and then on page 11 he absolutely needed to have a name because he’s being formally announced, so he acquired one. Tonight one of things I did was go back and insert his name right in the first paragraph.

Also, which of the Cousins serves as the setting has changed. Originally it was set in Skarl, which I realize means nothing to most of you, but Skarl has been mentioned in previous stories both published and un-, and the place I’m describing in this story is clearly smaller, poorer, and more backward than the Skarl described elsewhere. I could have moved it backward in time a couple of centuries, but it was just as easy to change the kingdom’s name to Korza and leave Skarl out of it entirely.

Anyway, it’s coming along; I’ve set everything in place and the climactic fight should start in a couple of paragraphs.

Work in Progress: Charming Sharra (formerly Sharra the Petty)

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 3/30/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/30/17

Pages added, 3/30/17: 3

Current page count: 12

Estimated final page count: 300? I don’t really have any idea.

Deadline: None. Purely speculative.

Comments: For those who haven’t seen this discussed elsewhere, this is an Ethshar story that spun off from Stone Unturned. Sharra was a very minor character in that one, but I gave her just enough backstory that I got interested in her and decided she deserved her own book.

I originally called her Sharra the Petty, and that is in fact her name, but since I realized during revisions that she introduced herself and she would never, ever call herself that, she became “Sharra the Charming,” and I changed the title of her story from Sharra the Petty to Charming Sharra to take advantage of multiple meanings of “charm.”

I’m into Chapter Two; Chapter One is quite short. The story opened with her husband walking out on her; now she’s on her own and trying to deal with that.

Ethshar is usually very easy for me to write, and this one’s no exception. It’s (mostly) set in Ethshar of the Sands, which is not quite as familiar as Ethshar of the Spices, but I know it pretty well. And I know about three-quarters of the plot of this story, but not how it eventually ends (though I’m anticipating a scene right near the end where a couple of other characters from Stone Unturned will show up briefly). I’ll need to work out an ending eventually. For now, though, it’s rattling along smoothly.

Word-count is 3,003.

Work in Progress: Tom Derringer in the Tunnels of Terror

Progress report:cover

Last time looked at: 3/20/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/20/17

Pages added, 3/18-20/17: 3

Current page count: 270

Estimated final page count: 270

Current word count: 71,199

Deadline: None. Will be self-published.

Comments: Done! And I don’t see a need for a third draft.

I want every Tom Derringer book to have a double frontispiece, so I’ve sent the mss. to my daughter with a couple of options for illustrations. I’m trying to get hold of my preferred freelance editor — I probably shouldn’t have left that until the last minute like this.

So it’s pretty much done, unless either Kiri or my editor says otherwise. (Kiri is my beta reader, as well as my illustrator.)

Work in Progress: Tom Derringer in the Tunnels of Terror

Progress report:cover

Last time looked at: 3/17/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/17/17 (Well, changed, more than added)

Pages added, 3/15-17/17: 5

Current page count: 267

Estimated final page count: 265-290?

Current word count: 69,998

Deadline: None. Will be self-published.

Comments: Okay, I’m finally revising this. (I finished the first draft on August 1, 2016.) It’s coming along pretty quickly, actually; most of it was acceptable as it stood. I’m up to Chapter Twelve (of 26). I did change the chronology somewhat, and sent Tom on a side-trip in the summer of 1883 that I can use for short stories later if I want to. Betsy would not appear in any such short stories.

I also tied Betsy’s actions in to the eruption of Krakatoa, which moved part of the action from November-December 1883 to September-October 1883, which makes more sense in several respects. Those changes account for virtually all of the added wordage.

I also plan to add a sequence later on where Tom and Betsy undertake a risky swim, but I’m not up to that. That’s the only remaining significant change I expect to make.

Anyway, it’s coming along nicely.

Work in Progress: Stone Unturned

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 3/15/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/15/17

Pages added, 3/14-15/17: 8

Current page count: 556

Estimated final page count: 555-565?

Deadline: None, but Wildside and my agent are thrashing out contract details.

Comments: Finished the third draft, which turned out to involve adding yet another chapter, Chapter Forty-Nine, for a weird little coda. And yes, there’s still an epilogue after that.

It’s done, though, except for a little polishing.

Word-count is 138,334

Work in Progress: Stone Unturned

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 3/12/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/12/17

Pages added, 3/12/17: 5

Current page count: 543

Estimated final page count: 545-575?

Deadline: None, but Wildside and my agent are thrashing out contract details.

Comments: Finished Chapter Thirty-Three, which wound up full-length, and revised Chapter Thirty-Four. I’ll be inserting one more new chapter, Chapter Thirty-Nine, but right now I don’t know what will be in it, I just know I need it to fit the structure and pacing.

Still haven’t dealt with Evreth’s fate, or the ladders being removed. The soapstone cat still needs that one more mention. I should still double-check the state of Zerra’s bloodstone.

Word-count is 133,837

Work in Progress: Stone Unturned

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 3/10/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/10/17

Pages added, 3/10/17: 6

Current page count: 538

Estimated final page count: 540-575?

Deadline: None, but Wildside and my agent are thrashing out contract details.

Comments: I’ve written the first half of Chapter Thirty-Three, which is turning out to be longer and more interesting than I expected. Darissa and Merek are weighing their options. Having written fourteen chapters beyond this I know what they choose, but they don’t yet.

Still haven’t dealt with Evreth’s fate, or the ladders being removed. The soapstone cat still needs that one more mention. The clothing is taken care of. I should still double-check the state of Zerra’s bloodstone.

Word-count is 132,213

Work in Progress: Stone Unturned

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 3/9/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/9/17

Pages added, 3/8-3/9/17: 12

Current page count: 532

Estimated final page count: 535-575?

Deadline: None, but Wildside and my agent are thrashing out contract details.

Comments: I’ve added an entire new chapter, Chapter Thirty, about Darissa taking in her situation, and renumbered others. I’ll be adding a new Chapter Thirty-Three, too, also about Darissa. These added chapters will probably all be pretty short, though.

All in all, the current plan calls for forty-eight chapters.

Pretty much everything’s done up through Chapter Thirty-Two; I may need to go back to do some tweaking and polishing, but it’s basically finished to that point.

Once again, I still haven’t dealt with Evreth’s fate, or the ladders being removed. The soapstone cat is mostly done but needs one more mention later. Darissa’s clothing will be covered in Chapter Thirty-Three. Hakin checked on Inza and Reska a few chapters back; that’s done, and I doubt Inza or Reska will ever be mentioned again. I’ll want to double-check the state of Zerra’s bloodstone.

Word-count is 130,699

Work in Progress: Stone Unturned

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 3/7/17

Last actual wordage added: 3/7/17

Pages added, 2/28-3/7/17: 5

Current page count: 520

Estimated final page count: 525-575?

Deadline: None, but Wildside and my agent are thrashing out contract details.

Comments: I’ve been adding in details — explaining family connections, making sure Morvash does the proper research, etc. The third draft is up to Chapter Twenty-Three, which is not quite as far as the second got before I started rushing and then doubled back, but close.

I probably still want more sensory details, odors and background noises and weather and so on, which I’ll add in the fourth draft, which will probably be the final polish before submission.

And I think I want to insert at least one chapter on Darissa’s adjustment to her changed circumstances.

Still haven’t dealt with Evreth’s fate, or the soapstone cat, or Darissa’s clothing, or Hakin checking on Inza and Reska, or the ladders being removed. I need to verify the state of Zerra’s bloodstone, but that may be fine as it stands.

This is a long, complicated novel, so there are lots of details to get right. It is now the longest Ethshar novel to date, and it will get longer.

It is not, however, the most important; the events of Night of Madness and The Unwelcome Warlock have rather more widespread effects.

Word-count is 128,311

Work in Progress: Stone Unturned

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 2/28/17

Last actual wordage added: 2/28/17

Pages added, 2/21-28/17: 4

Current page count: 515

Estimated final page count: 520-575?

Deadline: None, but Wildside has sent my agent a contract and they’re thrashing out details.

Comments: The third draft (I never entirely finished the second, but I started from the beginning again) is up to the start of Chapter Thirteen. I’ve been adding details and cleaning up inconsistences — for example, there are now spriggans in the background, some places now have scents, and Hakin’s first scene is clearly and consistently in Southwark near the intersection of Wall Street and Widow Street. (Before it jumped from Camptown, or maybe the north end of Eastwark, to Southwark.) I’ve clarified that the rented house has cellars, added references to Empress Tabaea and to enchanted furniture trying to assassinate Wulran III. I’ve explained a little about Klathoa, which doesn’t really have anything to do with this story but it’s an exception to some blanket statements characters were making; if I ever do use it in a story I don’t want people telling me I contradicted myself.

I still have notes reminding me to clarify what happens to Evreth (but I’m not up to that yet), to mention the soapstone cat again, to make sure I’m consistent about what Darissa is wearing, etc.

I think I’ll be adding some short chapters later in the story.

Anyway, it’s making progress, despite distractions.

Word-count is now 126,442