Week Three Recap

Who's bad?

Heya!

Without really planning it, I spent this week writing from the bad guy’s point of view. Yes, I’m writing from an outline. I planned these chapters years ago, but did not know they would span an entire Write-a-thon week. In book one I doled out the villains in dramatic appearances, with little additional context. Only allowing the readers to know what the main characters knew.

A major challenge I found in writing epic science fiction/fantasy was building a thriller style plot in a hyper-connected technological utopia. Hell, even in our current tech era, it’s hard to squeak through a conversation without someone whipping out their phone to Google some factoid, or check social media. I had to devise a scenario that placed my characters to survive in a realistic struggle and gather information without the ability to just look it up. In my first book, they didn’t know who was the bad guy, and I kept readers in on the mystery until the characters figured it out.

Now, in book two, I peel the layers back and connect the readers with the antagonists.

A hero is only as good as the villain is bad.

I don’t know if this is a quote, a poor paraphrase, or an original of my making. This phrase has lived in my story philosophy for as long as I’ve had the temerity to concoct my own narratives. Being a comic book guy, these started as vague ideas and sketches of a hero. Then, as this visual came into focus, a major hole presented itself. Beyond looking and sounding cool, what does this character do? I recognized a conflict imperative. Thus, the enemy was born. Never were these villains an absurd distraction to show off the greatness of our hero. No, they needed to be a force far greater than my super-suited fellow could simply defeat in a barrage of witty banter.

It took years to develop this sensibility into more complex structural and character narratives, but the idea of worthy conflict was baked into my software.

By sheer luck, this week was one of those times I could focus on the bad guys. Not to show them pose in a sinister fashion, but to express their position, and reveal their wants and fears. My goal, write baddies with compelling motivations that challenge readers to root against them in this epic conflict. Many of my favorite stories have villains I sympathize with. Not agree with, but understand how they could be in this situation.

Back to comics. In 1984, DC Comics published a Batman Special issue that dealt with this subject. If the killing of Thomas and Martha Wayne by a criminal produced Batman. Then, if a cop mistakenly guns down a working class mother and father on that same night, who would their orphaned son become? Here, it produced The Wraith, a killer for hire. What stuck in my young mind was, this guy had as sound of a reason to become an assassin as Bruce Wayne had to fight crime.

I love my core group of characters in the Unity Song Trilogy. Time spent writing them is a joy, not work. It isn’t easy, but it is always worthwhile, and my affection for them compels me to make their story worthy of that love. If that means creating and writing antagonists with as complex personalities and lives as theirs, so be it. Anything to make the books great. So buckle your black, strappy wrist glove-things, and grab your lightsaber, ‘cause it on!

The Numbers.

Week three was my first Write-a-thon week of writing [just] Monday through Friday. It also coincided with my planned word count increase to two-thousand per day. Work on major client presentation kept me from hitting that mark on one day, but I finished over the target on the other four days, so all is well.

Despite my short Wednesday, I wrote 12,195 words for the week, and bringing the three-week total up to 33,548 words for Ghost Wing. With three weeks down, we’ve reached the halfway point of the Write-a-thon, and I’m 3,000 words ahead of the needed numbers. So If I can over-perform these last three weeks, I’ll finish well-clear of my 60 thousand words goal and get darn close to my original goal of 70k.

This weekend is my first drafting-free weekend, and it’s already a great ease to my psyche. Molly and I traveled to Detroit for our niece’s wedding, and I’d hate to feel any pressure to write while exploring the city and spending time with my family. I’m proud of myself for recognizing the need for self care and I thank everyone who enthusiastically supported my choice.

With more than half my target goal achieved, please visit at my Write-a-thon page and consider a donation to Clarion West in my name. ass it stands, it looks like I’ll share the latest [revised] reader chapters of Blackfire with donors and sketches of characters from Ghost Wing as well.Major thanks to those who made that possible.

If you want to follow my daily progress, I post all that stuff on Twitter, Instagram, and on a Thread here on Substack. AND now on Bluesky!

What’s cool?

I saw Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One. The roguiest of roguey movies there ever was. Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie raise the bar and crafted the most exciting train action in cinema history. If you like high-action super spy stuff, this is sheer fun.

I hope we can see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny soon.

How goes the hunt for an agent?

Drafting and client work sucked up all my time this week, so no updates on Blackfire. I’m pretty annoyed with myself for not putting that list of three agents together. I have a couple hours tomorrow morning, here in this hotel, after I assemble this week’s podcast, I’ll get going on that. Look for some movement here next week.