@@DaveandAngieSmuin I think I mentioned this in the comments for another of your videos, but yes, I am working on my first novel. The Voyage of the New Beginning is an epic tale. With tongue somewhat in cheek, it features: (1) a terrifying but clueless alien monster, a convicted felon sent into exile, who may or may not be a hero of the tale; (2) his sapient AI implant, who is essentially a frustrated big sister; (3) a terrifyingly powerful alien AI, known as The Presence, who is equal part ruler, mentor, savant, and servant to the alien society, and who now wants to take over Earth and who also may or may not be a hero of the tale; (4) the middle-aged black, female, ex-trial-lawyer accidental owner of an elite R&D firm, who matches wits with The Presence, and who also may or not be a hero of the tale; (5) dastardly data crime; (6) space pirates, including one who is totally evil, and one who just might heel/face turn; (7) lots of self-aware robots with agendas, and (8) mass alien abductions of humans by a ginormous self-aware starship named Ferd who is captained by the aforementioned terrifying alien monster. The book has problems. For one thing, it is far too long (about 80% done and I'm at 154,000 words. It has old fashioned front matter (DM, ToC) and titled chapters, all of which I like, but which I've been told is a turnoff for some agents/editors It has an unconventional structure: In the tradition of Princess Bride, there are two timelines and two plots, a framing one and a framed one. Yes, as in Princess Bride, there are also some snide (and I hope funny) intrusions from the framing story into the framed story. There is a prologue, and then the timelines alternate as book parts (similar to how Peter F. Hamilton handled his Void Trilogy), followed by an epilogue. IOW, the structure is: Prologue - inciting incident to both timelines (the abduction raid). Timeline 1 Part 1 (framing story - on Earth - the CEO -vs- The Presence) Timeline 2 Part 1 (framed story - a backstory about the nidus of the raid) Timeline 1 Part 2 Timeline 2 Part 2 ... ... ... Timeline 1 Part 9 Timeline 2 Part 9 Epilogue - ties the two timelines together I suspect that most agents and editors would throw their hands up at all this, but it seems to make the story work. The first few chapters have already been ground up and spat out by a Zoom-based writer's critique group. The criticism was warranted: a far-too-long Prologue, and way too much boring exposition and narrative, and not enough dialogue. The above structure is the result of a complete rewrite of the first several chapters, losing almost all of the exposition, most of the narrative, and adding dialogue... a new beginning, if you will.
I have to be honest-I LOVE A pure evil villain. But, even a pure evil villain can have admirable qualities that are twisted because he is pure evil. Your pure evil villain can be brave and willing to do his dirty work. That's rather admirable, but sadly, it's used for evil. In reality some people are just evil and I think literature should reflect that.
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Wonderful advice. Thanks!
Thank you. Glad you liked the video. Are you currently working on a book?
@@DaveandAngieSmuin I think I mentioned this in the comments for another of your videos, but yes, I am working on my first novel.
The Voyage of the New Beginning is an epic tale. With tongue somewhat in cheek, it features:
(1) a terrifying but clueless alien monster, a convicted felon sent into exile, who may or may not be a hero of the tale;
(2) his sapient AI implant, who is essentially a frustrated big sister;
(3) a terrifyingly powerful alien AI, known as The Presence, who is equal part ruler, mentor, savant, and servant to the alien society, and who now wants to take over Earth and who also may or may not be a hero of the tale;
(4) the middle-aged black, female, ex-trial-lawyer accidental owner of an elite R&D firm, who matches wits with The Presence, and who also may or not be a hero of the tale;
(5) dastardly data crime;
(6) space pirates, including one who is totally evil, and one who just might heel/face turn;
(7) lots of self-aware robots with agendas, and
(8) mass alien abductions of humans by a ginormous self-aware starship named Ferd who is captained by the aforementioned terrifying alien monster.
The book has problems.
For one thing, it is far too long (about 80% done and I'm at 154,000 words.
It has old fashioned front matter (DM, ToC) and titled chapters, all of which I like, but which I've been told is a turnoff for some agents/editors
It has an unconventional structure: In the tradition of Princess Bride, there are two timelines and two plots, a framing one and a framed one. Yes, as in Princess Bride, there are also some snide (and I hope funny) intrusions from the framing story into the framed story.
There is a prologue, and then the timelines alternate as book parts (similar to how Peter F. Hamilton handled his Void Trilogy), followed by an epilogue.
IOW, the structure is:
Prologue - inciting incident to both timelines (the abduction raid).
Timeline 1 Part 1 (framing story - on Earth - the CEO -vs- The Presence)
Timeline 2 Part 1 (framed story - a backstory about the nidus of the raid)
Timeline 1 Part 2
Timeline 2 Part 2
...
...
...
Timeline 1 Part 9
Timeline 2 Part 9
Epilogue - ties the two timelines together
I suspect that most agents and editors would throw their hands up at all this, but it seems to make the story work.
The first few chapters have already been ground up and spat out by a Zoom-based writer's critique group. The criticism was warranted: a far-too-long Prologue, and way too much boring exposition and narrative, and not enough dialogue. The above structure is the result of a complete rewrite of the first several chapters, losing almost all of the exposition, most of the narrative, and adding dialogue... a new beginning, if you will.
@@DaveandAngieSmuin Wait. What happened to my reply? It's gone.
@@DaveandAngieSmuin Yes, I am. Let me know if you would like a summary.
We would love to hear about what your working on!
I have to be honest-I LOVE A pure evil villain. But, even a pure evil villain can have admirable qualities that are twisted because he is pure evil. Your pure evil villain can be brave and willing to do his dirty work. That's rather admirable, but sadly, it's used for evil.
In reality some people are just evil and I think literature should reflect that.
Yes, some people are just evil. However, they tend to think what they are doing is good. Thanks for sharing your insight.
@@DaveandAngieSmuin thank you. You are welcome,