Grey Wolf: Blog

Slightly belated announcement on this, but it somehow seems fitting that it's a day late.

One year and a day ago, I nervously hit 'Submit For Posting' on Book 1, Chapter 1 of 'Variation on a Theme'. Only two people had read it before - my initial editors.

A year later: 1675 emails from readers, over a thousand between me and my (now five) editors, 1.8 million downloads, and almost 870,000 words posted (well over a million written). I'm still a bit overwhelmed by it all!

I'm looking forward to continuing the stories of Steve and Angie and their parents, and seeing where their stories, and those of Jasmine, and Jane, Jessica, Gene, Cammie and Mel, Sue, Janet and Lizzie, Mike and Sarah, Andy and Cal, Emily and the Wonder Twins, Paige, Lexi, Sheila and Amit, and Meg and Steffie, and so many others take us.

Thank you to everyone for going on this journey with me. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

I've got two Thanksgiving surprises for Variation on a Theme readers.

First, I'm posting a bonus chapter tomorrow in honor of both Steve and Angie's and Jasmine's families' love of Thanksgiving. Chapter 12 will post tomorrow, and Chapter 13 will follow on Friday.

Second, voting (which I should have turned on following Chapter 10's posting, but failed to) will be turned on tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly when, but some time tomorrow. Depends on how my Thanksgiving is going; I'll be spending it with family and friends.

I am very thankful for the many of you who've gone on this journey with me and are continuing to enjoy the story. Whether or not you're one of them, Happy Thanksgiving to you, and I hope you have a great day!

As always, I enjoy hearing from you. Thanks to those of you who've written to me over the nearly a year that I've been sharing this story (even if you didn't like something).

Thank you to everyone who wrote to me, and to everyone who reads Variation on a Theme. I very much appreciate all of you and your continued support, kind words and thoughts, suggestions, comments, corrections, criticisms, and even gripes.

Variation on a Theme, Book 3 - covering Steve, Angie, and friends' junior year - will commence posting on Monday, November 1, on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting schedule. Plenty of new adventures are in store.

As a teaser: pay attention to the disclaimer at the bottom of the Foreword for Book 3 (but don't expect an immediate impact from it, either).

Book 2 of Variation on a Theme is coming to an end very soon. The final chapter (116) should post on Saturday, October 30th. I promise - no cliffhanger this time. See - not so scary! I certainly hope the ending encourages you to wish to continue into Book 3, though.

Speaking of Book 3, here's the (slightly) scary part (for me, anyway; annoying, for many of you). I'm not as far ahead as I'd like to be on getting Book 3 written. Well over enough ahead that posting isn't a problem, but - for now - I'm going to post 3 times a week instead of 4. My current thought is to post M Th S, but I'm open to suggestions for other days.

I can blame a lot of things - a few cases of writer's block, a new job that's keeping me very busy, volunteer commitments, and so forth - but the simple fact is that I don't want to risk running out of things to post and having to post as I get things written. That's not good for anyone. My hope is that 3x a week will at least keep me from getting further behind and may let me build up more story so that the posting pace stays steady long-term.

I'm sure some of you will be disappointed, and I'm sorry. It's a bit of a trick instead of a treat. I'll try to make sure there are some treats, too.

Cast of Characters is still in progress, not forgotten, if you're wondering.

As always, thanks for reading!

Hello VoaT readers (and potential future VoaT readers!)

For the first topic in this blog: I messed up and used a name twice. While I do that intentionally a few places, this one is just plain an oops. Didn't mean to do it, feel bad about it, need to fix it. Darla Kwan had the name Darla first, but Darla Winton took it over and won't let it go. So, Ms. Kwan relinquished the name and is now Debra.

On the bigger topic of names in VoaT: There are a lot of them, attached to a lot of characters. My best guess right now (yes, I don't have an exhaustive list either) is that there are around 250 named characters, counting everyone. What 'counts' is tricky. Someone like Nurse Sandra, not seen since chapter 4, is certainly a 'character', but she seems unlikely to return and take center stage. On the other hand, someone like Sharon (Angie's mother, aka 'the FW'), who has never yet turned up on-page, is an important character.

With all of these characters, combined with my penchant for having some turn up, vanish, then return in a significant role, sometimes has people scratching their heads wondering who so-and-so is. Sometimes I can reintroduce them gracefully, but sometimes I can't, and I don't always know who needs a reintroduction. Obviously (see above), even I get confused about names on occasion, and every so often my editors lose track of someone, too.

All of this has brought up a discussion about a 'Cast of Characters'. It's a great idea, but brings complexity with it. Where should it go? A separate document? An appendix? An entirely separate location (website, wiki, etc)?

Here are some open questions:
Who gets in? Everyone? Does Nurse Sandra get a listing, for instance?

How are spoilers managed? Obviously, to readers of Book 1, listings for Candice in August 1980, December 1980, February 1982, and August 1982 would vary considerably. Which is 'correct'?

How much detail? Name, age, looks? That helps for some, but would be useless for Dave Winton and even more useless for Sharon.

When does it get updated? Once per book is easy for me, but we're 70 chapters into Book 2. Having some sort of catch-up on who's-who may be useful for readers who are missing someone introduced in the fall of 1981.

I have tentative thoughts on these, and there are some things I'm pretty sure I won't do. I don't want to do anything that intrudes on the story. Nothing per-chapter, nor every 5 or 10 or whatever. Someone who just wants to pick up the book and read it should be able to do so without being bothered by a list of characters, even if it's easily skipped. That argues for appendix, not foreword, if it's within the book itself.

Appendix solves the spoiler issue - it's after the book and covers the characters' progress through that book. Each book has its own appendix, and someone like Nurse Sandra might get kicked out of a Book 2 appendix.

I think the most likely information for most characters is name, age (and/or grade, which is more important in most cases for students), and a sentence or two giving a few details.

Should listings have a 'first mention' pointer? That's work to maintain, but might be useful.

A wiki has its points, but also would be chock full of spoilers without careful design. I have no problem with people opting to seek out spoilers, but I don't want someone looking up something simple to find out information they really didn't want to know. It also would require ongoing maintenance, most likely.

Lots of thoughts here. Some of you have already written with comments about a Cast of Characters (and you may see my reactions above, plus I've either written back or somehow missed your message - I try to write back to everyone who writes me). Perhaps someone has the perfect answer, or can point to a really good solution - or one they can't stand. Either is helpful.

As always, thank you for reading! I'm glad you're enjoying Variation On A Theme, and I hope you continue to. And, if you're not, let me know why. I'll respond, unless - again - I somehow just miss your message. Whether it's praise or criticism, a typo or an anachronism, a factual error or a difference of opinion, I enjoy heading from you.