lichtyd: Blog

First the bad news. I'm not going to make my June deadline.

I had enormous difficulties with chapter twelve. My original idea, written almost two years ago, did not meet my current standards. It reeked of Deus ex machina. My more picky readers would have picked it to death.

The good news is I resolved my issue, and the result is better than I expected. My friend and coworker, Brenda, has an amazing ability to see things I miss. She gave me the idea I needed to complete 12. If not for her input, The Farmer's Daughter and The Loyalty Gene would not be as good. For example, Brenda is why Stephanie is so jealous. It's a great character trait. I've used it in part one and will again in part two.

The current status is chapters 11, 12, 14, and 15 are past alpha. Once I finish thirteen, I'll dump the load on my beta readers. Chapter 13 is in work. If I get stuck, I'll switch over to 16

I can barely wait to get on with chapters 16 thru 20. Chapter 16 in particular is going to be fun.

I continue to work on part two of The Loyalty Gene. Unlike part one, I'm writing this part non-chronologically. Per the original outline, I know certain key scenes must occur. Instead of leading up to them, I'm writing/updating them first.

It's freeing because I don't have the weight of a previous chapter's content to slow me down. The downside is all the editing I can see in my future. Making sure everything ties together is going to be a challenge.

One happy byproduct of writing out of order, is those key scenes are becoming more detailed and stretching out into full chapters. It looks like this process might work out for me.

My one big problem is still around. I need an inspiration to make the words flow. Without a kickstart, all I do is noodle around on my keyboard.

Currently in work is chapter 12. Thirteen, fourteen and fifteen are complete. Chapter sixteen is outlined. Seventeen thru twenty have outlines but need reviewed and updated.

Looking over the scores for the prequel, I can see some people didn't like it. I wish they'd send me a message and tell me why. Yeah, the prequel is dark. Bad things happen, but I have to make the bad guys worthy of their fates. Consider Kurt Vonnegut's sixth rule:

Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

Maybe I missed tagging something and a reader disliked what they read? One of the best parts of SOL are the tags. I have a robust input filter and rely on the tags quite a bit.

I've corrected one one editing error in the prequel.

Kurt Vonnegut's other rules can be read here.

lichtyd

It's finally up. Natalie's back story. The story isn't nice, and it doesn't have a happy ending. Bad things happen to good people. In Natalie's case, she's very much an innocent. Designed to spec. Raised in the family of her owner. At fifteen, she is taken to his town house and becomes his mistress. Not a nice story at all.

Then it goes south. Terrible things happen when people think they can own other people.

Natalie isn't a quitter. She's smart and pays attention. Her addiction runs her life, but it doesn't own her soul.

The Loyalty Gene - Part One, takes up the story seventeen years later. Natalie has a plan and the perfect partner, her youngest daughter, to help pull it off.

So, I can see from the early voting, some of you, don't like the prequel. I'm glad, I think, because you probably also dislike the idea of a human owning another human. Then again, you might dislike the story because it doesn't make slave-owning seem fun.

It's my hope you'll judge it as a setup for the rest of the story.

Part two is coming along well. I've read some thoughtful emails concerning the fate of Stephanie. It's caused me to rethink a few things. I think for the better. As for an exact status: chapters 11, 12, and 13 are in work. Chapters 14 and 15 are done. 16 and 17 are outlined in detail. Chapter 18 is mostly done.

Feel free to ask questions or express concerns.

lichtyd

I got a few leads and a start on the information I need.

This place is great.

I need help writing the radio traffic between a private aircraft and the controller.

A character, flying a single person aircraft, is taken off course and held at the Falmouth VOR in Kentucky.

Who would contact the off course aircraft? His route would take him over Cincinnati, west of Lunken Field then south to FLM.