Quantum of Solace

I hate to agree with all the critics, but they've got a point--the latest Bond chapter (more of an epilogue, really) is very similar to a Jason Bourne movie.

BUT...it's better. One thing that really annoyed me about the latest Bourne offering was the shaky camera. Enough already with the vomit inducing shaky camera! Director Marc Forster, at least, reserves the monkey cam for true action sequences.

I miss Martin Campbell's subtle style (Casino Royale). James Bond was always more about style than strength. Campbell incorporated emotional depth to that style and created something special. Leave the 'high octane' excitement to the brash American (Bourne). Bond doesn't need a bazooka to get the job done--a 7.65 mm suits him just fine.

Quantum of Solace was Casino Royale's placenta. I still enjoyed the movie, believe or not, but I won't be renting it for a second viewing. I am excited about the new direction of the Bond franchise, and Daniel Craig still has a decent shot at dethroning Connery--but Craig hasn't managed it yet. The next movie might push him over the top. Time will tell.

Forster has declined an offer to direct the next Bond installment. This is good news as far as I'm concerned.

I can only hope the next director doesn't use caffeine addled monkeys to shoot the film.

Marketing a novel

I've just finished a six-page synopsis of Mountain's Mercy. I hate to see a story stripped to its bare bones; a nutshell isn't a fitting repository for much of anything.

But I suppose I understand why agents want them. I would never want the job of an agent's assistant. They must be the most underpaid people in the universe. I'm sure the majority of what they read is crap. How would it be to read garbage all day?

I'm not going use a shotgun during my agent hunt. I'd rather snipe for the ones I really want. If I don't get a bite early on, I'll just get back to writing and see if the agents are interested when two books are on the line (or three, or four).

Stephen King didn't land a contract until he'd written five books.

Another Sale!

I received an email from Colleen Anderson, the fantasy editor at Aberrant Dreams Speculative Fiction. She said she loved the humanity in "Rhindor's Remission" and accepted it for publication.

What great timing! I'm about to finish my first novel and I get published in a cool magazine like Aberrant Dreams. Things seem to be coming together.

IT"S DONE!!

Of Mountain's Mercy, Book One of the Rimecoal Chronicles is drafted!

I finished the last chapter while on a long haul flight from Kuwait. I still need to polish the piece, but it's great to have the monster part of the task complete.

It's been almost two years since I began this project.

I'm exhausted. It's 5am and my eyes are filled with sand. I'll post more later.

Will

Last Chapter!

I decided against writing chapter 21 (Clara). No matter how I wrote it, the chapter had no tension when told from Clara's perspective. Clara's view of Dendril's departure seemed irrelevant to Dendril's story and was anticlimactic to her own.

Instead, I added another scene allowing Dendril to be the witness of his own departure. It worked much better and I was able to strengthen Teanca's conflict with Willan to boot.

I'm working on the last chapter. I've practically written the whole thing in my head--We'll see if I can get it out on paper.

Chapter 20 is done

Yep. Two days. I took Sunday off. I wrote all of chapter 20 (Dendril's last chapter) in two days. Pretty slick.

Only two more chapters left. A short Clara chapter and a long Riohn chapter.

It's so close.

New productivity Record

It's 4:45 in the a.m., but oh well. I just wrote 1845 words in a single sitting. I'm so tired I'm crosseyed, and I may find everything illegible tomorrow.

I'm still on target to complete the novel before I head back to work on the 4th.

William