A Different Perspective

Part 1 of City of the Lords is done! Well, the first draft, anyways. On to Part 2... in which, for the first time, I approach this world from a perspective other than Kenton's. To find out why you'll need to read the book!

It's an interesting experience. I find it much easier to write using first person perspective than others (third person limited would really be my other choice here, at least in the way that I have the book planned out), but all of my writing so far has been from one specific person's view. Like any of us, Kenton has a particular perspective on the world around him that is by necessity different from that of the others around him. I'm grappling with that different tone in Part 2, but the task is made somewhat easier by the way in which this part of the story begins. It's not that it's hard, really - in fact I'm pleasantly surprised so far by how easily I slip into a writing from this alternative viewpoint and making it clear that it's not Kenton who is talking here - but it's a new experience for me and a little disconcerting. I find the protagonist thinking about people very differently than Kenton, and having to reevaluate all of the supporting characters in this new light.

How about Part 1? Well, I need to do a first sweep of revisions on it. Based on my experience from Lord of the City (as well as my first manuscript, which is still unpublished), there'll probably be some pretty sweeping changes. It comes out to a bit under 45,000 words, or slightly less than half the length of Lord of the City. It's a nicely self-contained story, but absolutely necessary to lead into parts 2 and 3 of City of the Lords. One nice thing about having the story separated out like this is that I'll be able to send out Part 1 to F&F (friends and family) for initial feedback without waiting for the whole thing to be done. That's after at least one (and maybe two) rounds of revision, of course, for everything from grammar and spelling to pacing and consistency.

If each part ends up around the same length, I'll end up with a book between 1/3 and 1/2 larger than Lord of the City, which isn't a bad thing.

Lord of the City available at Jan's Paperbacks in Aloha, OR

Jan's Paperbacks (http://www.janspaperbacks.com/) in Aloha, Oregon is now carrying Lord of the City, my first novel - see their Local Authors section at http://www.janspaperbacks.com/local-authors. Head over there and see the book in person!

Writing progress

Writing a novel while having a full-time "day job" gets difficult. I make the most progress when I don't try to force it and instead wait until I feel inspired (that's the best word I can come up with for the feeling) to write. Which is often in the middle of the day ... when I'm working and can't put words down; not for my personal purposes, anyways. Thus, my progress is very uneven - I might make no progress for a month, then throw down 5,000 words in two hours.

That's how things have gone this summer. Life is busy! I don't make money writing books (at least not right now!) which means I don't have much time to write books. Even when I try to make time, I don't get much done unless I'm feeling it, whatever "it" is. I've written far less than I would like over the course of the summer, though when I do write I feel good about it and am plenty productive.

Current progress: I'm almost done with Part 1 of City of the Lords, the sequel to Lord of the City. Soon I'll see how I do writing from someone else's perspective than Kenton's in this world. Hopefully, it turns out well.