Fantasy Opus - Early Edit and Cull

I've been reading through the story so far and I've decided it needs an edit, before I get to the last section of the "Fantasy Opus".

The early part of the story looks good (to me) but the later parts don't flow as well, so I've come to a difficult decision.

Firstly I need to reduce the number of main characters. There are too many minor characters who are under developed and don't have much to do. The narrative will benefit from more focus on a smaller number of key characters. Secondly, the later elements of the story need to be shaped into a better, more compelling narrative, by focusing more on character interactions.

Four characters are going.

The main story remains intact, in fact I've had some good detail ideas for the final chapters. Some of it will require a lot of action, which I'll need to storyboard.

I think my December 2017 goal is looking unlikely, as I want to publish the best that I can do.


⟳ Update 04-03-17:

I'm currently part way through some early editing. Although I've removed four minor characters I've also added over a thousand more words, which gives you some idea of the kind of editing. I decided too much of the story was "show" rather than "tell" which doesn't allow the reader to engage as easily. I'm adding more dialogue, and removing some of the character thoughts to allow the reader to peace the story together themselves.

Bye for now,

John Howes.

Fantasy Opus - 190,820 Words

A while back I started measuring my progress against the word count of other well known fantasy novels. I've now written 190,820 (unedited) words, which is more than Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. In fact it's more than the first two Harry Potter books combined.

I don't have a specific word count in mind, although I expect the final count will be around 300K which is just over 3 Hobbits!

Even after I've finished and edited the novel (which I'm pretty sure will be split into three) I'll need to:

• Design three sets of cover art (and probably a cover for the complete works).
• Create a map
• Format the novel for the Kindle store
• Format the novel for paperback
• Get some Fantasy Bloggers to review it
• Promote it through social media
• Organize a "Click" advertising campaign.

I have no expectations for the work, but it's the biggest story I've ever held in my head, and it'll be a relief to get the entire narrative down in print.

I've spent much of today just trying to come up with a name for a new character, that hasn't already been used by another fantasy author. Accidental plagiarism is a nightmare. My story originally had a region accidentally named the same as a region in the Lord of the Rings. It means I need to do a web search for every single name.

So I now need to write at least 10K words a month to complete the story by the end of 2017. It's a tall order and I'm currently unsure I'll make it.

Bye for now...

John Howes

Fantasy Opus - Half a block & What's wrong with a Red LED?

Hi there!

I'm now 185,000 words into my "Fantasy Opus" and I've got a touch of writer's block (well maybe half a block). I need to join several story sections together in a way which both explains to the reader what the heck is going on (and where we are on the map), but it also needs to introduce new characters and be entertaining in it's own right.

I've rewritten it three times now and I'm still not happy with it. Part of me wants to leave it and come back to it in the edit, but that's not the way I've written the rest. I often struggle to decide how much to describe e.g. "Everyone went to the nightclub, had a great time, and arrived home at midnight" or how much to detail, including all the character interactions.  I normally prefer the latter, but it can make simple parts of the story, quite long.

I'm hoping the fourth rewrite sorts it out. I had a better idea when I woke this morning!

What's wrong with a Red LED?

Something that I was musing with my wife last night.

Back in the 70's when LED lights first started to appear in all our consumer electronics, they were mostly red (the gallium arsenide was easier and cheaper to produce than other semiconductor materials) and they quickly became the staple of every hi-fi and TV power button. Later joined by Green, Orange and Yellow, it was still the Red LED that served as the colour of "Power". Our Bedroom TV still has a Red LED.

But now? It seems the power LED is no longer required to just show you that the device is switched on, it has a secondary purpose:

Illuminating the Entire Room!

The White LED on our Amazon Fire TV box is so bright that it scorches the back of your retina, The Bright blue LED's in our home Hub Illuminate the whole street and the white beast on this laptop is so garish, that I have to hide the computer under a cabinet so I can sleep!

When blue and white LED's first arrived in the 90's they were obviously a big deal, but I think we're over it now. ENOUGH with the over bright power lights.

Bring back the Red LED. You're time has come once more!

Enough ranting for now. Back to the story...

John Howes.

Fantasy Opus - Cover Experiments

I'm currently at 173K words and I felt like a break, so I've been experimenting with cover art. I'm not a Photoshop expert, or even a novice, but with the help of you-tube and some trial and error I managed to create this in around an hour and a half.

I'm quite pleased as a first trial, but the finished article will look nothing like this. It was created from three separate images which i downloaded from the excellent free resource: pixabay.com

The text isn't really a good font and I rushed it a bit, so the real deal should be much slicker.

Even though the woman's image is a graphic art vector image (by DeeDee51), I quite like it, and it does actually fit the tone of the novel. I intend to use some professional stock images for the finished book (or books - I still can't decide whether it should be a trilogy or a single work),

Oh and don't forget: "Fantasy Opus" is just the working title. I do have a title in mind, and also a title for the first two books (if it's a trilogy).

Cheers for now.

John Howes.

Fantasy Opus - In a dark place

After a splurge through Christmas I hurt my back recently, giving me more quiet time to do some writing (I'm better now thanks!). The upshot is that I've now passed 170K words meaning I've written more than the first two harry potter novels or Ready Player One, the novel that inspired me to write Zero Magenta.

I've reached a pretty dark section of the story where it becomes clear what our heroes are up against. I like to keep a sense of fun close to most sections, but sometimes it just doesn't fit. I've also just introduced a mythical creature to the story which will have a great significance later.

On other front's I'm wrestling with ideas for cover design. I still intend to try doing my own, but If it doesn't turn out good enough I'll be using a professional cover artist. I've chosen a suitable artist, which I'm keeping in reserve.

The book, or books, will also be published in paperback. Something I may do with Zero Magenta first to experiment with the medium.

And finally: I've been looking at Map creation. I'm currently using a pencil drawn map that I can easily change as the story develops. I'm going to need to digitize this so I've been looking at ways to do this. The best I've seen so far is a website by Peter Brodt. So I've dusted off my old flatbed scanner and I'll be doing some experiments soon.

One of Peter Brodt's excellent maps:

Map linked from: www.brodt.dk/

That's all for now,

John Howes

Carrie Fisher

Image linked from www.imdb.com

I remember when I watched Star Wars in the summer of 1977. It was at the Odeon in Worcester when they still had one massive screen, and the seating was divided into smoking and non-smoking (people were stupid in the 70's).

I had just finished reading the Hobbit and starting on the Lord of the Rings. Now I was about to experience the greatest science fiction / fantasy ever to hit the screens. It blew me away and has stayed in my psyche ever since. The trio of Luke, Leia and Han was perfect, but it was Leia who connected with me most strongly. Few of us had ever seen a female character throwing themselves into the action with so much energy. She was far from the typical damsel in distress.

She even managed to kick-ass in the sexy slave girl outfit (which is also seared into my memory for other reasons) and embarked on an impossible love affair with the "scoundrel" she ultimately couldn't live with. A master stroke from J.J. Abrahams (a director I don't normally rate) in The Force Awakens.

Without Leia we wouldn't have Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley or even the new Icon Rey. I can't think of any other actress who could have played such a diminutive character, with such drive, determination and sass.

I shed a tear when Leia arrived on that troop carrier in The Force Awakens. Not from some sense of nostalgia, but through pure love for the character and Carrie's perfect portrayal. I'm so looking forward to seeing her for one last time in the next installment, although I'm going to need a box of tissues at my side. I'm afraid I'm sobbing even as I write this.

Some actors and actresses hate being typecast but Carrie lived her role and connected with the fans with such good grace, that there will be few sci-fi fan's who don't catch their breath with pangs of sorrow.

The Universe will be a dimmer place without you. We all felt the tremor in the force.

General Leia Organa, the Rebellion salutes you.

X

Fantasy Opus - Tropical Paradise

Hi again!

I've now topped 153K words having had some time away in the tropical paradise of Costa Rica. I was very luck to go so near to Christmas and it's the last tropical holiday for a while. My wife tell's me we're going to Scotland next!

I've been working on a fairly tricky section where action takes place in several places simultaneously. The stakes are now very high for our illustrious heroes.

I've also had a couple more story ideas. Another fantasy and a Sci-Fi. I think they're both original but I need to do a bit of research just to make sure.

Most won't make the grade, but there's probably another novel in their somewhere.

Looking forward to Christmas.

That's all for now.

John Howes.

Fantasy Opus - The Escape

Well I've finished bashing Humans and I'm back to the fantasy novel (Fantasy Opus is just the working title).

I'm hoping to write as much as possible this month, over Christmas.

While I can't really share too many details, I can give some hints.

• There are up to 30 main characters, which can become quite a challenge to deal with.
• Characters in total, there are around 200! Most of these are support characters and many are just mentioned.
• The Fantasy world includes several religions.
• There are no Elves, Goblins, Gnomes (What was Terry Brooks thinking) or Dragons. However when you read the books you might think I'm stretching the truth 😏
• I had the original story idea between 15 and 20 years ago. 
• The section in chapter 8 was the first idea I had which eventually led to the whole story.
• I've sketched many of the main locations just to help me visualize the action. This is one of the locations coming up:

Some of the main characters include:

• A young man (no surprise)
• A middle aged woman (one of my favorite characters).
• A Knight
• A non-human warrior
• A mythical creature from northern European folklore.
• Several creatures from British folklore.

I've also been thinking again about cover art and whether I should engage a cover artist or have a go myself. I think I might try to do my own first and see how it looks.

Current word count is 143986 which is just more than Tolkien's "The Two Towers".

I think I'm probably 50% through now. I'm aiming for completion by Christmas 2017.

That's all for now,

Cheers,

John Howes.

Channel 4 - Humans: I Really want to like it but....

Photo Courtesy of Pixabay.com

I was about 50% through writing Zero Magenta when the UK Channel 4 launched "Humans". The story of advanced robots "waking up".  At first I was nervous that I might copy some of the story line, even subconsciously, but I needn't have worried. Humans takes a more traditional view and throws in enough cliches, plot holes and enough bad science to sink a battleship.

I hate being negative about another writer's work, they were clearly aiming high, and I really wanted to like the series, but it annoys me more than it entertains. Sorry.

I've long been disappointed by how we use our technology in such banal, trivial ways. A modern smart phone has more computing power than an entire room filled with computers back in the 1970s. So what do we do with this modern marvel? Maybe we join all these computers together to find the cure for cancer, maybe we can plot the course to Mars and build a working EM Drive, or maybe we just bring all the people together to stop all wars. Nope! We play Candy Crush, post cat videos on YouTube and brag about the Skinny Latte we've just enjoyed at Starbucks on Facebook.

This is the reality of technology in the 21st Century. It came to me when my wife and I went to Dinner with some friends, and their son was playing with an iWatch. Our Shiny Technology is just a toy.

New advanced AI robots wouldn't be working in our factories, or helping in complex surgery or engineering. They would be expensive baubles that we could impress our friends with. Somebody to play Candy Crush with. They'd be purchased by the same taste vacuums who buy Lamborghini's and Bugatti's.

So back to Humans. What's wrong with it? SPOILER ALERT.

We'll let's start with the good. One story line stands out above all the other. Series 2 Episode 5: We learn that the character of Renie pretends to be a robot (or Synth) because her father doesn't care about her. She's hiding behind another character. It's a fantastic story element, I only wish I'd thought of it myself. There are a few other flashes of brilliance, but they're drowned by the cliches and bad science.

First there are the cliches:

• Mad scientist embeds an "awakening" code in a few of his creations
• A young hacker can apparently rewrite the most complicated computer code ever created.
• The "Father" in the family unit is an idiot.
• Synths are the most complex, technologically advanced creations in history, but people still drive around in old petrol powered Saabs.

OK, there's not too many. It's the bad science that really makes me rage. Of course Humans is not the only TV show to talk down to its audience, but I was hoping for much more.

Bad Science:

• The laptop I'm writing this on, gives out a lot of heat. Now imagine how hot a full sized robot would become. Apparently no-one notices when they touch one.
• They would be very, very heavy. Even using the lightest weight materials and batteries they would still weigh twice as much as a human. Again nobody seems to notice. They would also make an audible servo sound, It might be quiet but you'd still hear it in close proximity.
• Any of the Synths are capable of "waking up". What? So the company that engineers these products decides to put in a processor with 10 times the required processing power just in case the Synth develops AI? I've worked in Industry long enough to know that most products are under engineered.
• They can be recharged with a mobile phone charger. Err Nope!  A standard USB port can charge at up to 1.5 Amps. With the gigantic battery required for a synth, that means it would probably take at least 24 hours for a full charge. Furthermore, the high power drain would require a charge every few hours with such a low charge rate.
• When a synth wakes up (E.g. the bloodthirsty Hester) they can remember nasty things done to other standard Synths and they become angry about it. That's akin to a Robot becoming self aware and feeling sorry for a toaster.
• The software code in a synth is like the holly grail even though it was created by a well trained software engineer using a standard code language. So complex that only a school girl can understand it.
• Any synth can be hacked using a windows tablet PC. Nope! An advanced AI would need to be running a very high speed RTOS (Real time operating system). A simple USB port would not give access to all the running code. It's also unlikely that conventional code would be sufficient for an AI of that capability.
• When the evil corporation finds a woken Synth, they can't find out what's special about it to create others. WRONG! If they really are just running code, all they need to do is download it and read it! Apparently this simple debugging technique is abandoned in the future.
• Last but not least (and this one is also a cliche), Robots will replace everyone in every job. If that did happen, nobody would have enough money to buy anything made by these Synth armies and the global economy would crash. Maybe Human's is set before that realization, but the idea that Robots will replace us all is nonsense.

Well there it is. You may agree or disagree. I'd be interested to hear if you have any of your own thoughts. Or maybe you don't care and enjoy it because it has a cute cast.

Bladerunner it isn't.

Enough ranting for now.

Cheers,

John Howes.

Support Characters are Everything

I've just attended my first Comic Con (Birmingham England) in cosplay, and had great fun. I went as Colonel Stars & Stripes from Kick Ass 2 and my wife went as Lara Croft from the latest games.

I learned one valuable lesson. I'm very old!

All the young girls were dressed as plinky-plonk or pinky-pie or whatever else the brightly coloured anime characters are called. It's a world that's closed to me, thankfully.

I did find one Cosplayer in an awesome outfit. I don't know this ladies name, but she's dressed as the sassy Vasquez from James Cameron's Aliens. One of my all time favorite support characters.

These characters often capture the imagination far more than the principal players. Characters like Wedge from Star Wars.  They give us the freedom to imagine their back stories and invent our own fantasy worlds.

Gonna need a bigger gun, mostly.