And so it goes...

NaNoWriMo is over and I failed miserably; 35,000 words. Turns out writing on weekends is kind of tough for me. What it is, in case you haven’t heard, is an annual novel writing event. If you write 1,666 words per day, every day in the month of November, you should have a 50k word novel by the end of the month. I figured I’d throw my hat in to see if I could do it and I was off by 9 days of writing.

Of course, the 50k is only a sliver of the overall novel I’m writing. I started with the idea of doing something smaller and more manageable and now I’m at 320 pages (105k words, including NaNoWriMo’s 35k), and I look to have another 100 pages to go.

The 35k was quite a bit, though. It took me from the banking consortium celebration party at Mont Saint Michel to the chase protagonists in a Bugatti Chiron vs. antagonist in a Koenigsegg One:1. Oh, and Bunny stole a French Tiger HAD chopper and is making life near impossible for our boys in the Chiron. Yeah, it’s that crazy.

Next, I’m writing the prelude – where our antagonist sets the wheels in motion. The location is inspired by an upcoming level from the Rainbow Six: Siege game. It’s going to be set on a Tokyo pagoda-style castle built atop a flat-topped skyscraper and accessible only via helicopter. That’s my afternoon.

I’m reading First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan, by Gary C. Schroen, with another stack of similar books waiting on my nightstand. I’m diving deep into the waters of our U.S. military, and of the recent foray into Afghanistan. In part, as a backstory for my lead, and in part because I’m rather fascinated by how the war machine operates. This story looks at it from a soldier’s level, but I also intent to study the broad spectrum, and tell things how I see them. Honestly, what I’m seeing isn’t all that nice.

It’s December now, and the year is almost up – and boy, what a year for movies if you’re a geek/nerd like me. I’ve missed Arrival, but that’s on the slate for this weekend, and I can’t wait until Rogue One and Assassin’s Creed. Yeah, my excitement level is much, much higher for the Star Wars movie. I’m eager to see how a non-Skywalker storyline does in the theaters. I think it’s a test for things to come and if it does well, we can expect more original stories set in the universe.

So far, I’m torn between Deadpool (one of the first I saw all year), and Moana (saw it twice last weekend), as my personal movie of the year. Civil War and Finding Dory are also in there. I do have a question; Pete’s Dragon. Worth it? Not worth it? The trailers did little for me and as someone who saw the original movie as a kid and didn’t much care for it, I couldn’t muster the excitement to take my girls to go see it. Movie most likely to toss Deadpool/Moana from the 2016 title? Rogue One. Man, I'm looking forward to that one.

TV. Well, I’m still reeling from the summer. Game of Thrones is something I’ve talked about at length, something I had a hard time understanding; but wow, this season just sat on my chest and smacked me around. And that ending! Westworld is knocking it out of the park every week, and I can’t wait for the finale this weekend. No, I don’t want to theorize. I just want to watch and get blown away. My wife and I are also catching up on Stranger Things. I know…we move slowly over here.

Product note, isn’t https://www.sunfrog.com/108869394-270836086.html?35517 the coolest thing on the planet? You hear me wife??? Fk it. I’m buying it for myself.

Oh, and I tried this face shaver thing that I have to recommend for bros with heavy facial hair. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D328DH8 . It’s not as close as a razor, not by a mile, but if you need to dump the fuzz in five minutes, dry, then this sucker’s amazing. I get nothing in return for this plug, FYI.

And onto Blackjack. Just random thoughts, guys, nothing serious…I don’t want the next book to be “Blackjack Established”, “Blackjack Set and Done.” I know we have to avoid emo-B from book 2 as much as possible, but I also don’t think it works if he’s fully accepted. And besides, there’s plenty of people that will never accept him as a “good guy.” One of the things that I’ve been told about book 3 is that it feels like a transition book. Well, I think Blackjack is a transition character. He’s a flawed guy, who ultimately helps the good cause, right? But he’s not a traditional good guy, and I think it’d be foolish to pretend that he fits in. In fact, I think it’d be awesome for Blackjack and others to make that mistake. Book 4 is going to touch on that at first. Going forward, though, I don’t think we’re ever going to have a Blackjack Hero book.

Soon as we finish Pats, it’s on to B4. 

(PATS word count: 119k. Page count: 334. Percent completed: 3/4s.)

Post-election Infos

Okay, the election’s over and now we can get back to business. Can we America? Time to talk about more important things, LIKE BLACKJACK.

Villain came out in early 2012, Wayward in early 2013 and DoA in late 2015. So, when’s the fourth book coming out? Blackjack 4’s going to have to wait until late 2017. We have a story ready to go, but like we did back in 2014, we’ve been distracted by another story. Unlike Interstellar Overdrive two years back, we’re actually going to finish this one, tentatively called Patriots and Tyrants. Once we’ve put this one in the can, we’re moving back to B4 with a vengeance.

Patriots and Tyrants (PATS) is a techno-thriller, without superheroes, alien battlecruisers, nor time paradoxes or powered suits. It’s something closer to reality, inspired by recent events and torn from the headlines. Writing a guy that can throw a car a city block is a ton of fun, but so is coming back to earth from time to time. From what I’ve put together so far, I think it’s a series that can go 8-10 books, like Blackjack.

I’m debating something (with myself), which is to make the B books a little bit shorter; to excise the fat and make them leaner and meaner. It would make them faster to write and edit, and mean we could do them sooner than every 2-3 years. I get carried away with stuff and let the big guy explore stuff too much, sometimes to the detriment of the reader. I don’t know. I’d love to get your thoughts.

Then again, Blackjack likes to wander, and I like going where he takes me. I’m feeling the pull again, but I’m fighting the urge, I’m doing my hardest to finish this side project before heading back to Blackjack. I’m also feeling IO, and it crushes me that we weren’t able to finish that book. Truth is, it’s a monster at almost 1,200 pages, and it’s probably best if it sits for another year or so before we come back and dust it off. Re-reading the first few chapters is all I need to feel that fire.

So it’s PATS, then B4, then IO, then B5, then PATS2. That’s the plan. Sound good?

On another note, I’m really shitty at predicting Presidents in my books. In Villain (2012), I predicted Jeb in 2016. For no other reason than I wanted to give the President a name. I don’t like it when authors in books and movies don’t name the guy, and he’s right there (like X-men 2, remember?) Well, I threw Jeb’s name in there for giggles. I don’t care about the guy. I’m from Florida and I’m frankly ambivalent. But I think I cursed the dude. My bad.

Then in Wayward, Blackjack and Battle headed to the White House to save the President. I did what I hate, put her there, without naming or anything – but she was a she and yeah, I may have cursed Hillary and ruined her chances. I take full responsibility.

I might use a President in B4 for some fun stuff I have planned to open the book, and I’m frankly scared to use anyone. I might make it President SMITH, with nothing to distinguish him or to imply any other person that might want to run in the future. Yeah, PRESIDENT SMITH!

Well, fuck...

I started rereading the last post on this blog and it's funny how we make plans that end up going to hell. We published Blackjack 3 in late October and with it came a wave of optimism and raw euphoria that you can feel in that post, but soon after came the crash. And I've been rudderless ever since. I'm working, of course, plotting and doing scenes, but IO is a mountain that I'm not ready to tackle. That bastard's sucking up my time like there's no tomorrow and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The good news is that I've got a good handle on it. The book is finally in my grasp. The bad news is that it involves taking one of the four storylines back to formula. It'll be worth it in the end, I think Galan needed the new track that we've got for him, but it's a disappointment to have to restart 1/4th of the book.

Part of it is House of Cards. Blame Kevin Spacey. That show's broadened my horizons in such a way that I find it hard to describe. Also Game of Thrones. I don't like GOT nearly as much, but I see something in there that's different than anything I've ever done, and motivates me to try something inspired by it. My partner wants to cut Galan, to drop it in the cutting room floor and leave the fun stuff. In a way, he's right. Galan's story arc is a bit dour, quite morbid, and lacks the sexy fun of Alec and Ev. I get that, trust me. Dropping Galan (and merely playing off him in the other arcs) would make things leaner and faster. But Galan is the key. To me, it's as much his story as it is Mistrals or Canino, or Alec/Ev. To some, I'm talking gibberish, I know. I might link to the last version of IO Episode 1 here, so you have an idea of what we're trying to accomplish. Maybe I'll just paste it at the bottom.

I'm tempted to cut and run, to do the funner parts of the story and publish sooner, but I'm going to fight it. I think it'll be better with Galan's "evil galactic corporation" perspective. Thanks, Kevin.

For the time being, I'm tabling the whole thing. In fact, it's been tabled for over a month. I intend to return to it as soon as we settle on this issue, but right now there's no point in completing it, even though it's almost done.

So what's next?

Two things, first, Blackjack 4 is in plotting stage. We've got a good idea of what the next step should be. Remember that plane that crashed during the conflict with Brutal in the final pages? We'll see what that was about. Blackjack's also kind of bonafide now (with an unreal list of caveats), so it'll be interesting to write about a guy who can show his face on the street and doesn't have to fear having Atmosphero's latest group or even the local authorities. There's also the relationship. We've seen it bloom, then turn to poison, then bloom again and so on and on, a dozen times in Dale's brain. Now it's time to see it in action. A good relationship is hard work, as most of us know, but does Dale know that. Is he ready for a woman like Apogee?

Second, I have a new story. This one's coming first because I'm knee deep in it already. I don't want to talk about it too much, but it'll be something more grounded, but still with the usual Bequer/Hoade sensibility. I intend to have this done in the first part of the year, and B4 in the second half.

Hoade is also toying with the idea of doing a Battle book, based on the character of Ricochet. Don't remember him? Pull out your old *.mobi of Wayward and see for yourself. Fun character with a lot more going on than meets the eye. Imagine being able to control the molecular forces of potential energy...

Anyway, I'm back, and soon, Blackjack will be too.