REP: Blog

The Ark, Part 2 is complete and edited; although I am doing my final read through. The story consists of an Introduction, which I strongly suggest you read, and 28 Chapters.

If you have not read Part 1, I suggest you do so for many of Part 2's terms and concepts are based on Part 1.

I will post 2 chapters a week on Tuesday and Friday. I just finished submitting the Introduction and Chapter 1 for posting.


Opening Earth Part 3 is my next major effort. I have an almost complete story that fits into my Universe, so I will finish it in parallel with my work on Part 3.

As you recall, Part 2 ended with Doug on his delayed honeymoon cruise. A number of problems occurred during the cruise and the story ended with:

"Ah, Matt. I don't think we should try to fix this. This was all going to come out sometime, so it will probably be best if we acknowledge the truth of the situation. After all, we have done nothing wrong."

Sometimes, I don't believe how naive I was, back then.


Doug is about to have a large number of problems with Earth's people and with the citizens of the Multiverse.

I'm currently working on Chapters 27 and 28. They are the final 2 chapters and both are over 50% complete.

Chapters 1-20 have been edited, so once everything is complete and edited, I will do a final read through and start posting the story.

The Ark Part 2 is progressing and currently at 25 chapters and over 200K words. I am projecting 30 chapters and about 300K words at completion.

The story is rather complex with around 10 ongoing subplots that are interrelated and presented chronologically.

Continuity checking the subplots and relative timing between subplots will be a major editing effort. I sent the first 5 chapters to my editors today.

I expect the story to be fully written, edited, and ready for posting this January, if all goes well.

It has been a while since I've made a blog post or posted a story. I've received several messages about my not posting new stories.

There are several reasons for my not posting. The primary reason is Part 2 of The Ark has proven to be more difficult to write than I anticipated. A second reason is my creative drive got up and left for a while, but I seem to have found it a couple of weeks ago.

I completed Sauce for the Gander and announced I would be working on The Ark. If I work hard enough and long enough between now and October, I may finish Part 2 of The Ark and be ready to start Opening Earth 3.

I started writing The Ark almost four years ago, posted Part 1 at weekly intervals between Oct 2015 and Mar 2016. I had a few problems in what I posted, so I made a number of cosmetic changes, and had Lazeez replace the existing chapters. After working on other stories, I finally got around to writing the second part of The Ark. I thought it would take 6-8 months to write Part 2 and then I would begin writing OE3.

Things haven't gone as I planned. To start with, Part 2 required more research than I anticipated and the scope of the story increased dramatically. As the scope increased, so did the level of detail and amount of research. If you've read Part 1, you know that the plot was centered on about 12 main characters and Part 1 focused on Jon creating an organization for coping with a natural disaster that would destroy our society and its infrastructure.

Part 2 was intended to address how the central characters and their organization build a new society. I didn't realize how much time and effort would go into writing that half of the story. I had to let my imagination run wild to define the results of the meteoroid shower Part 1 described. I not only had to address the virus killing 95% of Earth's population, but I also had to describe how the meteoroids damaged Earth's surface. What damage might a meteoroid as big as a house do when it hit the surface? How would hundreds of thousands of similar meteoroid strikes with about 70% of those being water strikes affect our weather patterns and damage our infrastructure? What effect would the resulting tsunamis have on the coastline? The largest tsunami wave recorded was over a 1,000 feet high and it was caused by an earthquake. A huge meteoroid landing in the ocean could create an even larger tsunami wave. So how would a 2000 - 3000 foot wave arriving at San Francisco do to the surrounding area.

I'm well into writing Part 2. Part 1's cast was about 12 main characters with a total of about 55 characters mentioned by name. So far, Part 2 has close to 45 main characters and 250 named characters, although most of the 250 are what I call bit players who are mentioned as supporting characters.

Then the writing was slowed down by the technological aspects of the story that I had to research. One of the survivors' primary needs is a fuel source that will allow them to continue using existing vehicles. I had to research several things in that area. First, gasoline degrades with time but how long does that take and how does degraded gasoline affect a vehicle. The same thing for diesel fuel, which I discovered lasts longer than gasoline before it becomes unusable. Second, what is the cracking process that converts crude oil into gasoline and diesel fuel. Would it be viable to put a refinery back into operation or would the survivors need to start making gasohol.

Overall, I think I'm over half way finished with the story and I'm at over 20 chapters. The story has taken on a life of its own and wants to grow. I'm having to rein it in, and will probably end up shutting down Part 2 before the story is really finished. That means I may end up with a Part 3, but not in the near future.

Hopefully, I can find a good break point for The Ark before it goes over 100 chapters. Then I will let my imagination run wild getting Doug and his friends into and out of trouble in OE3.

REP

Hi All,

It's been a while since my last post and a few of my feedback message senders have requested that I let them know what is coming up next. I appreciate the feedback I received, so Thank You. A number of the comments will help me in future story development.

A bit of 'Sauce for the Gander' history for those who may be interested. In the original version, which I sent to my editor TeNderLoin, Chapter 8 was a dinner party celebrating the 35th anniversary of the founding of The Rattler. I intended the chapter to be the end of the story and the chapter would have filled everyone in on what happened from where Part 1 ended. TeNderLoin said NO! ... Bad Author! ... Don't end it that way. I listened to him so there will be a Part 2.

I decided that I have too many ongoing serial stories. I can't support all of them in a timely manner, so I will be concluding the majority of the current serials as quickly as I can. Opening Earth and possibly Time Scope will continue. I should be able to manage 2 concurrent serials, so if you have a preference as to which stories should continue beyond their next Part, let me know.

Right now, I'm working on The Ark, Part 2. Part 1 included Jon's intended plan for reclaiming the US. My plans for now are to cover Jon's initial efforts in reclaiming the now battered US territory. How far I go in describing the reclamation and the number of Parts that will comprise is still under consideration. However, my current intent is to end the story with Part 2.

My writing pattern is to focus on one story. During the development of that story, I sometimes need a break and will work on a second story. Right now, I have at least 2 non-serial, multi-chapter stories that are almost complete. I will probably complete and post at least one of those stories before I finish Part 2 of The Ark

My In-Process Stories include:

An Old Man's Lament - A short story about a 70-year old man reminiscing about his past life and the problems he faces with planning the rest of his life.

Caveman Courtship - Hopefully, a humorous story about "Getting Married" way back when. Have you ever wondered 'Why does the bridegroom have a Best Man?' The story is based on current courtship, engagement, and marriage practices and provides a rationale for why those practices exist.

Officer Symms - A D-Hopping Universe story about the life of a female, Multiverse Police Officer. Currently, just an idea that I plan to develop.

Opening Earth, Part 3 - Doug had hoped to delay revelation of certain facts about the Multiverse's culture until Earth's people were more accepting of certain differences (i.e., marital, religious, legal, technological, etc.) between the two cultures. His marriage and honeymoon has made some of those differences known and the international media has spread the specifics of the differences around the world. In addition to his regular problems, a small but very vocal segment of the population are making and implementing plans that will make life even more difficult for Doug. Not to mention a future business rival who wants him dead.

Please Don't Help Me - just an idea for a story about a man who feels and acts on a compulsion to help solve other peoples' problems.

Sam's Hopping - A D-Hopping Universe story about the life of a young man who gains the D-Hop ability as a teenager. The story begins with his life on an unsophisticated, non-industrial Multiverse planet, and it describes aspects of the training he receives to become a D-Hopper, his work as a D-Hopper on his home planet, and starting his own D-Hopping business.

Sauce for the Gander, Part 2 - Carl has collected his lottery winnings. Now he needs to build his publishing empire so he can "explain" to the media why publishing the details of his private life and harassing him was a bad idea.

The Footlocker - During WW II, the Nazi Party looted Europe sending their loot back to Germany. The story has a historical basis and describes the adventures of a young man who befriends an elderly woman. The early chapters focus on the woman's past life and the life of her husband from the time he was college student, who was enamored by Hitler's ideology, until his death as a US citizen to include aspects of his life as a disillusioned senior officer in the Nazi group responsible for storing/hiding the valuables the Nazis looted from Europe. What the woman and her husband did prior to, during, and after WW II and how the young man 'inherits' responsibility for the loot still hidden away is the premise of the story.

The Pink Monkey Chronicles - A 'Conspiracy Theory Story'. Have you ever looked at a graphic representation of the ' Homo Sapiens' Family Tree'. If you just consider the history of our Genus, Homo, all of the sub-branches of the family tree just ended. But What-If one of those 'dead' branches didn't end. What-If the members of that supposedly 'dead' branch were superior to another branch of the tree and found it necessary to hide their existence. What-If that superior branch is still in existence and hiding among our Homo Sapiens branch of the family tree. That is the premise of The PM Chronicles.

Time Scope 3 - The Altarians have landed and the world is aware of their existence and some of their abilities and intentions. Now Jed and Alicia must mediate a treaty between the Altarians and Earth's politicians. Two average people must step in and control the World's Political Leadership. However, they have been given a 'big stick' so the job is not as impossible as it may seem.

Tom the Troll - Just an idea for a fictitious story about Internet Trolls and their victims. Loosely based on my personal experience with disgruntled readers of my SOL stories and similar stories told by other authors.