Two steps back to the beginning

I thought I'd carry some of my myspace blogs, especially those concerning my writing, over here. It's easier to see how things happened here, and there's not all those obnoxious pictures and shit like you get on myspace. Here's one of the first when The Boar War was still in the development stages. I've melded two of my last posts from myspace on here.

Well, I had a new idea hit me the other day. It's for (yet another) book that I'd like to write and yet, I still am staring at several that need to be written (or completed, as the case may be).
It's called The Boar War, and it's kind of like a Watership Down-type book (it should be a stand alone story) that could read like a treatise on how humanity treats the environment (I'm not exactly an environmentalist, but I do respect the value of nature and regret that in our need for consummable materials we continue to push back the boundaries of pristine ecology...but that's another show (as Alton Brown would say)).

The Boar War is basically a story that revolves around the plight of the Elk Clan (ironically enough, the Boar Clan makes on brief appearances, but I liked the play on words against the Boer War that was fought in South Africa) and their strange affliction/affiliation with an orphaned girl who wanders into their territory after wars between the humans destroy her village and kill her parents. The mild-manner Deer Tribe (the animals are divided up by their species into tribes but several tribes of similar animals make up a clan, so the Deer, Elk and Moose Tribes all make up the Elk Clan...carry it out with different animals, such as boars, bears, eagles, lions, mammoths, seals...you get the picture).

If anything, it's more a treatise on how we should "all get along". Take a line from X-Men, and it's more or less the Deer Tribe's vision of peaceful coexistance between man and beast.
This is one of those things I ponder on while stuck in traffic or standing in front of my hood watching things stir, when I can't work on my epic works. I still think of those, but occasionally I get an idea I REALLY like.

Chalk The Boar War up as sitting on the very top of the development pile. When I get a break in the action from The Hundred Kings Saga, I might try hammering out a few chapters or whatever and see where it goes (I have several characters already mapped out). More to come on this (and an update to follow on THKS! Yes, I have been working on it!).

Work continues to go forward on King of Shadows. I've re-read (and in some cases re-re-read and even re-re-re-read) the first five chapters (in cluding the revamped prologue) and, for the most part, I'm fairly happy with what I've been able to accomplish. I've still only stretched my page count by five (most of that coming in the prologue).

I'm still staring at the daunting task of trying to get someone to read the book being that it's a first in a series and I'm an unpublished author (to date). That's where the whole idea of the other book(s) I've been kicking around in my mind intrigues me. If I could just concentrate long enough to get one single shot novel done and out the door, then I'd feel a little better.

However, the game plan for now is to continue stitching together the pieces of King of Shadows into a continuously flowing storyline (early on it's easy, though, as the action takes place over years whereas later in the book, the action takes place over a span of a few weeks and even days at times). Once Shadoes is done, I'll focus on stitching together King of Thistles and have it ready in case someone wants to pick up on my story (I'm envisioning a long, drawn out process here, though). With Thistles in my back pocket (ouch!), I'll maybe try working on The Boar War a little bit to see if I can get a single-shot book out there, sell it, and then pave the way for acceptance/purchase of the longer, more epic stories in Shadows and Thistles (unless they're already bought, and in that case I'll put TBW on the proverbial back burner and pick King of Storms back up...in which case I'll have to buy lots of Victory Storm King Stout).