Has it really been two years?  I suppose blogging has dimmed as the fad and become a simple staple around the internet.  Facebook and Twitter are the new methods by which we communicate.  These venues have forced us to communicate in succinct thoughts--probably good considering the investment required to follow and keep up with blogs.

I like writing though, so I'd like to continue blogging--if that's okay with you.

I'm going to discuss writing in a moment, but first, I need to mention that I made my little girl, Sadie, laugh for the first time in her life last night.  It's an amazing feeling.  Just as my son, Caleb, changed my life, so has she.  I love my little girl.

As for writing, I had a catastrophe a little over a year ago when my computer died unexpectedly.  The computer had all my writing--notes, back story, drafts, character profiles, etc.  I wasn't worried, though, because I had a backup hard drive where I'd stored everything, just in case.

I booted up another computer, plugged in my hard drive, and received an error telling me that the drive was unreadable.  That's when I was struck with a terrible sick feeling.  All was truly lost.  Years of work were simply gone.  This is where my writing career met with an abrupt end.

Since that time, I was able to recover elements of work I had done over the years.  I'd saved some on Google Docs, some on other computers, and found some in emails I'd sent.  I did a lot of thinking, however, and realized that maybe it was a blessing rather than a curse.  It was an opportunity to start over.

Using my memory of what I'd developed, I set fresh words down.  I circumvented all the critically flawed story elements by writing the story again, from scratch.  Again, I've restarted my drafts several times, like usual, but to me it always feels like progress.  I'm in love with the story so far, again, and I think that the improvement over the old story is significant.

My characters are clearly defined.  I've never felt more sure about them than I do now.  I've outlined the entire story, for the first time ever.  I have a clear set of motivations, a solid idea for where to take the series, and I'm feeling the writing bug again (a major breakthrough considering that I wasn't sure I'd ever go back).

I'll try to update here as I progress.  As I've said in several prior posts, writing here helps me a lot.  It feels good to get words down, no matter the outlet (unless I'm filling out a form or something).

Wish me luck.

Write

Recently the necessity of writing was impressed upon me. I'm at a point where I've restated my book AGAIN. This is like, the fifth time I've done this. It's unavoidable in my mind though. I write and get ideas straight, but then my old ideas remain crooked. That's when I restart.

The other thing I hear and read about authors all the time is that writing from beginning to finish is the goal before going back and doing all the revision and rewriting. I just feel like I'd rather invest in the best ideas and characters rather than continuing to develop the poor ones.

In fact, my most recent restart rolls multiple characters into one, portrays the characters much better than before now, and has changed a lot of the old storyline. I think that sometimes rolling a whole bunch of characters and their actions into the same character makes for a much richer, more multi- dimensional individual. That's what I did and that's why I did it.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.3

No writing today. I need to figure something out before I go on. Keeping with the characters sometimes makes it difficult to get on with the story, but doing what they're supposed to do actually creates waaay better story--so I've learned to trust my characters. I stumbled into a rivalry that I had already identified, but I hadn't really been allowing the character with the grudge to be herself. While writing last night, that grudge popped up and I went with it. It's not come to a head or really affected anything yet, but there is now tension in a place that previously had no tension. This whole part of the story, once a piece that I considered uneventful, has now become very involved. Each scene in the book seems to take on a life that demands further consideration and work. That's okay, I'm in no hurry to make a book, I'm in for creating a real story.

Right now, I have to consider what one of the characters is going to try to do. He's gone rogue and has basically forsaken everything for a reason that is yet unknown (a reason that I can't ignore, but that I'm planning for a later book). His motivations obviously tell me that he'll attempt, at least once more, to prevent the current band of characters from travelling to their destination (a destination I thought I'd have arrived at way sooner than is actually the case).

So, more thinking before I go on. I have to delve into the complexities of the scenario. The obstacles for attempting to stop the travelers are really significant, so that weighs in to the decision to carry out a seemingly foolish intervention. This character is not foolish, so...considerations...

New Look

This week will likely be extremely difficult. There's school, work (catch up and huge projects), side-work, and packing. I've been waiting for this to come and now it's finally here. So let's see how well it progresses.

In writing, I've taken inspiration from my little sister who's been putting down hundreds and thousands of words each day on her novel. Check her progress here: 100 Days to Write a Novel. I actually revamped my story a bit to fit what I've been planning and then kept writing on it and have managed to generate 3,000+ words. That's pretty cool.

My book is going to be a massive undertaking and it's also going to be the first in a series, so 3,000 words might not seem like a whole lot, but I've been dying to get back into writing and just haven't had the time or energy to do it. Well, this goes to show you that even in the hardest times, you can still find windows of time to write. I may be avoiding school work to do it, but at least I'm doing it.

Wish me luck as I continue to chip away at book one of the Atomorpher story. I'm at over 26 thousand words and planning to keep it up as well as I can.

I've also updated the look of my blog and added some features for sharing content here. It needed it. If you happen to stop by, drop a comment and let me know you were here and what you think of the new look.

Writer's Obstacles

I'm currently exploding with creativity. I haven't really written in weeks. As always, I'm constantly churning over ideas concerning my storyline, but at some point I need to pick the story back up. With work, school, side-work, moving, and more, I barely have time to catch my breath.

Notes have been my only defense. I've been writing notes with furious intensity. I've devised a description for an ancient city on Kad'el called Delmenon. It happens to have been a city of Nhabics where Nhabic enchanting spiraled out of control to the point where the city rebuilds itself, buildings shift and move around without rhyme or reason, and the supposedly mindless Nhabic elemental servants seem to manifest and move about the city on unknown missions. Throughout the millennia, the city has obtained a reputation for being haunted, has been equated to hell, and has been blamed for the disappearances of a number of travellers and explorers.

I've also fleshed out combat quite a bit, as well as the accessories used in warfare and fights. Swords that are Nhabically enchanted can, for instance, pass straight through the shielding of an Atomorpher. The Nhabic Sikkorum garments are also more clear to me.

I did actually rewrite the first combat scene in the book as a means of showing the reader a true glimpse of what it's like for two, extremely competent Atomorphers to engage in combat. Now, the reader can see numerous previews of what its to come.

Anyway, I'm just biding my time till things calm a bit and I'm able, finally, to really write.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

Beef Stew

So, I jumped on here a few days ago and was looking at some of my old blog posts and I ran across one that I wrote over a year ago. I was skimming through when I came across the following statement:

Note to self: Maggie made stew tonight and it was DELICIOUS. Don't ever think you didn't like it, cause you did.

Now, prior to reading that, I thought that I wasn't a fan of stew--obviously I told myself to remember because I know myself and I realized that I'd revert to thinking that I wasn't a fan again. So, I told Maggie that we should have Stew to test the statement. I didn't actually believe myself..I figured there must have been an intruder on my blog.

Well, follow-up note to self: Maggie made stew tonight and it was DELICIOUS. Don't ever think you didn't like it, cause you did.

New Chapter

Being a dad is a big deal. I've never felt this kind of love, this elated, and this worried in my life. I'd swear I'm going gray faster than ever right now. I've been telling people that I couldn't have explained what it's like to myself before I had him. What a difference from then till now in who I am.

Baby Caleb Michael McLain was born on October 5, 2009 to two ecstatic parents. He's laid back and cool, hardly cries for longer than a minute or two, and sleeps a lot. When he's awake he'll stare at you. He likes to look at his tree in his bedroom because of the contrast of brown on white. He smiles from time to time and laughs in his sleep. He's got dimples. He's actually a cute baby--as opposed to those babies where you're like, "Oh...it's a baby..."

The next years, I'm sure, will fly by in a second. I'm trying to really treasure every moment I have with him right now. I told Maggs this morning that they grow further away the older they get. Pretty soon he'll be independent enough to crawl around and get into all kinds of mischief. He won't lay on my chest for hours while I work anymore. That makes me sad, but I know that as time passes I'll get to know him more and that, even though our relationship will change, each step will be a new and awesome experience of its own. The specialness won't go away.

It's amazing how much I love this little kid that I didn't even know a few weeks ago. Maggie and I are in a new and exciting chapter with our little family. Now we get to experience a new life.

Another World

It's a rather large task I'm undertaking. You might know that I'm working on an epic book series. The gist of it is the story of a kid who discovers that he can do some pretty extraordinary things and because of it, is whisked away to discover a completely new world.

Though, the new world isn't exactly new. While it was previously unknown to the character in the book, this world still has an enormous history. Likewise, the people who live in it also have histories. So, the amount of background that must be generated for the book series is tremendous. I've read and heard the advice that a writer just needs to start writing to get the story down and then he can go back and work out the details, but that's not so easy. The details largely govern the story. They must be carefully thought out, tuned, and applied to sustain the world the story takes place in. There are rules that must be clearly defined that apply to angels and demons, humans and animals. The background of different peoples makes a difference in who the characters interact with. The placement of the original, gifted Makers of the other world is imperative since they play a role in both the history and the current story.

In total, the planning has taken months of work and effort. The decisions are still not completely made, but I'm close enough now to having it all figured out that I've begun writing the main story. It's pretty exciting to start the actual storyline, but I still fear that the loose ends might eventually force me into a rewrite. Let's hope not.

Even if I do find myself rewriting it, I'm so confident that this book is buildable and genuinely marketable that I won't give up on it. I hope to have at least the first book written by the end of 2010. This should include personal revision and editing along with outside revision and editing. If all goes well Atomorphism's practicioners, Duncan Wallace, Maccabeus MacMillan, Obed Benaiyah, Hadwyn Adams, Taylor Lafayette, and Anna Timber might become common household names.

Just to get your curiosity going, here is a very small portion of my notes (this is not a complete list):

Disciplines

• Refracting light to appear invisible or different.
• Flight
• The language Nahbi.
• Restoration and regeneration of self.
• If an atomorpher is injured he can heal himself. If he loses a limb, he can replace it.
• Deific Studies.
• This is the study of God and his Bible along with the teaching that it is by Him that all things are done. This is a required course of study for all atomorphers.
• Soul Combination.
• This discipline centers around the creation of new creatures. By combining animals there is a mixing of souls and instincts, thus the name soul combination. This discipline requires great care since the wrong combination can result in an improper and sometimes destructive match. The instinctual behaviors must compensate for the new physical structure of the creature. This is related to the study of the Creatures of the Dunamae.
• Dunamae studies.
• The study of the evil sect of atomorphers. These dark and demented practicioners pervert the skills that God has given them in order to further the rebellion and destroy, if possible, the atomorphers.
• Demon Channeling.
• Demons can assist with fortune telling, the manipulation of dark matter, mind reading, tormenting targets, ancient knowledge, greater agility and skill, and control over animals.
• Philosophy.
• The Dunamae philosophy is a dark and mysterious set of half-truths and servitude under Satanic authority. Some are bought by deception while others partake with full knowledge of their rebellion. The belief system is not discriminatory. If a dark atomorpher or Dalmatia (deceitful lamps; vain brightness) is well intentioned and believes in doing the work of God, it is not beneath the Dunamae to accept, through deception, this recruit. Any manipulation of truth--any deception--is admissible to further the rebellion.
• Weaponry creation.
• The art of knowing how to create forged steal, perfectly machined guns, and explosives from sand or whatever is available.
• Mechanical study.
• For the creation of machines. An atomorpher can, for instance, build a respirator in a serious emergency.
• Elemental Manipulation.
• This is the manipulation of weather, water, fire, ice, electrical current, and wind. Weather manipulation, like stopping a storm, requires either a long string of Nahbi, or tremendous concentration by multiple atomorphers. Note that Jesus calmed the storm simply by commanding it to be at peace without using the Nahbi language. That's because he's God.
• Transfigurement.
• Changing the physiology of oneself into some other form.
• Perception.
• The ability to sense when another is capable of atomorphism. This is particularly useful for Seekers who seek out children for the school.
• History.
• The study of atomorphic history. The history of Sethesus. Many Nonatoms become historians.
• Dunamae defense.
• Atomorphers must be prepared for the violent and destructive powers of the dunamae. This study brings the students into a knowledge of the strategies that exploit the gifts for killing, hurting, and manipulating others. The stratagem must be known to counter it. It is a tempting study for some to become Dark and even for some to consider being a dunamae. Simply speaking of the deceptive qualities of the sect can inadvertently draw those that are not careful into it.
  
• Creatures of the Dunamae
• This teaches about the creatures made by the Dunamae and how to defend one's self from attack by them. These creatures, like the Gothrokar, the Tibla, and the Rykon are deadly unless Atomorphers are trained to counteract them. These creatures were made for war and are thus terribly deadly. This discipline is related to Soul Combination.