The Sorcerer's Progress (Page 61 of 62)

Multi-volume, multi-section structure.  The first two sections get Merran's family reunited, but reveal problems brewing in the wider world(s) that her parents tried to leave behind.  Shogran is only a symptom.  So the second and third part will take a long time to map out.  The first two parts have to be worked out sooner, but I can put books one and two in some kind of order, and map out book 3 and the second section while I do it.

Section 3 has the tentative title Apostles of Ruin, just to give a sense of where I hope to go.  (I have possible volume titles.)

I'm a big fan of self-contained sub-stories contributing to a greater story. Gives the reader less to commit on initially. Having to commit to a lot of reading is a downer for me, and what keeps me from reading Patrick Brown-- the knowledge that I have a bazillion books to read before I get any satisfaction

Still working on the backstory.  I've got a rough but workable outline for part 2, and a rougher one for part 1.  Part 1: Kirsey's young childhood and his heritage.  Part 2: Kirsey taken away to be trained at the Academy.  Part 3: the problems of a young man too good for some Masters and too young (and inventive) for others.  Part 4: Finding a place in the Academy, and losing it.

Part 2 looks like it might run 3,000 words, and Part 1 a bit shorter.  Parts 3 and 4 will probably be similar, so we're talking about a novelette.  But my numbers may be off.

Time for a hard backup, if you haven't already.

Still working, slowly, on scene outlines for part two.  But some big-issue answers for part 3 came to me as I was sleeping off a bug of some sort, and I've got parts of a top-level outline for part 3.  I don't know yet just how much is going in part 4, and whether there will be a part five, or it will all go into part four.

These parts all belong to one book, and probably one of moderate size.  A prequel of sorts, it traces the youth of the super-sorcerer Kirsey.  Maybe as far as taking up with the wolves, maybe not.  I'll see how many I can construct.  Actually, when I get to the actual text I'd love you to review it.  At which time you can point to placed to recip.

in formal releases, what book do you currently see emerging first?

I am in the doldrums creatively.

Here's a video on creativity be John Cleese: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=you … b5oIIPO62g .  He states that we need a mentally playful mood, and names some things that block it.  Looking at the walls of my apartment, at i complete projects, and at tasks that need to be done is doing it to me.  I'm trying to make progress, even small progress, on the various tasks and projects, but that is only part if the problem.

Some of you know that my social needs are low, but not zero.  Another writer, successful and published, says that she needs to see a few strangers a day, shopping, dining out, etc.  And that is what is denied me.

I'm hoping that we get at-home tests for both antibodies and infection, produced affordably in billion-a-day numbers.  That's what it will take to peel back the restrictions.  It looks like the first ones are about two weeks away, but the quantity and price will make it take longer.

Amateurs. I'm always in the doldrums. Add four tax returns (mine and family) and I'll be out of commission for a month.

My work has me learning new computer programs and new Covid19 procedures. This keeps me busy well into the evening. So, I’ve started doing reviews on my lunch break through my phone. It’s irritating because I’m unable to do In-Line reviews.

On another subject, I’ve become bored with medieval-inspired fantasy and begun to think about doing fantasy anchored in a later time; perhaps Golden Age Persia. Are there any examples of this in published works you’re aware of?

To those waiting on reviews: I'm tied up into and maybe through Tuesday.  I'll get back to you then.