The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

Between researching the locations, and creating personas for the characters, I’m exhausted. Yesterday was the longest day this month because I had underestimated the amount of work needed to bring these characters, pertinent to this story at least, to life.

Plan or no plan, there’s always something lurking in the details that is going to trip you up sooner rather than later.

Of course, not every story is pulled together and written entirely in the space of thirty days, so these sorts of logistical problems rarely cause the angst they are at the moment. You hit a roadblock, and it’s well just ho-hum, let’s do something about it, tomorrow!

This thirty-day deadline, well, it’s like the proverbial rocket you know where.

So, there was a lot of scribbling actual words on a real piece of paper, lots of crossing out, very little erasing because you can’t erase biro ink, not the cheap stuff anyway, and lots of going back and forth, turning pages.

A real page-turner of a different sort!

I can see the humour in it now, but at 2am, there was very little humour and had the shredder not been broken, a few good ideas might have gone through it.

Today is a new day.

The revolution beckons.

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

It’s hard to know just how someone would react in real life to a situation that is not normally expected to happen.

Like, for instance, a gunman walks into a supermarket and suddenly starts shooting randomly.

But, in the USA, that seems to be a situation that could happen anywhere, anytime and with tragic results.

What would I do in such a situation?

It’s probably impossible to tell unless it really happened.

Why do I ask this question?

There’s a lot of effort required to plan out what each character is going to do in any given situation. What he or she might do has a lot to do with how they have been previously portrayed.

If they were nervous or frightened at the little things, it’s hardly likely that they would run into a hail of bullets unless there was a very good reason like saving a child, and even then it might be a stretch to believe they would.

So, I’m writing about a dangerous situation, and it’s taking a lot longer than I expected because my characters have to fit their previous profiles, and I have to remember them, or, what I should have done in the first place, create profiles from which to draw on when necessary.

Another lesson learned the hard way, is that planning is necessary, even if it appears tedious.

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

Between researching the locations, and creating personas for the characters, I’m exhausted. Yesterday was the longest day this month because I had underestimated the amount of work needed to bring these characters, pertinent to this story at least, to life.

Plan or no plan, there’s always something lurking in the details that is going to trip you up sooner rather than later.

Of course, not every story is pulled together and written entirely in the space of thirty days, so these sorts of logistical problems rarely cause the angst they are at the moment. You hit a roadblock, and it’s well just ho-hum, let’s do something about it, tomorrow!

This thirty-day deadline, well, it’s like the proverbial rocket you know where.

So, there was a lot of scribbling actual words on a real piece of paper, lots of crossing out, very little erasing because you can’t erase biro ink, not the cheap stuff anyway, and lots of going back and forth, turning pages.

A real page-turner of a different sort!

I can see the humour in it now, but at 2am, there was very little humour and had the shredder not been broken, a few good ideas might have gone through it.

Today is a new day.

The revolution beckons.

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

Between researching the locations, and creating personas for the characters, I’m exhausted. Yesterday was the longest day this month because I had underestimated the amount of work needed to bring these characters, pertinent to this story at least, to life.

Plan or no plan, there’s always something lurking in the details that is going to trip you up sooner rather than later.

Of course, not every story is pulled together and written entirely in the space of thirty days, so these sorts of logistical problems rarely cause the angst they are at the moment. You hit a roadblock, and it’s well just ho-hum, let’s do something about it, tomorrow!

This thirty-day deadline, well, it’s like the proverbial rocket you know where.

So, there was a lot of scribbling actual words on a real piece of paper, lots of crossing out, very little erasing because you can’t erase biro ink, not the cheap stuff anyway, and lots of going back and forth, turning pages.

A real page-turner of a different sort!

I can see the humour in it now, but at 2am, there was very little humour and had the shredder not been broken, a few good ideas might have gone through it.

Today is a new day.

The revolution beckons.

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

It’s hard to know just how someone would react in real life to a situation that is not normally expected to happen.

Like, for instance, a gunman walks into a supermarket and suddenly starts shooting randomly.

But, in the USA, that seems to be a situation that could happen anywhere, anytime and with tragic results.

What would I do in such a situation?

It’s probably impossible to tell unless it really happened.

Why do I ask this question?

There’s a lot of effort required to plan out what each character is going to do in any given situation. What he or she might do has a lot to do with how they have been previously portrayed.

If they were nervous or frightened at the little things, it’s hardly likely that they would run into a hail of bullets unless there was a very good reason like saving a child, and even then it might be a stretch to believe they would.

So, I’m writing about a dangerous situation, and it’s taking a lot longer than I expected because my characters have to fit their previous profiles, and I have to remember them, or, what I should have done in the first place, create profiles from which to draw on when necessary.

Another lesson learned the hard way, is that planning is necessary, even if it appears tedious.

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

So, today I’m fascinated with places like Egypt, those not far from the Mediterranean, but consist of sandstone buildings and sandy deserts not far away from urbanized areas.

My fictitious country is one that had seen many occupiers, the British, the French, and the Russians, all after leaving a Noraville legacy behind, the most noticeable, the French.

Perhaps, once it had an outpost for the French Foreign Legion.

It certainly had an influence on the people’s names and customs.

The most recent posted occupier, the Russians, was not so much an ousting as it was the installation of a Russia-friendly regime, mostly for keeping their stranglehold over the country’s natural resources.

Human Rights, of course, and in practice, are very low on the agenda, whilst the privileged few, from the President down, work tirelessly to maintain their stranglehold on everything.

But like all oppressive regimes, there’s always an opposition that is well-funded and aided by the last occupying countries’ enemies.

And, perhaps, in their haste to try and appear like a benevolent regime, their attempts at hosting a human rights conference might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Just at a time when the country was filled with foreign diplomats, spies, and other assorted espionage agents lurking in the shadows, their motives and agendas unclear.

All of these elements make up a very good backdrop to the story.

And just to add to the mystery, I’ve decided on having the catacombs, under the old city, a place people can easily get lost in, are rumoured to have people hiding there, and are part of the military regime’s torture apparatus.

Then there’s the scenic part, where visitors can visit caverns and water holes, even an underground river, providing substance to the mythical part of the land.

This story just gets more interesting every day!

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

Today, it’s viva la revolution.

I’m writing the first part of what is about to unfold as a civilian takeover. Of course, planning aside, and not reckoning on opposition from what should be allies, it fails.

So, it’s not that the rebels had the wrong plan, they just didn’t think it through, or fully understand the circumstances of the person they chose to kidnap and try to use as leverage.

Perhaps this was the moment I was waiting for, and having all of the preliminary backgrounds, and setting all of the plot elements needed to lead to this point, this part is almost writing itself.

I’ve just got to make the really bad guy, badder, if that’s possible.

I want to show a human side to a character that cannot afford to have one, and that in stepping outside their comfort zone things can go horribly wrong very quickly.

And the main character that has returned too soon after a life-changing incident, can and will have moments where the loss of focus could have devastating results.

What’s that expression? Everything could go to hell in a handbasket.

Or not.

Stay tuned.