Pantsers Forever!

But I am left with a question.

A dedicated pantser, I begin to see some of the issues which arise when characters are given fairly free rein. One thing that happens, to me at least, is the cast list grows, sometimes pretty remarkably. Or maybe that should be uncontrollably?

For example, the fantasy epic I've been working on.
Part one is about 41K words, and has about 16 named characters.
Part two is about 82K words, and has about 28 named characters, of whom seven are common with part one.
Part three is about 18K words, and has 24 named characters. (A lot of world-building going on.)
Part four is about 83K words, and has 31 named characters, of whom four are common with part three.
Part five is about 200Kwords and has about 58 named characters. Fortunately, I think, all but four or five of these have been introduced before the first half is done.
Part six is an embarrassment; at 170K words, it is no more than 60 percent complete, and still has almost 90 named characters. Probably 20 of these are common with part five, but still.
Part seven is three short stories wound together, and runs just over novella length at 52K words. There are less than 30 named characters.

Because it is a series, a small set of the characters appear in most or all of the parts. Fewer than ten, however, so I can't use that as an excuse. One thing I should mention: the order of creation was 1, 4, 2, 5, 7, 3, 6, although except for part one, they were all written contemporaneously. Parts one and two are packaged together, as are parts three and four.

Along with the cast lists, the word counts grow. I suppose that's unavoidable as each of those character clamors for his or her bit of the action. Part seven will likely grow, but no more than a couple thousand words. I have yet to apply any effort to part five, but my goal there is to get to 160-170Kwords from the 200 it's at now. There's a lot of drivel, and if I recognize that, just wait till my readers get hold of it! Similarly for part six, I have to finish it and keep it at about 160K words. That's easy: just cut a word for every one I add! Glad I thought of that.

This little introspection brought to you courtesy of my trying to figure out how to deal with part six, to bring it into a manageable length. I fear this means excising one or more of my wonderful sub-plots. But the first part of that task is figuring out what exactly I wrote (while the muse twiddled her finger in my ear, and the characters ran amok!). An exercise I have to thank one of my Critters.org friends for: synopsizing each chapter, will be of value as I find out where the story has gone, and what transpired to make it go that way. And which of the alleys should be bricked up and left for dead. Or for a different story, at least.

So, in a sort of conclusion, I'm left with this cautionary note: if you follow the ways of the pantsers, keep track of where you're headed. Keep your mind clear, and don't hesitate to tell a character that her or his deviation may be important to her or him, but by damn!, it's not to the story. Otherwise, you'll be left with unhappy characters picketing your muse and keeping her from working with you until the furor dies down.

Pre-Christmas Update

First, SOPA (HR 3261) and PIPA (S.968) are still alive, so while I took down the cover, I'm keeping the "Stop Censorship" bar over the title. Click on the bar to see how to help, if you haven't. If that doesn't appeal, get in touch with your Representative and Senators and tell them what you think they should do about these two bills. I hope you'll ask them to kill both of these bills, but that's my opinion. Make up your own mind, then tell them. Otherwise, you may be out in the cold with no free interwebz and a bumper sticker that says "I voted for Muffy."

Next, the tree, all 12 feet of it, is up and decorated. It looks pretty good, thanks to the wife's good work in decorating - and catching when the darn thing tried to fall over a couple hours after we finished. I think it's 'cause all the ornaments are on one side...

I finished reading the 900 000 words of Game of Life (working title), which is next on my list to rework. The read was to see just how much work it will take. There are five books planned, and the second and third ones are in pretty good shape. The first and fifth need a fair amount of rewriting, and the fourth needs to be finished, along with some heavy rework.

But before I actually start on that, I will do a quick reread of Mercenaries: A Love Story, Book Two, and send it off to my beta readers, to see what they think. Having removed between 10 and 15 000 words, I'm hoping it's a bit more... direct? With fewer non-plot related scenes at least.

I hope each one has the best Happy Christmas and Holiday season you can wish, and an excellent New Year! Thanks for reading.

Well, it's been busy

That's not a bad thing, but it means that some things don't get all the attention they deserve. Like the blog.

I have been editing the heck out of Mercenaries Book One, and have been receiving valid and useful comments from those who are critiquing it. I've pushed back the release date; I'm hoping for August 1 now. And I'm making the same kind of cuts and restructuring changes in Book Two as well, so maybe I can get through the critiquing phase a little faster on that one, and have it ready by November 1. We'll see.

I also have done some story development for the book to follow Mercenaries, Freedom No Matter. And the six part series, titled Game of Life, has been getting a little attention as well.

There are also the usual things: yard work, finishing the downstairs room (almost done, now. Just needs new ceiling and rug), housework, fix the car, play with the grandson. Nothing exciting there and I'm sure every one of the readers here have their own set of similar distractions from writing.