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Printing of the preliminary edition of Serpent’s Smile is underway. This is a limited run, not otherwise available to the general public. Copies are destined for readers with technical expertise in specific areas–explosives, for example–and to select individuals within the … Continue reading
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Serpent’s Smile has been extensively edited since the first draft appeared here. Several tens of thousands of words have been cut. But writers are myopic; they see only what’s at the end of their nose, and even then they tend … Continue reading
Here’s the process I’ll be trying out as I edit the nearly 500 pages of double-spaced text in my first draft. First, some definitions using the grading system we all learned in school. Fiction is built with several parts: Action … Continue reading
The climax of “Serpent’s Smile” will appear early Saturday morning. If you’ve been reading along, you will be pleased to find out how it ends — everything will be posted as of then. The story includes 99,136 words. [550,238 characters!] … Continue reading
In a bagel shop in Santa Barbara California, I finished the first draft of the final chapter. It will be posted along with two others over the next three weeks. Work began last October with the outline. A month later, … Continue reading
Serpent’s Smile is halfway done. When finished, the novel will contain thirty chapters. Fourteen have been posted to this point including chapter “One and a Half” so thirteen is really fourteen. Added up, their 45,000 words are slightly over half the 80,000 total … Continue reading
I’m doing some consulting work ($$) for a couple of weeks.
Spence, Megyn and Sartaq will, therefore, enjoy some down time. They will re-animate on Saturday, March 19th.
FYI: If you poked your nose in here earlier today and read “Chapter Twelve – Pressure” but don’t see it now, that’s ’cause when I tried to do a quick pass for punctuation errors, I ended up filling every page with red ink. That much blood means it needs major surgery. Until that happens, I’ve retracted it. The chapter is now sulking in the corner and licking its wounds. To those who read it earlier this morning before I pulled it, rest assured the intestinal distress will soon pass. Just keep the windows open.
I’ve gone back and inserted a new chapter. “Chapter One and a Half — Witness” presents Sartaq’s viewpoint of the beheading and immediate aftermath. It should answer some of the mysteries of why things did, and did not, happen. After that, Chapters … Continue reading
Spence, Megyn and Sartaq have agreed to set aside their grudges (and murders) through Christmas and New Years. They will return — Sartaq gets to present his perspective — on January 9th.
Until then, may you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Chapter One, arguably the most important in the book, went through three (what I thought were) big rewrites before being posted two weeks ago. This week, however, I reread it and decided some minor surgery, mostly cuts, was needed. Today … Continue reading