This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #536, on the subject of Character Confrontations.
With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first eleven 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,
- In Version, in collaboration with Eric R. Ashley, and
- Con 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 twelfth, A Dozen Verses, 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 thirteenth and final post for this novel, covering chapters 145 through 156. Previous posts are:
- #524: Twisting Worlds, covering the first twelve chapters;
- #525: Character Battles, covering chapters 13 through 24;
- #526: Versers Adjust, chapters 25 through 36;
- #527: Characters Reorient, chapters 37 through 48;
- #528: Versers Investigate, chapters 49 through 60;
- #529: Characters in Action, chapters 61 through 72;
- #530: Versers Move, chapters 73 through 84;
- #531: Versers Roam, chapters 85 through 96;
- #532: Versers Chilled, chapters 97 through 108;
- #533: Characters Traveling, chapters 109 through 120;
- #534: Characters Transition, 121 through 132, and
- #535: Character Plots, chapters 133 through 144.
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.
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 145, Slade 297
Chapter 146, Cooper 120
Chapter 147, Kondor 307
Chapter 148, Cooper 121
Chapter 149, Slade 298
Chapter 150, Cooper 122
Chapter 151, Kondor 308
Chapter 152, Cooper 123
Chapter 153, Slade 299
Chapter 154, Cooper 124
Chapter 155, Kondor 309
Chapter 156, Cooper 125
We needed this battle to run a few chapters, so Eric started it with this chapter in which Slade closes the gap, the enemy starts discovering its limitations, and the two sides threaten each other.
I was not yet on top of this fey fantasy world, so Eric drafted this, introducing a couple humans and a couple of talking dogs.
I drafted this, to get Kondor’s team to their motorcycles without arousing suspicion. I left blank what Amanda was wearing, which Eric supplied.
Eric had drafted a rather long chapter in which Cooper is made aware that Yolanda is trying to make a deal with an evil spirit to defeat the elves, but I pointed out that we had left Cooper 120 hanging on the expectation of three questions. I then drafted a section asking three questions, and came up with the idea that if the dogs couldn’t answer the third they would still owe him an answer, which he could get later.
I wrote this in two sections, taking it to the point where Slade crashed into the shield and the enemy suggested it was a stalemate. Momentarily stymied, I realized a couple points which I went with when I returned the next day. I also had some ideas for what happens next.
Eric was encouraging. I had commented previously that I struggled to write combat scenes, and he said that I had done this one well.
Eric drafted this to bring Cooper to the festival, introducing the talking moose. I added the place where he dons the Mister Justice outfit.
I had a very limited concept of how this fight was going to go; all I knew was that Kondor had to get close enough for Amanda to dart the bodyguard, and then they weren’t going to escape alive, but their deaths would be in the next chapter.
Eric drafted the beginning of this and a rough outline of his expectations. I tweaked it a bit and wrote Mister Justice’ introduction of himself, and left it with the suggestion that the chapter further include a battle in which Cooper defeats the first forty-nine knights in a single blow and is left to face the last fight in his next chapter, the chapter in which this story comes to an end.
I also raised the question of whether Tom (and possibly Sarah) might verse out with him.
Eric had suggested a few points for the remainder of this story, and then returned to finish drafting the chapter, but did not include some of his points or my suggestions. The wind was an interesting touch, though. He noted, “I got confused or something. Oops. I was planning on using MJ’s bit, but in the next chapter, which is where I ended up kinda fitting it in.”
I drafted this before the previous Cooper chapter was finished. I had outlined some expectations for how this would happen, because I needed a credible way for the psi-clone to be killed but Slade and Shella to verse out at the same time, without it appearing that Slade lost.
I made a mistake which I didn’t catch until I was doing character sheets late in the process: I had Shella arrive stage 2, having a nightmare. However, she had arrived stage 3 in the New Ice Age, and while reversions to an earlier stage are not unknown they are unusual. I made the correction to a stage 3 arrival before anything published.
Eric wrote this to wrap up the Fey story. In discussing Cooper 123 he had said something about the Fey being trapped by their own clever words, and I had drafted a bit about the Fey telling him he had to defeat these fifty warriors, and him vanquishing them all with a sweep of the glove but for the last fighter. He said he was going to use it, but wound up bouncing it to this chapter.
As I drafted this, I thought it would be the last chapter I wrote for this book. I had already drafted the one which follows, and was expecting Eric to write the one before it with Cooper’s final fight. There were still a few questions about Cooper 123, but I expected he would resolve them.
When Eric read through this chapter, he thought that I had written that Zeke versed out first and Amanda saw him go, and he said that was a good idea. I said yes, it is a good idea, but that didn’t happen, and I gave him an outline of how it had gone stating what has to happen for Amanda to see Zeke verse out, and he wrote a substantial set of paragraphs to make that happen, to which I made only a few minor edits.
I had a lot of work ahead–I was barely over a third of the way through setting up Con Version for publication, and we had already started on both Multiverser: The Thirteenth Story and Verse a Tile.
I had drafted this long before we got here, even before we had decided that Amanda was going to be present when they versed out. Eric then tweaked it some, and I came back to it and split it into a part that would end this book and another part that would be a Lauren Hastings chapter launching book 14. I removed or altered quite a bit of his points, such as that he had made the room small and put lights that were identifiably light emitting diodes in the ceiling, when it needed to be very large to accommodate the arrivals of all our versers and the technology should not be readily identified. I also removed an appearance of Eric’s pet verser rabbit. Eric expresses sadness at this, but writes, “This is an inside joke that goes way back. I still hope to have the bunny come back, and maybe even his future incarnation as General Something Something. But we are pretty much done!!!! Snoopy happy dance time.”
We officially finished the draft on April 8, 2023, with the final form of Kondor 309, although there was to be a complete read-through edit before I began working on setup for publication which itself would be delayed, as I was still doing setup on Con Version, only about a third of the way through, and realizing that I was going to need character sheets on any supers who might continue in future books, including the one we were just starting, Multiverser: The Thirteenth Story.
All the chapters were converted to web pages and this final behind-the-writings post drafted on August 27, 2023. Since today I published In Version Chapter 37, it will be at least a year before these chapters start to reach the public.
This has been the thirteenth and final behind-the-writings look at A Dozen Verses. If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with more behind-the-writings posts and another novel.
I’ve always wondered how far ahead you were with the Versers stories. Now the curtain is drawn aside.
To me it seems being more than 3 years ahead on your novel writing is, well, excessive, though I understand the desire to have something in the hopper ready to go.
I have to wonder if you’ve considered accelerating the pace of the posts? It seems like posting a chapter M-F wouldn’t speed up the depletion of material faster than you seem to be creating it.
Regardless, I thoroughly enjoy the stories. I think I mentioned I was going back to the beginning an rereading the original and following stories. They definitely keep my attention, I find myself staying up late a lot reading on.
Eric V: The lead time on the novels is more because I want to get the ideas on paper while they’re still fresh in my mind. Part of it. too, is that when I was unsure what to write back in Con Version I invited Eric R. Ashley to collaborate, and when he gets going it’s hard for me to keep up. But for example, when we finished #17, Versified Forest, we had already set up #18, No Verse Like Home, to pick up the stories of James Beam, Brian Cooper, and Bob Slade, and because of events in Versified Forest we knew we needed to get back to Joe Kondor and Tommy Takano in #19, Love at Versed Sight, but we already had the beginning of a story for Derek Brown and a new adventure for Lauren Hastings which were really interesting, so we set up the opening for #20, Ad Verse Reaction. On some level, we’re trying to get our ideas on paper before we forget them, which means we are well ahead.
As far as posting more chapters each week, one constraint is the time it takes to do that. For each chapter, I have to convert the text to HTML. While I’m doing that, I also collect character details that might be relevant to the character sheets which not only get posted to the support section but also serve to make sure that Eric A and I are consistent with the characters going forward. These take time as well. Although stories through novel 17 are written, I’m still finishing up the character papers for #14. Then when I do post the chapters, it doesn’t really take too long to upload the prepared page and image (I usually batch the images when I first start uploading the book), but then I have to announce it on Patreon and on several other social media sites–I dropped MeWe because I wasn’t getting any feedback there at all, but I still do Pinterest, Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook. Then I have to edit the chapter page just uploaded to include the link to the next chapter, check that next chapter in a final error check, and edit the index page to include the next chapter, so that when it’s time I can upload the three pages–the edited index, edited previous chapter, and the new chapter. Again, that part is quick, but everything else has to be in place, and occasionally it isn’t and I have to backtrack and do something I overlooked.
The other factor involved is the behind-the-writings posts, which I recall you particularly mentioned appreciating. These are mostly written concurrent with the writing of the novel, but also have to be reformatted for posting to the web log, along with finding an image, and putting links on all the involved chapter pages. Also, being a bit ADHD, I want the chapters to come out evenly, so I try to find a number of chapters that will work. It’s been as few as, I think, eight, and as many as, I think, sixteen, but usually twelve works. I was at one time doing three a week, but one of the books was long enough that I pushed it to four. Upcoming there’s a book whose total chapters came out evenly divided by eleven, so it will break down to four, four, and three.
As a footnote, the directors of Valdron Inc are talking about getting all my books into print form, and if that happens the novels will be released at a rate that will overtake the chapter postings here, and I want to have them ready to go when that happens.
I have to wonder if you’ve considered accelerating the pace of the posts? It seems like posting a chapter M-F wouldn’t speed up the depletion of material faster than you seem to be creating it.
Regardless, I thoroughly enjoy the stories. I think I mentioned I was going back to the beginning an rereading the original and following stories. They definitely keep my attention, I find myself staying up late a lot reading on.
MJ’s boys named the cyber verser rabbit General…..something something.
I’m tempted to bring it into the current world, but I can sense MJ’s eyes already rolling. Puir wee bunny does not get any love from MJ. Snicker.
Well, I’ve disdained that rabbit since it first appeared in your article series at Gaming Outpost. And for what it’s worth, Kyler does not remember any name for it. I don’t recall any of the other boys being familiar with that.
More Books! More Brian! Signed, A Completely Unbiased Fan :)
Ah, Brian–let me provide a preview.
We are currently posting #13, Multiverser: The Thirteenth Story. Tommy is still in Superhero Berkeley, which is going to pick up a horror vibe. Derek has landed a thousand miles from his equipment in Prohibition era U.S.A. but is going to make his way to New Orleans and meet Johnny Angel and play in a Big Band. James Beam has landed in a very oppressive world controlled by–well, that’s a spoiler, I think, but the cities are built of styrofoam and the indigs are afraid to break it.
#14 Verse a Tile brings together Lauren, Slade, Kondor, and Cooper on a spaceship with a very suspicious dimensional drive and a lot of interference from another dimension. Meanwhile, Beam starts out in Hyboria, that is the land of Conan, on an adventure involving wizards, magic artifacts, and a hidden library, then gets blown into a world oppressed by an overly watchful government.
In #15 When Verse Comes to Versed, Derek starts in a world of psionic body snatchers, Tommy finds herself in a world of puns helping a frog prince recover his throne, and Kondor finds himself on a ship crewed by pirates who are all black runaway slaves.
#16 Versified Forest hits the ground with Tommy, Derek, and Joe Kondor all arriving in a wooded world in which the mammals are all talking animals but they’ve never heard of humans. It’s something of a wilderness survival story, but these characters have experience. The other anomaly is that there are rumors of trolls which eventually prove true. Joe and Tommy verse out first and land in 1890s London at the scene of a death investigated almost immediately by Sherlock Holmes, and have some serious personal matters to resolve while at the same time helping the famous detective prevent a Chinese cabal from exacting a deadly revenge on London for the Opium Wars.
We’re still in the early stages of writing #18 No Verse Like Home, with Brian, Slade, and Beam all landing in early 2026 in Tennessee (Eric A’s hometown) and trying to figure out how this is different from home and how to survive there. It’s early days yet, but it’s moving along.
Their stay in London scrambled a few things, so without spoilers I’ll mention that in #19 Love at Versed Sight Tommy goes to one world as yet to be chosen and Kondor goes to another world also not yet selected, and either Brian or Beam will be the third character there. That’s a problem for me, because those two characters are based on players who are following the story and look forward to their chapters, but it might be decided based on how things progress in No Verse Like Home as to which characters story we want to pursue.
And as mentioned, #20 Ad Verse Reaction has Lauren on a prisoner spaceship with a recently deposed king while Derek is in a thirteenth (?) century monastery where a statue has informed him that he has one year to figure out how to prevent Vikings from killing everyone. We’ve decided Bob Slade will be the third character in this book, mostly because the theme fits him best, I think, but we don’t yet have a world for him, and again that’s going to be influenced by events in No Verse Like Home.
After that, when we set up and name #21 we’ll give consideration to which characters haven’t been around for a while and where their stories are headed. I’ve got a stack of potential titles, but I do try to link them to the themes of the book in some way.
So I look forward to writing more Cooper and posting more stories. Thanks for the encouragement.