Authoring To a Plan

Well, 89,600 words and rising.

I can see the finish line for this novel, and the start for the next one in sight. Just got to tie up loose ends, then read it all over, then move bunches around to make it play out better. Possibly kill off a bunch more characters, or none at all. Change plot, plot the plot, allow the plot to thicken, but not let it boil over, that’s for book three.

Yes, already planning book 3 while still writing this one, which is actually the second book. The first book is already available and gives a good background for this entire thing, but even that needs a review as every time I read the published manuscript I keep picking up errors. This is what comes of self-editing.

Not to self and others, if possible, hire an editor to help out, especially if you’re working on a big work like this – it gets complex quite quickly.

To the meat of this post; authoring to a plan is not what I do. All this work on Center Worlds came about from one short story written more than 20 years ago and then lost. It was finally recovered from a dead hard drive in late 2012, and thus began the explosion or expansion of the Center Worlds. Once I had recovered the basis of this entire manuscript, I drew up a plan that encompassed everything that was going to happen throughout the entire series saga epic story thing.

Then promptly tossed the plan aside to focus on writing individual stories about the characters that would become the basis of these books. Primarily, it began with Kyasarin. It really should begin with Ayanaris or Ryo Camelin, as those are the primary good guys in the book. However, Kyasarin, the handmaiden to the Lady Camelin, quickly became a focus and force of her own to be reckoned with as I developed her.

This might upset some of the misogynists out there, but this series does focus on and allow for female empowerment. I tried to write male-dominated female submissive works, but it just doesn’t work for me. This society treats both sexes as equal and both the sexes have roles to play that allow for each of them to tell their own story, supported by the other, but without being knocked down.

Plus, lots of sex and some quite graphic violence in here. I write this much like I would want to watch it on TV or as a movie. I prefer sex and intimacy to graphic violence, so this series does focus on that quite a bit. If you don’t like it, don’t get into it, but I must warn you, if you get caught up in the story it can become difficult to put down, as it does draw you in if you are so inclined to grab a copy.

I think my next post is going to be on book covers, as the series needs an entire refresh for the cover and something much more interesting to work with. Until the next page, dear readers.