Writing On The Fly

2007-02-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

Well, the second book is in editing now. It won't be long before I can resume work on that other manuscript. So far, this blog is continuing, but I believe it's mostly wasted effort in a sea of blogs that resemble nothing so much as a school of fish. Maybe the first few gain some attention, but the rest are so close together that they just don't stand out for anyone.

2007-01-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

Well, on top of having another manuscript to edit after getting the first one out at last, now I've got the results of the P&E Readers Poll to verify and consolidate. All of these activities are slowly convincing me that this blog may have to be discarded. If so, I'll post a note first before it gets deleted.

2007-01-11T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well, what I thought would be through the editing last weekend came back with more edits to review. Anyway, for those who are checking on this blog, it's not dead yet.

On the bright side, I've gained more respect for myself as a writer. In other words, there hasn't been much that was wrong on a serious level. At least, it looks that way to me. I could be way off on this but I found the story entertaining and the changes put in place so far haven't really done any harm to the story.

Interestingly enough, I think more readers are ready for stories that switch among multiple scenes and characters even when those don't appear related at first. When I started this series that the manuscript belongs to that's undergoing editing, it wasn't typical, at least to my sight, that such a style was typical. However, I've seen it in a number of recent programs on TV and can easily believe it happens in many books. In fact, it's a style that I first saw decades ago in a Zane Grey book so I know it's not new. I just hope I'm doing it justice.

At any rate, I'll try not to ignore this blog too much while the editing is ongoing.

2006-12-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

Well, somehow, two posts from my other blog fell into this one. I just found and deleted them today.

Well, the good news is that the editing on the second book is nearly complete. Looks like it should be finished by sometime next week according to the editor. If so, that will permit me to get back to writing for a week or two before the third book needs attention.

2006-12-10T19:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't forgotten this blog. Of course, I'm still occupied with the proofs for two manuscripts so posting here will still be infrequent for a while longer.In the meantime, I've been making some progress on another work other than Karmic Warrior. I've encountered situations like this before where I found myself caught in how to decide which direction to go with the story line. Yes, I often use outlines and know where the story is going, but using those doesn't create a written-in-stone direction that I'm required to follow. There have been times before where I could see that changing the ending or just the direction could result in something better. It's deciding which is better that creates a problem.
Anyway, it's also been my experience that working on something else will usually give me the time I need to better evaluate the direction if only because it gives me some distance so that I can see both the forest and the trees. So that's how it stands for now.In the meantime, I'm working on a sequel to Redwing, Dragon Detective published by Double Dragon Publishing. Why? Well, first off, I came up with some ideas that should be fun. Second, I'd like to make that work a bit longer than it is. After all, it's just barely novella length. Right now, what I've got written can stretch it to novel length. Of course, it probably won't be added to it. Instead, I anticipate it becoming a second book. Maybe someday the two will become parts one and two in the same book. But that can be looked at later. For now, I'm having some fun with a story that was fun before even though I'm not working from an outline on it.

2006-11-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

Well, the first manuscript that tore me away from writing about Karmic Warrior has been through the proofs and is now available. It has a nice cover, though it's nothing remarkable but I believe that's because the story is about the people rather than the landscape so I'm not complaining. In fact, trying to capture the essense of a book in a single picture is just about one of the more difficult tasks anyone can attempt.

So, does this mean I'll be back to writing KW? No, because I was also notified that two others would be following shortly which have to take priority.

Now these two that are coming up are manuscripts that I particularly look forward to seeing in print. For one thing, they're more recent so they reveal, I hope, some improved writing skill on my part, not that I don't still consider myself a hack. I think this is probably a true appraisal. Sure, I come up with some good ideas for stories, but I'm not the most charismatic writer around. Otherwise, I'd be knocking on the doors of the bestsellers asking them to come over for a party celebrating my latest million-seller book. Now I might improve to that level, but it's going to take time, effort, and practice on my part. Am I aiming for that? Well, yes, but I won't be disappointed if there's not enough room at the top or my improvement proves to be too slow to reach that pinacle before I grow old and croak. Why not? Well, I'm enjoying myself because I still find my own writing quite entertaining and there are some readers who apparently agree that some of my work is fun to read.

2006-11-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

In the meantime, while the editing is going on an older published book has finally resulted in a sequel. For several years now one of my favorites seemed doomed to remain a single standalone book, a novella in fact. Well, today I came up with a positive manner in which to reuse the characters. In fact, I realized that quite by accident I provided just the right clues in the first book to justify what happens in order to continue the story. So now there's going to be a sequel that I'll probably limit to similar size.

Karmic Warrior is still on hold. This doesn't bother me since I've had to put manuscripts on hold before. In fact, one time I didn't realize that two different stories were actually the same story just at different times and with different character names. However, once I reached that conclusion, it was rather easy to do a search and replace for one set of characters and then put the two halves into one manuscript. After that, I liked the results. Also, it solved the problem of both stories reaching a deadlock that I couldn't otherwise resolve.

Plus, the editing on the one book is back with the editor and I expect to have to set everything aside when the last few concerns are addressed. Then I expect one or two other manuscripts to also come from the editor. So, it's obviously going to be a slow process and likely I'll gain some inspiration or new ideas for Karmic Warrior or perhaps the new manuscript tentatively titled Cold Wind.

2006-11-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not certain why some of the posts are not allowing comments. I'll try to monitor that and see if it can be fixed.

2006-11-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

Well, as they say real life can be a problem when it comes to writing. However, so can writing when it comes to writing. So, what am I saying?

Specifically that I have to temporarily set aside the Karmic Warrior in order to work on the proofs from a publisher for another manuscript that's slated to be published. After all, if I don't get that one out, then no publisher is going to want to work with me on newer manuscripts I submit. So, look for this blog to be without anything new on the new manuscript for a week or two.

2006-10-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

The problem I've been facing is that Valoria is in danger of becoming a Mary Sue character. Except for the fact that she's failed to let Rayal know that she's the karmic warrior, she's too damn perfect even though that's kind of hard to avoid since she can recognize evil instantly because of her ability to see it in colors. Likewise, her ability to make metal burn when it encounters flesh makes everyone fear fighting her especially since I'm doing my best to make this story realistic so that means there aren't endless numbers of soldiers ready to do the bidding of the local lords or the king. If they try drafting peasants, the peasants won't do the job well. They'll glance into an area, see a woman, and report they didn't find the karmic warrior. Even if they saw a man, they're likely to report they didn't see him because they won't want to be forced to take up arms against someone who's actually fighting for justice on their behalves.

At least, I think I'm being realistic. Most nobles in our own history had to go about building an army whenever it became necessary to attack or defend. It just wasn't economical to maintain a large standing army. Most had small forces that were generally just large enough to defend the home castle and also provide escort for the noble about the countryside. In fact, I'd estimate that would be fewer than forty men at arms in many cases. If the noble used all of those to hunt down one person, it might present an opportunity to someone else to take over his castle just to force a ransom if not take over and keep his lands completely.

Getting back to the story, it's not easy giving this the proper twist. A part of me still wants to kill off Valoria because she's too close to being a Mary Sue even though she was captured somewhat easily. It's that one thing that makes me wonder if she can be salvaged and if I do keep her alive, then how does the story proceed? After all, part of the conflict is kept most alive not by her attacks on the evil nobles but on the fact that she and Rayal misunderstand each other so much. Sooner or later, he has to learn her true identity. When that happens, much of their misunderstanding will turn into understanding.

2006-10-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to wait some more to see if anyone wants to comment or make a suggestion though I suspect no one is reading this with any regularity.

2006-10-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Right now, I'm conflicted between killing off Valoria now or letting her escape to be killed much later. One reason for this is that I can submit the short version to a publication that might very well lead to film or TV options. A longer version might provide a few interesting scenes, but the ending will still remain much the same with her admonishing Rayal that karmic vision isn't needed to recognize evil.

Although I can well imagine some folks wondering if I've lost my mind, I'm not at all bothered by the fact that the story might be changed significantly if it ever reaches production. I already understand that I won't have control over it then, so it won't be a surprise if the producers should change the ending in order to make it a TV series or extend it to the natural ending I've come to envision.

You're surprised that I've decided that Valoria will die? It shouldn't be one. After all, she has one invincible tool at her disposal because she can always recognize her enemies and they don't even have the slightest clue that the karmic warrior is a woman. Furthermore, she's not predisposed to make unnecessary attacks because she's willing to bide her time and take the enemy on when she can win. It's probably not the moral high road, but it's not like she really has a choice. She doesn't have an army around her and even if she did, they'd expect her to be at the head in the worst of the fighting which is not at all conducive to a long life when there are many men who are better fighters who stand an equal or better chance of picking her off once they know who to target. Sure, TV will probably try to place her in that position, but that's their concern. I've tried to create a character that's realistic in at least a few mannerisms. She's made mistakes in handing her trusted companion. She hasn't targeted the key individuals who might cause the current regime to collapse, not that it would necessarily result in a better system or regime. As well, the forces she's confronted have been realistic in size and armament.

So what's this lead us to? Well, it's like this. There probably aren't but a few readers of this blog. Regardless, I'd like to hear from you. Speak you mind about this.

2006-09-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

The more I want to get information posted, the more it seems that events start to overtake me. So far, the research has taken over for now as more ideas that need to be researched take precedence. At best, I'm getting a sentence or two each day and sometimes not even that. It's enough to make me want to switch over to the other manuscript and work on it, but that would be the easy way out and then I'd have to reread what I've got so far just to even know what I was doing before switching. So, I'll settle for a few words here and a few there. That means posting about how the work is progressing won't be frequent. It'll be more in the neighborhood of maybe a new post once every two weeks. Hopefully that won't last for long.

2006-09-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

Though I'm writing, the story is moving even slower because of my other activities. That's to be expected when the community wants information about Sobol, PA, LAG, and others. Fortunately, these all happen in cycles even though this time several overlapped for attention.

I've even taken a few moments to add some links to this blog. So, take heart, I haven't forgotten this blog or my writing. It's just that sometimes it takes longer than expected.

By the way, last night an idea came to me for a story that's been on hold for several months now. At last, I know what one character, now dead, did before he died and have a reason for why it's discovered now. In fact, I only knew at the time that he created a genetic monstrousity, but I didn't know what kind of creature he modified. The idea that came to me last night? He modified a creature that was in plain sight all the while and in an area where he hoped to gain revenge against two opponents he tried to kill earlier only to fail because they were defending themselves in familiar territory. In fact, the part about the revenge came to me only at the moment I was writing this blog, so ideas do come when they're not expected. Now I'm looking forward to really getting back to that story. Will that put this one on hold? That depends.

2006-09-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick note that I'm still immersed in doing research for this story. So far, I've found a few facts that might be interesting, but don't appear to contribute anything to the story so I'm not introducing them. Sometimes a side trip is just wasted effort.

2006-09-02T18:59:00.000-07:00

In Chapter 10, Rayal reasons it out that an attack on the castle would be useless even if he had friends to assist him. Because he's a thinker, he realizes that he needs better information so he takes a job as a stable hand with the intention of listening to what the villagers living outside the castle know about it. As luck would have it, the man who hires him to muck the stables also has the same job inside the castle, so Rayal finds himself getting inside at least to the stables.

Still more luck enables Rayal to locate Valoria when he's taken away from the stables to muck the dungeon. Of course, this came to me only after I decided that Rayal might have worked with horses while taking his training from Master Danel. Also, by now he might appear a bit ragged and not seem like he's overdressed for that kind of work. By mentioning that Rayal had experience in caring for horses, I created a job that he might not like, but could be reasonably expected to know how to do. For him to get some other job might require skills that he wouldn't have. As well, I realized that it wouldn't be much of a leap for a guard to take him away from one task to do something similar since there were two men to muck the stables and one would still be doing that.

Probably the only thing about this story is the fact that I believe it will only be novelette length rather than long enough to be a full novel. Of course, other ideas may occur that could change the current impression I have.

2006-08-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

Right now, I'm in research mode so that I can portray some of the castle life accurately enough that it will seem more real. Just wanted anyone reading this blog to know it's still alive.

2006-08-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not certain if what is currently labeled as Chapter 9 will remain that way. I'm contemplating inserting another chapter before it. As it stands now, there's no real indication of how much time has transpired. However, Rayal was set upon outside a tavern after getting drunk. Because of the information given to Rayal after he's helped by an old woman who finds him after he was mugged, he begins to question what he knew. She pointed out to him that trusted companions were always male and there was always only one after the first karmic warrior discovered the temptation of jealousy among his followers.

Basically, she points out to Rayal that he's lost the karmic warrior's trust because he didn't defend Valoria. Now he has to find Valoria and do what he can to rescue her.

2006-08-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

At this point, I'm writing slower than usual because another problem has cropped up. The story is moving along a bit fast and won't reach novel length at this rate. I just don't see any need to pad the story unnecessarily because that wouldn't be right. I want the story to be interesting, but not one in which a character mopes about for ten chapters before he gets his act together and finally takes action. So, I'm examining the story to see if anything needs to be added or not.

Of course, if it doesn't reach novel length, then I'll see if any publications want a short story.

2006-08-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well, Chapter 8 ends with Valoria in custody though Lord Itchner doesn't realize she's the karmic warrior. Only her mother knows and she's elsewhere at the moment since there's no need for her to be involved at this point. Even if she knew, she'd have to travel by foot and there's no guarantee that she could find Rayal even if she knew he was Valoria's trusted companion.

Valoria and Rayal are married, but they haven't consummated the marriage. Valoria was in the room preparing and Rayal was elsewhere. I didn't feel it was necessary to explain what he was doing. He could have been bringing up some food and drinks since room service would probably be non-existent. However, I didn't show any of that though it could be added later if an explanation is needed for why he wasn't in the room when Itchner and his men appeared and broke in to catch Valoria off guard. As well, I don't explain why Valoria doesn't sense their nearness. I may have to get into that since it may be important to the reader. Of course, the reader might conclude she was anxious about her marriage and missed catching the sense.

When the chapter concludes, Rayal manages to get loose and re-arm himself to take up the pursuit. However, he's on foot and has no chance of catching up.

2006-08-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, Valoria has realized that she can repay Rayal partly by marrying him. As well, it serves also to make them appear more real as a couple to anyone who encounters them. However, there's a downside to this. When they leave the wilderness to find a church, they'll leave behind their swords and put themselves into a less defensive posture. This is when things will happen. Of course, I'm still working on the marriage scene in Chapter 8 and haven't decided if Rayal gets to bed her before the king's men appear to arrest her.

2006-08-12T16:48:00.000-07:00

Chapter 8 is coming along slow. I tend to go slower than usual when I have multiple choices which are all appealing. Rather than list those now, I'll just go back to writing. I just wanted to let anyone who's reading this that I haven't abandoned this blog.

2006-08-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, more of chapter 7 is in place. We still have Valoria and Rayal in the countryside for the most part. They spot a man who Valoria knows instantly is up to no good. Choosing to halt for the day rather than catch up to him, Rayal sets up camp while she goes about hunting for dinner. We soon realize that the man is watching Valoria with bad intent and that she senses his presence. Still, she goes about bagging a rabbit and wheels about in time to take him out with a karmic arrow. Upon returning to the camp, she mentions the incident to Rayal that the karmic warrior protected her, permitting Rayal to mention they should recover the arrowhead.

That night, they learn the man was a murderer and a rapist when some local men surround part of their camp in the mistaken belief that they're responsible for the attack that took place earlier. Hopefully, this will lead into later scenes where the incident will make more sense than it does now.

2006-08-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Haven't abandoned this, but I'm still writing the chapter, so I won't have more to report for several days.

2006-07-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well, chapter 7 turned out to be short. There wasn't much need in letting it roll on and on when the point could be made in one page. Mainly, the king and Lord Itchner have heard of the attack on the men seeking to apprehend whoever attacked and killed the tax collector and his guards. Because karmic arrows were used, they're no longer fooled by the body they believed was the KW. As well, they've heard the report that the woman claims to be a trusted companion.

Of course, we know she made no such claim, but I felt this would show how information is garbled in transit and add a bit more realism to the story. It also serves to isolate her as their goal and leaves Rayal on the periphery.

Well, I'll be posting more in a few days. First I have to write more before I can explain what's happening and why I chose to go certain ways. To tell the truth, several ideas came to mind and I've seriously considered combining several, but only one really works in my opinion. It's not one that will be popular with the readers, I suspect.

2006-07-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

O. M. G. I just realized today that the story isn't actually about the karmic warrior. It's about someone else. The KW is only the pivotal character who causes everything else to happen. I suspect at this point that I may have to outline the rest of the story in order to avoid straying from this revelation.

Okay, just to let you know. I figured out the story may actually be about Rayal and how he eventually betrays the KW despite his love for her. His problem is his jealousy over her being the contact for the KW because he doesn't know she's the KW. He wants to replace her and mistakenly believes that seeing her imprisoned will elevate him. She doesn't see it coming because the change is so gradual.

Now all I've got to do is come up with the appropriate scenes leading to that betrayal and then figure out what happens after that. Does she have a way of passing on the ability by kissing him (to steal from Judas' betrayal in reverse)? Does he realize after days or weeks of no contact that his only recourse is to free her even if it costs him his life? Was his name a subliminal push by my subconscious to point me in this direction (betRayal)? At this point, I don't know, but it all seems to come together.

Of course, the good thing about this is that she gets to avoid direct combat in which she might be recognized, but I still want at least one such scene so that she gets to show her stuff.

If anyone has any suggestions, comments, or questions, those are welcome.

Well, I got Chapter 6 written today. In it, we get our direct combat fix that the story needs. Valoria and Rayal ambush the king's tax collector and his five guards. Using bows to kill one and wound four, Valoria and Rayal then charge with their daggers. Their fierceness causes the tax collector to flee with Rayal on his heels. Valoria tackles the other four and manages to take a sword from the first wounded man she opposes and kills. Better armed, she faces off against the others and disarms another. Rayal catches up to the tax collector, kills him, and takes his sword. He rushes back to assist Valoria and kills the unarmed soldier causing one of the two remaining men to flee. Valoria uses that diversion to take advantage of the remaining soldier and kill him. She tries to hit the fleeing soldier with her dagger, but it's ineffective. However, Rayal ran after him and catches up to kill the last soldier.

Prior to the battle, Rayal was reluctant. He felt the fighting was something the karmic warrior should do. Obviously, he feels his job is to be a trusted companion who helps guard the KW.

After the battle, he's concerned that their identities will become known. Valoria is finally realizing that she should have been honest about her identity because now Rayal is becoming a problem for her to handle. Even though she seizes a chance to let him contribute more, it's obvious, I hope, that she's not truly successful.

Later in the same chapter, they're employing one of Rayal's ideas when some of the local soldiers show up looking to see who's distributing the money back to the poor. They spot Rayal in the dark and Valoria uses her karmic arrows to wound their leader in order to put fear in them. Unlike lots of stories, I went with the concept that most localities did not have large units of soldiers, so they're facing only three of the six men assigned to their area. Wounding and then killing the leader is sufficient to send the two soldiers with him fleeing. However, it's a bad idea in the long run.

Still wishing to placate Rayal, Valoria accepts another of his suggestions since they can only recover the arrowheads. The shafts of the arrows burned away, so new shafts need to be made or purchased. Rayal suggests visiting the nearby town and claim that they found money in their campsite when they woke. They visit the town and Rayal gets drunk. Valoria has already turned in for the night and Rayal unknowingly reveals that he's a nobody and she's a trusted companion.

2006-07-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

At this point, this blog has caught up with the chapters. I'm currently writing chapter 5 and some of it is coming together quite well. Other aspects concern me.

For instance, I feel I have the right take on how a woman might approach some problems, but I suspect the readers will want more action. So far, Valoria hasn't actually gone toe-to-toe with any baddies. Of course, I intend for that to happen, but I don't want her coming off looking like a Mary Sue who can do anything and everything without breaking a nail. So, I feel like chapter 5 is going to be critical.

Since the chapter isn't finished, this will cover only a portion of it. Five begins with one of the soldiers commenting that maybe the weapons used by the karmic assassin won't burn the karmic assassin. Itchner grasps this immediately and orders a return to find Valoria and Rayal so a different test can be performed though nothing is said how that would be performed.

At the same time, Valoria decides it's time to visit a town for some supplies and other needed items. It could be her spidey sense or it could be coincidental. In the town, Valoria needs a black bag and some leather. These are available from different merchants. It's while they're at the cobblers trying to get some leather that Valoria sets up the cobbler to meet with a bad ending at the hands of Itchner's men who arrive while Valoria and Rayal are at the cobbler's. Valoria cries out that she was burned by the cobbler's knife and the soldiers rush in killing the cobbler after one soldier is burned by touching the cobbler's knife.

I'll add to this post later after more of the chapter is ready. And then I have to catch a cold, so the next installment will be yet a few more days before it's posted.

2006-07-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4 proved to be interesting in some ways. First of all, it starts with the king's soldiers surrounding Valoria and Rayal. Even though it's not stated, we can see in Valoria's words and actions that her ability to see auras is guiding her and she's advising Rayal that they'll be okay.

When asked about her dagger, Valoria shows she can tell partial truths as well as anyone and even some lies. That, I believe, should make it clear to the reader that just telling some lies doesn't make someone evil. In other words, she's not operating in a black and white world and knows that even good people lie. She also shows an ability to throw off the sense of danger by making a joke. At the same time, Rayal shines as he proves he can react to prompts quickly and naturally. It will be one of his most important attributes, but not necessary the only one. Some ideas have occurred to me that might make this even more interesting.

However, Lord Itchner isn't easily fooled. He chooses to test both blades on Rayal by sticking the points of each into Rayal's arm. Of course, Rayal isn't evil, so the blades don't burn him even though we know one has been blessed. At this point, I have to admit that I just realized that the karmic blessing has to fade with time or there would be a lot of blessed blades and arrows being used by people who recovered them since that was a fairly common practice among medieval folks. Just because you used an arrow once didn't mean you couldn't use it again even if it was one sent at you by an enemy.

After the king's men leave, Valoria patches up Rayal's slight wounds using bandages that Master Danel had included in the pack that Rayal left with. As well, it's clear from this scene that Rayal and Valoria trust each other and Rayal is falling in love with her.

While Itchner and his troop ride away, a conversation among them reveals that Valoria isn't a raving beauty. She's considered comely and about the best that Rayal might find as a wife, but not uninteresting in looks. As well, we see some ambition in Itchner. He wants to kill the karmic warrior and take possession of the weapons which he believes will retain their power. He sees only the fire and not the real power of the karmic blessing on weapons.

At first, I didn't realize just how prescient this was until a later scene confirmed how Itchner behaved and what he believed. This will work well in setting up later scenes where he slowly wises up until he reaches the point of being truly dangerous and has to be killed. Fortunately, this kingdom has numerous evildoers and not just him and the king.

2006-07-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

In Chapter 3, I decided that it would become obvious to the reader that a few days or so have passed if it started with the evil king receiving the bad news that his efforts of 20 years earlier had failed.

Additionally, Rayal is mystified how Valoria is communicating with the karmic warrior. This gave me an opportunity to show that they're not penniless. As well, it gives some reasoning to why they're camping out rather than going from town to town.

To tell the truth, this is one story that I didn't outline. I haven't anymore ideas than the readers at this point about what's going to happen next which is exactly what happened in this chapter. Of course, the advantage to this is that the story is also entertaining me as it unfolds.

In a way, I'm hinting that it's possible for someone bad to ambush a karmic warrior if the bad guy is hidden because then their auras are next to impossible to spot by a karmic warrior. This, of course, will make it more difficult for her to deal with real evil. The rogue they meet is at first nameless. In fact, upon having him appear, I wasn't at all sure what role he'd play. However, he served a good purpose by making it possible for Rayal to learn that the karmic warrior was truly active. As well, it relieved Valoria of keeping the secret of Master Danel's death. As well, this created a conflict over who would be in charge. Abel, the rogue, at first sees Rayal as easy to manipulate and Valoria as a conquest.

A change of scene also brings in Lord Itchner. That name is subject to change as I'm not overly satisfied with it, but at least it's easy to do a replace function should a better name come to mind. In the scene with him, we learn that the people didn't give Surban a burial. Furthermore, we actually do get into an ancient CSI mode here as the king's men determine that one wound was definitely caused by a karmic assassin.

Our scene switches back to our travelers where Abel is trying to convince Valoria that he's a better traveling companion and that they could turn in Rayal for a reward. This gives the reader the opportunity to find out just how tough Valoria is. She doesn't mince words and isn't above being insulting to those deserving of such treatment. She later warns Rayal when he relieves her on guard that she doesn't trust Abel.

In the meantime, it's morning and the men at Itchner's camp near Surban's body have discovered some tracks, but they're coming up with wrong interpretations.

At Valoria's camp, more fireworks take place between her and Abel. It's just shortly after this that she and Rayal head to the water to clean up so they won't smell and give away their location so easily.

However, in a quick scene change, we learn that Valoria has been bitten by a snake. Rayal seeks out Abel to help him with her only to have Abel turn on him now that Valoria is out of action. Abel disarms Rayal and demands that he lead them to Valoria. At this point, Rayal realizes that Abel may intend to kill him once he has all the weapons, so he runs before Abel can react, but only far enough to be safe and keep Abel under watch. This leads to Abel eventually finding Valoria and deciding that he can have her after all since she's not yet dead after taking her blade and holding it near her nose to see if her breath appears. Of course, this activates the blade and when he accidentally touches it to himself while dropping his pants, the intense burning provides Rayal with the opportunity he needs to rush Abel and recover their weapons. Showing the side of himself that's quick thinking, Rayal remembers their bows are back at the camp, so he runs to recover those as well before Abel can rearm himself.

The next scene reveals another day has passed, but Valoria is recovering. She's obviously weak, but manages to explain to Rayal that her dagger was blessed by the karmic warrior as his will eventually be. It's the best she can manage since they need some explanation now that someone is on the loose who's survived a karmic wound.

Of course, this suggested how the following chapter would develop and some of what would happen in it.

2006-07-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, chapter 2 of Karmic Warrior is written. I figured at this point it was time to unleash her. Chapter 1 was basically quite short, just enough to get the idea across. Now it's time for some action before the readers are lost.

First that that happens in chapter 2 is we discover that Master Danel, the instructor, has been murdered and Surban is blaming it upon Valoria and Rayal. Though I was tempted to point out that Surban was covering up the evidence by hugging his dead instructor's body, I felt that would come across as too close to becoming CSI. Besides, I figured the readers would be smart enough to figure out that Surban was doing his best to cover up everything with fake acting and such since we already know he's the only individual with a real motive and opportunity.

It was at this point that I decided it wasn't enough for Valoria to simply be able to recognize evil by its aura, so she has a sense of bad things happening within a certain distance. Consequently, she decides to move their camp just a bit farther before the sun goes down completely. After all, they weren't in any rush earlier and haven't been on the trail for very long, so the school is still relatively close to them.

This proves to be good for her since Surban convinces others that they couldn't have gone far in the dark and it should be possible to find their camp.

Of course, Valoria wonders about her sudden intuition and goes back to observe the former campsite after Rayal falls asleep. She's rewarded when it turns out that of the groups sent out to find her, the one led by Surban finds the first campsite. Of course, she's worried that maybe Master Danel sent them since she's unaware of his death and doesn't realize his death was what caused her intuition to act up.

I gave her this unplanned ability because I realized that she would be at a disadvantage while living in the wild if she had no way of learning when evil events took place. The trick now will be to avoid overusing it or expanding it to the point where she's too powerful.

While watching them, she's unaware that one of them is evil until his aura is outlined by that of someone else in the same group. Only then does she plan on taking action even though she doesn't yet know what happened. However, the group gets into a discussion about trying to find the trail upon discovering the campsite is abandoned and she recognizes Surban's voice. As well, she learns from their discussion that Danel was murdered.

It was in this overall scene that I realized something more needed to be available for others to recognize when a karmic warrior was active. This came about with what I feel was an interesting thought that she could breathe upon the arrowhead and that when it hit the victim it would cause the victim to experience burns and not just an ordinary wound. Furthermore, if the victim was only wounded, the pain would increase if he lied. Of course, the people would know that weapons used by a karmic warrior would burn, but they wouldn't know that the weapon had to be breathed upon. That way, the bad guys wouldn't know to give everyone a blade breathalizer test and then cut someone to see if the wound burned in order to discover the karmic warrior's identity. Of course, this might be discovered later, but it would have to be followed up properly to prevent the information from getting out. I realize that it might even become a moral problem for her if someone good or close to her learns of that.

In the meantime, Valoria's arrow is accurate enough in the night to strike Surban and wound him. The others are awed to see an arrow that burns in the wound and instantly realize there's a karmic warrior near them. Recognizing immediately that Surban must be evil because of the karmic arrow, they immediately demand truthful answers from Surban. After he admits to killing Danel, they end his suffering by finishing the job for the karmic warrior. This also leads them into some speculation that will eventually get out as gossip that Rayal is the karmic warrior and that he either killed Valoria, too, or that she's his trusted companion since they, like most people, believe that karmic warriors are always male.

Valoria soon returns to the new campsite to wake Rayal for his turn at guard. She's learning already how to tell disguised truths so that she doesn't have to actually lie. At the same time, she finds that she also has to build up some of Rayal's confidence because he feels inadequate to the task of being a trusted companion. She manges to restore some of that to him and at the same time make it seem less likely that she's the karmic warrior now that the authorities are certain to hear of Surban being attacked by a karmic warrior.

Overall, I was satisfied with this chapter. Perhaps I could have stretched it out some, but I didn't want her to be so powerful that she couldn't lose. Instead, I wanted it to look like she's still a bit of a novice at being a karmic warrior. This will permit me to give her other powers later, if those are needed, without having to explain why she didn't know about them before that point. At the same time, her current abilities only serve to make her more equal to the bad guys who greatly outnumber her and Rayal.

2006-07-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, it's been a while since I last posted anything. Well, I wanted to evaluate how this blog was doing and I hadn't started another manuscript as yet. Well, whether anyone is paying any attention or not, I've decided that I'll go through the motions once more with a new manuscript that's under development.

Tentative title of this new manuscript is Karmic Warrior. Basically, I wanted to look at a new hero who finds herself in an unexpected role by setting up some basic premises for the bad guys and just about everyone else to believe in within the story.

First of all, just about everyone believes that karmic warriors have to be men. The story opens with a woman confronting one of the king's men demanding to see her child. Yes, I stole unabashedly from the Bible, so to speak, because they've been ordered to go around and kill all male infants. Of course, they can tell the difference between a male and a female, so our heroine, Valoria, lives. The first chapter speeds rather quickly through her early childhood with her mother teaching her enough to survive such as how to recognize good foods and then how to recognize which merchants are cheating, though Valoria can easily distinguish that better than anyone other than another karmic warrior because she can see auras around people. By virtue of those, she can tell who's merely telling a little lie and who's truly evil. The people know of this ability, but they have to take it on faith that karmic warriors can see evil. Furthermore, karmic warriors violently oppose evil by killing those who truly are evil. Because there are so few karmic warriors, in fact only one in this story, they tend to use assassination techniques to kill evildoers who usually have guards to protect them especially since most of the rulers are evil in this story.

By age ten, Valoria is enrolled in a martial arts school in a remote area of their land so that she won't be questioned so easily. There she works to earn her tuition and becomes skilled, though not the best warrior in the school. Even so, she has an encounter with one of the other students just before a meeting with the head of the school who has finally concluded after ten years of teaching her that she is a karmic warrior. He suggests that it's time for her to take her place as a people's defender and suggests she select someone from the school to be her trusted companion. Her selection surprises him as she selects someone whose abilities are limited. However, he realizes that if he is right about her then she is selecting based on what she can see.

Rayal witnessed the encounter Valoria had with another student. When told there's a karmic warrior still alive and that his name was mentioned, he at first worries that he's been selected for death because he didn't report the challenge between Valoria and Surban, the other student. The head instructor has to hurriedly calm him down and explain he was suggested as worthy of being a trusted companion. Though at first, he was going to be given the identity of the karmic warrior, it works out that Rayal's instructed merely to leave with Valoria because she knows the identity thus leaving it up to her in case Rayal doesn't work out.

To further complicate matters, it's agreed that Valoria and Rayal will leave as if they'd been dismissed for being involved in the challenge. Of course, this creates a problem than none of them anticipate because Surban then suspects that he's about to also be given the boot when he learns they were dismissed.

Of course, by this time, the king and other evildoers believe there are no more karmic assassins as they refer to this special group since there haven't been any sightings or violent assassinations in twenty years.

For this particular book, I've decided that I won't try to create an entire new world. It won't be Earth, but it will have much the same produce, animals, transportation, and so forth. There will probably be a few differences, but only where those help the story. Hopefully, this will permit me to concentrate more on the story.

As before, even though I don't recall anyone doing so, questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.

2006-04-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

Chapter 18, for most purposes, is the end of the story. For one thing, Buzzard finds Mirage and learns what she was doing because he wanted to give her some assistance unlike Steve and Susan. While they're talking, he shows her how to expand her size and points out it can be done while at events so happy that there's an excess of energy. Expanding uses up some of the excess.

As well, he gets across the point that they all lose something when they become fairies. He illustrates with his own situation by revealing that he was gay, but can't even approach another male because of the energy polarities involved. By the time I reached this point, it seemed like a ready-made solution to the ending I'd finally realized was the only one acceptable. Anything else would have been cheating. For her part, Mirage has learned quickly, so she accepts the advice Buzzard offers and wishes Melody well while hoping that she doesn't get Bill involved with Marigold which might put him in prison if the story ever got out.

As well, while Mirage is wishing her sister well, Marigold catches sight of Mirage from the audience and realizes then that it's true that Mirage is no longer with them except as a spirit of some kind. Marigold convinces Melody and then their parents that she should traipse along with Melody to celebrate with Melody's friends. Shortly after that, Marigold reveals what she saw to Melody. Later, they reach Bill's home to let him know that Marigold saw Mirage. When they leave his place, it's clear that they consider him a target to conquer.

After they leave, Mirage reaches Bill's place with the intent of somehow telling Bill he's free. It turns out that Buzzard has followed her to continue her instruction. Upon learning that she wants to communicate to him that he's free, Buzzard suggests another method that only a few fairies can accomplish. Because they use energy, they can also influence it in small amounts which means that some of them can communicate for brief moments by influencing electrical devices. Though Mirage doesn't know binary code, Buzzard has a fairy friend who does and who knows how to send a brief message through a computer. The chapter ends with Bill saving what he knows is Mirage's last message to him as she releases him to live his own life.

Rather than end on such a sad note, I chose to write a very brief chapter 19 where we see Mirage is being asked if she knows a Jenny Johnson who might be converting to a fairy. Of course, Mirage knows someone named Jenny and asks if Jenny Johnson is a hairdresser. The story then ends without that being revealed, but the possibility of someone she knows becoming a fairy.

Well, if anyone wants to know why I chose some of the directions or why I left several sub-plots open ended, post away. I'll try to answer.

2006-04-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Chapter 17 starts out with some success for Mirage in teaching a new game to Cloud in hopes of using it to communicate. In the meantime, Melody and Marigold are both parked out in the street having brought over cat litter. From their conversation, it's clear that they're conspiring to get Bill in bed. When Bill arrives, they go in with him. Marigold fills the litter box and later asks to see the ring. Bringing that up saddens Bill causing Mirage to feel pain from him. This brings out a comment from Mirage that she already knows Marigold is a gold digger.

At about the same time, Bartlet is undergoing questioning with his attorney present. He's clearly evasive and almost makes a mistake once, but his attorney catches him in time. Now we're fairly certain that Bartlet was behind at least the one incident, but there's not enough evidence to indict, let alone convict him.

When Melody and Marigold leave Bill's place, they're planning again and aggravated slightly that Bill's calling their home to let their parents know they're on the way back. Although it's not stated by him that he's trying to foil them as much as possible, that's what his actions are meant to show. Also, in their discussion, it's revealed that Melody graduates the following day. This sets up some critical scenes. When I first thought of this, it was supposed to have a different outcome, but the story just seemed to veer off on its own. I liked how it turned out instead in the following chapter.

2006-04-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

In Chapter 16, Mirage finally gets her message out about rescuing Cloud. Cheryl has to call Bill at work to pass the message on to him. However, Bill recognizes he doesn't have any standing to ask the police to give Cloud to him. As well, with all that's happened, he doesn't intend to make matters worse by breaking in since that could make him look guilty concerning what's already happened. Consequently, he has no one to ask but Melody. Melody agrees and Bill makes arrangements with the police for them to take in the cat.

I don't know why, but it was at this point that I chose to make it known that Mirage had two sisters and Melody and Marigold have arrived at the apartment to meet with Bill and the police to get the cat along with its litter box and food. Mirage is there as well and she does her part to lead Cloud to Bill so the cat can be placed in a carrier.

Just after the cat is caught and the group leaves the apartment, the girl shows up. She comments that Bill is a good man and when asked explains she saw the fairy kissing Bill just then. It's at this point that Bill realizes Antony and Cheryl weren't scamming him about Antony seeing Mirage as an angel.

The two sisters and Bill drive to his house. From their conversation, we discover that Marigold knows Melody only too well just like Mirage. However, we also find out that Marigold isn't a virgin, either. As well, Mirage has followed to gain her first view of the home she would have lived in. Bill talks to the cat not realizing that it can see Mirage, but he soon suspects it can. Still, his one-way conversation makes it clear that he figured out quickly that the two sisters were working together to get his pants off.

In leaving, we also learn that the two sisters are working together to shack up with Bill. They're even willing to drug him to get their way.

At first, it puzzled me why Melody had reverted back to chasing after Bill. Then it occurred to me that it was only human nature to do so. As well, it might be interpreted as a sign that she believes Mirage is dead considering what she said in an earlier conversation. Since she doesn't believe that Bill was responsible, he's basically fair game again. Also, if Mirage isn't dead, then it's her opportunity to target Bill anyway.

2006-04-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

With Chapter 15, Nelsson reveals to Antony's attorney that it's looking even better for Antony because they found a phone link with one man who was known to partner with the dead gunman. At the same time, the police indicate to him that they believe the gunmen were somehow responsible for Mirage's death.

Mirage visits Antony and convinces him she wasn't murdered, but has to go along with his new belief that she was always an angel. This is her opportunity to contact Bill and ask that he rescue Cloud for her. After their meeting, Cheryl does some hunting for Antony to contact Bill and she's successful.

When Bill arrives at the restaurant, that's when he and Cheryl realize they already met at the jail. Almost immediately, his sadness hits Mirage and she works hurriedly to get a message to Antony through pantomime to console Bill and urge him not to be sad. As it stands, enough information is exchanged for him to question whether or not it's really Mirage sending him written messages through Antony.

When Bill returns home later, a message is on his phone from Melody who's anxious about any news that might develop concerning Mirage. Bill returns her call and mentions having been to the equivalent of a seance after being invited over. He lets her know he doesn't have a lot of faith yet in what transpired. I deliberately let him speak that way because it seemed like the more realistic choice. He doesn't want to admit she's not coming back because that could put more attention on him. As well, it could trigger a bad reaction from a sister.

2006-04-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Chapter 14 gave me a chance to have Steve and Buzzard briefly confront each other. Essentially, Steve became a fairy at 16, so he's had no reason to actually mature since then.

As well, we learn that Antony's attorney and Nelsson, the detective, have worked together to share some information with the results that it appears Antony will be cleared. Now Bartlet is emerging as a prime suspect.

As for Mirage, she meets near the apartment a little girl who can see her and asks if she's a fairy. Mirage hopes to use this to some advantage. I felt this helped to show how helpless she was to affect things in the world she left. The girl offers to give her some doll clothes and Mirage follows along even though she can't wear them.

Bill is back at work despite having been questioned much of the night. This isn't much of a scene within the chapter, but it helps set up later scenes by showing Bill is tired.

To her horror, Mirage discovers that the girl lives in the apartment next to hers. Because the weather is warm, she's permitted to play outside and now we know why her mother had sex in the hallway. She was hiding her behavior from the kid by claiming she was fighting off a dragon. This sequence actually ambushed me. I hadn't planned it, but I felt it worked to show that first impressions shouldn't always be taken as they appear. In a way, it helps Mirage later decide something important just as other events helped her and will combine with this in a bittersweet way.

While Mirage is with the kid, some cops show up to gather evidence now that they're concerned there might be foul play involved in Mirage's disappearance because of Antony referring to her as an angel. One good thing happens. They notice the cat dish and hear the cat, so they fill the dishes for it.

On their way out, one officer drops some of the drawings collected as possible evidence. The girl helps collect those and exclaims that they're fairies and that she recognizes one. When asked when she saw Mirage, she tells the cops she was beside them when they entered the apartment causing them to think ghost and that there might definitely be foul play.

Bill is brought in for more questioning. However, he maintains his innocence. When he leaves, the cops are of the opinion that he is innocent. They're more convinced that Bartlet had far more reason than anyone else. In the meantime, Bill gets back to work, picks up his bike, and goes home only to find Melody there to confront him. After seeing the ring that Bill left in his jacket pocket with his bike, Melody concludes that he was serious about her. What's more, she sees from some evidence about his lifestyle that he was willing to set his wild days aside to be with Mirage and decides that it would be best if she doesn't come between them.

As the chapter ends, Antony is back at his restaurant. True to form, he's not spending time worrying about other things. Instead, he goes to work cleaning up the mess and working on the damaged dining booth.

2006-04-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

When I wrote Chapter 13, it seemed to be needed. Partly, the story needed to show some time passing rather than just writing 'six hours later'. As well, it helps explain a few more details such as the other waitress being Antony's granddaughter. Now we have further justification for Antony taking such drastic action as facing the gunmen by himself. He doesn't know they're also targeted, but he still feels a need to protect them just as the destroyers did for the carriers of Taffy Three. We also have Cheryl and Bill encounter each other as he leaves the station after an apparent all-nighter, but they don't quite realize who the other is though Cheryl suspected he was the same biker who dated Mirage.

We also find out that the police interviewed Antony without his lawyer. From their speech, the reader should infer that Antony was already questioned and his lawyer insisted on always being present. Now the police have connected Mirage's disappearance with her place of employment and Antony has mentioned she's an angel with the connotation that he knows she's dead.

At this time, a small group of angels enters the room to help Antony. Antony doesn't want to be seen as crazy, so he reads the pantomimes of the angels to order his attorney to flip a coin which the fairies manipulate through the power of positive and negative energy. After this demonstration, the attorney permits Antony to write on a pad provided by the lawyer so the police can't read the impression on underlying pages of a pad that was already on the table. Then using the method that Mirage came up with, they manage to fill in some information on who they believe is responsible for the gunmen. It's during this instruction that Antony learns his daughter and granddaughter were also being targeted.

In the meantime, Mirage has reached the conclusion that she needs help from other fairies to rescue her cat from her locked apartment. So while not much new information was revealed, I felt the chapter was reasonably useful and entertaining, so I kept it.

2006-04-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Chapter 12 is instructive for Mirage. She meets up with other fairies who give her better information about being a fairy. Also, she discovers that Cloud can still see her. In the process, she discovers that the police have marked off her apartment and no one did anything to see about care for her cat.

Essentially, this is a short chapter where it's obvious to other fairies that she's in over her head, so they take over in seeking out Antony to do their best to advise him now that they have a new method of communication courtesy of Mirage. At the same time, Mirage discovers the same thing when she realizes she can't help her cat anymore than by playing with him for awhile.

I wasn't sure where this chapter was headed, but my original intention was for Mirage to set up a dramatic rescue by Bill, but too many facts just didn't fit and I didn't want her to become a Mary Sue. She had her one shining moment, so it was time for her to confront further obstacles.

2006-04-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

Chapter 11 brings Mirage into conflict with Bartlet, but now she's a fairy and he can't touch or see her, so she has an advantage. At the same time, she's learned to be suspicious of him and finding him waiting just a short distance from both her apartment and Antony's restaurant triggers that suspicion when she realizes he's watching the restaurant in his rearview mirror. Because of that, she heads for the restaurant as intended. Once inside, she notices two strangers among the locals and staff. Neither seems interested in his food and that only feeds Mirage's suspicions so that she flies close enough to overhear them planning on murdering Antony and his waitresses with one even admonishing the other to use a rubber so no DNA is left behind if he wants to have some fun before they do the job.

Mirage hurries to the kitchen to warn Antony, but she can't be heard. He can only see her. When he recognizes her, he asks if she's his angel. She agrees rather than lose his faith in her or the other fairies. Then she hits on the idea of a notepad used for taking orders. However, she's forgotten that Antony can only write some numbers until he asks what order she wants. Almost to the point of panic with very little time remaining, she tries to use pantomime, but that fails. Then inspiration comes to her in the form of a new idea. She points at Cheryl's name, one of the few things she knows he can read and pantomimes for her to be called to the kitchen. Her idea is successful, but not in the manner she hoped for. When Cheryl reads the message that Antony wrote by following Mirage's hand on the notepad, Antony decides to face the threat on his own. Mirage knows for certain that's his plan when he retrieves a shotgun from beneath the counter and exclaims, "Small boy up front," which is a play on the command given to the destroyers in Taffy Three in WWII. He's going to fight to protect his restaurant and patrons. As Antony gets the drop on the gunmen, Cheryl calls for the cops and the rest of the people are hustled to safety.

Bartlet sees flashing lights approaching and concludes that something has gone wrong. He leaves without making it appear that he's in a hurry. At the same time, shots sound from the restaurant. One of the gunmen tried to pull his gun despite having a shotgun at his back. The slug goes through him and hits the other gunman. Dying, the one gunman hits only the wall with his gun. Then the police arrive and Mirage does her best to advise Antony to obey their instructions to place his weapon down and let them take him into custody. Cheryl tells her father not to say anything to anyone while recognizing that he'll need a lawyer.

I liked how this chapter developed. I actually didn't have it figured out before writing just how Mirage would get her message through to Antony. Still, I liked the way a man in his eighties was willing to put his life on the line. It said something about courage. It really never goes away if you have it. As well, even though Mirage couldn't be hurt physically, the pain that Antony and others might feel could be felt by her, so it was brave for her to stay with Antony as he advanced to get the drop on the men. When one tried to draw anyway, Antony had no compulsion against firing first. He was doing something for the right reasons. He didn't have to second guess his motives and he didn't worry about the outcome.

2006-04-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

In Chapter 10, Mirage and Bill are back at the Alliteration nightclub. Mirage is already thinking of other ways to enhance their sex together. Soon into the conversation, Bill asks if she would like to dance and they joke about whether there will be any gunmen appearing.

On the dance floor, Mirage turns toward Bill to dance and asks him something. However, Bill is having difficulty hearing and seeing her as she's breaking up like a bad radio signal. Then it happens. Mirage disappears completely leaving her clothing and clutch behind to fall onto the floor.

Steve moves in quickly to catch Mirage. She's frightened at first despite her improved daring and courage in her personality. It's up to Susan to move close enough that her energy and Mirage's manage to cause each of them some pain when Susan slaps at her without even making actual contact. Moments later, Mirage believes she's dead when she realizes that Steve is one of those "angels". After being encouraged to develop her own wings, Mirage realizes that Steve is staring down at her and mistakenly believes he's looking at her laciviously because his only hold on her is by an ankle. She reaches up to put one hand over herself only to then experience the sudden emergence of her own wings accompanied by the most intensive orgasm she's ever felt.

Urged to fly with her new wings, Mirage is soon given no choice when Steve drops her. Though awkward at first, she does fly. Also, she learns something of what's happened to her and sees Bill standing in shock in front of her clothing. Though she desperately wants to tell him that she's still alive and safe for the time being, the fairies do their best to hurry her away before negative energy fills the room as the event becomes noticed by the nightclub patrons.

An argument ensues between Mirage and the fairies because she still doesn't know or understand enough. Also, she learns that Bill had an engagement ring in his pocket. Though it's painful for her, she re-enters the nightclub to listen in on some of the police interview with Bill. When Steve escorts her out again for her own good, he emphasizes how much harm she can do to herself so close to negative energy. Having left her outside the nightclub again, he leaves Mirage. She considers what she's learned and realizes she needs to learn more, but there aren't any fairies around by then. It's at that point that she remembers Antony usually has several fairies near him, so she heads in the direction of the restaurant.

In this chapter, I wanted Mirage to convert since there wouldn't be much of a story if everything was a run up to that event. In other words, she needed new conflicts if the story was to have anything going for it. As well, I had decided by that point that I didn't want Steve and Susan to be seen as entirely altruistic. In other words, they were helping her partly to influence her into having fun with them. Also, they didn't always tell the truth, but that's not discovered until later and that was again so they could influence her.

2006-04-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

Chapter 9 caused me the most serious problem. I hadn't started out to write erotica, yet the chapter starts out with Mirage greeting Bill at the door of her apartment. It's a week later and she's wearing a negligee. There's no doubt where she wants the action to develop. By the second page of this chapter, two things are evident. She's determined to spend her day off in debauchery with Bill and some of the fairies observing her believe the process is accelerating.

As well, Bill has reservations for the Alliteration. He also has an engagement ring which he intends to offer to Mirage at the nightclub. While Bill is out for a bit to bring over his suit since he didn't expect their weekend plans to be so adventurous, Mirage takes a picture of herself only to briefly experience a moment of no reflection. But with the photo soon downloaded onto her computer, she prints out a copy to draw wings upon just because she wants to see how she might appear as a fairy out of curiosity.

After an afternoon at the quarry and facing off against her sister once more, Mirage and Bill return to her apartment to prepare for the nightclub. When the chapter ends, they're on their way there and the fairies are betting there's an engagement ring in Bill's pocket.

2006-04-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Now we're at Chapter 8.

It's becoming apparent that Mirage is prepared also to swim at the quarry and not just to make sure Melody doesn't get into trouble because she's wearing only her jeans and jacket. They arrive as the police are assisting another victim of Deanna. Relieved that Melody isn't in trouble, Mirage and Bill end up among the rocks only to have Melody walk up on them.

Rather than stop out of embarrassment, Mirage continues on with Bill while ordering her sister to let them alone. When Melody threatens to tell, Mirage points out that she's not a minor and lives her own life as she wants. As well, Mirage threatens to expose some of Melody's past behavior which clearly marks her as a slut willing to experiment with different combinations as well as a jock. Melody actually knows karate though her use of it is only referred to by one past incident. It's becoming evident that Mirage is determined to keep Melody from moving in on her man because Mirage not only had sex with him but asked about other adventures they might engage in together just to make certain that his interest remains with her and not Melody. Still, Mirage does admit that she realizes more that it wasn't entirely a matter of Melody being a slut so much as willing to do what she wanted to do in order to experience and enjoy life. Mirage is experiencing the same enjoyment from sex, so she understands more why Melody pursued it. As well, Mirage's changing opinion helps her justify indulging in the same behavior.

By that evening, Mirage and Bill are back out on the country road where they're trying one of the ideas Mirage had only to discover another couple is doing the same thing on their motorcycle. Mirage also mentions that about ten of her angels are observing them prompting Bill to ask if they disapprove of what they're doing.

I really didn't intend for the story to suddenly become erotic as this chapter certainly was even though almost everything was hinted at rather than explicitedly stated. Still, there's little doubt in the reading that sex is taking place, some of it in sight of other people. While I seriously considered rewriting this chapter, I stuck to my policy of write the story, then go back and fix what needs fixing. Either the story works or it falls apart. At this point, the story has Mirage facing not only the law suit against her company, but possible stalking from Bartlet and competition from one sister. As well, it slowly became clear to me that Mirage was learning how to be more courageous as well as daring.

2006-04-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

With Chapter 7 comes more obstacles. Mirage learns from Angela that Bartlet was fired, but that they're not wanted back. Also, their odds of winning in court went down because the company finally took some action. Mirage thinks of the fairies as angels and explains why to Angela.

Speaking of Bartlet, but who should show up at a table that Mirage serves? Fairies try to warn her, but she disregards the warning when she realizes it's just Bartlet at a table, but the fairies also get Antony's attention. He refuses to give Bartlet service. In this conflict, we learn that Antony isn't tall when Bartlet calls him a shrimp. Okay, this was somewhat deliberate for several reasons which come out later. It's at this point that Antony decides the "angels" are all welcome in his restaurant provided they don't pee on the food or customers.

While going through her restaurant chores, a bit more is revealed about the veterans the restaurant has been proud to serve. Then with final cleanup finished, Mirage steps out only to see a lot of fairies motioning for her to go back in the restaurant. Mirage asks if someone is waiting to harm her and the fairies all nod. Mirage goes back inside and calls Bill after a short discussion with Cheryl and the first attempt to call for a cop brings about no results. This provides a key moment for Bill to learn the truth about how Mirage was warned each time. Bill is surprised and asks if she's channeling Tinkerbell only to be told she believes their angels because they don't have pointed ears.

In return, Bill admits that he was writing a computer program that could search through the Internet for any pictures of Mirage so she could take legal action. Despite the failure his program met, Mirage gives him a kiss on the forehead for trying. Bill of course also makes the jump to the conclusion that it might have been Bartlet waiting outside after learning he was there earlier.

They briefly talk about Melody and Mirage reveals that she's certain Melody will return to the quarry and possibly get in trouble. Mirage asks if they can check the quarry the following weekend and he agrees.

2006-04-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Chapter 6 is the focus here. Mirage is cooking for Bill at her place. Because of her work schedule, only Sundays are open for Bill to take her out to the Alliteration to make up for the spoiled evening. While at her apartment, Bill sees some of the drawings Mirage made of fairies.

After lunch, they go riding on Bill's bike and Bill now has a second leather jacket for her to wear with her name on the back in binary code. They soon end up in the country near the river beach, but Bill advises her that he doesn't have a swimsuit. She then suggests that they visit the quarry with the intention of staying only if no one is there. When they discover some people are there, he asks if she wants to turn around. She suggests that he could swim at the river in his underwear only to learn he's not wearing any. At this point, Bill decides that it would be best if he took her back to her apartment. They turn and leave only for Mirage to unexpectedly see fairies flying hurriedly toward the quarry as if there was danger behind them. Taking the cue that they saved her before, she stops Bill and tells him to take her back to the quarry. Since we're privy to what the fairies say often, we know it's a trick by them to prepare her for conversion into a fairy.

Once at the quarry, Mirage asks Bill if he thinks anyone will object to her wearing her swimsuit. Before he can actually give her an answer, she spots her sister Melody who likewise spots her, runs over and urges her to get naked. Melody starts hitting on Bill almost immediately. Though Bill tries to give Mirage an excuse and opportunity to leave, Mirage ends up deciding that she's not going to back down from her sister. In their conversation, we learn they've competed before and that Mirage is determined this time to do anything to keep her man. From their behavior, it's soon clear that Melody is an extrovert and Mirage is more of an introvert. As well, Mirage learns that Bill has frequented the quarry before since he knows of the customs the visitors practice. As they're preparing to leave, Melody makes another attempt to move in on Bill. In the conversation, she mentions she came to the quarry with a friend whose name he is familiar with. He advises Melody to check if her friend is still around. It turns out that Melody's clothes and purse have been stolen by her new friend who isn't around at all. Through some creative dressing, they provide Melody with some clothing and carry her back near Mirage's apartment. She doesn't go to it since Melody and Mirage's parents are due there for a supper visit. Then Bill returns back a block to pick Melody up and get her home before her parents discover she's been ripped off.

Thus our chapter ends with one of Mirage's sisters involved in the story. At this point, I wasn't certain this was the direction the story was meant to go. However, it felt right. As well, it leads up to another conflict that Mirage must face. Though I didn't realize it until later, this is actually a story about a woman who learns how to be courageous even though in the end her courage is not what most readers would expect.

2006-04-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

Chapter 5 is where Mirage gets a new job waitressing while she applies for another better job. Somewhat to her advantage, we find out that the restaurant is just a block away, so it's convenient and she won't have to ride the bus. It starts with an interview with someone who doesn't speak much and whose speech is clipped. We learn from Cheryl, a waitress that his name is Antony, he had no schooling, worked all his life, and has principles. He's got one hangup that figures prominently quite soon. He's can see fairies, but he tries to chase them out cause he's afraid they'll pee on the food or a customer. On Mirage's first day working, they both see them. She and Antony get along great from then on because now Antony knows he's not crazy and Mirage tells him how the fairies saved her life. He's certain now that they're angels, but they still have to avoid peeing on any food or customers. Because of her ability, Antony orders his head waitress to put Mirage on the best set of tables even though one table is exclusively reserved and no tips can be collected by the waitress for it.

However, the new hours play hell with her time to talk to Bill. They almost have an argument over something Bill types because it's misunderstood, but they get that straight quickly and are fine with each other again.

On her next day at work, Mirage is handed a model destroyer to place on the special table. It's reserved for WWII veterans. It turns out that Antony served on a destroyer and the tips that the guys leave are used to help the families of those who eventually die since they're mostly in their eighties. Cheryl reveals that Antony served with Taffy Three which figures into his actions later in an important manner. After work that day, Mirage chats briefly with Bill and sets up a lunch date with him. She then does some research into what Taffy Three was. After reading it's brief history, she's crying because she knows then that Antony was in a battle on a destroyer that charged with six other destroyers against a much larger Japanese force consisting of eleven destroyers, eight cruisers, and four battleships and somehow managed not only to survive, but win.

2006-04-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4 starts off with Mirage actually meeting Bill in person for the first time. Besides them engaging in some small talk, some of the fairies are present monitoring Mirage and we hear their comments about Bill. We also discover that Bill rides a motorcycle and that it was rather fortunate that Mirage didn't get her hairdo as she originally planned since she has to wear a helmet.

I came up with calling the nightclub the Alliteration because it offers Dining, Drinks, and Dancing simply because I wanted something that I hope doesn't exist so the story could be viewed as taking place in just about any city.

We learn that Mirage hasn't been dancing on a date since high school. About the same time, we discover that fairies dance, not that it would be a surprise. More small talk takes place but that and the dance are interrupted when Mirage notices the fairies (there are many at the nightclub) are leaving in a big hurry and two are waving at her to follow. The fairies have been warned that gunmen are entering the establishment and that's certain to create negative energy which is harmful to fairies. Taking a chance, Mirage asks if they can get some air, so they proceed toward the balcony.

They almost reach it when the gunmen enter. Bill shoves Mirage to safety outside and then pulls her behind the wall so they can't be seen. He manages to briefly see part of the shooting as a table of guests are gunned down. Mirage acts to take out her cell phone and use it to reach around the corner and snap a picture. Encouraged that she wasn't seen doing that, she reaches out to take another just as one of the other nightclub guests at another table returns fire at the gunmen striking one as they leave.

With the danger over, Bill suggests leaving, but Mirage is determined to hand over what little she can to help the police. These actions of hers help to show how she was influenced by her friends. When the police arrive, one detective chuckles at the irony of being handed the cell phone with pictures he can send to a police computer by the person who was earlier illegally photographed.

Later in the evening, Bill and Mirage get a meal at a fast food joint since the nightclub was a crime scene. Mirage is now wearing Bill's leather jacket taken out from his saddlebags and asks if she looks tough. Bill uses her cell phone to take a couple pictures of her while we discover that Mirage was fairly well behaved as a child. Bill shows a sense of humor that it takes Mirage a moment to catch onto. Likewise, a critical bit of information is passed along here. Mirage asks about the markings on the back of Bill's leather jacket. He reveals it's binary code. When she asks what the code states, he gives her a false answer meant to be humorous.

They're clearly enjoying each other's company. After their fast meal, they go riding. On one road, they reach a point where they can go only right or left. To one direction is the river with a family beach. Bill warns her that at night it becomes a skinny dipper's beach. She asks about the other direction which he tells her ends up at a quarry. Aware that it's getting late, she decides they should return her to her apartment.

Shortly after getting home and Bill leaves after having some tea, she receives a call from her friend Jenny. Now we're set for several events that should take place in later chapters.

When I first envisioned this chapter, I realized the shooting scene could go several ways. It could have been her who was targeted, but the closeness of the gunmen to the guests they shot would have made that kind of mistake difficult to make, especially since Mirage has red hair. Since that wasn't the only possibility, I decided to leave my options open and not state anything more unless it was needed since then it could also serve as a red herring. However, in a later chapter, it proved useful that I handled it as it is in this chapter.

Likewise, I liked the fact that Mirage showed some ability to learn from her friends and emulate them while Bill showed that he possessed a sense of humor along with his courage. His first thoughts were to protect Mirage and station himself so he could intercept anyone who might pursue them. Were his thoughts linking the shooting to her earlier problem at work? I don't know, but it doesn't matter. He showed that he could think on his feet and be quite flexible according to what might be called for. In fact, this comes out again in later chapters. He's definitely not a prude, though he is cautious. He thinks things through quickly, often with the right results.

So, next up will be Chapter 5.

2006-04-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

Likewise, we learn that many fairies were shy at first since it's bound to be a problem for new fairies to accept new conditions, especially being always naked. As well, we learn about a few hangups they possess and things they worry about, even though some are of a nature that can't be addressed at all such as former habits like smoking or drugs.

That brings us to Chapter 3 which was covered in Wednesday's blog. Still, we learn that Jenny hates rats and some of her words lead us to realize that she's black. She's dealt with adversity before and is experienced enough to know that it has to be confronted. Because she knows the name of a good attorney who helped her win enough money to open her own business, Mirage and Angela turn to her for advice later in the day when they're fired.

After that, Angela offers Mirage a lift home as I noted before. However, Mirage is still seeing fairies and reacting to them now as if they're solid. During that ride, Angela notices. Later at the apartment, Angela compliments Mirage on her imagination regarding the couple of fairy drawings that Mirage drew. Mirage claims she doesn't have any imagination, but during questioning about what color the drawings would be, Mirage lets drop a few comments that Angela picks up on and concludes that Mirage is seeing fairies that others can't see. Based on that, she advises Mirage to be sure to claim only that the drawings are a hobby in case their former employer tries to delve into their private lives. Also, by this point, they're certain that Bartlet is responsible for the hidden cameras.

Later after Angela leaves, Mirage contacts her boyfriend over the Internet. She discovers that he has a bit more compassion for those caught in producing pornography because for many of them it's the only thing they know how to do. After some explanation, they decide they still share the same feelings about what was done to Mirage was wrong and illegal. As well, they confirm that they still want to meet in person and go on a date.

Now we'll see if I can't keep this in order as I explain why I put in certain elements in the order they're in because we're up to Chapter 4.

2006-04-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Already, I can see that I need to write this commentary based on the written chapters as I'm already muddying the continuity as it exists when I don't consult them. Right now, I'm actually at Chapter 15, but I'm commenting on Chapter 2 and gave part of Chapter 3 out of order.

In Chapter 2 we learn that Mirage owns a cat. This helps out later in the story as it's something I had planned at this early a stage. Essentially, some animals can see fairies. When Mirage sees that her cat is playing with some, she begins to accept their existence. Of course, because fairies have no reflections and can't be photographed (in this story), Mirage wonders for a moment if there are such things as vampire fairies. As well, this chapter sets the facts in place that Mirage can see the fairies only for brief periods as her eyes adjust.

We also meet Bill through an online chat. While I was tempted to replicate some online chat text, I decided that would be too juvenile. Our people are more mature and tend to chat in more complete sentences because they don't want to be misunderstood. My own experience on the web indicates there are plenty of places where people do not engage in Internet shorthand. Bill gives Mirage some advice on how to search the Internet for any photos of her that might have been saved by the cameras at the office. This sets her up to be tired and slow to think the next day though her lunch walk helps to energize her a bit.

We also discover that not all fairies are pure. Steve, in fact, is foul-mouthed. This was a difficult decision to make to use vulgarities, but I felt this would set up some future conflicts within the fairy world she finds herself in eventually.

More happens in this chapter, but I'll have to mention that later.

2006-04-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

As it stands, I'm basically documenting a bit behind where I am in writing the manuscript because I thought this might be of interest to others to learn why the story developed in the way it did.

In the first chapter, I needed to establish our main character. Since she's going to eventually disappear from sight when she becomes a fairy, the name Mirage came to me. I wasn’t exactly sold on the name at first but everything else didn't feel right. She's a sociable character as we first see her asking her friend Jenny to take a look at something she's spotted. However, when her friend turns, all she sees is a dandelion. She can't see the fairy hovering alongside of the path through the park where Mirage and Jenny were taking a lunchtime power walk. We learn soon after they realize it's time to return to work that Jenny is a hairdresser and that Mirage is a receptionist, so they're working class girls.

At Mirage's office, we get a glimpse of her immediate boss whose last name is Bartlet. A friendly coworker Angela has been watching the phone at the front counter during Mirage's lunch. Mirage has five minutes left and heads for the rest room. This is where our second conflict emerges, one that is crucial to other events as Mirage has just taken a seat when a fairy enters the stall by passing right through the door and is looking at the ceiling where a second fairy is attempting to block a camera by changing his color. It's unimportant whether he succeeded. What matters is that our character not only sees the fairies, but that the camera is discovered. These two events set up further development as Mirage is less unwilling to ignore what she might have first dismissed as fatigue and a wish to see something that wasn't there.

This then brings in the police to investigate. After Angela convinces Mirage to file a complaint, the police then have enough to begin a formal investigation. This links Angela in with part of Mirage's fate as both get fired relatively soon because the investigation implicates their boss. Before that occurs, we meet Mirage's online male friend who is about to become her date and boyfriend. Because they met online, we gain some insight into the fact that Mirage isn't all practical or traditional only. Instead, she's trusting and she knows how to use a cellphone and computer. Of course, these events happen in a logical structure that shows some continuity of the story.

Of course, even though Mirage later claims that she's not very imaginative, she plays a game with her lunchtime power walk friend that involves naming the title of a movie based upon hints which may consist only of the names of the credited stars who were in the movie. Though a point system is hinted at, the scoring isn't actually explained or revealed. Nor is the game given a name though it would probably be something like Movie Star Movie. Whether either Mirage or Jenny came up with the game is immaterial. It shows a friendship that will later become important despite Jenny's absence during much of the story.

Once Mirage is fired, Angela gives her a lift home. One thing they discuss is the neighborhood. Without actually describing the apartments and small stores, a vision is given instead of an area where the rents are cheap and a bad element is creeping in. Even a neighboring woman has no shame by indulging in sex with her boyfriend in the hallway against the closed door of her apartment. I really couldn't understand why that vision came up or why I used it, but a number of chapters later, it actually linked up with another element so that I understood why it was there. I'll explain when I reach that chapter. At any rate, when Angela leaves, the woman that Mirage warned her about is right outside against the other woman's apartment and Angela makes a remark about possibly seeing one of them at the health department in hope of causing them to halt their public displays.

By the way, I often have these moments in writing a story where a scene seems totally out of place and unrelated to anything important, yet links up chapters later to suddenly become quite important or at least relevant to understanding. Anyway, I've learned to trust my instincts and leave them in since I can always go back and excise them if they don't help the story.

2006-04-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Story ideas come from everywhere. In this case, a stray thought came to me that I hadn't really attempted a story about fairies, the kind that occur in fantasy fiction such as Peter Pan. Okay, I'm going to go even further and admit that's about the only fantasy story I've read or seen performed that had a fairy in it as I can't recall the title of anything else I've read or seen that dealt with fairies. Just hasn't been something I've looked for in my reading.

So, there I was thinking about what kind of story would I write that involved a fairy. I realized that it would have to be original just to even have a chance of publication, which is what I'm aiming for with almost everything I write. Okay, so I'm not a great writer. At best, I'm probably a competent hack, but one thing I know is I can come up with some interesting twists and some originality which might actually make up for some of my other failings as a writer.

Anyway, believe it if you will, I came up with an idea within about ten minutes of the first thought that the story would involve a woman in her early twenties whose life is thrown into turmoil by a series of events. I don't really have a plot yet, but I do know already what some of the events will be within the story. First of all, she'll briefly observe a fairy. Of course, no one else will, so she's hesitant to even admit what she saw. However, we're privy to more than just her world. We also get a view into the fairy world where one is convinced that our woman is about to convert into a fairy. While this might not seem plausible that a person could become a fairy, there are thousands of people who disappear every year in the US alone who are never found. Consequently, we have a thin thread of plausibility for much of the story to rest upon. Some of them were never found because they became fairies. Furthermore, many of the missing are women, so that would further work well with some pseudo-facts that the story will use since more of the fairies will be women.

A friend who shows some interest and good-naturedly teases me about my writing happened to suggest the title I'm using for the work-in-progress. I was thinking of To Be or Not To Be, but he suggested Channeling Tinkerbell when he heard it involved a fairy. Whether he realized it or not, his suggestion fired off more ideas in my head as I contemplated the main character getting engaged just before her disappearance and that the police would then show a big interest in the boyfriend. However, though part of that scenario is in the story, it didn't become the big portion it could have since that would have taken away the attention from the main character. As well, I didn't want the main character to become a Mary Sue who could do anything and knew everything. Instead, though she was smart and, as it turned out, not ignorant of everything around her, her friends filled in a lot for her when it came to matters where she had no practical experience. One friend had experience with invasion of privacy and knew what to do and a lawyer to do it. Another had the smarts to document things and to caution the main character not to surrender something to another character who had just fired her. Yes, our main character's world is tumbling apart shortly after observing the fairy and it's partly the fault of the fairy for making her world tumble apart since the fairies were the ones who discovered the cameras secretly recording our main character in a rest room and pointed those out.

So all these different pieces of the puzzle are hitting seemingly at once and I'm busy writing down brief notes at first on a Post-It ™ and then when I realize that a true story with a beginning and middle is forming I put everything into a single page outline. Of course, the ending is still in doubt as this isn't the kind of story where the main character can suddenly click her heels and return home. Once she becomes a fairy, she's there for keeps, so the story has to become different in that she shows a continued interest in human life and the human world.

This, of course, led to the fact that a fairy world had to be fashioned that could be accepted on its own terms. Rather than have fairies who conformed to the usual human occupations in order to survive, I chose to try something different. Whether it's been done before or not is irrelevant to me. What I decided was that humans are in a material world and fairies are not. Instead, they function in the same world on another plane, but they're able to affect only certain things. One would be luck and small energy sources. In fact, they would feed on human emotion, kind of like Tinkerbell, so that much isn't really all that original, but wouldn't have the ability to partake of poison. In other words, these fairies would naturally seek out places where humans are happy because that releases a positive flow of energy that fairies can live upon. Also, when they convert to fairy status, they reduce in size and that reduction produces a huge energy surplus which goes toward a skin-color change and the development of wings. Because fairies don't reproduce, they're free to frolic with each other as much as they want. Also, they're naked since they're not in the material world, so some will tend to behave in a promiscuous manner. However, that behavior isn't meant to be the story. Instead, the nudity and other behavior are meant to be viewed as obstacles since most people do not go about their lives while naked and do not engage in open sex. Furthermore, our fairies have no ways to gather power or money. Part of their own makeup prevents that as well as some other things which in themselves become obstacles for certain select fairies since male and female fairies have opposite energy charges. Thus, a male and female can touch each other, but in most cases, two females or two males cannot. This prevents the easy development of any power bases for any one fairy to set himself up as king. It's a case where all fairies are basically created equal and have equal access to energy, so their efforts will naturally follow other lines of development. Thus most of their group efforts have to be voluntary with some needed more for some functions than others.

Since our fairies do not have magic abilities, but rather abilities based upon electricity and magnetism, they have to learn how to use those even to the point of learning how to stand upon material objects without dropping through. This gave me the further idea of another danger to fairies. Those without enough energy or who hadn't formed their wings yet could be lost within the ground should they sink or fly into it. After all, they cannot just see through anything even though they can move though almost all objects. This worked into the earlier idea of touching which meant that male fairies were needed to catch newly converted females and vice versa. This would open up several possibilities including the mistaken notion that one was about to be molested by a naked individual who'd just grabbed you out of the air as you reduced during conversion and fell toward the surface because of gravity. Since fairies don't reproduce, this is the only way for them to maintain their numbers for their mutual benefit and safety since bad emotions can produce a negative energy that hurts fairies. So, they volunteer to track and observe humans they believe will become fairies since not all humans who can see them become fairies.

So now I had most of the basics in place. There's no real need to discuss how long they live and since they're now basically a creature of energy with some abilities to change skin color and pass through objects, the usual rules of rest and recharge don't apply. Our fairies can stay up all night and still be good to go. Of course, if other ideas come along that don't conflict with the first rules about passing through objects, then it might be possible to offer them their own rest. However, the only idea that comes to mind is for them to seek out natural magnetic locations with the right properties to repel them from the surface so they don't sink into the earth and that brings about many other problems that would then have to be solved or the story would fall apart.