For over a year and a half now, I have been writing in full force to the best of my ability. I'm doing all this while balancing my job, family, and other responsibilities. Despite all of that, between August 2011 and March 2013, I wrote and published six novels and two short stories equaling a total of about 378,000 words.
When I put it in that perspective, I've accomplished a lot.
I intended to move forward with writing the third Fram Gage novel. I began it a few weeks ago, but found that my rate of writing paled in comparison to what I had done before. There are a number of reasons for this. I know what I want to do with the story, but I'm having trouble getting it to work. It's not "clicking" for me right now.
There's another issue, too. I have had some other story ideas. One of these ideas as been put to the fore over the past month. I fleshed out the premise, the main characters, and the plot. As I did it, I thought it would work good as a series. But not a series of novels. Rather, I went back to my original intent when I started the Miscorrection trilogy.
At that time, I viewed it like a television series or mini-series. The stories were episodic. I had a vision for them. But during the way, I faltered in properly writing it episodically, and turned it into a series of novels instead. Preludes gives you a glimpse of what I attempted to do, but Dimensions and Times became full on novels.
This past week, I recalled reading that John Scalzi would be releasing episodic content. I went on Amazon and found The Human Division series. Sure enough, the vision I had for Miscorrection stood there before my eyes on a virtual bookshelf. Each episode of the series has been released on a weekly basis, every Tuesday, and will continue to until all 13 episodes are complete.
Over the past couple days, I bought and read the first two episodes in the series. I admit, I liked reading them like this. It's quick fiction but enjoyable at the same time. Scalzi's approach to writing the series (at least after these first two reads) is different than mine, but still works.
With all of this swirling around me and in my head and around the world, I made a decision. For now, the third Fram Gage novel is going up on the "Incomplete Stories" shelf. The only other story that has had this happen is a sequel to Copy Bird that I started last summer.
Going forward, I'm going to write my own episodic series the way I envisioned over three years ago. This means I'll be writing like a fiend until I have a season complete so I can release them on a weekly basis. Currently, my goal is to have the season start in November 2013 and run into February 2014.
I expect that this post will be one of very few that happen between now and November. If there are any, they'll probably be about my family or maybe tidbits on the progress of writing this episodic series.
I also expect that I will not be publishing any books until that time. It makes it seem like a dry spell compared to my productivity as of late, but I'm putting the year in focus. I'm looking at the roadblocks that will come up that might hinder my progress. My goal is realistic, difficult, but attainable.
It's a tough decision to hold off on Fram Gage. But I have to do it. Now off I go!
When I put it in that perspective, I've accomplished a lot.
I intended to move forward with writing the third Fram Gage novel. I began it a few weeks ago, but found that my rate of writing paled in comparison to what I had done before. There are a number of reasons for this. I know what I want to do with the story, but I'm having trouble getting it to work. It's not "clicking" for me right now.
There's another issue, too. I have had some other story ideas. One of these ideas as been put to the fore over the past month. I fleshed out the premise, the main characters, and the plot. As I did it, I thought it would work good as a series. But not a series of novels. Rather, I went back to my original intent when I started the Miscorrection trilogy.
At that time, I viewed it like a television series or mini-series. The stories were episodic. I had a vision for them. But during the way, I faltered in properly writing it episodically, and turned it into a series of novels instead. Preludes gives you a glimpse of what I attempted to do, but Dimensions and Times became full on novels.
This past week, I recalled reading that John Scalzi would be releasing episodic content. I went on Amazon and found The Human Division series. Sure enough, the vision I had for Miscorrection stood there before my eyes on a virtual bookshelf. Each episode of the series has been released on a weekly basis, every Tuesday, and will continue to until all 13 episodes are complete.
Over the past couple days, I bought and read the first two episodes in the series. I admit, I liked reading them like this. It's quick fiction but enjoyable at the same time. Scalzi's approach to writing the series (at least after these first two reads) is different than mine, but still works.
With all of this swirling around me and in my head and around the world, I made a decision. For now, the third Fram Gage novel is going up on the "Incomplete Stories" shelf. The only other story that has had this happen is a sequel to Copy Bird that I started last summer.
Going forward, I'm going to write my own episodic series the way I envisioned over three years ago. This means I'll be writing like a fiend until I have a season complete so I can release them on a weekly basis. Currently, my goal is to have the season start in November 2013 and run into February 2014.
I expect that this post will be one of very few that happen between now and November. If there are any, they'll probably be about my family or maybe tidbits on the progress of writing this episodic series.
I also expect that I will not be publishing any books until that time. It makes it seem like a dry spell compared to my productivity as of late, but I'm putting the year in focus. I'm looking at the roadblocks that will come up that might hinder my progress. My goal is realistic, difficult, but attainable.
It's a tough decision to hold off on Fram Gage. But I have to do it. Now off I go!
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