... they've got us covered

Sent out emails/PMs to the four cover artists today, with their assignments and a template image for the proportions of the cover and where the spine goes. Here's the breakdown.

Book 1: - Jyre - Her climbing up Nightfall's tower (Dominus)
Book 2: - Ghost - Zombies and Hammerites on either side (redface)
Book 3: - James - Seated in a study overflowing with books (Ireth)
Book 4: - Lytha - Something to do with the Hammerite Castle (Julia)
Book 5: - Sheam - In the clutches of Balastar Ramirez (Ireth)
Book 6: - Nightfall - Dunno yet (Dominus)

I gave Ireth and redface more information than that... probably enough to get started. For Julia I tried to get the ball rolling with some speculation, as I am not sure yet exactly how the scene should be set up. Dom is already at work.

... working it all out

I am stil trying to work COT out of my system as I ease into other projects.

The new poll is a double one so I did a strange multiple-choice answer system, since it's asking a pair of yes or no questions.

First question - should I name each of the six books? I believe no, because I do not want to give the illusion that they are in any way stand-alone novels to be picked up and read in any order. That's why I am calling each one "Book # of 6" and not just "Book #".

Second question - should I number each section? I can see this being useful during the editing process, so that someone need merely say "section 76" rather than the chapter number and the name of the section, but as I reader I think I would find it a little obnoxious to be reminded that I am reading section 124.

Any counter-arguments?

I've narrowed down basic ideas for each cover scene, but I still need to nail down the particulars before I contact the artists. I limited the options to scenes that are actually pertinent to the volume they adorn, while still tyring to choose moments that are both pivotal to the principal character they illustrate, and does not give any big spoilers away! In some cases I should maybe discuss it with the artists to see where their particular strengths want to pull the direction of the designs. Before I do any of that though, it would be really good if I gave the artists a template to work with, so that they'll know the exact proportions of the image, where the spine will be, where certain text is going, and so forth.

I made another decision regarding COT2 that I can probably talk about. (Be advised, actual writing work on COT2 will not begin for a long time, but it's fun to think about it right now!) I completely avoided the Keepers for COT-R, partially because I felt like they were never really adequately illustrated in Thief 1 & 2 for adaptation, and partially because I felt that they were summarily ruined in Thief 3 which presented the supposed all knowing keepers of the balance as confused naive clods. For COT2 I will bring them in, but if I do so, it will be with heavy modifications to who they are and what, exactly, they do. I may even redesign them from the ground up, with only the tiny peeks we got in Thief 1 (which I still consider the definative look at The Keepers) as guidelines. This would represent a signifigant break from the norm, where I tried very hard to keep things in line with what was seen in the games (though I did do a fairly large overhaul to the pagans, I did so without directly contradicting anything!)

... for newcomers

I added this passage to the COT-R page on cosas.ttlg.com...

How would you describe COT-R to newcomers?

It's like Thief (the PC game) meets 24 (the TV series). It's like a film-noir detective story set in an alternate reality 18th century European city, but with steam-powered technology and zombies and religious factions wielding real magical power. It's about six different people from different walks of life with very different needs and agendas, and how their stories weave together. It's social commentary mixed with horror and romance and violence and comedy. It's a thriller. It's a story where the characters are in charge and the author is along for the ride as much as the readers.

For those of you who have been reading COT-R, how would you describe it to a Thief fan or a non-fan?

... the current numbers

The red bar indicates the pre-chapter segue, and the blue the chapter itself. Click for big!

... dream, dream, dream

I kept dreaming of writing chapter 25, so I just got up. Make it stop! There is no chapter 25!

I sent out copies of the finished story to a few people, and am anxious to hear what they think. Only two of them are up-to-date on their reading, so I don't expect to get all of the impressions of the ending for a while yet. Now I need to try to relax and focus on other things.

Since a major point of this was to make COT2 actually possible, I will admit that I have been giving the sequel some serious thought lately. I even made a list (it's pretty long) of the things I no longer need to do in COT2 because they've been taken care of by the rewrite. I've decided that COT2 will probably be a collection of 24 short stories probably around the length of a COT chapter each. Some will be fairly stand alone, but others will link together into a longer narrative. It's not going to be the same long epic plot as COT was though, which means that if I want to stop at 8 or 16 chapters, I can. There won't be principals in COT2, but rather each story will have a set of characters who tell it, maybe sometimes just one, so the reader never know when a "chapter" will introduce a totally new main character. I am doing it this way because the story I want to tell has a very long timeframe (several years) and involves many seemingly (and actually) unrelated events in many non-local locations. Thus, trying to fit that into a novel-like framework would be disconcerting. It would lack a proper arc, and seem like just random stories and events. SO, that's exactly what I will present it as... a series of short stories.

What is not decided is when I'll do it though. If COT-R goes "live" and the community seems to love it and I get lots of orders for printed books, I'll gradually start working on COT2. If COT-R gets fairly ignored/panned, that's just my cue to start thinking about the other, totally original story ideas I've been brewing over the years.

It is Finished

(no ... so you know this is serious)

I dreamed all night about finishing COT, so when I got up this morning (around noon, I went to bed at 7 am after writing all night) I got to work. I never do this... it's usually impossible to write during the day.

I went over all I had written in Chapter 24, did some additions and tweaks, and then wrote the final scene. In a strange twist, the rewrite for the final scene was much shorter than the original. (And aside from the setup and the location, bore little resemblance to it!) When that was done I wrote the final segue, which isn't a segue since there was nothing to segue into... more like an afterword. Of course, it provided symmetry with the foreword. (something missing in the original!)

So that's it.

The 1st Draft of COT-R is finished.

... all but the last

The bulk of Chapter 24 is now "on paper" with only one more scene remaining (fans of the original may remember a certain epilogious meeting in Nightfall's tower) before I call it finished. Much of 24 is similar to the original's chapter 25, especially a certain conversation between Nightfall and James that served as a wrap-up for some loose ends. Of course, the contents of the conversation are much different, it's just the scene that's the same. In more ways, though, this chapter mirrors the first one of the rewrite.

(In the original they discussed the nature of evil vs. chaos, who the mysterious robed figures were, and what the summoned entity actually was. In COT-R chaos vs. evil has already been discussed, they know exactly who the figures are, and have no reason to further discuss the summoned entity... so they are freed up for other topics.)

Chapter 24 is going to end up being half the length of a normal chapter, but with the segues preceding it included, it will be just a hair short of the previously shortest chapter.

Another oddity... 24 is the first chapter I've written in a very long time without an outline.

... if I say I'll do it I'll do something else

Naturally after writing that post I wound up not doing at all what I said I would. I worked on the segues that will make up a good portion of Chapter 24, each one of which is a coda to a character or group of characters. I was picky about who got one, limiting it to people or groups of people whose fate was still in question at the end of the story. If the character makes an appearance in Chapter 24, I did not include them, so for example (spoilers!) Jossimer, Richen, and Rembrandt didn't get one, but Thurm, Soore, and Othello did. I'm calling it done, but if I think of more characters I want to give a send-off to I'll put them in.

... plans for tonight

After a night off, it's time for work. Plans for tonight...

• Outline and maybe start on Chapter 24... but probably just write up the outline.
• Try to pin down what I want to see for the book covers and who I'd like to do which. There's still only four artists but I think that will be enough. I'm going to make each cover actually pertain to the volume it adorns, rather than just being a pivitol character moment.

I don't know why I made that into a list when there's just two points. Hm.

... forum poll

I added a new poll asking now the blog readers feel about a finishing-forum. Granted, most of the blog readers probably wouldn't participate (unless you're one of my critics or proofreaders) so I guess they're not the right people to ask, but I felt like doing a poll anyway.

My main thought is that the forum would help me keep all of the comments in one place, rather than in dozens of emails and assorted text and word documents all over my computer. So it's less about the critics discussing things as a group and more about just making things easier for me to manage.

I guess I can address some of the topics of past polls too.

Each character's sections are headed by their name, a title, and a date. How should Daneel "Nightfall" Todulem's sections be headed?
The sections are headed with Nightfall, but his name is now Daelus Thresh.

Share your thoughts on the way this type of story should end.
Asymetrical but balanced was what I went with. There aren't six distinct endings, but each character still had their "moment".

Concerning things left open for COT2
This is more the domain of the unwritten chapter 24, but I already know that there's going to be no cliffhangers, rather a very strong emphasis on the idea that everything is still in motion.

Getting near the end here, the rewrite is no longer going to resemble the original much. That was always the plan. Feelings?
I think I already mentioned that there's plenty of pretty strong ties to the original's ending, but fans of the original will still have no idea what to expect.

If COT Book 6 ends up being too long for just four chapters...
Book 6 will be a perfect length, not too short and not too long. Four chapters, one a little long, one a little short.

... and now, the conclusion

Chapter 23 is now finished, and is the longest chapter of the story. The Pages of History. It's just a hair longer than chapter 3 was, at 28K words and some change. Chapter 3 was so long because it acted as the big introduction to the Thief universe for readers who have never played or heard of Thief. 23 on the other hand just needed alot of space to wrap things up to my satisfaction. All of the sections are fairly short, from 500 words to no more than 3K words (though most tend to be under 1K) so we bounce back and forth between the principals very quickly. Sheam gets the most page time of course (about 1/3rd of the chapter), given that her plot's climax was absent from 22. There's still a few lingering things left hanging at the end of this chapter to keep it feeling too much like the very last pages of the book, so I am not going to flake out and say to heck with 24 even though I could easily end the story here.

I've kept a copy of the original COT at the bottom of my main rewrite document (as tiny black text) and delete things from it as the rewrite overtakes it. There's still a few sections of tiny black text that haven't been removed yet.

I'm going to take a break before continuing though, probably saving the finish line for this weekend. I expect Chapter 24 to be fairly short.

.. slowing down

I had really wanted to finish 23 tonight. I have just run out of steam though. It's at 21K words and there's still a good deal of ground to cover, and I don't want to try to write it while being simply exhausted.

One of two things will happen. I'll go to bed and pass out and then know that I really needed sleep, or I'll go to bed and feel wide away within an hour, at which point I will resume.

... emotionally dense

Emotionally dense is one way to describe Chapter 23, and that's probably why I am finding it so difficult to write! There's another reason - I find myself constantly needing to go back to earlier chapters to look up something I wanted to get the facts straight on. In tying up loose ends, it's often good to be clear on exactly what was loose about what ends.

I'm 12,000 words into it, which is probably half-done. There's still a great deal on the outline sheet that hasn't been grayed out, most of which is the harder stuff to put into words.

I find myself going back and forth from one section to the next, tweaking, fiddling, adjusting, adding, changing, on and on. It's expected, though. The ending is always the biggest challenge.

Edit: Close to 16K and calling it quits for the night!

... outline, coffee, quiet

The outline for 23 is ready. I have peace and quiet for the next 8 hours or so (it's 1 am) and a cup of coffee. My schedule for the next few days is wide open. Let's finish this sucker.

(23 will be officially the end of the story, like the original's 25. The rewrite's 24 will be an epilogue. The original also had an epilogue, but it wasn't given a chapter number or title.)

Because I like comments and I never get them, I'll ask a question. For the epilogue chapter, which minor or side characters would you like to see a segue about, to know what happens to them after the story is finished?

... the hump has been cleared

Chapter 22, the big climax of the entire story, called No Name by the Tongue of Man, is finished (1st draft). I almost had it done in two days, but near the end of the second day I decided I need to step back, think about for it a bit, do a revision of everything I had written, and to have this chapter go a little long but wrap up the main action and not drag the end of the climax into the start of 23, only to have the rest of 23 be wind-down. At first I was not feeling very good about how things were turning out, but after the revision and finishing the chapter, I am feeling quite satisfied.

In fact the whole thing came together much more tightly than I had thought, making this hardly an over-long chapter at just under 23K words, which actually makes it shorter than 21. There were many things I could have easily drawn out, but in the interests of keeping things moving, the writing is fast-paced and focused.

There's still a great deal of things to wrap up in 23, not the least of which is Sheam's plotline, which was totally absent from 22. It wasn't just a matter of the tone being completely different. Every event in 22, from Nightfall to Ghost to Lytha to Jyre to James, was connected, but Sheam's plotline by its very nature is not connected to the others - she's the one facing what's going on at the home turf while everyone else is out on their adventures.

I think fans of the original will be happy between the balance I struck between honoring what they remember while also keeping them in suspense. There's shades and echos and mirror images of nearly everything that went on in the old story, but everything plays out a little differently, in a different order, and with some wildly different results.

... gestate

Normally when I finish a chapter, no matter how rough it is or now self conscious I feel about it, I send it right off to my critics and await their feedback. This time, on the other hand, I hesitate. I am extra self conscious over this one because, even though the final action of the story is spread over this chapter and the next as well, most of the biggest events of the entire story happen in 22. It has both some of the weirdest stuff and some of the thiefiest stuff in the entire book.

As mentioned in the previous post, I think one of the cooler things is that finally the events described by each principal are directly linked to one another, and what happens to each character and what each character does has a big impact on what is going on with the others (well, with one exception...).

So the plan now is to go over 22 word by word and do a revision, though since I technically am not finished with the 1st draft yet I am not counting it as a revision, merely a continuation of the writing process. Who is keeping track, anyway? In other bad news, the outline for chapter 23 is in pretty rough shape, and my family is expecting out of town company again next week, so I won't have much time to write. Taff!

... this is what they call a climax

Were human hands designed to type 10,000 words in one night? Mine don't seem to happy about it.

Everything seems quite on track. I have about half of what I had planned for 22 written, and am right at the 10K word mark, which is telling me that I'll be able to wrap this story up without going on and on and on like I feared.

22 is being written old-style again, where everything is done in order and I finish a section before going on to the next one. I need to for this one, because much of what happens in one section is built off what happened in the previous one, and helps me decide some things about the next one after it. The widely divergent activities of the six principals over the previous book are beginning to impact one another.

In other news, I moved one section from chapter 20 into chapter 21, because chronologically it happens a few hours into 21. When I first wrote it I felt like it needed to be on "paper" before wrapping up 20, but now that it's been moved it does feel right as part of 21. It more neatly contains Ghost and Lytha's adventure at Soulforge inside Chapter 21 (which is continued in 22) and also lets 20 end with a little more bang.

... that's a wrap (rap?) on 21

Chapter 21, With Breaths Held, is now finished, clocking in at just under 22 thousand words. The title is probably temporary, as it's pretty generic and a bit cliche, so I am sure that I'll come up with something better later. Given how much I was able to pack into this one, I don't think that going over-long will be a problem anymore.

Just goes to show, sometimes when writing the outline I can't seem to figure out how to make the events flow naturally, but when I am actually writing the chapter it all seems to come together and make sense.

We're now at about chapter 24 of the original, and though the rewrite's 21 bears little resemblance to the original's chapter 23, the final sections directly correspond to one another. In fact, I probably could have cut and pasted it verbatim into the rewrite. (I didn't though.)

One slight problem I am running into is cronological slip. Nearly half of Chapter 21 takes place before the final events of 20. I am not sure if I should worry about that or not... probably not. I could try editing it up later to put things in perfect chronological order and see how I like it, but right now I am happy with the way things are.

... about game design

One last note before I resume work on 21. Soulforge is the first in-game location that I did not at least consult and at most follow to exacting detail. Simply put, I find the level design of that mission to be an incomprehensible mess, which bears no relation to any form of sense. Most of T2's level design was very good at giving a "sense of place" as they say in the architecture world. Soulforge felt like a video game level. SO, expect some time spent in those holy halls, but don't expect it to be anything like what it was in the game.

Oh, and I know that the "ending" poll isn't close yet, but I can spoil it by now. The new ending will very much honor the original, but I still intend to keep the fans guessing until the very end.

... beginning of the end

The majority of Chapter 21 is now written, with just a few more scenes to go, best left to a time when I am not grossly underslept.

To my surprise a very big scene with Lytha turned out to not only be something I am quite happy with, but an excellent continuation of her character arc beyond what, in Book 4, could have been the end of her story. (Not to mention a big plot thread introduced early in the story finally coming to a head.) It's essentially the 'big moment' of Chapter 21 that leads directly into 22. Did I mention that I am writing out of order now?

James is proving difficult, but in a good way. He's a unique challenge, due to his character's sytle of having a much more dense internal monologue than any of the others. This is needed since he's facing the pure unknown, and the reader will probably appreciate having an expert analyst along to figure things out with them.

Jyre is mostly an observer this time, which had given me a chance to flesh out some of the minor characters I really wanted to get some quality time with. Unexplectedly, I stumbled upon a very natural way of progressing the plot with her in a direction that I had recently given up on because I, well, couldn't find a natural way of doing it.

Ghost is really enjoying being away from Lytha. By that I mean he hates being away from her, but I am enjoying writing him being away from her. After four chapters of them being joined at the hip, it's refreshing to write a Ghost scene that doesn't have its tone colored by Lytha's dramatic hues.

I was afraid that with all of the high-level stuff going on with the other five principals, Sheam's stuff would be a boring drag in comparison. After writing some of it, I think it makes a refreshing intermission from all of the Goddesses and Alien Beings and Serious Spirital Contemplation, and gives the reader something they can relate to on a much more down to earth level.