An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 99.
This week in one word: stormy.
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Previously on WWW…
My plan for the week ahead is to post my review of A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick on Monday, and I definitely want to work on cover designs. When I’m not doing those, I’ll probably do more brainstorming for The Spike Volume 3, and continue preparing blogposts for future series.
Best intentions blah blah blah.
Like last week, I didn’t work on cover designs at all this week. Sometimes it’s better to go where the inspiration takes you.
Brainstorming for The Spike Volume 3 is what most of my writing time has been spent on this week.
As mentioned last week, I had a list of forty-three(!) characters or groups, either new or carried forward, that needed at least a mention. That’s now grown to forty-seven.
Most of this week has been spent focussing on one name from the list at a time, then placing them alongside every other name to come up with ideas how they would interact or impact each other. Every idea is worked through to spin off more, and to try different possibilities.
I’m planning three new main characters in Volume 3. I had previously begun creating character sheets for them, where I list their traits and backstory, but as I’ve developed the story more with the theme in mind, all of them need reworking.
I devise the characters in tandem with the plot, as each feeds ideas into the other. For example, I may know the character needs to do a certain thing for the main storyline, and for that to make sense for them to do, they may need particular characteristics; then as I create a backstory that would explain those characteristics, it can suggest relationships or other traits that may feed back into the plot.
The list of possible story threads for Volume 3 has now surpassed 190! And it’s still growing.
Some of them are small and will require no more than a line or two of exposition; some are structural to the whole story.
Once I’ve got a complete list, it’s going to be a lot of work to pick out the best and form them into a cohesive whole. Or rather two cohesive wholes: the current plan is for Volume 3 to have two parts.
There are two other tasks I’ve worked on this week (other than this WWW).
The first was to continue writing my new blogpost series I’m calling If you like these…, ie if you liked these works, you might like The Spike. I finished part 1 and have begun part 2.
I have a long list of books, movies, TV shows, games, and albums to include, and the current plan is for this to run to at least seven parts.
The second was my review of A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick. It’s an odd book, but an interesting experience and worth reading.
I’m close to finishing reading Carrie by Stephen King so you can expect my review of that to be published sometime next week. That will be review 27 of this year: the list of all my reviews is here.
I was back to the day job this week after my holiday, which was a bummer, but I maintained my streak of hitting at least 50/50 for my creativity vs consumption. 51% takes it to 14 consecutive weeks, and the streak is doing its job: there have been occasions where I’ve felt like doing something else but I don’t want to let it drop.
Next week, I’ll continue brainstorming The Spike Volume 3, and probably carry on with one or both of the blogpost series I’m writing. I do want to get back to working on the cover designs this week too. And I need to write and post my review of Carrie by Stephen King.
Plus, next week’s WWW will be issue 100 so I want to do something to mark that.
Lots to do, as always.
Reading this week: Carrie by Stephen King and Recursion by Blake Crouch
Watching this week: The Devil’s Hour season 2 and Schitt’s Creek season 2
Playing this week: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
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In addition to the three short stories available to read for free here, there are three more yet to be published that make up The Spike Volume 0. One of the new three is ready to go; the other two require some final editing. I may submit the new three to journals or short story collections, but all will be published by Arrowmaker Books some time before Volume 2 is published.
I’m working on a new cover design for a second edition of The Spike Volume 1.
I’m also working on covers for the two individual parts, 1.1_Application_Infiltration and 1.2_Laying_Down_The_Law, which are going to be published separately for the first time. Both have a similar style and layout.
Draft 3 of The Spike Volume 2 is complete!
The next step will be a complete readthrough to check if any further story revisions are required.
Volume 2 is my biggest and most complex project to date, containing three separate books from the perspectives of seven characters.
The current aim is to have Volume 2 ready for editing by the end of 2026.
I am brainstorming for The Spike Volume 3. I know how it must begin; I have an ending that I think will be great; and I have a long list of ideas (that keeps growing) to get from one to the other that needs to be whittled down and put in an order. Outlining may begin soon.
On the back-burner, not currently being worked on are:
Project Fang
Project Teleport
Project Grim
Project Lawless
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Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I was sad to hear of the closure of legendary game studio Bioware.
They created two of my favourite game series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect trilogy, as well as the Dragon Age games which are still on my to-be-played list. Their influence on the industry and specifically on roleplaying games shouldn’t be underestimated.
It can’t be ignored that they hadn’t been on a great run, but fans will tell you that’s mostly due to the owners, EA.
After the closure, a teaser trailer for the new Mass Effect game they were working on (now cancelled) was leaked. It’s a shame we’ll never get to see the finished game.
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
