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Writing Update: July 16, 2016

This post is about 500 words. 

Fingertip sketchIt’s been a few weeks since my last writing update, and in that time, I’ve passed 92,000 words, done some painting, and added a few other posts to the site. I also added a new page – a placeholder for illustrators because I’m looking to partner with one or more people to bring some additional life to the website.

That might seem like a full schedule, but I did have two major events in there:

  1. Fourth of July weekend – with distractions abound. Some were the exploding kind, but many were the kind that required feeding.
  2. Bought a new truck – which necessitated a lot of time for research. And a bit of joyriding. OK, a lot of joyriding.

Neither of those was unwelcome, of course, but they left less time for writing.

Perhaps more importantly in that time period, the novel has officially reached Second Draft status! To be honest, it took longer to get here than originally anticipated, but now that I’m here, it doesn’t seem like I wasted too much time along the way.

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What does this milestone mean? For one, I’ve hit all the primary beats of the story. All the things I wanted to convey are down on the page. Additionally, I don’t want to add any more subplots or characters into the mix because I’m happy with the balance I currently have. And finally, it means the real work begins.

Oh yeah, if it took an effort to get to this point, I expect even more challenges as I try to bring the words to life. The story has direction. A beginning, middle, and end. Character development and scenery.

On WritingBut there are holes. Flat characters and scenes. I expect there’s a bunch of garbage to purge, as well as scenes that contradict each other. That’s fine and was anticipated. Unlike that foolish youth I used to be, I understand that your first draft is not your only draft. Stephen King’s rule of thumb is to cut 10% of your first draft here. For those of you who like math, that’s a 9,200-word removal, or 2-3 chapters.

If you’re expecting perfection at the end of the first draft, I think you’ll be surprised to discover you have a poorly-written document that doesn’t accurately convey the brilliance of the full story floating about your head. And that’s not something that does anyone any good, especially the readers you hope to engage. For a little context, most of my blog posts are second or third draft. Some are fourth.

So, it’s time to add some layers, some color, some real personality, and some real emotion into my story. It’s in my head, even if I can’t articulate it yet. Here’s to the Second Draft.

Cheers!

Enjoy what you just read? Leave a comment or like the post and we’ll ensure that you see more like this from Michael!

© Michael Wallevand, July 2016

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Bring Your Character To Life…Literally

This post is approximately 350 words.

In April, my colleagues Christi and Michael were discussing Hero Forge, a website that allows you to design your own gaming miniature and have it 3D-printed. Being a Warhammer fan, the conversation put me into nerd overdrive. Design my own character and play with hold it in my hand? Gaming nirvana, my friends.

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To be honest, I enjoy gluing, painting, and basing Warhammer miniatures more than the game itself. In some future post, I’ll write about the similarities between the painting and writing processes. But I digress.

As I spent hours designing fun figures, it occurred to me that I could bring my novel’s main character, Tildy, to life. Imagine having your own character sitting on your desk, thought-made-real. But not just one! Oh man, the possibilities are nearly endless. I wrote briefly about it here.  Continue reading →

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Writing Exercise #1: Be Uninspired

This post is about 500 words and was originally posted on LinkedIn.

If you like to write (or like the idea of writing but hate the difficulty of it), I have an exercise for you to try. I used it to create this article.

Many of us have had those glorious days where the words are flowing to your fingertips faster than you can type. It’s effortless. It’s a wondrous feeling that re-establishes your faith in your abilities and confirms that The Great American Novel is just a few sessions like this from being completed.

Upon your return to the computer, the black reality sets in. There’s nothing. No inspiration at all. In fact, there are days where I’ve been certain that banging my head against the keyboard would produce better prose than the barely-coordinated tapping of my fingers.

This is where my exercise comes in. Trust me, it works. Continue reading →

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Leap outside your comfort zone

This post is about 400 words.

Two summers ago, I posted a selfie from a marina on Lake Michigan. Accompanying the image was this statement: “When life gives you the opportunity to go Great Lakes salmon fishing, you jump into that adventure, even when you have a fear of drowning.”

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It’s true. I’m deathly afraid of being underwater without enough air. Floating on it is fine, but sometimes, staring down into my distorted reflection, it’s hard to keep at bay the black thoughts of my watery demise. Now imagine the crushing embrace of all the water of the third largest lake in North America. Perhaps you begin to understand my trepidation.

That might be enough to keep a rational person off the boat. But let’s add to it my fish allergy. Yes, eating fish turns me into an exploding biological disaster. As such…I haven’t taken an interest in fishing.

So why in the world was I on this expedition?

On the other side of the coin, I’ve always considered myself an agent of chaos. It’s probably the scientist in me. I like to disassemble things to see how they work. I like to push the limits of software to see what breaks. I love chasing the worst-case scenario to discover where things ultimately land. I love dumb luck, jumping in with blind faith, and rolling the dice to see what happens.

Here’s why I took the trip: This chance invite was an opportunity to do something I never would have pursued on my own. When it came down to it, I really wanted to see how I’d face this challenge.

I had faith that I could handle it.

Continue reading →

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Writing update: June 21, 2016

This post is about 450 words. But the word ‘the’ appears 31 times.

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Life in the asphalt stars

In my last writing update, I spoke briefly about my morning walking routine. It’s a way to clear the mind – really focus – on portions of the book that need more concentration or thought.

I’m pretty happy with this morning’s session. I got closer to a resolution on a pretty challenging portion of the book (more on that in a second), but I also conceived a nice bit of conflict for the protagonist of the next book.

I know, I know. That writing update specifically mentioned the importance of sticking to the book at hand. But what can I say? Like a swift river, sometimes the story carries you along. If it didn’t interweave three important characters within the Prince’s storyline, I might have let the thought pass me by. But since all three characters will appear in his first and last books, it seemed worth the extra attention this morning.

So, a little more information about this morning’s session: Continue reading →

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Welcome to Empyrelia

This post is pinned to the top of the page.

A fancy letter R of weathered metallic green, sits within an entwining silver ivy vine.

The Book of the Lost Royals is a massive tome of two million words in a realm of nearly as many peoples. Hidden from time in a secret vault that knew no decay, it promises to recount an unknown history from an age of wonders. And now, a meticulous translation has begun.

Starting from the front and reading toward the center, the Book tells of Amethestra Straverian, lost princess of the Kingdom of Evereign. A baby abandoned in the wilds, she was found by the unlikeliest caretaker, the one person in all of Empyrelia who might protect her from those dark forces that sought to destroy the world. Under this mysterious witch’s careful, if unusual tutelage, the girl known as Tildy will discover the world beyond the protective borders of the Garden of Dappledown. The translation of the first part of her story is now complete, captured in the book entitled TILDY SILVERLEAF and the STARFALL OMEN.

Astute observers might find themselves compelled to flip the Book of the Lost Royals over, finding there the tale of Prince Adamantin Straverian, her brother. His story progresses also toward the middle, recounting how he was smuggled to safety under a dead child’s name, by an adoptive mother who would never love him as equally as the child he replaced. The boy renamed Samor has grown up behind the walls of the remote ice fortress Yrrengard, being tutored and trained to recover the crown he is unaware he has lost. The translation of his first story, SAMOR and the WARLOCK OF NEVERMORE is nearly complete.

As their tales converge, we see the Book’s final chapters telling the same story, but from different perspectives. Before the end, the children of Queen Themesteria and King Therald must work together to save a kingdom they never knew.

In these diminished days of lesser peoples, the tome is being split into thirteen translated volumes that recount the tales of the lost royals, their loves and loss, their triumphs and defeats, and their journey to recover the lives that were taken from them. A dyad tale in which two halves of a sibling pair are brought together to restore a family, a kingdom, and a crown.

Hello, and welcome to the website for the fantasy book series, The Lost Royals!

Here you can learn about the primary characters, read excerpts, immerse yourself in a new world, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the process of bringing a book series to life!

We’ll also share character concepts, location inspirations, and doodles. The challenges and the pain. The art of writing and the words themselves. Failures and successes.

Here lie a few points of interests for the newcomer:

♠  Want to lose yourself if a fantastical land rich with characters, culture, and adventure? Start reading our first book, The Starfall Omen, here.

♠  Social Presence – Each site employs a different approach, providing a specific experience to allow you to engage in the world of The Lost Royals in your preferred manner.

♠  Resources – This is the real behind-the-scenes stuff about Michael’s writing process. Equal parts method and madness.

Thanks for joining us on this thrilling journey from concept to finished novel! Now, get comfortable and let us take you to a distant land, many years ago…

Do you see it? The entrance to the haunted forest of Eddlweld opens before us: towering brown and gray pillars topped with arches of myriad green. A path materializes beneath the mist, rough and crisscrossed by tree roots filled with malice for unworthy travelers. Take my hand and I’ll guide you past the ghasts and sprites. I’ll introduce you to Tildy, a teenage girl living in a dangerous garden oasis in the heart of the forest, hidden away from the world that will one day welcome her as the lost princess of Evereign.

Enjoy what you just read? Leave a comment or like the post and we’ll ensure that you see more like this from Michael!

© Michael Wallevand, December 31, 2024

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Writing update: June 18, 2016

This post is about 350 words.

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This morning, it came to me. And I love when that happens.

Recently, I’ve started taking longer walks with the dogs. I prefer mornings for the relative quiet, which allows me to work on my novel in my head as we go. Every day, I have between 30 and 60 minutes of concentration time, not factoring in doggie clean-ups, where I can work through segments of the book. I’ve seen incredible productivity improvements from this new routine and I’d recommend it if you’re looking to expand your own writing process.

Anything is game, though some days I have specific sections on which I want to focus. This morning, my mind was wide open, wandering aimlessly, while my feet followed a specific path in the park. Then the title for a future book came out of nowhere, putting me into a quandary.

For a series planned to span thirteen books, I generally force myself to stay on the book at hand. If I don’t, there are just too many possibilities to consider at once. You’ve probably experienced something similar if you’ve been to a restaurant with an enormous menu: there’s too much to chose from, making the decision that much harder. I refer to this as ‘paralysis of choice’, and for writers, I believe it’s a significant factor in story abandonment, something that’s plagued my previous attempts at fiction.

When anything is possible, nothing is possible. Continue reading →

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Writing update: June 17, 2016

This post is about 250 words.

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A quiet house tonight put me in the exact frame of mind to crank out a few thousand words: mostly new, but some came from light editing. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been filling in some gaps (intros, transitions, chapter ends), and tonight saw more of the same.

I also worked on the intro to the final conflict with the primary antagonist, shifting and re-shifting sections as I tried to find the right sequence of information delivered by the dialogue. It’s a complex section that recaps information from earlier in the book, parts of which are not fully fleshed out yet.

Then I saw the word count pass 90,000 words.

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I’ve exceeded my word count range (though I expect to cut a number of things in the second draft). It’s now twice as long as anything I’ve ever written, which feels pretty good. But as I find myself beyond the self-imposed deadline of the first draft, I wonder how much more fleshing-out is required before the draft is done. I might have to stop at 100,000 words because that’s a pretty long book for a first-time author, as well as for the audience I’m trying to reach. I’m not one to limit a story to satisfy a metric like word count, but compromises are sometimes required. We’ll see.

–Michael

Enjoy what you just read? Leave a comment or like the post and we’ll ensure that you see more like this from Michael!

© Michael Wallevand, June 2016, except images from Superman: The Animated Series and Clue.

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Homage vs. Plagiarism #1

This post is about 650 words. It should also be noted that book and images discussed below were copyrighted by TSR Hobbies in 1982.

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This is a book from my childhood, entitled Return to Brookmere. It’s #4 in the Dungeons & Dragons Endless Quest series. As you’ve probably guessed from the worn cover, it is a beloved, multiple-read, go-everywhere favorite. While not high literature, its influence on me as a reader and writer cannot be overstated. It’s likely to make multiple appearances on this site, btw.

As such, I wanted to do it proper homage as a way to say thank you to author Rose Estes, as well as D&D itself.

I hadn’t read the book in a few years, though it had a place of honor on my bookshelf. One element that stuck with me for more than three decades is the magical amulet, named the Mouth of Mimulus, or simply Mim. Shaped like a dragon’s head, this animated charm offered advice and commentary on the adventure. I don’t recall much backstory being written, however.

Mim 1In my own story, I was looking to create another advisor for Tildy, someone to serve as a counterpoint to the witch, Tildy’s adoptive mother. I also wanted a way to have Tildy work through some of her own concerns without always relying on inner monologue. I didn’t want to add another companion on their journey, but if the advisor was also a secret, this could lead to future conflict. When I recalled Mimulus, I knew I had the inspiration I needed.

Thus, the magnificent amulet Mumnambulen came to life. Mum, for short. Continue reading →

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Excerpt – June 6, 2016

This post is approximately 600 words. A newer version of this section lives here: Spring in Dappledown.

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I’ve had several requests to start sharing some passages from the book. This is flattering, yet somewhat terrifying due to the personal nature of the work. This might seem counter-intuitive, I mean, isn’t the point of writing a novel to have it published?

Well, yeah.

But since I’m working on the first draft, there’s the challenge of sharing something that’s not quite ready for eyes other than my own. To be clear, the following excerpt needs some polish and additional detail. Many artists, myself included, want to give you a specific experience, something an unfinished work doesn’t necessarily do. Also, if the draft passage sucks (technical term), you might be under-presenting your abilities. Hopefully.

I think that’s enough caveats and deprecation for now. Here is the introduction of the main character, Tildy, the girl who lost her family, her kingdom, and even her name.

Spring in Dappledown

Tildy sat upright so quickly, her head swam. Eyes blinking slowly in the dim morning light, her fuzzy brain struggled to comprehend where she was. Trying to calm her heaving breaths, she closed her eyes. She was in bed. In her room on the second floor of the cottage.

She was glad to be awake. It was the dream again—that shadow in the tall tower. It thrilled and terrified her in a way that meant it was not an unwelcome recurrence. But she always woke up exhausted, as though it were less dream and more reality. She focused on the last image in her mind: had there been a crying baby? As usual, the details scattered like butterflies in a storm. Continue reading →