this happened, the genie escaped the bottle, I can't put it back in. I was there, like a good little writer, hammering away on the keyboard, re-writing chapter one (again), then re-arranging and restructuring chapter two (nipping an tucking, adding and taking away), now having a go at chapter three of 'free plane #3' novel Reaper and it just WHAM BAM THANK YOU MAM'd me.
CUSTODIAN (fp #1) was The Custodians vs You The People.
LIBERATOR (fp #2) was Civilian vs Military.
REAPER (fp #3) turns out to be Organic vs Crystalline.
Yeah, I know, I was surprised by that development, too. I certainly didn't expect to go in this direction with book three. In fact, nowhere in the detailed plan I have for the conclusion of this three-book series is there any mention of crystalline existence. But there it is.
It came from an examination of the old Patent Database - the Custodian Liberation aka McCardle and Hoskins finally get their finger out and start sifting through the Privatised Creativity, Passion and Kinship Store of ancient inventors for the good of mankind rather than the cynical furtherance of the Profit margin. And there it was ... the elixir of life, or at least the bridge to everlasting life.
Of course, I realise I've put a narrative cat among my pigeons. Do I care? Yes, it's giving me a headache, but I do this for you, sweet nectarous reader, so that you can find some succour in your daily grind.
MARCH 16th UPDATE: I was actually considering giving up (for profit) writing for good last night. I came this close to never finishing WATCHER or REAPER. I thought, "Why should I when I alraedy have the novels in my head?" what do I need to gain from commercialising my talent? But I made a major discovery today. And that's powered me on to get these two books finished this year.
In February, I 'got inspired' to start writing about CRYSTALLINE EXISTENCE in REAPER (free planet #3). It's based on my ideas of a Sentient Water Planet i.e. Earth's real presence, its ancestry. I thought of the least likely crystal that could be out there i.e. a WATER BASED CRYSTAL that grows from salt water (with a special catalyst, nudge wink) the way salt is harvested from water.
Today's major discovery is a real mineral called RINGWOODITE that has 15% by weight of water trapped in it. I'm loath to call 'my crystal' Ringwoodite but there's no reason why I can't have a more purified form of the crystal as the basis for the Eternal Life & Homes (albeit undersea) in this third book. The crystalised memories of the ancestors forming the structures within which Free Planet will live its life?
AUGUST 4th UPDATE: REAPER (free planet #3) novel is on the blink while I'm busily writing KUMIKO (war world #3) novel. The Free Planet narrative and the War World narrative are kinda connected, or have become connected over the final stages of their respective trilogies. Is it a Free Planet or is it a War World? I like that it's happened this way, as it's less convoluted than if I'd planned a dual-trilogy series from the get-go.
Yesterday morning, during a lovely 9 mile jog in the woods and along the river, I received (from the ether) a generous wedge of narrative resolution to add to the Crystalline/Organic thrust of the Reaper arc, just free stuff wedged into the waking dream that is my writing process.
