1. Hit 60k words last night working on a very fun Pocket and Jesus scene. That is generally the point where I consider a work to be a "novel" so...we got us a book, boys, girls, and blood tentacle monsters!
2. How accurate is the estimate? Are we really 2/5ths of the way finished? Probably not. This isn't one of those books (like FM6 or FM7...*cough*) where I know exactly what I want to do scene to scene and have been picturing it in my head for over a decade now, replaying conversations over and over in all the myriad of paths they can take and it just explodes out of me in an unstoppable torrent. Even ignoring how sick I've been and how that's made things difficult, WtEaW has been much more nebulous. I've had to wander and I've already cut out quite a bit of that wandering and expect more to follow. Also the path ahead could be quite long and twisty or short and straight...there's just no telling!
3. That said, I have more of a feel for the book than I ever had before and have come to some key revelations in the last few weeks. Despite my first idea of the novel being that Class 2015 and the Winter War matches they take part in being at the forefront, I've realized I'm more interested in King Henry and his classmates and their last moments at the Asylum. These were always the key elements of the story, but I think they've shifted in importance as I've worked. Maybe part of me even always knew it should be that way since instead of starting the novel exactly when Class 2015 showed up, I delayed it until the third session (more on this later btw).
I suppose some of you will "no shit sherlock" this one. It's not that Class 2015 isn't important or doesn't play big parts in this novel and they will VERY MUCH show up in the mainline, especially as we get to the later books. As I've said, some are even in the Vicky novel! But...generally you either show the planning for an event or the event itself (unless the event goes very wrong!) and I think how King Henry helps and the chaos he spreads around the Winter War is a lot more interesting than the matches themselves. He's also a passive observer, so...does that really work? I'm learning towards NO. So...more hijinks, less sporting spectacle, more Class 2009, less Class 2015 is probably where we are headed.
Always be adaptable as a writer, it's very important!
4. One truly miserable situation in this novel is that because I decided I was just going to be so so smart and have the series have a session count that doesn't reset novel to novel, we only have 8 sessions to work with in this book despite the fact it's probably going to be at least 500 pages long, so...this one I'm working on is closing in on 100 manuscript pages and the two that preceded it weren't slim either. Why is this one so big? Well...I'm having to introduce 30 new characters in one shot! It might be the most challenging thing I've ever done, but I'm have lots of fun with it. Even if Class 2015 won't be so overwhelming as before, they still have tons of pages devoted to them and there's some great characters in there I'm sure you will love, many of them related to characters you already love!
5. A couple weeks ago I saw an aunt and cousin I haven't seen since before the pandemic. They live in North Carolina these days and couldn't even fly in for my grandfather's funeral (which obviously greatly upset my aunt), so since things are better and my cousin's kid decided that a not-quite-post pandemic wedding was a great idea (and lapped me and two of my other cousins on the whole marriage thingy in the process) they drove up from LA and visited for a couple days before the wedding, including a trip to the gravesite. Graves are just...weird, humanity, so fucking weird. Ignoring that, it was wonderful to visit and hug family, since ya know...vaccines rule!
6. Good news on my father's battle with his heart. After huge doses of some meds and a second attempt at the procedure, he's finally out of AFIB. Still very rough and can very quickly be problematic again, and he's still on some rather dangerous meds, but for now, we'll take it.
7. It's hot. Fresno is already headed into summer, ignoring the occasion couple days in the 80s, so...my writing output is always depressed in May/Jun/July/August/Sept...we'll still be battling for 10k words a month, but we will be battling! Maybe I'll even do some writing with a pen and paper to escape hot laptops? Some post-midnight writing? We shall see!
8. Jury Duty in June ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
9. Oh! Check out "Invincible" on Amazon Prime if you haven't already! Foul Mouth Baby Seal of Approval!