Mushroom: Blog

Well, I finally finished the rewrite of "Country Boy - City Girl". And while once again there are no major changes, there are many more of them in Books II and III than there were in Book I. Including a scene that had somehow been lost when I originally posted it, which included Pete actually proposing to Linda. That has now been returned.

And I made it a bit more obvious that it does indeed connect to my "Okinawa" series. Also, as I was doing this I returned to making "Author's Notes", as I had more than a few ask me where they were on the last two books. That part is entirely optional, but it does explain some of the things I was thinking as I was writing, and sometimes describes the real world places and people I based these on.

And included will now be notes, saying exactly where and what chapters of "Valley Girl" should be written, if somebody wants to read both of them at the same time. That is about to get a rewrite next, but it is a much shorter story, so should take nowhere near as long.

I have had many ask me how I got the inspiration for what the area looked like around the ranch that Peter and his family owned in "Country Boy, City Girl". The fact is, I for the most part used real life.

One of the advantages of the modern era, is that we can easily pull up maps and satellite views to use as reference or inspiration for our stories. Myself, I spent some time with Google Maps, as I was starting the second story, until I found an area that resembled what I had described. I already knew that the very basic description from the first book was not enough if Pete was going to buy that land back. I needed something much more accurate if I was to keep all the future details straight.

Now it is not exactly the same, but it was close enough to what matched the story. And when I was in Book 3, I then expanded on it even more. Now granted, the dimensions and exact layout is not the same, but by looking at the photo and what I described, it is easy to see what exactly is where. The original ranch, the "Black Farm" across the highway, even the quarry and old pits filled in with water.

Roughly the area north and east of W. Siphon Road and N. Laughran Road is where the ranch is, but with a small bluff a hundred yards or so North. And south of that would be the "Black Farm", with the triangular spot of land, with the canal running through it. Not exact, as that did not match what I wanted for my story, but close enough that it is recognizable. Bordered along the Portneuf River. But once again, the river expanded to about twice the size as it really is. Make the river the size of the current river bed, expand the bed twice as much, and that is roughly what the story describes.

As well as the "Henderson Farm" on the other side, and the small trench made to go to the swimming area inside the Scout Camp (which in real life really is a Scout Camp). And if followed to where the Portneuf funs under Interstate 86. the area just north and west of the river where Hainji Net and Gem Computers is located (much of it today a storage facility). Where across the freeway and a bit west the remnants of the old WWII era air field runway can still be seen.

I know that what I describe is very different, but the general layout can be seen, even if the dimensions are nothing like what it is like in real life. But doing things like this helped me in my mind remember what went where, and how I would expand things as the story progressed.

And something I have encouraged others to do when writing a story. Find something at least close to what you want in real life, then use that as a template to write around. Helps keep things straight in your head as you can refer back to that if needed. In addition, give more inspiration for things to add to the story. The flooded gravel pits were only added once I saw that at that location there really were flooded gravel pits, in almost perfect locations.

I spent many hours in these images as I was writing, both to keep descriptions straight, and to get further inspiration.

https://i.pstorage.space/i/oykJJlwmm/original_Casa_del_Mañana.jpg

I just posted the new and revised CBCG Book I story.

Reading it again is not required if it has already been read before. Primarily, it was condensing some of the short chapters into longer ones, so that is why it is now only only 47 instead of the 69 chapters it was before.

There were a few name changes, and standardizing some of the spellings , as I used "Little Buck" in some early chapters instead of "Littlebuck", and would occasionally flip between "Kimmy" and "Kimmie". Some scenes were changed a bit, but nothing major.

Book II will have some more changes however, as some of the names will be spelled differently to avoid confusion in later parts.

First, yes I have listened. And almost universally, everybody has said that they agreed with my belief that Valley Girl should not be integrated as I am working on the revision.

And to give an idea, I am currently working on Chapter 35, which should be Chapter 27 when I am done. When completed, it will be around the same length, with no major changes. But I am combining many chapters to make it flow a bit better. It should be about the same size, but maybe 1/4 less chapters.

And I added a new short story into it just now. But I will warn everybody, it may be a bit of a tearjerker to those that have read the series. This time, it is actually written entirely from the point of view that all are aware of, but never actually met. Grace Culver writes about an amazing vacation that she takes with her family, and some things are both reveled that were not known before, and another discovered that none but her are aware of yet.

But even though she was not actually present for Country Boy, she was always there and I felt it was time that her voice be heard.

While still having writers block on my current story, I decided to continue editing and revising "Country Boy, City Girl". There will be no major changes in it, but some things will be slightly changed, including names. So hopefully when I finish, the only repeats of note will be Kim and Kimmie.

I am still on the first book, but I am already trying to plan ahead when I hit book two. And here is what I am wondering. Should I incorporate the "Valley Girl" story into the main one, or leave them separate?

I have been trying to figure that out, and am still not sure which way to go. I know that if I do not integrate them, I will include at the end of a chapter something like "If you want to read about this from Linda's point of view, turn to chapter XXX of 'Valley Girl'." That way somebody has the option, but it is in no way required.

I am just not sure if the story of her downfall being directly incorporated into the main story would be a good idea or not. It is only 8 chapters, and I carefully wrote it so that there would be no real spoilers in her story for the main one. Which is why it has an unusual structure, telling her view of things from the last time she met Pete until the most recent meeting. The only exception being the first two, which took place from before they met, until their confrontation in front of his house when he was on leave.

So any input would be appreciated.