Work In Progress: What You Can Look Forward to in My Next Novel

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) was AWESOME! I crossed the finish line and finished the draft within the confines of thirty days. I am very proud of that accomplishment, I am very proud that I’ve done it twice this year. When I was done with the first draft of the manuscript (and please understand, this work won’t see the light of day for at least 24 months), I had a work in my hand that I was very proud of and enjoyed reading.

For this week’s blog, I wanted to share with you some non-spoilery things that you can look forward to from my current “Work In Progress” (WIP for you writery folks!).

In no specific order:

1. The current, working title is “A Law of Constants.”

2. It’s my first full-length Science Fiction Novel

3. Thanks to this novel, all of my novels will tie in to each other (you can expect elements of “Broken Promise Records” and “Days of the Phoenix” in it!) – now would be a good time to make sure that you are current on my existing body of work.

4. I plan on beginning the edits on the novel in another three weeks – Stephen King suggests that you sit your work down and allow your mind to forget about it so that you can give it the best first round of edits possible. Who am I to argue with the King?

5. I first got the initial seeds of the idea when I was on a late night car ride and a radio talk show was hijacked, mid-broadcast. I’m not saying that “Big Brother” was behind it, but …y’know.

6. The “Ethics of Concept,” (if that isn’t an actual phrase, it is now, and it’s MINE) was inspired by a former Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor of mine, Jonny.

7. I have an idea of who I want my first Beta Readers to be and I tailored sections of the book to them, as an audience.

8. To give you a clue as to what the theme of the book is, I listened to the theme from Terminator, the Dr. Who theme song, the theme song from Quantum Leap, and the theme from Back to the Future, to keep me trucking during the initial writing process.

9. I get why my teachers would get frustrated; I feel like I invented a lot of science on the fly – but that’s why they call it science fiction, right?

10. The book was written in 3rd person narrative (like “Broken Promise Records,”) as opposed to 1st person narrative like “Days of the Phoenix,” …which I’ve just remembered that you haven’t read yet.

11. This book was, by far, the most difficult for me to keep straight in terms of continuity; when you read it, you’ll see why.

12. There are a TON of pop-culture references! It’s going to be a lot of fun to see who will be the first one to catch all of them – I’ve actually started making a list to compare it to.

13. My fastest book written to date! Yes, “A Law of Constants” and “Days of the Phoenix” were written in the same amount of time, but “A Law of Constants” is longer – I had to write more words in the same time frame.

14. I can confirm that there are ZERO animal deaths in this book – there haven’t been any in my previous work, I just love animals and I want to make sure that the point is clear.

15. It’s an exercise in patience having to wait and edit it, and polish it, because I want everyone to read it now!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to encourage the folks who want to write, but are afraid to. There is nothing to fear – there is no guarantee that you will be a big time author, but if writing is really in you to do, you will be completely unsatisfied doing anything else. National Novel Writing Month was a great networking opportunity and was a great motivator to keep trucking away at writing, even when I didn’t feel up to it.

I try to be as grateful as possible, that’s why I keep thanking all of you – but sincerely: thank you. Thank you for the support, for the kind words, for buying my books, for reviewing them, and for allowing me to create. Your love is indescribable and I will always be looking for the words.

I hope to see you on your next trek ‘round the Millerverse!