Author Archives: Bob Evans

Facing a decision

So, I’m about to start on the assembly portion of Love & Loyalty. For my others novels this was a very straight forward process. I write from an outline, proceeding in a linear fashion from cause to effect, beginning to end. I write the manuscripts, chapter by chapter and then put all the chapters together in sequence to make the file of the manuscript.

Love and Loylaty is not working that way any more.

When I started the editing on this pass, it was because my sentence level craft had improved and I wanted the book to reflect that. (It was not well written enough for professional publication before, now it might be.) I also made a decision to open up the number of points of view which allowed me to introduce new characters and new scenes that better explained th plot, provided more dramatic troubles for the characters, and hopefully hightened the tension. These scenes were written out of sequence, but I know roughly where they would be insterted.

Then after reading chapter 3 to my writers’ group the feedback came back that this should be chapter 1 and I agreed, so sequences were changed, events were changed so cause and effect would have the proper relationship to the events.

Now it is time to assemble the manuscript and I’ve had a thought and for the life of me I cannot determine if it is a good idea or not.

Love and Loylaty is primary the story of two people, Seth Jackson and the woman he loves Minou Shippen. The story alternates between their two plotlines until their lives intersect again and from there the story is the tangle of duties, loves, and betrayal that push these characters into conflict.

So the manscript went like this, a Seth chapter, then a Minou Chpater, back to Seth, back to Minou etc until they met and then it’s a combination from there on out.

The idea that occured to me is a book format. Book 1, Seth Jackson, all the events in his life until he runs into Minou again at Earth. Then Book 2, flashback and we see Minou’s life until she runs into Seth. Then Book 3, their combined story and conflicts until resolution.

I have no idea which way is better….

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Yippie

Core edits on Love & Loyalty are done!

Now I have to assemble the chapters and scenes in their new sequence, along with the insert scenes, editing them as I do so, and I will have a copy for my sweetie-wife to proofread.

 

Oh I am so excited….

 

 

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Headache Log

06/07/2011
about 11:30 am, while on a bad phone connection with a foreign language person started getting a sharp headache. Took a single dose of treximet.
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Headache log

06/06/2011

4:15 pm started getting a headache, took 1 dose of treximet, headache relieved but felt chills and slight dizziness.

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Lite Blogging

I expect my blogging to be lite for a while. Being so close to the end of a project is a special time and time when that project begins to consume everything in my poor little head.

So for next 2-3 weeks I expect most of my energies will be taken up with Love & Loyalty, after that a bit of decompression with a Tim Powers Novel.

 

 

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Good Day/ Bad Day

Well, I am home alone because my cold has returned.  I though I had completely lost this bug, but Thursday night I started getting congested again, yesterday I felt bad and today I just want to stay home and do nothing strenuous.

That is a shame because a friend is throwing a party and I really wanted to go. However every time I bend over I get dizzy and frankly it is a boorish guest who brings pathogens.

On the plus side I did finish a chapter of edits today. Normally I do not do writing work on the weekend, using these two days to recharge my spirits, but as I near the end of project it starts taking over.

I have now edited 323 or 404 pages from Love & Loylaty, then I will have another 40-60 from the inserts to edit and compile into their proper places. The End is in sight.

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Headache Log

05/31/2011

Started getting a headache on drive to work, light and shadows flashing by triggered it. Sadly I did not have any of my Rx’s with me. Took an over the counter, (containing Aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffine) that relieved the headache.

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General Update

So Saturday concert was pretty fun. The venue was a small club and I had reserved a table for myself. (The sweetie-wife does not care for most of my music and that include Sheena Easton.)  I got there early enough to order a small diner before the show, and ended up chatting with the lady at the table next to mine. (She recognized me from thr Vegas show I went to last September.)

Sheena came one and this time I had a very good appraisal of just how tall, or rather how short that lady is. My friends Sheena Easton is a hobbit. However she looked good, in fact she looked better than she did in Vegas, so either I caught her on a bad night, bad lighting, or my eyes were out of whack. This time I was nearly level with her and maybe 15 feet away at most. The set was mostly her big hits, but she mixed it up a bit and added a few songs from lesser known albums.

Afterwards I headed hom and enjoyed a nice desert of donuts since it was a night of my diet.

Sunday was a relaxing day with board and card games in the evening and yesterday my sweetie-wife and I went to the zoo, but sadly no crane chicks yet. (I think when the cranes chicks hatch one should be name Charles Foster Crane.)

Yesterday I even got another chapter of Love & Loyalty edited and tonight I expect I might get two more done. I am now hurtling towards the end of first-pass edits. After that is system integration as I shove the new bits into their places in the script, then a read through to make she integration went smoothly, then a copyedit pass by my sweetie-wofe and then finally beta-readers.

 

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