Sage Mullins: Blog

I am back online, and ready to pick up where I left off regarding "An Unwanted Alias."

I was somewhat concerned about the reaction to the sad end to Chapter 12, which went up while I was away. Thankfully, not only did the story score avoid a precipitous drop, it actually ticked up a few notches after 12 was posted.

I haven't started to write chapter 13, but I plan to jump right into it. Don't expect a chapter to be posted on Tuesday, however. It's extremely likely that the calendar will turn over into December before 13 gets released.

Just a heads-up here: I will be out of town for the next ten days or so, with little or no internet access for the duration.

That won't affect my posting schedule for An Unwanted Alias, at least not right away. Chapter 11 is in the posting queue as we speak. I've queued up Chapter 12 to be posted on Tuesday 11/18, so that it will go up in my absence.

However, looking beyond chapter 12 ... it's all but certain that it will take longer than a week for me to get the next chapter up. I haven't started writing chapter 13 yet, which means I won't get to it until after my return.

Right now, I expect the final version of AUA to be about 18 chapters long. This is not an epic-length story like Lightning in a Bottle. Still, the story is far from over. Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that I snuck in the "Tear Jerker" code in the very recent past. That's right ... I probably need to give the readership a heads-up that an unexpected and sad turn of events is in the offing. It's not in chapter 11, though.

Chapter 4 of An Unwanted Alias was posted yesterday. My plans are to cut back to one chapter posted per week. Chapter 5 will go up next Tuesday, 9/30. Chapter 6 will be posted the following Tuesday.

Writing-wise, I'm at the beginning of chapter 11, so I have a sizable backlog to work with.

One thing I'm quite surprised about is how little reader feedback I've gotten with this story. That stands in marked contrast to Lightning in a Bottle, where I often had more than I could deal with.

Because of that, it's hard for me to get a handle on the disappointingly low (so far) score. If I had to venture a guess, it's because the plot has been slow to unfold, plus I haven't yet developed any characters in great detail, save for the protagonist. I anticipated this up front; the "slow" code applies to more than just sex. The next chapter should ratchet things up a bit, and chapter 6 even more. :)

I'll be posting chapter 1 of a new story, "An Unwanted Alias," tomorrow (Tuesday). My plan is to post chapter 2 on Friday, followed by 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Friday of next week. After that, I'll drop back to one chapter a week. I've written 8 chapters so far, and I expect the story to be about 20 chapters in length. Therefore, it's reasonable to think I might be able to maintain that posting schedule until the story is complete, although I can't make any promises.

What's the story about? Well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to get an idea. :)

After "An Unwanted Alias" is complete, my tentative plans are to go back and finish "Song of Adelita."

So, I'm supposed to be on hiatus from writing, taking it easy after wrapping up the epic-length tale that was Lightning in a Bottle. Yeah, right. Fat chance. One of my story ideas took off in my mind, and I have a good chunk of the story written already. I won't be posting any of it until it's complete, or nearly so; don't expect to see it for a month or more.

It's a romantic tale with no time travel or sci-fi aspect, so it's different from LiaB in that way. No rock and roll, baseball or coming of age stuff either. Still, I think many fans of LiaB will enjoy it. (fingers crossed) The story will most certainly have the "slow" code, and probably the "Minimal Sex" designation as well. That's not to say that this will apply to all of my future stories, but it will to this one. It's a medium length story that will probably have 15-20 chapters, certainly no more. (I'm done with epics for a good long while.)

Now is probably the right time to put out a request for editing help. I'm interested in help in two areas: a grammar and spelling editor, and a content editor. It would be a BIG help to find a content editor who has spent some time in China and is familiar with Chinese culture. :)