This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #383, on the subject of Character Departures.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the fourteenth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 79 through 84.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.
10. #373:  Nervous Characters, for chapters 55 through 60.
11. #376:  Characters Arrive, for chapters 61 through 66.
12. #379:  Character Conundrums, for chapters 67 through 72.
13. #381:  World Complications, for chapters 73 through 78.

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.

Chapter 79, Hastings 212

I honestly did not know what I was going to do at this point, with options including that Serona would know what to say, that the party would pass unmolested, and that there would be a fight after the party began exiting.  I thought of Lauren’s response after I’d written the intervening chapters, and went with that.

I was having the same problem with Lauren that I was having with Tommy:  she was going to verse out now, and I wasn’t ready for her in the final world.  I realized I was just going to have to deal with that as well as I could, because if I didn’t have her die here I would be stuck for how to get her out down the road.

---

Chapter 80, Beam 82

I realized that I had versed out both Lauren and Tommy in a sense too soon, because I had too much still to do with Beam before I could bring them to him.  It probably took me a day (longer, really, because I saw the trouble coming from several days away) to realize that my answer was to accelerate the Beam chapters against the others.  I didn’t especially like this because the Takano chapters were furthest behind, but it was going to prove to be the best answer.

I also accelerated the dull part to give him a very long stay in this world before the others arrived.

I got hung up in the middle of this chapter, because I knew that I was reaching the critical turning point and had to bring in the berserk mining mole, but it would be such a disruptive event that I couldn’t figure out how to do it smoothly.

---

Chapter 81, Takano 39

This was definitely a stall world, that is, a place to drop the character temporarily while preparing the next significant world for her.  I was readying Beam’s world for Lauren and Tommy to reach, and it was almost ready but not quite.

---

Chapter 82, Beam 83

I was pushing Beam out the door so that he would be on the move by the time Lauren arrived.  I had to think through his speech a bit to make sure I had all the necessities, but I wrote it at one shot.

---

Chapter 83, Hastings 213

This was a bit of a juggling act, but it worked.  I needed Lauren to find Tommy first, which meant that she and Tommy both had to be in this world immediately.

---

Chapter 84, Beam 84

The question “Left or right” is one that comes from a Game Ideas Unlimited article I wrote about an illusionist technique that puts the next encounter wherever the player character decides to go, so the adventure doesn’t really depend on his choices and he can’t derail it simply by not knowing which way to go.

This chapter did not take me nearly far enough, but it was about to get disjointed if I didn’t stop, so I did.

---

This has been the fourteenth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #381, on the subject of World Complications.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the thirteenth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 73 through 78.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.
10. #373:  Nervous Characters, for chapters 55 through 60.
11. #376:  Characters Arrive, for chapters 61 through 66.
12. #379:  Character Conundrums, for chapters 67 through 72.

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.

Chapter 73, Hastings 210

I was beginning to get boxed in with Lauren.  I had promised that she would not get back to the city alive, but at this point she could easily jump over all the dangers ahead.  I had, as it were, too many commitments, and too few options.

---

Chapter 74, Takano 37

I was getting worried about Tommy’s story, because there wasn’t much else to do with it.  I kept prefiguring a fatal car accident, but it was too soon to put her in her final world.  The answer that struck me was that I needed another world, perhaps a stall world, perhaps something more serious, and then when everything else was ready I would bring her into the final setting.

---

Chapter 75, Beam 80

This was all routine stuff, and I was trying to get through it quickly without making it more boring than it might be.  There was more boring stuff ahead.

I didn’t name the third leader, partly because I was tired of naming people, partly because doing so would push toward more detail I didn’t want.  That became a bit of a problem when I started writing the next book, and Lauren had to meet the group leaders, because he needed a name then and I had to be certain I hadn’t incidentally given him one somewhere along the way.

---

Chapter 76, Hastings 211

The darkness occurred to me belatedly.  I had even considered having the light spell be still effected, but that would create a problem for me that the party would have managed to get past all the dangers, and I would be stuck trying to find a way to verse out Lauren before they reached the surface.  However, I had already decided that there was some small amount of light near the entrance to the drow kingdom, because despite their superior dark vision there were some things that not even a drow could see without light.  That gave me a target point and space for more story.

I had discussed the situation with Kyler, who felt that if the actual assassins had fled the scene the nobles would not have been too particular about whom they executed, and there was no climate for negotiation at this time.  Further, he felt that Gojo and Sheegoka would quickly recognize this and agree to depart.

---

Chapter 77, Takano 38

I really had no idea what to do with this world, other than to have Tommy struggle to survive it.  That, though, was as good a place as any to start.

When I was setting this behind-the-writings section for HTML publication it occurred to me that this snow-filled forest is very like a stall world that has been used in play, originally by Richard Lutz and once by me.  It has happened to Michael di Vars (a.k.a. Roland of the Sar) that he has versed in at the top of a snow-capped mountain more than once, and died trying to get to the bottom.  I used that once in a demo game, including having di Vars there to explain things to a new verser (player character) before they both fell to their deaths.  I was getting tired of the Tropical Island scenario.  This lacks the mountain and the consequent climbing hazard, but it is a survival against the cold scenario.

---

Chapter 78, Beam 81

Honestly I was caught between trying to move this story forward and recognizing the complexities of what Beam was doing.  I needed the people to learn how to use the technology, but it had to be obvious that this wasn’t happening quickly.  I didn’t really like it much at all.

---

This has been the thirteenth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #379, on the subject of Character Conundrums.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the twelfth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 67 through 72.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.
10. #373:  Nervous Characters, for chapters 55 through 60.
11. #376:  Characters Arrive, for chapters 61 through 66.

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.

Chapter 67, Hastings 208

I recognized the problem that Lauren describes, and knew there had to be a logical way out of it.  There were a lot of problems, particularly as it meant Lauren was going to attempt to kill a person and take sides in a civil war about which she knew very little, but the fact that the targeted person was going to kill her and the entire group with her tipped the balance on that.

---

Chapter 68, Takano 35

I was stumped for several days.  Part of it was that I was fighting the corona virus, COVID-19, and was constantly tired.  Part of it was that my brain was trying to piece together where we were going to go for the end of the book.  In the end, I wrote considerably less than I had intended.

---

Chapter 69, Beam 78

This was mostly busy work, trying to move forward into an organized tribe.

---

Chapter 70, Hastings 209

I was not entirely well at this time, but I had managed to think through the fight a couple times before writing it.  It was important to me that Lauren not be the one who dealt the fatal blow, and since Lurt was a thief he was perfect for a backstab attack.

In Tiras’ backstory he had done aerial acrobatics as the equivalent of a teenager.  He had lost a partner in an accident, and so retired and took up martial arts training.  Many of Derek’s aerialist tricks were originally created for Tiras and transferred to the sprite world.

I knew it likely that the princess would be unable to protect her escort even as queen, and now was the moment to make Tiras aware of that.

---

Chapter 71, Takano 36

I had been playing with the identification problem for a while, and I had been delayed by illness, but finally realized that it wasn’t going to go very far.

I was also thinking that Tommy was going to die in an automobile accident, and that I was running out of reasons to keep her in this world, but I didn’t want to put her in the next one yet unless I came up with something interesting to happen next.

---

Chapter 72, Beam 79

I knew that getting everyone into apartments was going to be a major undertaking, but I didn’t want it to be too irksome, particularly as I was going to have to do something about all the other living arrangements.

I kind of liked the girl I had created, and considered making her single and a problem for Sophia, but then decided that widowed with children was probably better long-term.  I don’t know where that part of the story might be going, but Beam is going to have enough trouble with women in the future and this would not be an effective addition to the pains.  I did decide rather early that she would be the assistant in charge of the main unit.

---

This has been the twelfth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #376, on the subject of Characters Arrive.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the eleventh mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 61 through 66.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.
10. #373:  Nervous Characters, for chapters 55 through 60.

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.

Chapter 61, Hastings 206

I perceived that the driders would upset the mules, so I needed people to calm them.  This would not be Lauren, as it was already established that the spiders made her nervous, but Malacon himself is a magically calming influence and he has members of his squad, such as Apatukwe, who would be good at calming animals.

I wanted to say “male and female drow”, but Lauren wouldn’t talk or think like that so I let her use the more awkward “men and women drow”.

I wanted to give the impression of size in the entry hall without saying it was big, and it struck me that the easy way to do it was to say that the other end was “distant”.

The light level in the room was problematic.  Drow see better in total darkness than in daylight, but I needed the non-drow party members to be able to see something so there had to be some light.  Technically this makes it more difficult for the drow to see, but then there are some creatures that cannot be seen in darkness (the drow vision sees infrared and ultraviolet light, so cold blooded creatures blend into the background) so some light is justified.  I mentioned the marble mostly because I wanted to explain why Lauren wasn’t using it.

I needed names.  I had thought of a good name for the queen while I was writing, but forgot it before I reached the point where it would be used so had to think of another.  I cobbled together Taranelle from Coronelle.  I had thought of a name for the younger sister but failed to record it anywhere, so I had to invent another, and again worked from Coronelle to get Corina.  After I had written it, I thought of using Sabina, the name of the dog of a friend of mine decades back, but decided it was too like Sabrina, a popular television character.  The town came to me as Tarantola; after I had typed it, it struck me that “Tarant” was closely connected to tarantula, which I was pretty sure was a Spanish name for a deadly spider and connected to a Spanish dance.  I thought of changing it to Taranton or Taranburgh, but told myself that it should be a Spanish suffix for town, and I didn’t know one.  It happened that I was writing rather early in the morning, and when I went into the other room to look for my son who has some significant background in Spanish, no one was awake, so I just used Tarantola.

I had known since shortly after the dragon encounter that Coronelle’s younger sister had arranged her disappearance and killed the queen so as to take the throne, and that this confrontation would happen.  I did not know in any detail what would happen, and was creating it as I wrote it.

---

Chapter 62, Takano 33

I mostly needed to move time forward, but also wanted to continue painting some of the world of the time.

---

Chapter 63, Beam 76

I knew he wouldn’t want them, but I needed Beam to have a following of indigs for the story ahead, so I had to crowbar them into his life at this point.  The terms dictated by both sides were a bit tricky to produce, but then it was enough to recognize that neither side had imagined this meeting so both were winging it.

---

Chapter 64, Hastings 207

Again trying to make combat interesting, and particularly in this situation in which I can’t have it resolve too quickly but I can’t let the presumably weaker side lose.

---

Chapter 65, Takano 34

I had finished the camp supplies, and I kept thinking I wanted to build the relationship between Tommy and Johnny Angel.  Meanwhile, I also had to figure out how she could do something dangerous enough to get versed out.  Traveling to the city probably wasn’t going to do it unless there was a car accident, but it at least put me moving in the right direction.

---

Chapter 66, Beam 77

At the end of the previous Beam chapter I had to have Beam walk off stage, and the only thing that remotely made sense was for him and Sophia to head for the bedroom.  Now I had to figure out what he was going to do there.

As usual, having my characters talk about their problems helped me figure out how to resolve them.

---

This has been the eleventh behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #373, on the subject of Nervous Characters.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the tenth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 55 through 60.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.

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.

Chapter 55, Hastings 204

I knew this was going to be a sort of non-encounter situation, but still thought I could bring out some tension through Lauren’s reaction to spiders.  I think this is unlike me, but I’m not entirely comfortable with the larger members of the genus, and would have trouble with giant ones.  I’m not sure whether knowing they were intelligent would make me more comfortable or less.

The hood was a last minute realization, and specifically that it was known that they had one but there was no indication they had more than one.  I thought the mules might have trouble getting through, so I decided that the most skittish of them would have to be gentled.

---

Chapter 56, Takano 31

My knowledge of camping gear goes back to the mid-to-late sixties, but I remember that some things were thought new by scouts, who weren’t much older than I, so I attempted to extrapolate what would be available at a good camping store.

I actually paused to debate what to call Tommy’s equipment, with “equipment” and “gear” going through my head as words that Clark might use, but settling on “stuff” as much more like Tommy.

It’s been decades since I was camping, and I was trying to remember a lot of stuff from those times.  I hope I managed.  It occurs to me that I might have included water purification tablets, but I never carried them myself and don’t know whether iodine or chlorine was preferred back then.

---

Chapter 57, Beam 74

I almost removed the attack up the ramp, which had been part of my original notion before I included the grenade, but I wanted more action in this and wanted Bron to be useful.

---

Chapter 58, Hastings 205

I decided that it was time to end the quest and reach the drow lands; I had begun working on what would happen when they got there.  I also decided that Lauren’s fear of spiders would be useful in a confrontation with the traditional AD&D drow guards, the driders.

---

Chapter 59, Takano 32

I realized I had set up the beginning of school and couldn’t put it off much longer.  I checked Labor Day on a 1959 calendar to make sure my recollections of the holiday back then were correct, and modelled a lot of the commute on aspects of my own childhood elementary school experience, but extended the escorting several days because this was a girl and I was a boy, and I have the impression that parents were more protective of girls then (unless it was only that I had three younger siblings so my mother thought it safer to let me walk alone than to leave them alone at the house).

I wanted to create stuff for Tommy to do that would justify her being paid to care for Tammy beyond merely that someone had to be there.

The elementary school is very much designed like my own.  We had two or maybe three kindergarten classes in different partitioned sections of a “gymnatorium” with a cafeteria kitchen at the opposite end from the stage.  The band practiced on the stage during the period that the kindergarten was changing from morning to afternoon session, but I made that the school lunch period as I didn’t have to worry about the band.  My own walk to school left the road to follow a wide paved path down a long probably two-block hill to a bridge over a brook, up three steps, and onto the paved playground at the rear of the school, but there was a path to the side which was as described in the story which I only took a few times when I was going to my cousins’ house after school.

The bus thing was how it was when my kids were in school, but I’m not sure how much of that was because the school system had reorganized so that each school building held all the classes for two consecutive years and the busses all did a circuit of picking up all the students in an area then delivering them to each of the schools.

---

Chapter 60, Beam 75

I spent some time thinking about this chapter, and then when I wrote it I omitted a number of details–mostly where the other members of the group were standing during the talks.  I decided not to bother with them, as they wouldn’t really add anything.

I wanted Beam to feed the entire tribe, separately from the delegation, and I thought a bit about how much he had to order for roughly a hundred people.  It’s not a lot, but it’s enough for everyone to have some.

I ended the chapter mostly because I wasn’t sure how it turned next.  I had spent twelve days in the hospital and in that time had thought only a little about where the story was going, but coming out I wrote the previous Takano chapter and then this one, and I had a fairly solid idea about the next Hastings chapter but opted to go to bed and sleep on it overnight.

---

This has been the tenth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #370, on the subject of Characters Confront.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the tenth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 49 through 54.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.

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.

Chapter 49, Hastings 202

This was an abrupt inspiration.  My mind was working on what was going to be a non-combative confrontation with giant spiders, and how that was going to work, and how boring it was going to be ultimately, when I thought that something like a cave fisher would be a more exciting encounter.  It would, I decided, try to grab someone from the back of the line, so it might go unnoticed.  Then it struck me that Lauren should be in the back, and the one it attacked.  I didn’t want to use a cave fisher because I thought it was probably unique to Dungeons & Dragons™ and it didn’t have quite the threat I wanted, as barbed tentacles surrounding a large mouth would be much more impressive.  As I envisioned this, I realized it was very like a sea anemone (which I couldn’t spell without looking it up), so I went with that and called it a cave anemone.

I had thought at one point that Lauren would fall if she cut the tentacle, but then I realized that for her to turn around and see what had her she was going to need to use her telekinetic flight, so she would be supporting herself.  Then when she severed the tentacle I remembered that she wouldn’t fall, but then that she had been pulling against the creature’s tug, and so like a tug of war she was going to fall backwards.  That was good visually.  I also knew that the people on the ground weren’t going to be able to fire missiles while she was engaged close to the creature, but would as soon as she had moved, and that would end the encounter.

---

Chapter 50, Takano 29

I realized that up to this point everything about Tommy’s story in this world had been moving her toward meeting Johnny Angel, and now she had met him and I didn’t know what to do next.  She would consider what he told her, of course, and that would lead to decisions about actions.

I had dropped the part into the previous chapter about how you can’t live like it’s a dream almost incidentally, but as I considered it I realized that to some degree she was doing exactly that, so I had her realize it, too, and decide to change it.  That meant equipping herself for future travels.

I was stuck enough on this story that I asked John Mastick, on whom Johnny Angel is loosely based, if he might read what I had and suggest something.  He said yes, and very quickly I put together a copy of the entire Takano story up to the previous chapter and sent it to him.  Then he said he had some reading for a class he was taking, so he wasn’t going to get to the story any time soon, and I realized I was going to have to go forward without his help.

I also briefed my youngest son on the entire story to date, and got some feedback from him.

---

Chapter 51, Beam 72

I was a long time trying to figure out how this would work, and when I finally got it I also got what would happen next, when Bron invents his find persons spell.  The tricky part is that the gods of this world try to channel magic spells into technological results, and I had to think of how that might work.

---

Chapter 52, Hastings 203

I wondered how to make the spider encounter interesting, and the answer seemed to be to use it as a cliffhanger.  I know it’s going to be a non-encounter because the drow princess has an affinity for spiders and will gain them safe passage, but Lauren doesn’t know that.

I wanted to discuss her nervousness around spiders, but realized that were I to do so in this chapter it would weaken the cliffhanger, so instead I postponed that to her next chapter.

I had been sitting on this chapter for a while, but managed to break through just as I finished the Beam chapter before it.  The chapter was shorter than I wanted, but did what it needed to do.

---

Chapter 53, Takano 30

I don’t know whether the REI store was in Marlton in 1959, but I was looking online for a camping goods store in the Camden area, and it came up, and research showed that it was founded in Washington State in the 1930s so I figured I would take the chance.  I actually guessed correctly that it was out Route 73, although when I wrote that it was just because that’s how I would get to Marlton from most places, and the fact that the store is actually on 73 to my mind makes it more likely that it’s been there a long time.

---

Chapter 54, Beam 73

When I resolved what would happen when Sophia cast her scrying spell, it was a short step to figuring out what would happen when Bron cast his newly-created find people spell.  This was a short chapter, and I knew what came next, but I liked the cliffhanger and expected the next chapter to be considerably longer.

Originally this had been a group of about fifty adults.  Later the group was about a hundred thirty people, including children, and on the read-through edit I decided that I probably needed more adults for that to be credible, so I made it vaguely more than fifty, and did so in subsequent chapters as well.

---

This has been the ninth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #367, on the subject of Versers Encounter.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the eighth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 43 through 48.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.

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.

Chapter 43, Hastings 200

In thinking about this chapter, it occurred to me to wonder whether Malacon, the antipaladin, had brought his charger.  I decided against it ultimately, because I couldn’t imagine that a large black stallion was among the beasts for which Lauren had been caring and she never mentioned it.

I wasn’t sure how much detail to include, complicated by factors such as I wasn’t sure whether the monk and the assassin could climb cliff faces and didn’t look it up, nor was I certain how many thieves I had in the party and didn’t try to figure that out, either.

---

Chapter 44, Takano 27

It struck me that I should know what kind of car Johnny drove, partly because it would make a difference to the image of packing six people into it.  I, though, know very little about cars, so I contacted John Mastick, on whom the character is based, and asked him.  He said it would probably be a 1956 two-tone blue/white 4-door Ford Fairlane, cool enough for a musician but also roomy, three speed standard transmission on the column.  The next part was figuring out how much of that would wind up in a story told from Tommy’s perspective.

The parent sitting up is modeled on my father, complete with can of beer and crackers with cheese melted in the oven.

---

Chapter 45, Beam 70

Bringing Beam in contact with living humans is proving more challenging than I imagined.  There are also lots of little things about this world, such as repair robots, medical robots, the recycling system, factories, ventilation shafts, and more, that haven’t appeared.  The dead body is a step closer, but not there yet.

---

Chapter 46, Hastings 201

I was kind of stuck looking for a next idea for Lauren.  I really did not want to try to write a mass combat scene, as it is very difficult to make them interesting, but I was running out of logical obstacles and thinking that they needed to encounter something.  I was thinking of spiders, because the drow have something of an affinity for them, but not sure how to play it.  I had to get them across the floor of the chasm anyway, so I sort of stalled.

---

Chapter 47, Takano 28

I realized that I had completed the goal I had set for this world, and didn’t know where I was going from here, but for the moment it was important that Tommy react to what she had learned from Johnny Angel.

The dream was a last-minute inspiration.

---

Chapter 48, Beam 71

I wasn’t sure how to do this, particularly as the world is set up such that the gods interfere with magic and try to connect it to technological solutions.  I had to open Sophia’s character sheet for what spells I knew she had, the world book for what the bias of the world was, and the rule book for lists of spells that might work.  The idea that Sophia didn’t have a spell to find people but Bron could create one gave me something for Bron to do and made some sense given their general attitudes toward magic.

---

This has been the eighth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #365, on the subject of Characters Travel.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the seventh mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 37 through 42.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.

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.

Chapter 37, Hastings 198

This part of the story was going more slowly than I had expected.  I wasn’t complaining because I hadn’t yet thought of the next problem, but I had expected this chapter to cover much that got bumped to the next chapter.  The problem was really that at some point I had to have Tiras tell everyone the basic plan so they could think about options.  I didn’t do it at the end of the previous Hastings chapter because it felt like I needed the story to break while Tiras and the others did their exploration.  I kept thinking I would gloss over it quickly, but that also felt wrong, that a passage saying what Tiras had told them when he returned last night was cutting out important story action.  That meant I had to start this chapter with that address, and the action that would follow in the morning would have to be bumped to the next chapter.

Part of the problem with Lauren considering what to do is really that I don’t want her to be the solution to all their problems.  Yet I have to find reasons for her not to solve everything.  One of the worst things you can do to a game is bring in a powerful non-player character who can always solve any problem the player characters have, and there is a sense in which Lauren is that character from the perspective of Tiras and his companions.  Of course, Lauren is my player character, and from that perspective Tiras and his companions are dependent non-player characters, and their problems are for her to solve.

---

Chapter 38, Takano 25

John really is an excellent drummer, or was when he played with us (and has been taking lessons from professionals since).  He was playing Multiverser for a while, and when I asked which characters should be in this book he suggested that he would like to be.  I’m using him to get Tommy oriented to the verse.  Of course, when they’re close enough she gets that scriff sense feeling that points to other versers, but she doesn’t yet know what it is, only that it feels like she’s supposed to meet someone over there.

---

Chapter 39, Beam 68

I debated whether I could include giant rats in this scenario without impacting the setting.  It isn’t supposed to be like Gamma World or Metamorphosis Alpha with mutant creatures all over, but the post-apocalyptic without an apocalypse, a move underground because overpopulation was cutting into food production.  I researched rodents and ultimately decided that I could put a group of large rodents in the tunnels without deciding what they were, and so I did it.

The details unfolded as I wrote.  The bit with the darkness had occurred to me when I was thinking about what was going to happen.  The light spell turning on the lights in the hall is connected to the world’s backstory, in which it is ruled by a god of technology and so it is often the case that when someone uses magic the answer takes advantage of the world’s technology, in this case the light spell turning on the lights.

I had originally expected that the entire encounter would take one chapter, but as I managed to keep the story interesting (I hope) for two pages I decided to do a cliffhanger here and put the fight at the beginning of Beam’s next chapter.

In the first draft I had written that he didn’t wear glasses, but then when I was setting pages in HTML I vaguely remembered in his first chapter he was feeling for his glasses, or so I thought, so I wrote that he didn’t usually wear them.

---

Chapter 40, Hastings 199

I wanted to avoid having Lauren be the answer to their significant problems, but when it came to it the only other option I had was that they would lower everything and everyone unable to climb walls by ropes, and leave the mules behind to be dragon fodder.  Thus I figured they would go with Lauren’s skills for this, but that they would still use some of their other abilities.

---

Chapter 41, Takano 26

I had been anticipating this chapter almost since I started writing Tommy’s story, but had not really had it coalesce in my mind, so I was piecing it together as I wrote, trying to figure out how to work in each little piece I’d thought of including.  I was not sure I was happy with it when I finished, but I was tired and had an early alarm ahead, so I stopped where I was.

---

Chapter 42, Beam 69

I hadn’t really thought about more than the brief opening combat scene, but had concluded that the rats would flee when the bullets flew.  I had also known that they were eating the body of a human, and that meant there would be a brain for Turbirb’durpa.

Originally I thought Dawn would be firing pistols, but then it came back to me that she had that rifle and would probably prefer it, particularly as the easiest way to transport it is in her hands.

The pockets were a late thought, and they were going to be empty, but then it struck me that even a primitive who discovered that his clothes had pockets would figure out a use for them, and it would probably involve carrying food.

---

This has been the seventh behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #364, on the subject of Characters Learn.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, 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 seventh, Re Verse All,  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.

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 the sixth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 31 through 36.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.

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.

Chapter 31, Hastings 196

I had spent quite a long time looking for a solution to this dilemma, and remembered that Tiras had more than once talked to potential opponents and won safe passage by his words.  When I had the orcs send Tiras down that corridor I knew only that there was something down there they weren’t telling him.  Then I decided it was a dragon, and then that they were going to follow in anticipation of killing any of his party who fled.  Then having put Tiras in this box I thought long about how he would escape it, and realized that the orcs undoubtedly expected him to fight the dragon (kensai, samurai, and anti-paladins in that world do not have fear and so do not flee).  If he killed the dragon he would be weakened and they could more easily kill him; if he was killed by the dragon it would be weakened and they could kill it.  Either way, they would be able to take the dragon treasure, a horde far greater than anything orcs usually have.  That meant that the solution for Tiras was to explain to the dragon the dilemma this created for it, and so obtain safe passage for himself and leave the orcs behind to deal with the dragon.

The line about Tiras killing any party member who attempted to steal from the dragon was added after I had written the chapter but before I started the next.  It kept nagging at me that there were thieves in the group and one of them might attempt to enrich himself at the expense of the dragon, and Tiras would want to assure the dragon that they would not do that.  I was going to have him tell this to the dragon, but decided instead that he would tell it to the group knowing the dragon could hear him.

---

Chapter 32, Takano 23

This was mostly color.  I had to look up what movies were out in the summer of 1959, and I never determined whether Darby O’Gill, which was released that year, was out in time for summer, but as I did with the eclipse I decided that it was close enough.

The actor who never sang in another movie (as far as I know) who had a career playing a superspy and action hero is of course Sean Connery.  It was a sad coincidence that Connery died a few days before this chapter was published.

---

Chapter 33, Beam 66

I started writing about the sporting goods store because I’d introduced retail outlets and wanted a place where Beam could get gear that would be useful in the future.  As I was writing about the camping equipment it occurred to me that I had no idea what people in this world would do with such stuff, but I was well into it and thinking that it was important that he be able to get some of this for the future.  I think in fact he never returned here, but he did order some gear through the computer.

---

Chapter 34, Hastings 197

I pondered for quite a while how to keep a dungeon crawl interesting–a problem I had recognized all the way back at the beginning when writing Bob Slade’s djinni quest story.  It was not until after I had written Beam’s chapter that I came up with the idea, which I realized would give me at least two or maybe three chapters, and some interest if not tension.

I had expected the chapter to be longer and cover more material, but when I got to that end point it occurred to me that it felt like a break point, that there ought to be a pause before Tiras returned and gave instructions for the next step.

---

Chapter 35, Takano 24

When I was doing the survey to determine which characters would be in this book, one of my short-term online forum players who was an old friend from decades before suggested I include him.  I wasn’t looking for another viewpoint character, and I wasn’t looking to use real player characters in the role, but I had been trying to figure out who was going to explain to Tommy what was happening to her, and the idea of having John, who is reportedly an even better drummer now than he was decades ago when he played in my band The Last Psalm, playing with a local band at a club and meeting her there immediately appealed to me.  It may have been one of the selling points that had me include Tommy in this book.  John really is the things I expect to include.

John had discussed with me what we would call his character, but I had forgotten.  I hit the point where the girls are about to give the name of the drummer and stopped cold and messaged him.  It was a few hours later that he got back to me, and he suggested a name that actually was a singer in a rock-and-roll band back then whom I did not recognize, but I did a quick search and told him I couldn’t use the name of a real person.  Johnny Angel was apparently a nickname that one of his fellow police officers gave him, and I thought it was perfect.

I had been toying with where to place this for some time.  I kind of wanted it to be in northern New Jersey, but I didn’t want the club to be in New York, and was not at all sure about cities up there in 1959.  Thus once again I’m in the southern part of the state, probably Camden or Burlington County, and working with Philadelphia.  I had first thought that they would park at the Speedline and take it across the bridge, but a check told me it didn’t exist then.  I remembered as a boy taking the ferry into New York, but Philadelphia didn’t have a ferry until the 1990s.  I didn’t want them to park in the city, but there were rail lines on the bridges so I decided on a commuter train from Camden to Philadelphia.

After the book was finished, I floated an idea to bring Johnny Angel back in a future book with Derek picking up the trumpet (it is mentioned in the second book that he played a little) and getting in the same band with him.

---

Chapter 36, Beam 67

The thoughts on the archery range and other combat sports facilities had been simmering since I had mentioned the sporting goods store.  I needed an excuse for why Beam was seeking these but not using the computer to find them, and his paranoia was very helpful in that regard.

I wanted Beam to figure out at least part of the address system so that the reader would also get some of it.  I couldn’t have him work it all out because it wasn’t that obvious.  Using DP for Distribution Points saved me from having Retail Units, and was in keeping with the fact that no money was involved.

I decided to accelerate the mapping, and in so doing it struck me that they would find other places to eat.  I was trying to think of what kinds of places they would find, and when I thought of pizza I remembered that they ordered pizza delivery and received deli sandwiches from the welcome wagon, so I included those two outlets in the collection.

---

This has been the sixth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.