Haw flakes
While vacationing in San Francisco, I picked up some haw flakes in Chinatown. A fun little confection for me; a conflict trigger for the kids in the next Generation Mars book.
“So, in the interest of preventing strife, Jun and Keiron suggested it would be best if the Chinese ate their own rations until they were gone. Then they would adopt the Metzger menu. Ro reluctantly agreed, as it delayed dealing with the issue of the Chinese eating what she thought of as ‘our’ food. This plan would have worked except for one item the Chinese had in their stores: haw flakes.”
(Excerpt from Food: Generation Mars, Book Four. Coming soon.)
Progress report
Current word count for Food: Generation Mars, Book Four.
Parts one and two are tight. I stalled for a bit in part three, but the momentum is back.
Never written an opus before, but this kinda feels like one.
One year
Scrolling back through my writing journal, I see that today is exactly one year since I started work on Food: Generation Mars, Book Four.
My entry from that day outlines some elements of the plot that have made it into the manuscript. But, oh my!, the Doug writing that entry had no idea of the many wonderful and terrible things that would find their way into the story over the next year. The manuscript I am working on now bears only passing resemblance to what I had in mind then.
And that’s awesome!
I still have a long way to go. What new surprises are lurking out there (or in my subconscious), waiting to find their way in? I don’t know!
And that’s even more awesome!
image: generated by ImageFX
Food update
Status update for Food, Generation Mars, Book Four
At some point during the past week, the manuscript passed 50K words.
Manuscript is a loose term that covers everything from get-it-down-and-fix-it-later sketch to fully edited and ready for formatting.
At this point, Food is closer to the sketch. A 50K sketch. I won’t say much more, but I will say this: It keeps surprising me, and I think it will surprise you too.
Progress
This image shows the progress on the next Generation Mars book as of May 30. Since then, I’ve been on a wild and wonderful vacation with the family and haven’t written a word. I expect this number is about to start growing. A lot.
Food update
A milestone update on Food: Generation Mars, Book Four
1) The entire book is plotted (or, at least, as plotted as I am willing to go while also leaving room for surprise). All I’ll say is that this one is monumental in scope and will take your breath in the first chapter and keep it until the last.
2) As of today, I passed 5000 words in the initial manuscript. A pittance in the face of this monster, but a milestone to be celebrated nonetheless.
image: generated by ImageFX
Rocket fuel
The next book is turning into an epic. Decided I needed more delta-v to pull it off. This oughta do it.
Sweet Maria’s, fueling writers and rocket scientists since 1997.
Envelopes
Is cannibalism appropriate for middle grade? Asking for a friend…
But seriously, this next book is shaping up to push the envelope. Several envelopes. All the envelopes, maybe.
image: Twemoji (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Twemoji12_1f914.svg), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en, unaltered
Hunger
“Hunger, or the fear of it, has always played a major role in determining the actions and attitudes of man. In every age and every land people have starved…”
More light reading in preparation for the next book in the Generation Mars series: Food.
