This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #522, on the subject of Versers Traveling.
With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,
- Verse Three, Chapter One: The First Multiverser Novel,
- Old Verses New,
- For Better or Verse,
- Spy Verses,
- Garden of Versers,
- Versers Versus Versers,
- Re Verse All,
- In Verse Proportion,
- Con Verse Lea, and
- In Version, in collaboration with Eric R. Ashley,
in serialized form on the web (those links will take you to the table of contents for each book). Along with each book there was also a series of web log posts looking at the writing process, the decisions and choices that delivered the final product; those posts are indexed with the chapters in the tables of contents pages. Now as I am posting the eleventh, Con Version, again written in collaboration with Eric R. Ashley, I am again offering a set of “behind the writings” insights. This “behind the writings” look may contain spoilers because it sometimes talks about my expectations for the futures of the characters and stories–although it sometimes raises ideas that were never pursued, as being written partially concurrently with the story it sometimes discusses where I thought it was headed. You might want to read the referenced chapters before reading this look at them. Links below (the section headings) will take you to the specific individual chapters being discussed, and there are (or will soon be) links on those pages to bring you back hopefully to the same point here.
This is the eighteenth and penultimate post for this novel, covering chapters 205 through 216. Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:
- #498: Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
- #501: Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
- #502: Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
- #503: Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
- #505: Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
- #506: Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
- #509: Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
- #510: Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
- #511: Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108;
- #512: Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120;
- #515: Verser Troubles, 121 through 132;
- #516: Versers Stymied, 133 through 144;
- #517: Versers Moving, 145 through 156;
- #518: Versers Plan, 157 through 168;
- #519: Versers Congregate, 169 through 180;
- #520: Versers Employed, 181 through 192; and
- #521: Versers Act, 193 through 204.
There is also a section of the site, Multiverser Novel Support Pages, in which I have begun to place materials related to the novels beginning with character papers for the major characters, giving them at different stages as they move through the books. This is also the longest book to date, and has quite a few long chapters in it, so there will be quite a few of these background articles.
History of the series, including the reason it started, the origins of character names and details, and many of the ideas, are in earlier posts, and won’t be repeated here.
Quick links to discussions in this page:
Chapter 205, Takano 148
Chapter 206, Cooper 65
Chapter 207, Brown 358
Chapter 208, Takano 149
Chapter 209, Cooper 66
Chapter 210, Brown 359
Chapter 211, Cooper 67
Chapter 212, Brown 360
Chapter 213, Takano 150
Chapter 214, Cooper 68
Chapter 215, Brown 361
Chapter 216, Takano 151
I wanted to have Mordenslice attempt to steal the design files Derek had removed, by hiring someone in the fire investigations office, and this was my attempt to make that happen.
Eric created this for the jailbreak to bring in the crystalized supervillainess tying back to the robbery earlier in the book. At several points, though, he had Mister Justice using his sword inside the prison, and it had been established that he wasn’t permitted to carry it inside for his training sessions. A few minor edits fixed that.
Continuing the prison break scenario, Eric brought Michael Gabriel into the scene. He also suggested that Justice’s eardrums were damaged, but then left it for me to complete.
In Eric’s original version he had Vashti talking about buying a tuna sandwich from the deli, and the interactions were all with deli customers. It always bothered me that they were buying deli sandwiches, but I couldn t quite put my finger on why until I was doing the final edit and setup for the web. At that point I went back and worked out the structure of events. The long version is that they had gotten paid on Thursday, and on Friday they cashed Derek s check, probably about $18, and deposited Vashti s into an account that contained $20 given to them by Brian to open the account. Then on Saturday they spent nearly all of Derek s money on creating the Avenging Angel equipment (briefcase and belt), so they’re carrying almost no cash. They are undoubtedly eating from the larder at the manse at this point. Monday is the fire, and Wednesday is the prison break. That means the only way they could have money is if they withdrew it from the bank, and they have so little and the possibility that they’re about to lose those jobs with maybe one more day’s pay, they’re not going to splurge on sandwiches from a deli. I sent the problem to Eric, and he said he really liked the deli scene, but would accept my proposal to move it to the bank.
Eric picked up the idea that Mordenslice would go after Granville to try to find the files, and setup the idea of trying to catch him in the act.
I had been toying with the notion of getting radios for the team so they could communicate, and this seemed to be the best moment. I got hung up on the transportation problem, though.
I wanted to get the robot repairs done, but the force of the story meant that they were going to have to start watching Granville’s house the night they got the radios, so I had to figure out how to squeeze that in.
After sitting on this for a couple days, I changed the viewpoint from Tommy to Brian and put together the beginning of the confrontation at Granville’s. I had decided that Brian was going to discover accidentally that the sword could teleport him.
Not certain how to resolve the can of worms I’d opened with Cutter trying to find the files, I tackled this chapter to avoid a violent confrontation. Most of what Derek says is true, and it sufficiently misleads Cutter that he and Vashti should be off the suspect list.
Half a day after writing the encounter, I came back and wrote this aftermath to push the group to Yellowstone and the final event.
Eric drafted this to move the team to Yellowstone and the investigation.
Eric drafted this, along with substantial notes on what villains were on site. I added the last two paragraphs, closing the chapter even though it didn t cover some obvious information, because I thought it was already getting too long. It took a bit of editing to explain why Derek didn’t go beyond the loading dock to find out what was in the building.
Eric drafted this.
This has been the eighteenth and penultimate behind-the-writings look at Con Version. If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with more behind-the-writings posts and another novel.