My Nephew's Book

 

My nephew, Thomas Paxton, and I have been working on our books in parallel courses for years.  He has finally published his, indie style, and is paving the way for me to publish mine.  He will be my guide, as he has been on many things, as I go that way sometime soon.  His book, Crimson Nightfall: Everything Burns, is a dark fantasy about kids caught up in a dark war.  It's available for you on Amazon. 

He calls it a story of healing.  He's even received a voice of support by one of his favorites, Darren Shan.  The summary of his book reads as follows: 

In the world of Terra'Far, a nightmarish reality of monsters...A chorus of darkness and light...
Peter Wulfric gets lured into a blood-thirsty dance of shadows with Abraxan, the Gatekeeper of Souls.
A war of souls brew[s] between King Kresh and Priestess Alex, two monarchs, which rises from a pit of death.  A boy must learn to embrace his heritage as Shadowfang...Peter, his trusty hell-hound Aries, Vyrima, Sam, Vilus, and Orion adventure through the depths of darkness. Together, Peter and his friends who comprise the Shadow's Hand must rise to face the Unholy Trinity to prevent destruction to their world...

I have ordered this book and look forward to reading it, myself.  It's very different from my chapter books, but I know if you like dark fantasy that delves into the soul, this will be worth reading.  

Video Games!

[board game--source]

Now that my teenaged son is done with his first draft of the first ten Just Us Chickens books (remember--his chapter books on silly super chickens) plus some bonus books, he's now hard at work on a new project.  He's been learning about how to program video games.  We're wanting to include video games and card games with both my series and his, just for you.  He is working on inventing a card or board game.  It will most likely be a collectors' card kind of game that will come for free with the full edition of the first set of books.  With each set, you'll get more cards, so you can always play the characters you (or your kids) love.  

[video game controller--source]

He's also working on a role-playing video game for Just US Chickens.  You will be able to play adjustable versions of Impeckable, the hero who's a few feathers short of a full load, Shadow Chicken, a balloon-folding chickeny echo of a certain Dark Knight, and the heroine Death Layer, who rides around in the Invisible Something or Another (they can't tell what it is because it's invisible), uses her Lasso of Lies (a certain other weapon may be more useful but is copyrighted), and exploding eggs, as well as many more crazy characters we hope you'll love.   This game will be available with each Just Us Chickens set you buy.  It will also be sold separately.  

[Kids playing--source]

He also plans on creating a side adventure within the Just Us Chickens video game that features my characters, the characters of Doomimals.  He'll also have a several-level retro video game wherein the main characters of Doomimals fight through several monsters using various powers.  Fight alongside Tessa, Kitt, and Davis through several of the monsters you'll read about in the series.  This, too, will come free with the purchase of the series of books.  Be watching for future news.    

Looking Forward

 

 

[A scene from Just Us Chickens.]

 While I'm working on editing Doomimals, my chapter book series, my boy is working on new added material.  He's now done with his first ten books plus five bonus books of Just Us Chickens, that chapter book series about wacky super chickens.  He's now taking a break while I polish my first set.  The first three plus the bonus books have already been quick-edited and illustrated.  I'll just have to do further editing then edit and illustrate the rest before I can present it to you, the reader.  

Shorts Chicken

He's starting short stories that will be released first as a teaser, one that as Indiana Jones spoof called Just Us Chickens and the Muffin McGuffin" followed by one he just thought of called "Just Us Chickens vs. the Fanciful Fanfiction of Mary Sue" [rough working title] about how this crazy phoenix named Mary Sue tries to force the chickens to listen to her latest creative stylings, only to have her reading interrupted by a monster.  I look forward to hearing these wild stories.  Meanwhile, my friend is working on animating wacky animates shorts to familiarize you with the characters. The host will be Shorts Chicken.  Be watching for those in the not so distant future.  

[Xad, a character from books to come]

While I'm working on editing the first set, we're working on conceptualizing the next set, using the three-part story, which I'm using to retrofit and revise my first set, to shape my next step from the ground level.  We have the next nine (plus a bonus) planned, including the kids' character development arcs.  We'll have them outlined and have storytelling rules of thumb ready to go as I write, so revision won't be nearly difficult the next time around.  I look forward to presenting all of this to you.   

Progress at Last

 

[A new drawing I added to one of the books.]

I'm truly actively working on reworking my chapter book series, Doomimals, with an eye to getting it to you, the reader, as soon as possible.  I finally have a plan to proceed, including all the feedback I've received from fellow writers, the three-act structure for individual books and first 9 books, notes on story structure from a writers' conference, editor feedback I've now boiled down to a template I can use for each book, and some other adjustments I've decided to make for consistency's sake, including things like foreshadowing, consistency of character names and disabilities (one is hard-of-hearing, and another is ADD).  I've also had to tweak art and add more illustrations if a chapter has grown so big it has needed to be divided.  Now I'm making progress, these books should be ready for you soon.  

[Editing]

Up until now, I've been trying to figure out a plan of how to proceed.  I knew I wanted to rework the books in a way that would be most appealing to you as a reader.  I also knew I wanted to build up story arcs and consistency across the nine books, to the point where all books build together to work as one book as well.  I now have realized I was missing a most critical item, among other things, across all books, which is building up the question that drives the story and the heart that drives each book.  I know the kids all want their families to be reunited, and the way to do that is to save the world.  That kind of thing will help the books stay compelling throughout the read.  

Due to life getting busier with kids in school and an increased workload, I can't promise it will be ready this month, but I'm hoping very soon to be able to get it submitted to the editor.  I'll let you know here as soon as I have specific dates in mind.  Stay tuned, and I'll keep you posted.  

Lightbulb

[Key Lime Python]

As you know, I've been working toward preparing my chapter book series, Doomimals, and my son's two chapter book series, Just Us Chickens (about zany super chickens) and Key Lime Python (about a swashbuckling snake who regularly takes down cosmic entities to protect the universe), for publication, so you can read them.  Just this week, in one of many conversations on the books, we came up with a brainstorm on how to unify not just the first book into one coherent whole but also the whole first set of 9 books (plus a bonus, backstory book), which is what we'll release first.   

[Little Dread Hen's Phoenix Form]

Heretofore, I've emphasized the coming of the Dog of War that the kids will need to fight.  That will still be the case, but I will foreground the Little Dread Hen, aka Nugget, an evil phoenix and a bad guy who is and has always been there from the beginning, but who hasn't been properly built up to and foreshadowed.  I am a pantser, so I tend to have a vague idea of where I'm going and pin it down with a rough outline as I go along.  Now that I have these first several books, I can use the literary techniques I have learned through my experience earning a bachelor's and master's degree in English (see my other writing blog) to turn these books into a unified set, building up to a finale, akin to the first season in a series.  My boy's afterwords are even called "post-credit scenes" as in Marvel and other such movies.  

I'm still shooting to get these books ready by early fall since I have most of the next two weeks earmarked for that purpose.  I'll keep those who stay tuned here posted on all the developments as I move that way.  

Stalled

[source]

This is usually the time of year when I have plenty of time to get writing, editing, etc. done.  But this is a strange year.  I usually teach two classes, which leaves some time between grading weeks.  But everything has switched around at the school where I teach online.  I only got one class to teach.  Also, COVID disappeared some of my work from my other job in the beginning the quarantine but has added work on this other end.  I transcribe for students and other clients who are deaf and hard of hearing.  Work usually dries up between school years, during the summer.  This year, I've actually been able to get a lot more work than usual, in part because of the COVID situation.  Between teaching and my other day job, I'm busy a lot more of the time than I expected, leaving me less time to work on writing.  In addition, I've been helping family members work on their homes, one family member to prepare for a refi and one to prepare to sell one home and move into another.  This has eaten up what time work has left untouched.

[source]

Sadly, this has put a damper on my enthusiastic progress toward polishing my stories.  Now that work is slowing, and the other two situations with homes are close to a resolution, I believe I can spend the last half of summer focusing on editing and polishing my writing.  This is going to happen.  It has to.

Just the Polish

[The Doomimals kids meet the Just Us Chickens.]

I'm down to just one step before I can bring you those books I've been talking to you about, the chapter books called Doomimals (about three kids and their animal companions protecting the world from the evil Dog of War), Just Us Chickens (about the kids' allies, a team of super chickens, trying to save the world if they can stop tripping over their own feathers), and Key Lime Python (about a world-traveling, swashbuckling snake who is the only one standing between the galaxy and certain destruction at the hands of the Radiance).  Those lovely illustrations my niece and I have been working on for months are ready and waiting to be added to my teenaged boy's books and mine.   I even have an animator working on short, silly videos we like to call "Chicken Shorts."  I'm getting closer to being ready to publish.  

The one thing standing in my way is kind of a doozy and one I've struggled with for a while, and that's finishing polishing them and getting them ready for the editor.  I've already had a freelance editor look at the first one.  My beta reader is just about done going through them and giving me all her reviews.  Another beta reader has time opening up to read the rest.  I have feedback and writing suggestions from various sources.  Now, I just have to finish applying it to these books.  This is the hardest for me because when something feels finished and clear to me, I'll have other readers go through and point out the flaws and holes.  I'll hear about this new and exciting approach to editing that your book is not and cannot be complete without, and there are many of those.  

[Designer Hen, who can draw anything, and it comes into reality.]

It comes down to when is your work actually ready, and when does it just feel ready to you?  I submitted one book I'd spent a long time perfecting to a publisher only to be told it was nowhere near ready.  At some point, with my hybrid publisher standing in the wings, I will just have to call it done and submit it.  I know that time is not yet, but I hope it will be soon.  Then, you can start venturing into this crazy intense reality my boy and I have been working on developing, down to a periodic table of new and invented elements and a list of new laws of our alternate universe that feels like our own but isn't.  You'll read about chickens who know they're in a book, even one who has her name on the book as illustrator because she's just that powerful, and about so much more.  And it's all in bite-sized, 5000-20,000-word chunks.  It's going to be fun.  If you want to get a sneak peak, feel free to read my free short story.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.