Thoughts on New Year's Eve -- Spearfish Lake Tales

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

Subject: Thoughts on New Year's Eve

Author:
Wes

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 15:53:55 12/31/15 Thu

With the end of the year I often tend to get a bit retrospective, and this year is no different.

It was a pretty good year for writing if not a great one. I completed four books, but fell just a little short of my normal annual goal of 624,000 words, which is what is usually needed to service Spearfish Lake Tales. At that it's a big improvement from last year when I didn't even get halfway to my goal.

I don't remember the exact date, but sometime in the next few days will be the ninth anniversary of the website. At this moment, there are enough books waiting in the queue to get Spearfish Lake Tales through February of 2019. I have said for some time that if it gets to the point where I only have a two-year lead built up that I will cut posting to twice a week. It looks as if that point will still be a while in the future and I feel I have a good chance this year to push the evil date past the turn of the decade. Incidentally, if something should happen to me (and at my age it's always a possibility) my daughter and son-in-law are prepared to carry on posting while the supply of new stories lasts.

I can write pretty fast when I have a good idea, but sometimes those good ideas are hard to come by. I would not mind coming up with a good one or two in the next few days since a hundred or two hundred thousand words would make the next couple of dreary winter months much more tolerable, but there's no telling if the right idea will come along.

I have several projects in progress that are partly completed, but they all have problems to solve, and the simple desire to work on them is one of them. When a book stalls for me, I think my subconscious is telling me that it's not ready to be completed. For example, I have a character in one book who I really like; she's very memorable, but I have come to the conclusion that the story I have her in is not right for her. I don't know what the right one is, but I'm working on it. It will come to me sometime.

2016 is shaping up to be an interesting year on the site. The first new book of the year will be a continuation of the "Dawnwalker" series, the first new book in the series since Icewater and the Alien almost four years ago. It will start the first of February.

Next up, starting in May, will be another independent where a young engineer meets a most unusual young woman. Following that will be the next in the "Bird" series, although Jack and Vixen will only be minor characters in this one. Following that will be another of the "Bullring Days" series, possibly the last one unless I decide to write another one, something I have kicked around for years. The last new book of the year, starting in November, is still undecided but there are three very good candidates all jostling for position.

I will complete this New Year's Eve missive by saying that I always enjoy hearing from my readers, either by e-mail or on this forum. Discussions about stories always help to spur me on to further work, and make the effort I take seem worthwhile. Don't be shy!

With that, I think I will send this off, and get back to work on developing more for you to read. Happy New Year!

-- Wes

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: Re: Thoughts on New Year's Eve

Author:
Leo Kerr
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 16:56:33 12/31/15 Thu

I still wonder how, when you're advancing several parallel story-lines across time (and space,) how you keep straight when you have the same scene presented twice.. with different perspectives.. and different viewpoints. And not wanting to "spoil" the "second" book, or not make a major continuity gaff of, for example, having identified six people on the raft, and then the next book has eight?

I also have a hard time believing that "Icewater" was about four years ago.. I guess I found this world when I stumbled across "Girl in the Mirror" (what an introduction) being posted. It didn't seem *that* long ago!

Thanks for sharing; I've messed around with writing fiction since I was in high school way too many years ago, and I've never really gotten close to the point of submitting it for a rejection notice (thinking of Dave and the slush-pile, here.) I've often been able to play with some character development here and there, or a scene there or here, but never all in the same "world" much less the same story-line. But it's certainly harder than it looks.

Leo

[> [> Subject: Re: Thoughts on New Year's Eve

Author:
Wes
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 18:16:19 12/31/15 Thu

I try to not let that happen too often. Occasionally it does, of course, and especially so in the upcoming new "Dawnwalker" book, where several scenes are seen from a different perspective. I know it's happening, of course, and I always review the existing scene before I write the new one -- and still make mistakes from time to time. I try not to, of course.

What really gets tough is a situation in a book further up the pike, where a major character has to retell a story she has told before to a different group of people -- I have to portray the same information without it looking like I copied and pasted the original scene (which I actually did not, except for a couple of paragraphs.)

It was especially difficult to keep from treading on my own toes in the upcoming book since I wrote most of Icewater in 2010-11, although parts of it clear back in 2006, so review of the pertinent sections was important. Of course, it's hard to believe that I wrote the original Dawnwalker in the winter of 2000-01. I was not even thinking about publishing it in any way at the time; I just wanted something to do on long winter evenings, and decided to write a long book and see where it came out. I would never have dreamed it would come out where it has, many books later and still going strong. Dawnwalker was number seven and the first of the series; the upcoming book is number 55 and the ninth of the series and there are follow-up books in the works.

-- Wes

>I still wonder how, when you're advancing several
>parallel story-lines across time (and space,) how you
>keep straight when you have the same scene presented
>twice.. with different perspectives.. and different
>viewpoints. And not wanting to "spoil" the "second"
>book, or not make a major continuity gaff of, for
>example, having identified six people on the raft, and
>then the next book has eight?
>
>I also have a hard time believing that "Icewater" was
>about four years ago.. I guess I found this world when
>I stumbled across "Girl in the Mirror" (what an
>introduction) being posted. It didn't seem *that* long
>ago!
>
>Thanks for sharing; I've messed around with writing
>fiction since I was in high school way too many years
>ago, and I've never really gotten close to the point
>of submitting it for a rejection notice (thinking of
>Dave and the slush-pile, here.) I've often been able
>to play with some character development here and
>there, or a scene there or here, but never all in the
>same "world" much less the same story-line. But it's
>certainly harder than it looks.
>
>Leo

[> [> [> Subject: Re: Thoughts on New Year's Eve

Author:
Jim Scott
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 00:08:38 01/01/16 Fri

On the site Storiesonline an author known as Aroslav uses spreadsheets with many worksheets to keep detailed records of the cast, timeline, relationships, etc. all to reduce errors. See http://storiesonline.net/ablog/aroslav/4 for his explanation.

Jim

>I try to not let that happen too often. Occasionally
>it does, of course, and especially so in the upcoming
>new "Dawnwalker" book, where several scenes are seen
>from a different perspective. I know it's happening,
>of course, and I always review the existing scene
>before I write the new one -- and still make mistakes
>from time to time. I try not to, of course.
>
>What really gets tough is a situation in a book
>further up the pike, where a major character has to
>retell a story she has told before to a different
>group of people -- I have to portray the same
>information without it looking like I copied and
>pasted the original scene (which I actually did not,
>except for a couple of paragraphs.)
>
>It was especially difficult to keep from treading on
>my own toes in the upcoming book since I wrote most of
>Icewater in 2010-11, although parts of it clear
>back in 2006, so review of the pertinent sections was
>important. Of course, it's hard to believe that I
>wrote the original Dawnwalker in the winter of
>2000-01. I was not even thinking about publishing it
>in any way at the time; I just wanted something to do
>on long winter evenings, and decided to write a long
>book and see where it came out. I would never have
>dreamed it would come out where it has, many books
>later and still going strong. Dawnwalker was number
>seven and the first of the series; the upcoming book
>is number 55 and the ninth of the series and there are
>follow-up books in the works.
>
>-- Wes
>
>
>>I still wonder how, when you're advancing several
>>parallel story-lines across time (and space,) how you
>>keep straight when you have the same scene presented
>>twice.. with different perspectives.. and different
>>viewpoints. And not wanting to "spoil" the "second"
>>book, or not make a major continuity gaff of, for
>>example, having identified six people on the raft, and
>>then the next book has eight?
>>
>>I also have a hard time believing that "Icewater" was
>>about four years ago.. I guess I found this world when
>>I stumbled across "Girl in the Mirror" (what an
>>introduction) being posted. It didn't seem *that* long
>>ago!
>>
>>Thanks for sharing; I've messed around with writing
>>fiction since I was in high school way too many years
>>ago, and I've never really gotten close to the point
>>of submitting it for a rejection notice (thinking of
>>Dave and the slush-pile, here.) I've often been able
>>to play with some character development here and
>>there, or a scene there or here, but never all in the
>>same "world" much less the same story-line. But it's
>>certainly harder than it looks.
>>
>>Leo

[> Subject: Re: Thoughts on New Year's Eve

Author:
howard
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 01:41:54 01/06/16 Wed

The end of the year is also a good time to thank Wes again for his fantastic and absorbing stories and the immense amount of time he obviously puts in to researching and writing them.
Definitely looking forward to 2016!
Thanks Wes!
--howard

>With the end of the year I often tend to get a bit
>retrospective, and this year is no different.
>
>It was a pretty good year for writing if not a great
>one. I completed four books, but fell just a little
>short of my normal annual goal of 624,000 words, which
>is what is usually needed to service Spearfish Lake
>Tales. At that it's a big improvement from last year
>when I didn't even get halfway to my goal.
>
>I don't remember the exact date, but sometime in the
>next few days will be the ninth anniversary of the
>website. At this moment, there are enough books
>waiting in the queue to get Spearfish Lake Tales
>through February of 2019. I have said for some time
>that if it gets to the point where I only have a
>two-year lead built up that I will cut posting to
>twice a week. It looks as if that point will still be
>a while in the future and I feel I have a good chance
>this year to push the evil date past the turn of the
>decade. Incidentally, if something should happen to me
>(and at my age it's always a possibility) my daughter
>and son-in-law are prepared to carry on posting while
>the supply of new stories lasts.
>
>I can write pretty fast when I have a good idea, but
>sometimes those good ideas are hard to come by. I
>would not mind coming up with a good one or two in the
>next few days since a hundred or two hundred thousand
>words would make the next couple of dreary winter
>months much more tolerable, but there's no telling if
>the right idea will come along.
>
>I have several projects in progress that are partly
>completed, but they all have problems to solve, and
>the simple desire to work on them is one of them. When
>a book stalls for me, I think my subconscious is
>telling me that it's not ready to be completed. For
>example, I have a character in one book who I really
>like; she's very memorable, but I have come to the
>conclusion that the story I have her in is not right
>for her. I don't know what the right one is, but I'm
>working on it. It will come to me sometime.
>
>2016 is shaping up to be an interesting year on the
>site. The first new book of the year will be a
>continuation of the "Dawnwalker" series, the first new
>book in the series since Icewater and the Alien
>almost four years ago. It will start the first of
>February.
>
>Next up, starting in May, will be another independent
>where a young engineer meets a most unusual young
>woman. Following that will be the next in the "Bird"
>series, although Jack and Vixen will only be minor
>characters in this one. Following that will be another
>of the "Bullring Days" series, possibly the last one
>unless I decide to write another one, something I have
>kicked around for years. The last new book of the
>year, starting in November, is still undecided but
>there are three very good candidates all jostling for
>position.
>
>I will complete this New Year's Eve missive by saying
>that I always enjoy hearing from my readers, either by
>e-mail or on this forum. Discussions about stories
>always help to spur me on to further work, and make
>the effort I take seem worthwhile. Don't be shy!
>
>With that, I think I will send this off, and get back
>to work on developing more for you to read. Happy New
>Year!
>
>-- Wes