I spent my morning writing again. This time, the ship made port. It was kind of fun having them slow down by reducing sail until it was gone completely. They also had to man the yard arms. This involves every available person going aloft and lining up across the yards. This was occasionally done in the age of sail, because when men are aloft they aren’t manning the guns. This is a foreign country after all.
The locals towed them in via a sequence of longboats, complete with drums.
Their mission here is to pose as their enemies, and accept delivery of a cargo the enemy already paid for. I still need to bring some tension to the fact that someone could blow the whole thing for them.
They explored the new city, and I had fun describing it. They saw people who resembled cormorant fishermen, but in my setting the birds used were replaced by diving reptiles who resemble flightless pelicans.
I worked to describe streets filled with vendors of every kind, including flowers and the scents that go along with flowers, food, and the like.
Serang gave a bamboo flute lesson to some street thugs, and only broke one nose… and a wrist. She also stole the thugs money to pay for the flute. Good news, this time she didn’t kill anyone.
We met Serang’s uncle who is the brewer of Huangjiu. (Think saki here, but more Chinese.) Serang is a big drinker, and now we know why. There were many cries of Ganbei, as the cups were drained.
We also learned of her sad story, and how her father was killed by the dragon turtle. (Who will not appear in this story beyond a giant parade puppet.) We also learned that she was once something called a temple maiden. This was before the Emperor decided to westernize and eliminated the temples.
The ship’s (witch) doctor sought the help of a traditional Asian doctor. This made me stop to explore all kinds of things. There isn’t a ton of detail available so I made most of it up. It’s a fantasy, I get to do that.
To distract from the idea that I had to make part of this up, I also researched maggot and leech therapy. That ought to make your skin crawl, but it actually serves a purpose in the real world.
I am using a bit of googling to come up with the foreign words. There are some minor modifications on my part, but the terms have real meaning. I’ve worked pretty hard to update my cheat page so I remain consistent from this point on.
I’m horrible about spelling some things, and foreign words won’t even pick up on my spell-checker. By getting them right on the cheat sheet, I can copy and paste for consistency. It isn’t like these words are used every page, so it’s pretty easy.
If all goes well tomorrow, I may get to have some fun with false teeth, money changers from this newly westernized world, and a recovery by the severely wounded first officer. I may have even found a use for the skin of the bay frogs from a week or two ago.
The story is fast approaching 60,000 words, and I should break that tomorrow. I’m having a terrible thought about all the various land wars that are breaking out, and how this could become a trilogy at some point. Scares me to even think about it, because I have some different stories to write already.
I’m calling it The Voyage of the Lanternfish. I’m considering dropping the first word to make it Voyage of the Lanternfish. What do you guys think?
Chime in here. Are you intrigued by fishing reptiles, bamboo flutes, maggot therapy, and temple maidens?
There are a few more hours until first pitch, and my curse is consistent. I watched the game last night, so of course the Diamondbacks lost. Maybe I should just write and check scores in the morning.
This sounds like a really wild story. I have to agree that dropping ‘The’ rolls off the tongue better.
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It might fit on a cover better too.
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I agree.
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I like the title best without the first word (you don’t need “the” really). But if you decide to add it, that would work too.
My interest in those things would depend on the context. If you want to know if I’m interested in hearing details about those things in the context of your story, the answer is, “Yes. As long as adding those things works in the grand scheme of things.”
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No doubt they have to work inside the story. I’m thinking I like the shorter title too.
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Dang, you are just cruisin through this one! I like reading about your process in this way better than I like most blogs about the process. I don’t know if I’m biased or holy crap, maybe you’re just better at writing about your process.
?!? If I had time, I’d ponder that and analyze my other writery friends’ writings about the process, but I don’t have time for that.
Anyway, I like it just Voyage, not The. 🙂
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I’m going to have to shorten the title. It sounds great, and will probably fit better on a cover too. I’m taking a different approach to sharing things this time. It used to be more about Lisa and I working on things together. Some of that still happens, but I’m sharing more research and settings to see what happens.
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There are always a few good laughs at your expense when you use Lisa and the raven, but honestly, I feel like I’m with you when you write the way you’ve written about this book, and I like that. It’s not story, it’s narrative, and I find it entertaining.
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Good to know. Thanks.
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I love the idea of a trilogy. I’m picturing maps to go with each story and a side compendium of creatures and cities. Treasure chests filled with rum as prizes.
I’m probably getting ahead of myself. Sorry. But I’m excited.
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The idea scares me. If they don’t like book one, I don’t want to waste time writing the others. Timing is good to bring Lizzie and the hat back next. Better timing would have been another Hat story first, then a trilogy. Aren’t you supposed to have two books ready before releasing the first one?
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The ideal is actually three to five so you can release all back-to-back. No reason you can’t write a few shorts or novellas while you’re working on books two and three. Or just make people wait. Besides, if the books are stand-alones that are part of an over-arching bigger collection, that’s the best of both worlds. People will feel satisfied at the end of the first one, but if they enjoyed it, they’ll read the next installments (whenever they come out).
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Sounds reasonable. I’m still a bit concerned about timing. I promised myself this one would be no pressure, so I’m just going to keep writing it for now.
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Write the whole dang thing then decide if it needs ‘ology-ing’
Much snappier without the ‘The’. 🙂
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Appreciate it. Sounds like good advice too.
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Wow, you are really kicking butt with the word count. I didn’t realize how much you have done. Way to go!
I’m definitely in favor of dropping “The” from the title.
From your blog posts, I think you could easily develop this into a series. Give your readers closure to each book (so that they can stand alone) and go from there. As for timing, I never have the second or third books written, but I do live with deadline pressure with all three books in a series being released within a 12 month period. Sometimes I think I’m insane–then other times, I think– “I got this.”
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You do have this. Unfortunately, I may not. Maybe I can hack out my team oriented paranormal adventure this winter and dive right back in. For marketing purposes, the team things makes some sense.
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I vote for Voyage of the Lanternfish.
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Seems to be the consensus and I like it too.
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This story has me intrigued on many different levels. Serang could be relatable, but dangerous. Of course, she would have to be to consort with these pirates. What fun you are having with this one!
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I am having a great time with this story.
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