Operation Wolfhunt update

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Looking forward to it.

What's the word count?

[Kahless]

135,000 at this time, will be more by the time I include, "The Fall of Eagle One", and rewrite chapter one.

Qa'plagh, Kahless

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Wow, a full blown hefty novel.

I've given it a shot and I thought 90K was tough.

[Kahless]

Well, a novel is said to be 60-80k words and an epic novel will have to be 140k or more. This sort of grew into the second class. (This started to just be a 8-10 page short story LOL)

Qa'plagh, Kahless

[SiC-Disaster]

Hmm, this sounds very interesting
I've also written a short-story but on a different subject, around 5/6 pages long. The story is about Byrnghaer, a viking who runs into a winterstorm to hunt down the wolfpack that killed his daughter.
I'd like to continue it once, but i'm not sure on how to continue from this point on and i've been trying to find the motivation to continue

[Kahless]

You have to love writing and weaving a tale. Also your story has to have room to expand, with a lot of development stuff to get to the end. I decided on the end of the book long ago, probably about three years, and the ending has changed very little since I wrote it long ago. However, the getting there has changed many times. The opening part wasn't even done until I had been writing the thing for 2 years. I had a surgery and couldn't walk, so while at home recouping I grafted in a better beginning.

One truth I have realized is this. Don' assume everything you write is golden and can't be changed, or discarded. Edit is to death, challenge yourself by asking questions about whether or not it all fits together, and does it all make sense to the reader? I have written and rewritten this to death, and I hope it is going to be worth the effort.

Qa'plagh, Kahless

[Kahless]

Update....After GC Grinder pointed out that my book needed more action early in the book. It has taken forever it seems to splice in the piece called "The Fall of Eagle One", but it is finished. I also did a hard rewrite of the first chapter, which I believe makes it better from the beginning, but it took three months of research to put it together right. Only problem I am facing now is based on the more realistic approach I took to the first major battle, I have to go back and do major rewriting to all of the major battle scenes in the book. I may be smoothing out major ripples for a while. If anyone wants to volunteer to read and help me bounce ideas off so I can finish this well, let me know by pm. I am warning you, though, it is 140K words already.

Qa'plagh, Kahless

[BB1]

I can not wait. I may actually have to take a trip out to a bookstore for once.

Still wish it was Grizzly tank and Czar... just for us purists and for nostalgia sake (hey if we don't get furies at least give us the excitement of our favorite tank appearing in writing )

All kidding aside, that is one helluva lot of words and I am positive an executive of the company that initially spurred the emotion in you to conceive of such literature will peruse it and realize just the gem they had been sitting on. I know I will.

[Kahless]

GC Grinder and ssuser pointed out some flaws in the book. Subsequently I have been working with my brother-in-law, retired army and Gulf War vet-with a degree in journalism- to go all the way through it again and add more sections and correct some stuff. It is very slow, to be sure, but we are making progress, which is definitely going to be concluded by spring. I took all the flashbacks out except one and moved them to chronological order, which had been disorienting to the reader. A couple of months of hard work resulted in the first chapter being rewritten, which set the overall tone for the book. I spliced in an intense battle on Luna early in the book, and my next challenge is to write a piece showing my main character's Vietnam service in action.

Kahless

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Awesome!

Sounds like you're back at it.

Glad to hear it.

[Kahless]

After over two years the copyright office granted my copyright. All major work has been finished and my present editor is walking me through to the end. I will be filing a revision and actually speaking with a lawyer again and trying to find an agent. I thank everyone who offered constructive and even critical input. (The hardest criticism actually forced me to work hard to produce a better product.) My thanx to Killer ][nstinct, GC Grinder, ssuser, and my brother in law which all forced me to higher levels.

Kahless

[Kahless]

I am finally done with the novel, finishing out just over 170,000 words. My editor has only 62 pages left to approve before I file my revision. I am already 35 pages into the sequel now. Due to the holidays the last editing will probably be complete in mid January. My editor has a full time job and his wife is in treatment of stage 3 cancer, so it has been on his time table, understandably.

Anyone interested in reading it in January let me know.

Kahless

[hitchcockgreen]

Wow.
This novel has been quite a journey!
Glad to hear that it's finished. And a sequel already? Guess when the bug has got you you go with it, eh?

[Sno]

I would like to read it!

[Josiah]

I'd love to read it too!

[Kahless]

A journey. Yes, indeed! I remember when I was home on medical leave after getting my leg amputated below the knee, going over to the pc with a walker to amend the book. Before then there was no actual explantion as to how the story actually got to the opening, which was previously started on an established post on Mars, already into the conflict. The ideas about starting it fron the beginning rolled around in my head while I was recovering from surgery, no doubt assisted by pain killers and other drugs at the time.

Then later I submitted the text to ssuser and Grinder, hearing some pretty hard but much needed criticisms. Then, back to the drawing board. I read the book first to a coworker that I was carpooling with. He liked it immensly, but was not critical enough to point out major flaws that still existed. He rertired and I got another carpooling partner, so i read it to him. He loved it, but was willing to offer more suggestions to make it better. By this time I had the attitude that everything had to be accurate according to the politics and specifics of the timeline in the book. I remember him challenging me to make sure that Jalapeno poppers were actually on Sonic's menu at a time when the main character was on leave. This is the kind of detail I was striving for.

I said before that this was based on Battlezone, but I deviated from the script as often as needed to keep it as scientifically plausible as I could.

For the first time in seven years, I come to work early with nothing to tinker on with the book. It is simply a matter of time until my brother in law who is editing this gives the all clear and I file my revision and call it done.

Kahless