July 2019 - Welcome to Inadvertent Consequences

So I just finished book two of the trilogy…or maybe it’s more accurate to say that I have taken it as far as I can without some editing and creative criticism. I have to be honest, getting the last 10K words written has been extremely painful for me.

When I made the decision to split my novel into two separate books I never realized just how difficult a position I was putting myself in. Once I determined where to end book one I was left with just over 40K words to work with as the core of book two. That sounds like a lot, right? And it is, unless you still need to pump out at least another 35K words to go along with that.

I knew I needed to expand what I had already typed, but I didn’t want it to feel forced…readers notice these things. So, somehow I had to flesh the story out, keep the material relevant to what was already in place, and make it feel like the scenes not only belonged in the book, but were required to tell the story.

In practice, this turned out to be far more difficult than I had ever dreamed. I struggled, some days only adding 200-300 words to the manuscript. Only on rare occasions did I produce as many as 1000 words. At times I felt like just giving up, but with book three already in progress I knew that wasn’t really an option.

And thus I persevered. I can’t even count how many read-throughs and rewrites I did, looking for somewhere to add another word, a sentence, or god help me, even a paragraph. I ended up adding new characters, expanding upon others, and as I look back on it giving depth to those who were integral to the story. The book is far better now than it was, even I can admit that. But the process…ouch. Continue reading “Adventures in writing- Book two”

I saw in the news today that Rutger Hauer has passed away at age 75. While he is perhaps best known for his role as Roy Batty in Blade Runner, a part that he played consummately, I still remember sitting in the theater reveling in how evil his character was in The Hitcher. John Ryder (his name in that movie) was one of, if not the, quintessential villains in movie history.

The Dutch actor’s career spanned television and the big screen. His roles were as varied as the types of projects he involved himself in (some of which just made me sad), but a person has got to make a living so I can’t really fault him for any of it. Mr. Hauer was also involved in various causes such as The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association which is an Aids awareness organization and Greenpeace.

I never met, or got to know, Mr. Hauer, but I suspect that he probably had quite a sense of humor. You could catch the occasional glimpse of this in the quirky smirk he often wore, and the gleam in his eye as he delivered an especially tasty line. My deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. His passing leaves a void where his acting brought otherwise bland characters to vivid life.

R.I.P Rutger Hauer