(More) Snow, and Novel News (what a NOVEL concept!)

It snowed yet again, and we got three or so inches. I made an AWESOME snowfort that is about four feet tall, and twice that long. I'm planning to enlarge it and make an entrance tomorrow. It's built on the remains of my old snowfort (Yes, from Christmastime). And I did all this in ONE day, so I am exhusted.
It's amazing what I could do with my sequel once I set my mind on it. For the past five days, I have been determined to write at least one chapter a day, and I succeeded. It's now 60 pages long (and I myself am saying "Whoa!"). I started editing my first novel at 70 pages, and this one's going to be longer by A LOT. It's better than my first novel in my opinion, but I'm pretty sure that the ending to the trilogy, the third book, will be the best yet, and it'll delve a little bit more into the culture of the first two books.
So, I'm excitied, and I think my novel (#1) will be ready for 'public consumption' soon, at least as far as I can do it.

Signing out,

Jake

Novel Title (Among Other Things)

Okay, so yesterday I wrote a question. If a person commented and got the answer right, then I would put a novel title possibility. Thanks, Grandma, you got it right. Reuel was the father-in-law of Moses. Actually, I named a character in my novel Reuel, and I had NO idea that the name was in the Bible when I made it up. Really.
Anyway, for the novel title (drumroll) I was at first thinking of The Tower of Bailrai for an obvious reason. The problem was that the book wasn't all about the Tower. Then, late at night while I was laying awake, when I always get my best ideas, I thought of something. (By the way, that time of night was when I first thought of my novel storyline, and when I imagined the trilogy idea). The title that I chose as the best is The Black Lord. You'll only understand the title when you read the book, and the title goes with the series.
My sequel novel is now 42 pages long (I wrote a chapter yesterday). I'm at the secondmost exciting part in it, 'cause my character is meeting some familiar faces. ;). Ahh... I love writing.
Anyway, that's about all I have to say today.

Jake

More News on Novel

I'm still working on the novel, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to finish editing it to a state where it can be edited by someone else.
I'm also simultaneously working on a sequel to it, and that's 39 pages long already, and going smoothly. I'm getting excited about my series (not that I wasn't excited before), and I'm planning to turn my novel into a trilogy by adding two sequels. I also put in lots of hints, doodads, and other stuff in my novel that will be fulfilled in one of the later books.
By the way, if anyone wants to read that short story I mentioned earlier, remember; email me at jtbdude@gmail.com.
Um, so what else should I talk about? I could ask you [reader] a question. Let's see... Who was Reuel? (Hint; he was in the Old Testament of the Bible).
If you comment and get it right (Ah, 'the poision dart hidden in the raisin tart', Christopher Paolini in Eldest) then I will tell you what a possiblity for my novel's title would be. Happy guessing! (And Bible-searching).

Jake

Short Story

The snow is MELTING.... I knew deep down that the snow would melt, but.... Well, I took the time to use the melting snow to build up my snowfort a bit. It snowed yesterday and melted today. Kansas weather. Sigh.
Anyway, I had to write a short story for school (I'm homeschooled, for those that don't know that) that starts with the sentence 'The sun beat down on the hikers as they slowly climbed higher.' I thought, Well, that's boring. So I turned it into a 13 page fantasy short story that is suspiciously linked to my novel (heh heh!). So, if you want to read it, (I'd recommend reading my novel first, but that's not up for public consumption) email me at jtbdude@gmail.com. The story's not too bad, if I might say so myself. A good story line, but too short to be a novel.
Remember!

Jake

Snow

Well, what do you know? It snowed again! Unfortunately, only enough to barely cover the driveway.
Almost all the snow from that Christmas Eve giant snowfall (well, at least it was giant for Kansas) has melted. BUT! My once proud snowfort is STILL there! Sure, it's only a foot tall... but still! All the snow but that snowfort is melted. I'd put a picture of the pitiful and lonely mound of snow on here, but our picture card reader thingy broke. I have no idea what it is called, but Alex knows all about cameras, and she takes a LOT more pictures than I do. So if you're looking for pictures, you're looking in the wrong place.
By the way, I have no idea how many people check my blog. Alex still hasn't helped me put a map on my blog to show my views. Which means that I only know people are checking my blog by their comments.
Anyway, on that random piece of information, I can't think of anything else to write. Which means....

I'm signing out,

Jake

Novel Summary

Before I give a summary of my novel (as the post title implied) I think I'll give out some news. The 23rd was Alex's (my sister) birthday, so happy b-day Alex, even though this is a little late on the news. One year and you'll be a teen (like me!).
So anyway, I am going to (finally) give a summary of my novel. Keep in mind that it's a rough summary, and it's not quite polished up. Enjoy (hopefully).


When 14 year old Shad accidentally runs through a portal, he tumbles straight into a foreign country called Aleorendos, which being torn apart by civil war between a tyrant and the people. When he is found by two dwarves, Shad teams up with them and a dragon on dangerous quest given to them from the mysterious being Saar. Obstacle after obstacle block their way as they journey through Aleorendos, searching for the feared Tower of Bailrai, to rescue a forgotten king.

That's about it. Give me some feedback on it. You can comment, or just email me at jtbdude@gmail.com. By the way, this is in no way another human/elf/dwarf/dragon fantasy. There NO elves, and the humans, dwarves, and dragons have completely different interactions with each other than any of the fantasy books I have read.
I made sure not to go on the well paved roads of the human/elf/dwarf/dragon fantasy stories, but instead tried to go off road and make something unique.

With that, my post is now wrapped up.
Signing out,
Jake

Revising and Editing (Part 2!)

Okay, before I start, I just wanted to clarify on a post I made earlier about the Follower thingamajigger. You can now scroll down (go ahead) and click on 'Become a Follower' on the sidebar. Good? Okay.
To start out, the page number of my book is now 92 (Yes!!).


One of the things that I did throughout the editing, revising, and etc. was adding history. In the very first draft, I had a page that was full of historical information. It was the tale of... well, I can't tell you, for fear of ruining the story. Later, there was another pageful of history. Going through in the first draft, I added little tidbits here and there where I added history, like a reference to a long gone hero. In fact, I wrote just yesterday a scene where the main character found some mysterious and (you guessed it) historical stuff.


Some other stuff I did was adding geography. There were numerous references to towns, cities, and two different countries. I find it's a LOT easier to form a rough map of the area before you write a book. I, unfortunately, didn't find that out until I was done with the book, so I'm going to have to form a map from the events of the book, which has to be with EXTREME painstaking detail. It's very easy to mess up.

With fighting, what I did was add detail. You know the saying, 'the more, the merrier'? That does NOT apply here. I needed detail, but I also needed to keep the action quick and fast-paced, so not to bore the reader.

I am going to expand on what I said on my last post about description. When adding description, I never use the same descriptive word on the same page. I use synonyms instead.
An example of this would be; The dragon flew backwards, and then turned and flew to the Ralar again. A better phrase would be The dragon flew backwards, and then swiveled and shot toward the Ralar again.

Another thing I do is showing emotions through movement. 'The sentry shifted nervously as he replied...' You can also do this with words. '..."S-sir, you are needed at the king's tent." '

I MIGHT be able to think uo some more, but as of right now, I'm on empty, so,

Signing out,
Jake

Editing (and Revising)

If I say I haven't blogged in a while, it's probably because I haven't. (Duh!). Either that, or I had nothing to blog about. However, as you can see from the title, I am blogging about editing. When you see the word editing, you probably think I'm going to blog about editing my novel (Unless you've never checked my blog before). Guess what? You're right.
Now, sit back, stop grumbling "Get on with it!", and read what's been happening in the world of my novel.
My current page number is 88. It would have been 91, but the computer did something-or-other, and terminated the program, making me lose 3 pages of editing.
This is what I did for the editing (and revising and rewriting) process.
Before I begin, however, I'd like you to know I am not one of those people who write out an outline, then build on that. Nothing against the outline method, though. I'm more one of those people who sit down and just write a story from beginning to end, with no outline (unless it's a short summary of what I'm trying to do). Really, I'm not really controlling the story, more, it's controlling itself, going whichever way it feels like going. The novel I have now is definitely not the novel I set out to write two years ago. But I'm getting off the subject.

(Note; This next part did NOT all happen at the same time. Note 2; I am going to add examples to show you what I mean in certain places. The examples are not necessarily taken from the novel.)

When I finished my novel, I immediately went through with the Spell Check/Grammar Check (A quite useful device) and checked everything, making adjustments where they were needed, and correcting my spelling (I'm proud to say that there were very few mistakes in that area).
When I was done with that, I read my entire novel through several times, adding clarity on my meaning when needed, among other things.

Example of adding clarity;

Before; 'They both looked at the rock. "That rock looks queer." he said.'
I think, how does the reader know who said that sentence?
After; 'They both looked at the rock. "That rock looks queer." Nalgra said.'

Next, I made sure everything was properly indented. (No need for an example there).
By then, I had changed the name of the document to 'first draft'.

Since I had only a few descriptive scenes in the novel, I then went through the book, adding description.

Example of Adding Description;

Before; 'The green dragon spun through the air.'

After; 'The emerald dragon whirled through the air, a blur of flashing teeth and talons.'

When that was finished, I went through, adding depth and personality to the characters.

Example of adding personality;

Before; '"What does that mean?" said Reuel'

I wanted Reuel to sound and act more like a person, and less like a English professor. I avoid the word 'said' like a plague, so I usually change it to a different word, or couple it with a descriptive word. In this case, I changed it to '"What in the world is that supposed to mean?" asked Reuel indignantly.

Next, I made the obstacles harder, turning detours into things that take up more than just a chapter, pushing the characters where they were unwilling to go.

Example of Detour Change;

Before; They traveled to a city to avoid an enemy patrol.
After; They traveled farther south to lose the patrols altogether, forcing them into dangerous places where they were unwilling to go.

Following that, I added more emotion to the main character's life, putting in late-in-the-night thoughts and other emotions.

Example of added emotions;

Instead of 'He went to sleep immediately.' try 'He tossed and turned restlessly, thoughts of the approaching challenge filling his mind. What was going to happen? (etc.) Filled with these uncertain thoughts, he finally slipped into an uneasy sleep.' Longer thoughts can be added.

I also implied culture (Inspired by Donita K. Paul's post on her writing blog).

Example of Implying culture;

Before; I just added an information dump.

After; I spread my information out in the book, having scenes where the character may be instructed in proper etiquette (again, Donita K. Paul's suggestion) and other places.

I could add a some more, but my mind is drawing a blank for now, and fingers ache a little. So, I might add a sequel post later on, but for now I'll end it. I probably gave you much more information than you wanted, but I had one of those times when I write as fast as fire. So, see you, er, write you, (or something) later.

Jake

New Years

New Years Eve is today, New Years Day is tomorrow. We're going to spend the day at some friends' house in Newton.
My New Years resulution will be to finish revising and editing my novel.
Other than that, I have nothing else to blog about.
Hey, if you're interested in reading my blog and receiving emails to tell you when I publish a new post, scroll down the sidebar and click on- well, I'm not sure, but I'm sure you'll figure it out!
Off to the New Years Party!
Jake

Circles

Circles. I really don't like circles. For more than one reason.
One; They are endless. You start on a circle, and you come back to the beginning eventually.
Two; People make books using circles.
The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker. A circle. There's a fourth book, and it ends the way the first book in the series began.
The Song of Albion series by Stephen Lawhead. Although it uses the Endless Knot instead of a circle, the books do go in a circle like the Circle Trilogy; they end with the same words they began with.
I admit that these two authors do a great job with their books. In fact, the circle thing helps make their books better. But still... the books go endlessly on. When you finish the last book, the continuation is the first book. They don't really end.
Someday, I might even use that same concept in a novel. But I still don't like circles.

The reason I blog about circles? There is no reason. I finished the Song of Albion series (which I had gotten for Christmas) yesterday, and so I thought I'd tell you why I don't like circles. So, one day later, I decided to blog about 'em. I started typing...

'Circles. I really don't like circles...

Yea or Nay?

Today I present my readers questions that requires one of the answers listed on the title.

1. Do you want me to make a seperate blog for writing about my writing(the novel)?

2. Do you want me to post the summary of my novel here?

3. Do the poll. (That one wasn't a question, but it needed to be said.)

My blogging shortage will officially start right after I post this post, due to the holidays (I said holidays, meaning the New Year too).

Have a merry Christmas, everybody!

Jake

My Kindle (And a list!)

For those of you who do not know, I own a Kindle. I could go on for hours (er, pages) telling you about the pros of an Amazon Kindle. Since my birthday in October, I have bought 22 books on Kindle, not including a collection of Jules Verne books(37 of them!). Not bad for a teen who earns $15 dollars a month. This is basically useless information to you, but I don't have anything else to talk about. Except the following;

• I have not blogged because the internet safety program blocks me. The only time I can blog is when I get on through a link from an email, sent to me when someone comments. Get what I'm saying?
• Christmas is soon. (three of them! Close family, Buller family, and Decker family)
• Spread the word about my blog! My sister (whose URL I will not tell because it would be free advertising, although it's on my sidebar) gets twice as many views as I do. Not that it's a reason to spread the word, but...
• MOST IMPORTANT. Excerpts from my novel coming soon! Tell me if I should take my excerpt from the beginning, middle, or the end. I also might summarize my novel and give you the summary to read. It'll be something along the lines of what you would read on the back cover of a book.
• Nothing else. Ha. Ha ha. Very funny.

Don't forget to comment so I can actually blog. Either that or Mom can change my settings. Until then,

See you later.

Jake

Cold

I'm cold. Nothing more. Zip. Zilch. That's all I'm thinking about right now. Well, unless you count a book I need to go pick up at the library. But that's off the subject. Right now... I'm cold. And hoping the weather will drop just two degrees so it'll snow. Other then that....
Zip.

Jake

Well Grounded Excuse

Today's excuse is.... My Internet Safety program blocked Blogger. I tried several times to blog, but it wouldn't let me. But, as you can see, I managed to get past it. I clicked on a link to moderate comments thru my email, and so I made my way to the posting section. So, here I am, with nothing to blog about except my excuses. Wait, there is a precious little nugget of information;
Pages added thru editing my novel: originally on first draft; 70 pages. Pages now; 77. (Clap clap!)

Signing out,

Jake

Thanksgiving

We got back several days ago from the Wichita area, where we had Thanksgiving. We had the Buller Thanksgiving first, and then the Decker Thanksgiving the next day. The reason I didn't blog as soon as we got back, you ask? Two reasons (or excuses, whichever you choose.). One, I was doing schoolwork. Two, I was writing my novel, which is now finished. Actually, I only finished the rough draft of it. I am now editing the novel. And editing. Oh, and did I mention I'm editing? The total number of pages (on Microsoft Word) is 70. I have added three pages of editing since then, and hope to add some more. It's quite an acheivement though, since I started on that journey two years ago, in Iowa. Since then, I have moved to three different cities and three different houses. A lot has happened since I first wrote the first word of the first chapter of my first novel. It's sort of a memorial for what happened in the last two years.

Signing out, (Hey, I end it when I have nothing else to talk, er, write about)

Jake