The Perceval Series — an Update

It’s been nine (9!!) years since I published Perceval’s Secret, the first novel in the Perceval series. Have you had a chance to read it? (smile) Before its publication, I had outlined the series for five novels, and the arc of Evan Quinn’s story over those five novels. The work on the remaining four novels has continued over the last nine years, even as I dealt with serious health issues (that often stopped the writing) and working fulltime at an office job. Nothing unique there. Most writers write when they can while earning a living at other things, raising a family, or, yes, dealing with serious health issues. I thought it about time to write a status update on the series as well as what I plan for the next year or so.

PERCEVAL’S GAME

I recently typed “The End” on the last page of the first draft of Perceval’s Game, the fourth novel in the series. This is a major accomplishment considering I wrote it only on weekends since July 2020. A year ago, I needed major surgery and did not write anything during my recovery, but I thought a lot about the series, the fourth novel in it, and amazed myself over and over thinking about my creative commitment to this project. But I don’t particularly want Evan Quinn showing up in my dreams and scaring me as he did years ago when I almost made him an auto mechanic! He is quite insistent about telling his story. As I was finishing the last chapter of the 4th novel, ideas for the 5th novel kept popping into my mind, including the first chapter. So, I need to do some “cleaning up” on PG and prep notes for the rewrite before doing some prep work for the 5th novel that will include notes, character list, concert programs for Evan, and making certain that I write down everything in my head before putting it away. The title of the 5th novel will be Perceval’s Choice. The novel’s locations will be Paris, France, and Vienna, Austria.

PERCEVAL’S SHADOW

The second novel in the series, Perceval’s Shadow, has been fermenting for at least five years. I cannot remember when I first put it in its oak barrel. My plan for at least the next year is to work on the third draft (I hope the last), have Beta readers read it, and then contract with a professional editor to go through it. I’m looking forward to spending time again with the characters in this novel, especially Pierre Levade. It would be especially lovely if it’d be ready for publication by March 2024. I plan to publish this novel as both an ebook and a paperback. And, while I’m at it, I’ll probably publish the paperback version of Perceval’s Secret as well. Launching the second novel will be a good time to launch the paperback of the first novel. What about audiobook versions? I’m still thinking about it.

PERCEVAL IN LOVE

I finished the first draft of the third novel in the series, Perceval in Love, set in Helsinki, Finland, Vienna Austria, and St. Petersburg, Russia, in June 2020. I remember at the time I was quite surprised that it did not end the way I’d been thinking of it ending from the moment I began it. But Evan Quinn had other ideas. That’s fine. It’s his story. It would make sense to write the second draft of this novel after publishing the second novel. I’ve put that in my barrel of possibilities to ferment. I could also write the first draft of the 5th novel and finish the series (woo-hoo!). For the next year, it will remain fermenting in its barrel until ripe for work.

OTHER WRITING PROJECTS

Essays: I continue to write essays for various markets, although as I’ve pushed harder on the fiction, the nonfiction side of my writing life has slowed. I have no plans to stop writing essays.

Music Memoir: This nonfiction book, as I have been sketching it, will be a series of personal essays chronicling how music has affected my life. I’ve been writing notes on various essays for the last two years as well as looking at the structure. I’ll probably start writing when the essays are ready to burst out of me. In the meantime I’ve been thinking about resonant vibrations, “hearing” a composer’s musical voice for the first time, and how much I enjoy the impish side of Beethoven.

Once more with feeling – some notes about description

Roz Morris over at Nail Your Novel has written an excellent blog post about all the reasons description is a good thing in fiction. Thanks, Roz!

https://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2023/03/12/once-more-with-feeling-some-notes-about-description/

Easy reading is hard writing – why hard writing is worth it and how to do it

Roz Morris over at Nail Your Novel has shared some wisdom about writing — how hard it is to write what it is easy for readers to read. Take a look!

Author! Author! Where have you been?

Where I write

Writing! she shouted. Yes, it’s been over two months since my last post here and I must apologize for the silence. But I’ve been writing. Yes. Writing. Just not blog posts.

What have I been writing? Perceval’s Shadow, the first revision. It’s done. I finished the edits. I finished entering the edits into the computer. Then I created the notes for the second revision and began sorting through my Perceval series files to find the working file and first draft files for Perceval in Love, the third novel in the series. The working file bulges with notes, research articles, photos, questions, and doodles. I had completed nine chapters of the first draft in 2007-8. My rough outline imagines a good 23 chapters. I have my work cut out for me.

The first step is to read through all the notes and piece together what was in my mind all those years ago. The next step will be to read through those first nine chapters. At that point, I hope to dive right into chapter ten.

But I haven’t been working only on the Perceval series. Last weekend I read aloud and edited the sci fi novella that I finished a while ago. It was the third draft. Reading it aloud allowed me to hear all sorts of awkwardness and mistakes that I’d made, showed me where I needed to punch up the action or tone it down. And I incorporated the feedback from beta readers that I’d gotten in March. I read it aloud over two days. This morning, I went through the edits and entered them into what is now the fourth draft of the novella. I’m feeling solid about it, in my bones that it’s as done as it’s going to be. So, stay tuned for what will happen next with it!

I miss June when I was at home recuperating and not working fulltime. No, I didn’t write a word during that month, but of course now I wish I had. My mind and its response to illness fascinates me. I know when I am really ill because I cannot read and I cannot write. Probably because I don’t regard writing and reading as distractions like TV or movies. When I am ill, I seek distraction so I watch a lot of old TV and movies, binge watch British mystery TV and spy shows. When I am ill, I have time, and my mind focuses on supporting my body in its healing. Nothing must interfere.

My plan going forward? Perceval in Love. And I’ll search for an editor to go over Perceval’s Shadow after I finish the third revision. I am happy to be writing (and reading) again and my mind has changed its focus. A surprise earlier this past week left me shocked: I had Googled my name and the results showed me that other writers had been quoting my writing (giving me credit, which pleased me). The quotes were from essays I’d written about classical music for ClassicalMPR.org. I had no idea that this was happening! How lovely.

I’m Back…I Think

My last post was almost a month ago?! My, how time flies. But at least my news is good this time. My physical recovery has been positive and steady. I’m back at my job, working a reduced hour schedule and working my way up to my regular work schedule. And, more importantly, I’m back to work on Perceval’s Shadow. It’s taken a couple of weeks to get back into my writer’s mind, and to reassure my imagination that it is indeed safe to come out again and play.

I’m now working on the last three chapters. They represent the climax and the resolution to the story. What I’ve noticed especially in the climax chapter is the imprecise description of the first draft, and struggling with making the words I choose create a more precise description of the action and landscape in which it’s happening. For example, Evan Quinn, the main character, is wearing a wool winter coat, jeans, a wool sweater and cotton shirt as well as wool socks and loafers. During the action, he’s forced to jump into a canal in order to save himself. Originally, I had him swimming easily around in the canal. But then I realized, no, how could he be swimming that easily when he’s wearing a wool coat and all those clothes? I’ve had the experience of being in water fully clothed — only once in my life — and the saturated material becomes heavy fast and weighs far more than expected. A knee-length wool coat (on a guy who’s 6 feet 3 or 4 inches tall) would really weigh him down.

Another thing I’m discovering is that I didn’t flesh out the description of locations at all. I guess when I wrote the first draft, I was thinking that I’d do all that writing work during the revision process, eh? While I don’t want to spend too much time and words on location descriptions, I do want to set the scene physically in some way. The location of each scene functions as the stage on which the characters play out the scene. Much can be left to the reader’s imagination as long as I come up with the right, evocative images. Hard work.

Finally, I can say honestly that I’m pleased with the character development I worked so hard on in the first draft. At least I haven’t had to do much work on that. There were some changes in the relationships, but overall, the characters, especially Evan Quinn, are where I want them to be by the end. I’ve got a bit more research to do, especially about Copenhagen, Denmark, and to finish the last three chapters. Then I’ll be entering all the edits for chapter 11 through chapter 23, and I expect I’ll be doing some more editing during that process. My new deadline to finish all this work on Perceval’s Shadow is September 1. At that point, I’ll put it away and work on Novel #3 in the series, Perceval in Love. I have the first draft of the third novel about half completed. I’m looking forward to exercising the part of my brain and imagination I use to write first drafts to finish the first draft of this novel.

It just feels so GOOD to be writing again.