So the old email box has been flooded in the last week. And everybody is asking the same question. What in the hell is going on?
The only thing I find lacking in your work to date is the lack of quantity. I enjoy Edwin, as well as the short stories of yours I came across in Voices: New Media Fiction. Do you currently have any ETA or status update for your loyal fans?
Yes I do. I’ve completed the first draft of the novel. And I’m about a third of the way through the rewrite. I’m good for about a chapter a day. And I’m on chapter 14 now. That’s about 26,000 words rewritten out of a target of 80ish. The beginning has gone a little slower than I would have liked because I’ve added a couple of charcters and an entire subplot.
I am also rather curious about how much progress you’ve made in the last three months.
Me too. Or curious as to how hard it got there for a little while. I’ve found that if I try and put the hurry up on it (like I sometimes do with my shorter work) it always, always comes out bad. But if you just plug away at it every day at the same time in a workmanlike fashion, it comes together faster than you expect. Mostly, I had to clear my head from all the garbage of previous incarnations to write this clearly and well.
I was highly entertained and can’t wait for any other items that may off shoot from this story.
You know, I could easily spend my time doing more audio episodes. And I have no end of ideas for off-shoots and spin offs. But I feel that would mean that this is as far as the story will go. No, it’s time for a more communicable form. So the time I can spare from my life (which there’s less and less of) is devoted to the novel.
So I have a question for all of you. I’m thinking about podcasting the novel as I work on this rewrite. I have some reservations about this, not from a media standpoint, but from an artistic standpoint. The episodes as they exist are more along the lines of notes. Thoughts on toward a character and a story. What I’m trying to do by writing the novel is have a full and complete, fully realized story. But there’s a difficulty with this
What if the story changes?
Sure that sounds stupid, but, believe me. It’s happened to me more than once as I’ve written this novel . It started off in the direction I wanted, then it changed dramatically. And for the better.
And I don’t know if my fear makes any sense. I’m just looking for some way to get this thing done and appeal you slavering (and much loved) fans. Thoughts anybody?
To podcast or not to Podcast? While I have never done a podcast myself, I have listened to nearly 20, and you would not be the first author to begin podcasting before you finished writing or to make changes to a finished draft in the course of podcasting.
As a fan of your work, I am certainly in favor of anything that allows me to hear/read more of it as soon as possible. However, you are the one who has to decide if the work meets your standards. I certainly don’t think you need to finish the novel before you begin podcasting.
Whatever you decide, please don’t wait another three months before telling us.
I can’t think of a better way of reviewing your work then submitting it to the scrutiny of review before your “fans”.
It would be an opportunity to start a dialog that you actually control and not on some forum somewhere else.
That said my favourite web comic meninhats.com ended because the author got himself to the point that he couldn’t stand the interference in his work of his “fans”.
Its a personal choice and people will just have to understand that your the author and the creative decisions are made by you, and that the testing ground of the free podcast is exactly that for the selling of the book.
Thank you Patrick, I keenly await the day I send you Cash Money!
First of all, it’s great to hear from you again.
I’m definitely for a podcast but I get where you’re coming from with the hesitation.
I personally wouldn’t mind at all if you did decide to Podcast before you finished and decided to change the story halfway through. As for what you could do about it, maybe you could Podcast the rough draft you have now as opposed to the one your working on and add in the characters and subplots you were talking about.
Just an idea, I’m sure you’ll work out exactly how you want to do this eventually.
Hi,
I’m from Germany and waiting impatienzly for a sequel. I understand your problems but DON’T publish befor its over. The most dissapouinting novels are those, which never seem to come to an end and i find it simply annoying, when I finally got the hang of the story only to learn that its to be turned upside down for one reason or another. Keep us posted about what your doing and how the characters ar getting along. Edwin is great and i dont mind the occasional spoiler.
Thanks for writing and publishing.
I would like to hear those podcasts, but I can see how it could get bad. However, I kinda like Greg’s idea. To tell you the truth, I have been trying to think of a good way of asking to buy a signed copy of the rough draft of the novel.
What if you made podcasts for the things that had been changed? Sorta like the deleted scenes on a DVD?
podcasting sounds great (sorry if you’ve already made the decision, I’m catching up on the entries. I’d love to get some more insight into your process.
Ok, here’s my 2 cents. I’m a man of very particular tastes. With so much entertainment to be had in the world around me I’ve become ridiculously picky about what I choose to spend my time on. And you sir are sitting on a veritable gold mine of potential greatness with this stable of characters. My girlfriend and I ate up each and every podcast you found time to produce. We absolutely love your take on a world full of superheroes. We both eagerly await further entries, wether they be in novel form, podcast, whatever. We’ll be there to soak it in. But we are starting to suffer from Edwin withdrawal. So whatever you decide to do we would both greatly appreciate it if you did so in a timely fashion. Good luck to you.