The Week Rolls On

The family member's doing a bit better, but their situation is still taking a chunk out of my writing time. It's not a complaint, but a statement of fact, and family has to help family, right?

But when I've had the time,I've made the most of it. African Firestorm is still moving along -- into Chapter 45 as plotted. But the way I'm writing this synopsis, it's possible that several of these chapters can be put together. Once I get it done, and send it to Rick, and see what he thinks about it.

I tend to write out scenes -- who did what, where and how. I prefer the detailed synopsis, as I've done all the hard work here, rather than in the actual writing. If I know Character A shots Character B, and Character B goes over the rail and into shark infested waters, it's all a matter of plugging in the details -- the ship, what lighting there is, the characters' moods, the backdrop, and maybe even the type of guns the characters are using. It's all adding color and texture to the paragraph:

"A pursues B onto the deck. At the rail, B spins around, gun in hand. A tells B to give up. B snarls and raises his gun. A is faster and shoots B. The impacts knock B back against the rail, and he over-balances. B flips over the rail and falls into the water below. A runs to the rail and sees sharks closing in on the stunned B."

That's the way I'm writing the synopsis, only with character names instead of A and B.

As an aside, I cannot find a book of surnames. I can find name books covering thousands of names for baby and characters, but surnames seem to be scattered across the Internet. I've started keeping a spreadsheet of surnames, culled from every source I can think of. Right now, it's in alphabetical order, and it's going to be problematic when it comes to separating them back out into their origin country's. Still, I have over 14,500 surnames on the spreadsheet and some interesting stats, Once I hit 15,000 surnames, I'll write a post on that,

On the Battlecorp front, the stories are still going, moving toward their climaxes. If my luck holds, they should be done (First draft anyway) in mid-June. At which point I start three more stories and let those three sit for a while.

So, that's it. Despite real life, I'm still writing when I can. Hopefully, there will be some resolution of the family matter by the weekend and life will become "Normal" again.....

Craig