Sage Mullins: Blog

I posted here a couple of days ago that I was still working on an extra-long chapter 50. But the thing is, it was shaping up to be by far the longest chapter in the story.

And so, I got to thinking ... why not just split it up into two chapters?

And thus, it's done. The shortened chapter 50 (still an average-sized chapter) was just sent off to my editors, and should be up in a few days. The original second half of 50, now chapter 51, should follow close behind it.

I'm making progress on chapter 50 of LiaB. It's taking longer than usual, though; it's looking like a very long chapter. On top of that, there's a topic contained within that I needed to do some research on, which is also slowing me down. So, never fear. It shouldn't be too much longer.

I've posted the revised chapter 49, as I discussed in my last blog entry. I added a few lines of dialogue near the end of the chapter. I made no subtractions, only additions aimed at providing context. Hopefully, it sounds better.

Also, I'm working on chapter 50. I have some real-life stuff going on right now, so bear with me. I'll get it posted as soon as I can.

Dare I ask for ... a do-over? Yes, I'm about to do just that.

A couple of readers felt that the ending of chapter 49, where Pat and Dave made a few wisecracks at the expense of Paul and his new girlfriend, came across as harsh and mean-spirited. Believe it or not, what got posted there was actually a toned-down version of that little exchange. When I read through the initial version, it did indeed seem a little mean to me, so I dialed it down a notch before I put it up on the site.

There's one thing that, as a writer, I'm still coming to terms with. I know what's going to happen next in the story, and the reader doesn't. This was one instance where I allowed my own "pre-knowledge" (if you will) to influence my writing. So, what I'd like to do is this. I plan to do a re-write of that last part of chapter 49. It won't be a major overhaul; I don't intend to remove the wisecracks. What I'll do instead is provide a little more context (which is never a bad thing). This will serve to lengthen chapter 49 a little (also never a bad thing).

It's normal for 21-year-olds, even the recycled Pat and the new and improved Dave, to make good-natured comments of this type about friends. I guess what I was trying to do is indicate that Pat and Dave, even though they both are quite different now, still have the same wacky chemistry they showed back at the beginning of the story.

Look for the re-write to be up in a few days, and I'll make another blog post at that time.

I'm a bit of a statistics nut. I was looking at the chapter-by-chapter download figures for LiaB, and they actually support something I've long suspected. I believe I did lose some readers as a result of Pat's "dark period" in Chapters 21, 22, and 23. Except for the recently posted Chapters 47 and 48, Chapter 23 is the least-downloaded chapter in the entire story, by a healthy margin. The download numbers rebound somewhat starting with Chapter 24, but never reach the level of the chapters before 21. Enough time has gone by for the comparison to be valid, and it looks like some readers did fly the coop.

My own take on the situation - and the reason behind the "dark period" - was that a character such as Pat, who wasn't crazy about going back in time in the first place, would have to go through a bit of a funk in order to fully appreciate the opportunity he'd been given in being allowed to re-live his life. I theorized earlier in this blog that many of us would probably mess things up to some extent if given a do-over in actuality. Most time-travel stories depict a character who far out-performs the first incarnation of him/herself, and perhaps there's a reason for that. Maybe my scenario is more realistic, but this is, after all, fiction. The point is for the story to be engaging, and realistic and engaging are not necessarily one and the same. As a writer, I'm still grappling with that issue.

Hopefully, those of you who stuck with the story after Chapter 23 (and thanks for doing so) understand now what I was trying to do. I also hope that the readers who gave up on the story back then eventually decide to come back and continue onward.

On another note: Chapter 49 is complete. It's in the hands of my editors, and will be posted very soon.