2008-10-12
And the reason for that is to avoid spoilers. Sorta. Chapter 53 is my trailer for the coming attraction "Shoulders of Orion" which is "25 Pairs Part II" basically, and I need to talk about that. Well, maybe I don't NEED to, but still...
The chapter, when it posts, will contain the huge spoilers for the original book and so we have choices: Skip the chapter entirely and don't read the original novel. Skip the chapter until you've read "25 Pairs" or...Read the chapter and decide then if you want to read the original story. Obviously I'd prefer you read the story and then the chapter, but whatever you want is fine with me. I just wanted to warn you.
Note for 25 Pairs
First all, in case I haven’t said it before, Twenty Five Pairs is my “real” novel, meaning I wanted to play with style and techniques that I’d use for a mainstream, non-erotic Great American Novel. It’s a very good story and it frightens people away because of certain elements in it, some of the codes aren’t what most people are looking for. But those brave readers who took the chance were ultimately rewarded by the experience and I received a lot of praise and positive feedback for it. Lots of people said “It should be published!” and I’m not sure about that, but it’s a step.
The second part, the continuation, will happen. I’ve started it and my desire is to make it more accessible to the general readership, but without compromising what happened in the first book. The sequel will be different in many ways and I’m going to play some more with how I tell the story. It’s a serious thing for me. So the story has to be really good, I mean the plot, which is an element I usually leave to chance. In this case I have to really work one out in advance and know where I’m going with it.
The original book, 25 Pairs, I wrote the first five chapters without really thinking about what I was going to say. That book was written off the cuff and it shows in various places and I had to work my butt off to make things work. I guess I’m fortunate that I have some small measure of talent for such things. But I don’t want to have to do that again.
One thing I’m looking is mixing the narrative. Most of the story, three-fourths of it or more, will be told first person by Natalie, the heroine of the story. There are scenes and plot points that need to be expressed, however, that she isn’t privy to and so I’m mixing in a bit of third person narrative to move the story and explain certain things as they become necessary. I’m not sure how well that will work yet. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll have to rewrite what I have from Natalie’s narrative and do the whole story third person.
But my goal, as I say, is to basically write a story that could be published, except I’m gonna put a bunch of sex in it. SOL and other forums are good places for experimenting and getting reactions and once I’m fairly happy with my abilities to do that, to write a “real” novel…I’ll write one with acceptable erotic content and ship it off to every publisher I can find and see what happens. Writing a novel and getting on the NY Times Bestsellers List isn’t a real high priority for me. Making a million dollars doesn’t really interest me. But I’d like to have one Book-of-the-Month club selection just so I can say I did it and move on to something else.
It can’t be too hard, I’ve read some of those books and they suck. Some of them. So it’s just a matter of motivation and I’m hoping my desire to write something cool will provide that for me. That all sounds flakey, doesn’t it? Sorry. That’s the problem with being a spoiled brat who always got everything she ever wanted. I don’t live in the real world, but that’s never stopped me either, so…
Anyway! That’s the rache report…make sure you use a lot of sun screen! It’s gonna be a hot one out there!
