The Canadian Adventure Part Three
I had planned on writing at least part of Marcy’s story, The Mage Tower, while on our Canadian roadtrip. That didn’t happen.
What did happen is that I decided to split book one into books one and two, make The Mage Tower book three, and turn the previous book two into book four.
Driving the werewolf route, I realized that my book has problems. Two big ones:
- I’ve LitRPGed the hell out of it. The scene/terrain descriptions are minimal. They’re werewolves. Smell would be a big deal to humans who suddenly have enhanced olfactory senses. Looking at the terrain, it’s bleak. Our intrepid heroes are not from this area; they’d notice.
- That means MOAR WORDZ. I’m already screaming up on 200K for book one. That’s not just big, it’s massive. To add more fantasy-genre-esque descriptions will easily push it over 200K. Split it.
Starting from the beginning…
We drove up 79. I was worried that my werewolves not seeing anyone on what appears to be a significant highway was weird. It’s not. There were hardly any cars in either direction. Post apocalypse, nothing there would be nominal. The shortcut I had them take the first time – cutting a corner that the highway goes around – but not again because there’s annoying terrain is not true.
However, what I hadn’t considered is that there are fences EVERYWHERE. If our intrepid werewolves run cross-country, they will be leaping fences constantly. Luke will, of course, get a Leaping skill. This adds word count.
Hoover, which I turned into Eureka, doesn’t actually exist. It’s one building that looks as if it is about to fall down. It’s fiction, so the Spanbauers could still be from there – or I could move them closer to the Petersons.
There is a cliff on 79. It’s not a “butte” or a “mesa”. It’s a horizon spanning cliff. There is some butte-y, somewhat forested land between that and the junction with 20 (none of which is apparent in the Google satellite view). This will make a good home for the griffins. This complicates the Spanbauer/Peterson interactions. The Spanbauers need to be relocated closer to 20. There are a few ranches there, so it works IRL.
Going along 20, the land is bleak. There are ranches, but no farms. It’s possible to farm (the nearby town of Newell has named their high school mascot/theme as “The Irrigators”), but it’s not common. The Antelope Reserve is moonscape bleak. I’ll leave the jackalope there, but the feel of the area needs to be pushed (moar wordz).
Where 20 meets 85, just outside Buffalo, which is my Kier, there is a power substation. Down 20, there is a wind farm. Hmm. What could an enterprising, electrically savvy person do with that? New character (although he’s already in the blurb) and moar wordz.
I also realized that the vignettes in chapter one are missing Ken, The Squad, and that Lineman. Moar wordz.
I’m going to rearrange things so that book one is 12 chapters long (with a prologue) to meta-foreshadow the base-12 thing. It will end at what’s now chapter 15, which is what I sent out for alpha readers.
The rest of the book will become chapters 13 through 24, hopefully. 13 through 36 if I can’t make it fit. It’s mostly written.
I’ve really come to like Marcy’s story, so it will become book three – with its own chapter numbering. Book four, which used to be book two, will continue with chapter 25 (37 if it turns out that way).
So, poor Marcy didn’t get any words during the trip, but she got her own book as part of the series, not an add-on novella.
There will be a part four to this series, but I’m tired now, so tomorrow.
Oh! I bought a hat from Frank’s Place (Saloon No 3, in real life). It was scary how much it looked like what I wrote. The biggest differences: There is a pool table (which I shall add) and very sensibly, for South Dakota winters, an airlock entrance (which I shall not add).
