An intrepid reader suggested the Messengers series needs a map or maps and a character list. I agree. To do either requires going through the entire series. Job one would be compiling a list of the names of every character. I don't know how many there are, but it's a lot. Job two would be making a note of where the story says the cities/nations are in relation to each other. The nations are easy, but I don't remember where every minor city is in relation to the others. However, right now getting the first book of the sequel done and out the door has to be a higher priority.
Something I've been wanting to do is make a study guide for the series, which would dig beneath the allegory and unearth the spiritual truths behind it. Some of it's pretty obvious, but some is more hidden. It makes sense to work on that at the same time as the maps and the character list and have it be one big project. I don't know when I'll get to those.
Wiki
Behind the scenes I have various writing projects planned. Messengers includes the sequel, the space era novel(and possible sequel), maybe a Calliope novel or novella if I can ever figure out a story for that that works, and maybe one other idea set about 300 years after Call to War. There's a request for something set in the Marhelan War. I also have the mystery/romance and maybe a followup book. I have a SciFi space trilogy set in our universe that may end up being a single book instead, because I only have a good story idea for book 3 so far. To keep up with all this, I've discovered I need a personal wiki on my PC rather than the scattered document files I have now. I've downloaded a couple to test, Wikipad and Zim. At this point Zim is the hands-down winner, but that's because it's so much easier to use. I want to give Wikipad a better chance, though I'm ready to tie it to a cotton ball and throw it through the window.
If I'm going to make a personal wiki, I may as well make a public wiki for readers, right? I've been looking into that and may have a solution. Once I get it going, I'll spring it on you one day.
Sequel Stuff
I've gone through the rough draft and fixed a lot of things. I had three sections that needed to be deleted and at least one that needed to be added. An example of a deleted section would be a scene in which a minor character reported to another minor character who went to a major character and summarized the report and gave his impression of the situation. The scene where the minor character talks to the major character is essential, but the other scene didn't add much. The information it contained was included in the summary to the major character. It detracted more than it added. On a smaller scale this is something I have to do with dialogue, too. Is something repeated or paraphrased a second time? It has to be fixed.
I had to add a scene and probably will add another, but I need to go through the rough draft again and make sure it's really necessary to the story. While I'm doing that, I'm going to have to change a character. I had a Messenger from Revolutionary War times early in the book who never appears again. A more important character makes an appearance near the end. He really should've been at the beginning, too. Fixing that is more than doing a find and replace on the name. Dialogue has to be altered. I also have to change the setting for two scenes. Both are for character reasons.
I know it's taking forever, but getting a rough draft ready involves a lot more than spelling and grammar and polishing things. Moving those two scenes will strengthen three different character portrayals and add variety to the series. There are numerous little things that have to be hammered out. It all takes time. Nevertheless, I'm hoping to get it out the door before the end of the year or January at the latest. It depends on whether something unexpected happens.
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