2010-01-01

SSC2 was as long as SSC, but the characters of the defunct predecessor series demanded closure then & there - unwilling to wait for SSC3.

2010-01-02

Not a fan of prequels/reboots, I needed to devise a way to propel the current SSC iteration forward while honoring the last's continuity.

2010-01-03

should rephrase that - prequel/reboot wouldn't have worked, here. The startling contrast between youth & adult writing should be preserved.

2010-01-04

It was naïveté versus life experience: "If I had known then what (I think) I know now" -> translated directly to the literature.

2010-01-05

From there, the True Love Trilogy was conceived. SSC introduced it. SSC2 turns it dark. SSC3 resolves conflict - or tries to at least.

2010-01-06

had a lot of fun writing SSC. Anybody who knew anything about me that read it would smile, but the novel wasn't about me.

2010-01-07

If it were, I wouldn't write this. The personal cost is very high. I do this for Marileva, in particular, and the characters, in general.

2010-01-08

These characters deserved that their story be told, so I was tasked with raising the bar. To do that, a strong female lead was called for.

2010-01-09

Both deadly and cerebral, Marileva possessed a killer instinct capable of saving the universe or destroying and remaking it in her image.

2010-01-10

took numerous creative liberties with character design - none more so than the choice of prolonged gratification over instant gratification.

2010-01-11

Perception's a corporate cop-out for not taking the time to get to know someone, so does greater pleasure lie in the journey or destination?

2010-01-12

Not all that different from you or me, part of the allure of these characters was in their mystery. The other part was in their timing.

2010-01-13

Enter pacing. The tag "Epic Novels that Read Like Movies" cites the delicate balance between blowing stuff up and telling a complex story.

2010-01-14

doesn't draw, so he created a storyboard of words (called Novel Logic) which allowed him to keep the cinematic images straight in his head.

2010-01-15

Outline? Treatment? I'm not sure, but SSC had 180+ bullet points; SSC2 has 594 bullet points; and SSC3's release date is pushed back..

2010-01-16

Additional specificity would've been deadly (read: head explodes), so I placed the onus on the characters to flesh out & navigate the Logic.

2010-01-17

No matter the preparation, things rarely go exactly as planned. Thankfully, the writing process allows ample chances to adapt midstream.

2010-01-18

The extended Chapter 2 and Epilogue of SSC were proof of that. Such simple edits dramatically refocused the entire story on its heroine.

2010-01-19

was never, is not, and refuses to become a perfectionist. If I missed something, I'd just get it right the next time around.

2010-01-20

Perfectionist = Obstructionist. Completion > Perfection. Perfection in Completion = Attitude.

2010-01-21

talks big but still took over ten years to seriously start writing SSC2, so that is why he's the authority on the evils of perfectionism.

2010-01-22

omits reasons as to why because they would be listed as excuses. The underlying issue stems from a general lack of confidence to perform.

2010-01-23

That's similar to stuttering or something else.. Writer's Block must be converted into a tool writers can use to block out distraction.

2010-01-24

It's no easy task weathering a psychological barrage of Aikido meant to either get you to quit or feel guilty for not having done so.

2010-01-25

Such is the life, according to Robert Frost. And with chapters opening and closing in real life, I become that much stronger in prose.

2010-01-26

Spelling & grammar (even that is debatable) aside, the scholarly takeaway is that authors must do things the way they need them to be done.

2010-01-27

None of this is to say that feedback is at all unimportant, but feedback is like advice - some of it sound while the other costs you money..

2010-01-28

scrapped many-a-story from fifty pages in, but to be expected to backtrack after completion and change major plot elements is a bit much.

2010-01-29

The delicate balance between openness to implementing feedback and standing ground in favor of original intention is a tightrope's dance.

2010-01-30

will just come right out and say it: SSC was a wild ride with quick pacing and a ton of minor characters. That was the intent (!).

2010-01-31

The Star Wars that I saw on Beta was crafted in exactly the same way, and if anybody wants to debate that fact, I have the toys to prove it.