Jay Cantrell: Blog

Hey folks,

I know this is the area where writers are supposed to keep the readers up to date on current and comings events but I've got nothing to contribute except random rumbles.

My most recent stories marked my movement from someone who writes stories to someone who writes novels. I don't want to be gauche and claim I'm a novelist -- or even an author.

Just as I don't consider college professors "doctors" but rather overly educated teachers, I don't consider everyone who strings together 12 sentences to be an "author."

"Teacher" is not a pejorative and neither is "writer." At least I don't consider them to be offensive. There are a couple of contributors to SOL who can claim the title of "author" and I am not one of them.

Still, it's fun for me so I'll continue so long as that's the case -- and I don't have a dozen other draws on my increasingly limited time.

For now, I have three stories that are complete or nearly so.

The next is the sequel to "The Outsider" that I've mentioned previously in this blog. "A Flawed Diamond" will start either March 29 or April 1. The story is more than 90 chapters and my posting schedule will be determined by how quickly I can get the chapters together.

As of now, I have up to Chapter 10 ready to post (edited, proofread and formatted for SOL). If I have at least 20 in hand by mid-March, I'll post more frequently but since I will continue to use the serial format that has served me so well, I don't want to run out of chapters and force the reader to wait months for it to resume.

Too many writers on SOL do that and it pisses me off. I will not begin to post a story that is not complete. There are too many "incomplete and inactive" stories on the site for me to contribute more than the one I already have under my name.

The next story that is 90 percent complete is about a police detective in a South Carolina resort town. It's probably going to clock in at about 60 chapters or so. The gist of it is finished but I have some filler to write. It's called, tentatively, "Life and a Death in Emerald Cove."

No, I'm not planning a jewel heist (unless one of the kids needs braces in the next few months), it's just a coincidence. I've moved away from it for the past few months while I let my trusted editor, BlackIrish, take a run through it.

For the past few weeks I've been working on a story about a kid who was popular in high school finding tougher sledding when he hits college. It's going pretty well. I was amazed today to learn I'd already written 61 chapters.

Not all of them will survive. I'm my own harshest critic (except for a couple SOL readers who shall remain nameless -- because they send their shit anonymously). There are some repetitive parts and some parts that just aren't very good. The thing is ... I'm only about halfway through it (maybe less).

It's taken me 61 chapters to get through to the summer after his freshman year. This story has far more sex in it than my usual work (except for "Daze In The Valley, of course) but I like the relationships between the main characters. I'm not sure this story will ever see the outside of my computer. I'll have to make sure it's not a rewrite of "Daze" without the porn industry. That thought just occurred to me as I was typing this.

On a completely different subject, "A Flawed Diamond" should mark the 1 millionth download of my works from SOL (unless everyone hates it). The vast majority, 700,000, have come from "Daze" and "Guard" and both rank in the Top 30 of most downloaded stories on the site but my earlier stories all performed more to my expectations than the later ones.

It is truly humbling (and my ex-wife will confirm that humility is not one of my stronger suits).

The sequels to "Unending Night" are coming along but slowly. I'll find the flow for a day or two and then lose it again. "Unforgettable Week," which documents the week after Andy and Regan talk on the phone is about 30 percent done and "Unimaginable Life" which will follow that one is outlined. ETA on "Week" is probably 2015-16 and "Life" is more likely 2017.

Who says I don't plan ahead. Of course, that could change completely if another story like "Daze" hits my brain and takes five years to complete.

I hope this finds everyone well,
Jay C.

Hey all,

Chapter 46 was twice as long as my normal offerings so there is only one file this week.

Only eight chapters remain in the tale and I plan to conclude the story in mid-February.

My next project, a sequel to "The Outsider" titled "A Flawed Diamond" has already been worked over by inestimable BlackIrish and is with the proofreaders now. I will begin posting it as soon as "Guard" is concluded and I have enough chapters in hand to ensure there isn't a large gap between uploads.

At present, "Diamond" comes in at 95 chapters (not including an author's note and an epilogue). I hope to be able to use the same expedited posting schedule I used on "Daze In The Valley" but I can't commit to that just yet.

I have nothing else finished but I hope to wrap up one of several partially written stories (perhaps even the sequel to "Unending Night") by midway through the uploading of "Diamond" so I can keep BlackIrish from growing fat and lazy on us.

We'll just have to see where I head in the coming weeks. I've worked sporadically on about half a dozen stories since I finished writing "Diamond" last summer. So far nothing has reached out and grabbed me like "Daze," "Guard," and "Diamond" did. I'll work a week or two on one story and then set it aside for six weeks while I work on something different.

I keep hoping that one of them will scream out for me to finish it but so far no luck.

Best wishes,
Jay C.

Well, I guess now I'll go back through and fix the quotation marks and apostrophes on all the chapters I reposted yesterday.

I thought I had that resolved but apparently not. For those of you who wondered what I was bitching about a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned the problems with cross-platform file transfer -- take a look at the first chapter of Guard.

That's it.

I'll get to it sometime in the next couple of days and we'll move onward and upward.

Best wishes,
Jay

Hi all,

I tracked down the altered chapters of Always on Guard and I've posted the first 20 of them today. I'll post the remaining 12 chapters tomorrow (I hope).

There is very little change to the plot but I think it helps the reader understand the character of Denae a little better.

Denae's character was always intended to be self-involved -- but also self-deluded. The eavesdropping on conversation was the first hint I dropped. She likes to have the upper hand.

I tried to foreshadow her inner demons with her interactions with Queen Lorida. In the initial assessment, Lorida was the typical "evil stepmother." But by carving away layers, the reader recognizes that the initial interpretation was solely determined by point-of-view. She was opposing Denae, so she was the enemy (when the reader believed Denae to be a fairy tale princess).

I'll give you a preview to one of the quotes in Part II of the story. Jorgarn and Pernice are sitting and discussing Reyna and Denae. Jorgarn says (and this is not exact I don't think):

"I always pictured Denae and Rayna as two children playing dress up. Neither fully understood how life would truly be when it came time to wear the clothing for real."

The thing I think most of the complaint writers have overlooked is a simple truism of all teenaged females, be it in Emertland or in Nebraska: They are remarkably self-absorbed. To be a young woman who suddenly came to understand exactly how much power you possess would be an immense burden. Young woman throughout time and history have found power in their looks, in their sexuality and in their heritage. Most had to settle for only two of the three. But to suddenly, even if you had been groomed for a role your entire life, to suddenly find yourself with all three? I don't think the results would be pretty (and, if you would care to research European history from the Middle Ages, you will see that it was not).

I have shepherded one daughter through her teen years and now have another fully immersed in them. I have witnessed the excitement a young woman displays when she sees young men taking notice of her. I have born witness to young women using their wiles to get young men to do their bidding. I have have seen the sense of accomplishment that flashes across a young woman's face for the briefest of instances when they understand how they got their way and how to do it again.

That's Denae. A coddled child who has come to find herself immensely powerful and desirable. She had a virtually friendless childhood and now has admirers from the highest echelons of society. I wrote how I believe she would have reacted.

Despite the few critical emails I've received, I still believe that any young woman in her position would have behaved exactly as I've written.

I hope that you'll continue to enjoy the story.

Best wishes to all,
Jay

Hi all,

I wish to thank all the fine folks who have taken the time to write to me to express their dissatisfaction with the turn Always on Guard took in the last two chapters.

It took me a while but I finally pulled the files I'd posted. Chapters 31 and 32 were exactly as I remembered them. I was a bit puzzled at some of the e-mails I received.

So I went back through the other chapters I'd posted and my confusion eased immediately.

Sometime between finishing the story in 2009 and posting it in 2012, I revised several earlier chapters to recast Denae into what I consider a typical teenage girl. I distinctly remember rewriting large sections of first-person accounts to reflect her grown sense of invincibility, not only because she had a powerful man at her side but because she was immensely popular with the citizens.

The only problem is that I didn't bother to revised the text I sent out to my proofreader. I sent him the original files I received from BlackIrish (who I'm positive pointed out to me that Denae needed to be reworked at the front). ZoltanTheDuck does excellent work -- as the improvement of my stories since he signed on can attest. I rarely -- if ever -- check his work when it's returned. Oh, I might give the chapter a quick read but I don't pore over every comma and semicolon.

BlackIrish is a terrific editor -- and not only because he can parse through my ramblings to get from what I said to what I meant. He does a thorough job of pointing out inconsistencies in the characters and in the plot. He's saved me from myself a dozen times in each story he's looked over.

Then it comes to the author. He sometimes doesn't live up to his end of the bargain -- such as when he fails to notice for months on end that he's posted obsolete files. I am digging through my story files in an attempt to locate the versions that reflect the changes I made after it was edited but before it was proofed.

As soon as I locate them and clean up the copy, I'll post the revised chapters and let the readers know. I think it will make the story more enjoyable for the folks who have followed along since the outset.

Meanwhile, I hope you'll continue to follow along as Part 2 opens today.

Best wishes,
Jay C.