Life Update: Where I've Been & What I've Been Doing

 So, there's a phrase that goes "man makes plans and God laughs" and another phrase that says "life is what happens while people plan" or something like that. This is just a way of me saying that life got busy and depression began hitting me a bit so my writing didn't happen much. But, things have gotten...well, life happens and things change. 

We've lost our little chicken, HennyPenny, back in September. That was hard and, even though it was expected due to the injuries, I still didn't take it well. 

Medical appointments kept us busy throughout October all the way to December (my wife's appointments and my mom's appointments). There was Hurricane Helene, which hit friends and coworkers, but not us. 

Throughout all of this, I kept writing summaries my serial killer series. I hadn't started writing the first book yet. I just kept writing out summaries for the titled books, figuring out which book would fit where in the series, and how things worked. I worked on character lists for main characters, killers, side characters. I worked on keeping the ever-increasing number of books so I'd know which title went with which number. I wrote down notes on events that would happen so I'd have a record of it for when I reached that point in the series. I started the outline of the first book and when I stalled on that one, I began the outline for the second one only to stall very quickly. I still hadn't started writing the first book. 

I worked on other projects, other ideas. Got a new computer (well, new to me--my wife's old one). Could use Microsoft Word, but that's neither here nor there. Maybe I'll get it for Christmas or something this year because Microsoft 365 just isn't the same and Google Docs is great and all, but not the same as MS Word. I discovered Copilot AI and chatted with it for advice about different topics, ranging from Dungeons & Dragons campaigns to help creating images of characters. I chatted with different AI chatbots because why not? It was a break from my routine.

We went to the circus. First time I've been to one; second time for my wife. It was fantastic. Met Mom's coworker and his family. Pretty cool dude. Planned on a game night. Played Cards Against Humanity. My wife won that first time. Second time, he did. But we'll have another game night eventually.

I discovered animatics for songs from the musical EPIC and fell in love with the entire album. Still obsessed with those songs and longing to write a Greek Dungeons & Dragons campaign. I watched Transformers One, loved the movie, though a certain voice acting choice for a certain well-known Decepticon was certainly a choice and not one I'm too sure works, though that could just be me. I thought D-16's transition to Megatron was fitting and the foreshadowing with his eyes going from gold to orange to red orange then finally the iconic red was fantastic. The movie reminded me that I'm a Transformers fan and I proceeded to bother my wife with my Transformers knowledge. 

Politics happened, voting, election. Nothing much to say there.

My wife's computer desk moved to the extra bedroom so Mom wouldn't complain about how cluttered it was. We made plans for that spare room and for the stuff in storage, planned to move it from expensive to cheaper storage or from cheaper storage to the organized shed we have in our driveway. We had plans and that is where I think everything all went wrong.

On January first, my stepbrother told us he'd been told by his ex-wife that he needed to leave. He had nowhere else to go, so he's now living with us. There's been some...growing pains, I suppose you could call them, and I've got some mixed feelings about him being here. Initially, I was happy having him here, but now it feels like he'd rather my wife and I weren't here--you know, in the house that we own. 

Since I've been feeling a bit unwelcome in my own house, I've not really felt like doing much of anything. I agreed to beta read a fanfiction for a friend since I've fallen into a routine and that fanfiction ignited a fire within me. Her writing reminded me of why I write, why I read, why I want to be an author. Her first chapter had me enraptured from the first sentence and desperate for more like a drowning man desperate for one more breath of life-giving air. 

Her writing reminded me of the passion I'd lost during my sentence as an English major. Her writing reminded me of why I wanted to write in the first place. Her writing brought back the fire that my time in college writing soulless works that professors demanded had nearly smothered. 

After reading her first chapter, I began working on the beginning of the first book of my serial killer series. 

An Update on Life, Writing, & A Discussion About the Significance of Character in Writing

Unpacking. Unpacking never ends. We're still unpacking and moving stuff, but at least the old place has been sold. 

I'm learning German on DuoLingo. This isn't related to any of the writing projects, but just for fun. Once I've got it down, I've got a whole host of other languages I plan to learn, also for fun.

Now, for the biggest update: I've been working on the series I mentioned in the last post and it's got a title now. All the books (well, nearly all) have titles and I'm writing out the summaries for them. Well, more like the blurbs that you would read on the back of the books if you picked them up in the store. 

I'm also doing something I don't usually do when it comes to writing. I'm making an outline. So far that is helping with the first book of the series, where I know the ending but didn't know anything else. Thanks to the outline, and talking about the characters with Myrrh (my lovely wife), I now know the beginning of the book and details about the killer. Even though it isn't planned for the killer to be caught until later in the series, it is important to know these details.

I'm not going to be sharing too much about the series since things have already changed a fair bit from the last post when I mentioned it. I will say that as I've worked on writing out the blurbs/summaries, I've learned things about characters that I didn't know when I initially thought of this idea and, while that might seem to some people as though I'm just making it up as I go, I'm not. These details and information are all things that when I look back at the titles of the books and which ones were going to feature which characters, made sense. Nothing that happens, happens just for the sake of pushing the plot forward or because the plot demands it. It happens because it makes sense based on the characters' histories and personalities. 

I feel that that is something that authors forget. That characters are people, with a history and personality and a level of intelligence, not just props. If a character wouldn't do something because they know it doesn't make sense, then the readers are going to realize that the author has started puppeting the character around, jerking them like a marionette, the moment the character behaves out of character for the sake of advancing the plot. It can ruin immersion and believability, and just disappoint readers in general as the plot then seems contrived even if it had been great until then. 

Readers like to submerge themselves in the world of a novel and if the main character suddenly starts acting a fool when they know better because the author needs it, the author has lost the reader's trust in them. Keeping the character in character is a big deal and a necessity when it comes to writing a series. Consistency is key. That's why knowing the characters is more important than knowing the plot. If you know your characters well enough, the plot will develop on its own. 

Yes, I had the basic idea for the plot in mind before I started working on the characters, but it was a nebulous idea that had nothing solid. Nothing solid until the characters began to form and introduce themselves. Once that happened, the plot became more concrete and the characters became more and more people in their own right. As the characters developed, so did the plot. Without the characters, the plot would have remained rather nebulous. Plot is secondary to characters, not the other way around. 

New Series

 Awhile back, I mentioned that I'd had an idea that wouldn't leave me alone and I'd focused on the characters, plots, arcs, and titles for the novels in the series. I described it as Criminal Minds meets Suicide Squad with supernatural elements thrown in. I'd said that I hadn't yet started writing as I was planning things out.

Well, I finished the planning and started the writing. I'm working on the first book in the series. I've also got a five book spin-off series planned showing how the killers joined the team as well as how the team leader actually ended up in the position he's in. What I don't have at this point is a title of the series in general. But I have titles for the novels, so that's something, especially considering I usually suck at titles.

Yes, some of my titles are incredibly punny. It fits with the tone of the series and with my personality so yeah, they work. Other titles have multiple meanings and for one of them, I actually had to use Google for the title and found that the changing of a single letter changes the entire meaning of the word. I'm not spoiling anything here, but Google "parlay" vs "parley" to find out the difference.

I'm not going to share too much here about the series or anything, but I have started writing the first book. For an idea what the first book is about, you could read the Missing 411 series by David Paulides, or listen to some of the stories from the books on YouTube. That's not exactly what my book is about, but those will give a great feel for the killer and what the victims go through. 

Anyway, I'm working on the first book of the series and still working on The Agency anthology (it's 193 pages, and a whopping 92,981 words so far). There are other ideas that occasionally want my attention, but these are the ones that I am going to focus on. 

These are the ones I am going to finish.

Location 041B

 Happy September, all! It's the start of spooky season! Though things are still busy here, I've decided to share another story of The Agency. This one is set on a picturesque beach, perfect for ending the summer and drifting into fall. 

So, everyone grab the beach towels and the floats. Remember the sunscreen, watch for sharks, and stay in the water.

Location 041B

History

A stretch of beach near the Sapphire Lagoon Resort, approximately an hour from the town of San Anta, Location 041B seems unremarkable. White, pristine sand, crystal clear azure water, thick jungle past the shore—like a dozen other beaches in the area. What makes Location 041B worthy of being designated and quarantined by the Agency are the events that occur there, as seen by Testimony 2020-06-03.

Testimony 2020-06-03

Arch. Pace: Statement of Jace Richard regarding Location 041B, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Evelyn Pace.

Richard: You mean the beach?

Arch. Pace: Yes, though we call it Location 041B. Makes it official. You understand.

Richard: Yeah, I guess. So anyway, my family and I—

Arch. Pace: Names, please.

Richard: Oh, right. My father, Andrew; my mother, Lily; and my siblings, Levi, Miles, Jennifer, and Brandy. We all went on vacation. We were staying at the Sapphire Lagoon Resort and we decided to go to the beach instead of spending the day at the pool or visiting some of the attractions. Miles and Levi wanted to go to some kind of celebration in San Anta—I don’t remember what they called it, but I guess it was something like a carnival or a parade since it involved alcohol. My dad said that they could go that evening, but that they were going to spend the day with the family.

            So we went to the beach. We weren’t the only people there, but I don’t know the names of the others.

Arch. Pace: That’s alright. Please continue.

Richard: Despite how nice it was, the beach wasn’t crowded. Just us and a few others. The waves were calm, there weren’t any riptide warning signs. There was no reason such a nice beach should be so empty on such a perfect beach day. Levi and Miles, even though they didn’t want to be there, were the first into the water. My mom laid down on the towel she’d brought, intending to tan, and my dad sat near her as he watched Jennifer and Brandy build sandcastles.

            I walked closer to the water, just close enough that the waves lapped my feet. The water was perfect, not too cold but not too warm either. It was glistening. The sun was so bright that even the sand seemed to sparkle.

            One of my brothers splashed me and I splashed back, then went deeper into the water. Normally, I wouldn’t. I was scared of stepping on a stingray so I’d normally stay close to shore, just let the waves wash over my feet. But everything just felt so nice and safe that I knew I could go swimming deeper with Miles and Levi.

            I stopped feeling safe when I reached them, though. My feet couldn’t touch the bottom anymore. They didn’t notice and swam a little further so their feet weren’t touching the bottom either. I didn’t like them being so far out and the idea of following them, of what could be below me. They’d let me watch Jaws just a few days ago when our parents went out to dinner.

            But I didn’t want to stay where I was so I turned to go back and swam a little closer to shore. I heard Levi whoop behind me and I glanced over my shoulder. He was body-surfing, just letting the wave carry him back to shore. He and Miles caught up to me when the wave overtook me and the three of us were carried to shore.

            We landed on the beach, laughing as the wave retreated and tickled our chests and stomachs on its way back out. Miles rolled onto his back as Levi shook water from his hair. I sat up, grinning, and looked around. The sand was still sparkling, though not where the waves were. Like the water washed away whatever made the sand sparkle so that it would glisten.

            That was when Jennifer and Brandy began screaming.

            We whipped around in time to see their hands swelling up. It was like they were having allergic reactions, though I don’t know to what. Except that it looked different, somehow. Like boils? I don’t know.

            Our parents got there at the same time we did, though I noticed their feet and legs looked the same as Jennifer and Brandy’s hands. Jennifer stood up, screamed, and then fell; her legs and feet were like our parents’. When she fell, she landed on one of the boils and it burst, spewing clear, yellowish water that glittered like the sand.

            Dad picked her up, more water gushing out as he did so. We started running away from the beach as Mom grabbed Brandy. I felt my feet tingling and, when I looked down at them, they were glittering. And the glitters were moving.

            That was when we heard the screams from the other people at the beach.

            I turned and I ran to the water.

Arch. Pace: Why?

Richard: I don’t know, really. I just wanted to wash the glitters off my feet before the same thing that happened to Jennifer happened to me.

            I went to the water and heard Miles calling me. He and Levi came running after me. Our parents disappeared up the trail to the hotel with our sisters while we stayed in the water. I wouldn’t let them leave the water. Not until the boat showed up.

            Everyone onboard had lifejackets with the letter K on them. They said they were here to help us. They helped us out of the water, gave us blankets to wrap around us, and headed toward a dock.

            Once we got on the dock, there were a bunch of people there in coats like doctors wear, but they had an E on them and some had a weird O symbol. It wasn’t closed at the bottom and had two lines going from the opening. There was also one that had a triangle on his outfit.

            They began checking us and Miles kept asking about our parents and sisters. The only one that seemed to acknowledge us was the one with the triangle. I think his name was Ellis.

            After the doctors cleared us, Ellis came over and began talking to Miles, Levi, and me. He wasn’t excluding me just because of my age. He explained that things weren’t looking good for them, but they were doing everything they could to help them. He said that we could stay in the hotel and he’d let us know how our family is doing as things progress.

            He took us back to our room at the hotel and gave Miles his number so they could keep in touch once Levi and Miles gave him theirs. Ellis said he’d let us know how our family was doing when he had news.

            Miles and Levi didn’t go to the carnival thing they wanted to go to, but I don’t think they noticed. We stayed awake all night, waiting to hear how our family was. I fell asleep around three, I think.

            When I woke up, Levi was letting Ellis into the room. Levi and Miles looked exhausted. Ellis gave them some coffee then sat down in a chair across from us to give us the news. Our family died from their injuries.

            Levi was the first to ask what had caused the swelling and everything. Ellis was quiet then asked if wanted the media answer or the truth. He warned us that if we wanted the truth, that would change everything for us. He told us the truth and brought us here. I’m guessing that Miles and Levi are going to work here from now on.

Arch. Pace: Statement ends. Miles and Levi Richard have completed their employment interviews and will begin training to determine their placement within the Agency.

            Regarding the incident in Location 041B, the source was found to be microscopic, or almost microscopic, mites made of pure corundum, specifically sapphire. Several samples were collected and brought back to be studied, though the mites seem to have a rapid lifecycle and deteriorate quickly.

            One thing that has become clear is that the mites, once entering the body of a human, begin unlatching the skin from the muscles. Once the skin is free, it begins filling with clear, yellow water. From the moment the mites enter the humans’ bodies, there is no hope.

 Anyone heading to a beach in these ending days of summer, be careful. The sand can be more dangerous than the water or the sun. 

Quick Update

 So, we're still in the process of moving in to the new place and selling the old one (anyone wanna buy a house?) which means that I've not done too much of anything except the day-to-day life stuff of taking care of animals and unpacking to make the house a home. 

We've adopted a disabled Bantam-Silkie cross chicken who was run over by a chicken tractor and had an injury to her legs. She's made a remarkable recovery since being in our care, but still can't walk very well. She's able to perch, scratch the ground, and squeeze our fingers, though. She's living her best chicken life as part of the flock with the ducks since she couldn't continue to be part of her original chicken flock (chickens can be quite aggressive and would hurt and bully her since she's clumsy whereas ducks are naturally a bit more clumsy when it comes to their feet). 

I'm still working on the worldbuilding project and have actually gotten the write up for the Leskovin Federation done, aside from the history section which will be the longest. It's a very fun project for me and I've taken to calling it my "fantasy history book" since that's basically what I'm writing as I'm more interested in the history of the world I'm creating than in the idea of actually writing something about it. This has been something I can do to de-stress and it's overall just something I enjoy, worldbuilding. I'm also still working on the timeline since there's events that I hadn't even thought of that I need to include in the timeline. That said, at least the Leskovin Federation write up helped me learn more about that particular group of countries and the religion they have. 

I've found some old ideas of mine that I'd forgotten and I quite like so I'm thinking of maybe reviving them so I may share a bit about them later. Or not. I do have a lot of other projects and unpacking to do. 

There's also something I've been working on that wasn't really a novel idea or anything at first, but has gotten stuck in my head and won't let go so I worked on it a bit. Basically: Criminal Minds meets Suicide Squad with supernatural elements thrown in. I've got the novel ideas written down, titles for them, characters named and histories figured out, arcs for them. It's been a fun thing to work on, but I've not done any actual writing for it yet since I've been actually planning things out regarding this series idea instead of just writing immediately and going back to figure things out later. I may mention more later.

That's just a little about what's been going on here. Hopefully, we'll get the house in order soon and I'll be able to update more, maybe post another story from The Agency. 

Moving In, A New Idea, & A Book Review

 Hey, it's been awhile. 

So, for an update: We've gotten moved into the new place. We're still moving stuff in slowly because of how much stuff we've accumulated over the years, medical issues, life, and trying to make sure we actually get things unpacked this time around. Last time we moved, we didn't do that and our house remained cluttered, chaotic, and an overall disaster. 

Needless to say, we've been busy.

We're still working on getting the yard fenced in for the dogs, getting a walkway from the driveway to the front porch, and just generally doing some home improvements to make this place the perfect forever home. The fence is the next big project, though.

I've not been doing much writing, though I have been revisiting some old projects and worldbuilding some of the ones I've mentioned here. I've also been worldbuilding a project that is a bit different than my usual genres of fantasy, supernatural, horror, and science figure: dystopia.

The dystopia idea was inspired by a dream that actually made me wake up several hours before my normal time so that I could write down as many details of it as I could remember because it was that interesting to me. So, from that point on, I've been working on it on and off, not writing yet and not making any real plans with it. I'm still worldbuilding, though I did get a map done for it. I won't be sharing any information about it here yet since there's still not really enough details or information to warrant that.

My love of Alternate History has led me to branch out in terms of what I normally read, which has led me to pick up The Traitor Beside Her, a historical fiction novel set in WWII by Mary Anna Evans. The Traitor Beside Her is engaging and immediately draws you into the world of the United States during World War II and explores cryptoanalysis, the role women code breakers played in the war, and how important the knowledge of different languages (not just German, but also Choctaw) was and still is. 

Aside from getting settled in and reading, I've not been doing much because moving is exhausting.  

A Life Update, Worldbuilding Information, & a Bit About the Agency

What's up ghosts and ghouls?

So a lot has happened and I've slipped into not updating. Also spent some time struggling a little with mental health, but that's being sorted now. Anyway, Mom sold her house and moved into an apartment in her town while we worked on things on our end. It was a lot of work and difficult to find land, but finally, we found land. We close on the land on the fourteenth of this month, then the fifteenth we put down the money for our manufactured dream home. Everything's coming together at last. 

Worldbuilding

In other news, I've been working on slowly worldbuilding and figuring out more information about the world from my timeline project. I feel like I'd gotten ahead of myself and tried to do too much and too little all at once before so I've started building things up more gradually. 

I've learned more about the Leskovin Federation, including the nations that make it up (Leskovin, Svialyk, Khojek, Zalona, Dalishi, Dertava, Nevishin, and Bientou), the flags for all the nations that are involved in the Leskovin Federation, and the races that are specific to this area. My project is, after all, a bit of a fantasy kitchen sink, if you will, so knowing what races are found throughout the world and what races are only found in specific areas is very helpful. In the Leskovin Federation, for example, you'll find the world-wide races (humans, gnomes, harpies, dryads, and cervitaurs) along with liches, vampires, dhampirs, mummies, and revenants. 

Some interesting facts about the nations here are that Zalona has/had a royal family made of mummies, and Svialyk and Khojek are primarily filled with vampires, humans, and dhampirs. Dertava is one of the more industrious nations in the area and has already made hydroelectric dams, airplanes to compete with the luxurious airships Preycia uses, and is working on creating automatons to help with working and experiments.

Death is cheap in the Leskovin Federation and this is reflected in their magic types, their religion, and their system of government. Even one of the creatures that can be found only in the lands occupied by the Leskovin Federation has adapted to reflect this.

That said, I will be sharing more information about this project as I work on it. 

A Bit About The Agency

I kept working on The Agency. It's currently at 179 pages (that's counting the two stories Myrrh has written). Without those, it's 176 pages, and that isn't counting the one that I'm still writing and almost done with. I do plan to publish this once I've got finished, though I don't know yet when that will be. After all, I don't even feel like I'm halfway through with the project. 

I'm also not sure the way I want to publish this project. An audio format like a podcast would be nice and the obvious choice, but something in a visual medium would also be good, like a webcomic. I'll admit to being fond of the webcomic idea because then the entities, the settings, the characters--all of it can be shown and that would be amazing.

But that's all a long way off.

Another thing that I'd like to do with The Agency is include stories told from the perspective of Agency employees and excerpts from the employee handbook. Again, I'm not sure how to include these or if I'd include these in The Agency if they'd all be separate things like: The Agency: Employee Handbook (or Rules & Regulations), The Agency: Tales from Employees, and The Agency. Maybe. Again, this is all a long way off.

In the meantime, I said before that the world of The Agency is a bit like ours but slightly different. The Agency is on an island off the coast of Alaska and agents travel across the globe to investigate strange creatures and phenomena, and retrieve artifacts and survivors who can give statements. There are support teams both on the island and scattered across the globe to help the Agency. Some teams are there strictly to deal with oceanic issues while others are there for any kind of long stretches where they needed to observe an area. Still others are reporters who write articles to cover up strange events and others are priests, occultists, and exorcists who help when the Agency deals with the supernatural in the form of ghosts and demons (and sometimes even angels). 

There's a lot about the world of The Agency that isn't explained, but that's fine because there's a lot about our world we don't understand. There's some subtle differences in their world versus ours that I can't wait for everyone to discover when they read through The Agency once I publish it (or if I post another entry).