Holy cow, am I tired! Finished another chapter set of Ozias, Prince in Peril, and I’ve still got to write a piece for Newswithviews.
I heard this hymn played by church bells as I wrote, so let’s have it here–Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, music by Beethoven, sung by the choir and congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.
It’s okay if you want to play it loud.
Those last two nooze stories I wrote up have left a bad taste in my soul. The sun is shining, the bird feeder’s full of fresh seed. What say I go out there for a while, smoke a cigar, and work on my book?
Please don’t anyone feel bashful about requesting more hymns! We need to sing louder anyway.
I do wish I had a couple of goldfish here. They make for very restful company.
Pray harder, sing louder. It may be God will hear us. Surely the Judge of all the earth sees what’s going on down here.
Well, they’ve sawed down all the trees. The shady spot where I sit to write my books… is gone. They haven’t cleaned up the mess yet, either, so there’s nowhere else to put my chair.
I’ve written 15 books, sitting there. I don’t write fiction indoors because a) it’s nuisance phone calls every few minutes, and b) it’s good for my soul to be out there with the birds and squirrels, grass and flowers and trees, God’s creation all around me. There’s no substitute for that.
Turning this place into a desert, one tree at a time… or, in this case, all at once.
Well, I’ve finished another chapter of Ozias, Prince in Peril. It looks like the boy king and his mother will have to come out of Lintum Forest and fight for his throne. The usurper Maressa, her hunters having failed to find and kill the king, has resorted to even more underhanded methods to draw them out.
Now I have to move on to a Newswithviews column. We are governed by persons who really have it in for us, and I suppose it doesn’t matter how that happened–we have to get rid of them. Before they get rid of us.
See you again around suppertime, with another critter video.
I’m way behind in my work today, the viewership is way down–and the WordPress problem that I had last week, with the comments failing to display… it’s baaaaack!
Man, this is getting old. Welcome to the Age of Nothing Works.
(And suddenly Robbie only wants dry cat food… What’s that about?)
Going about my chores last night, a new character for the book I’m writing, Ozias, Prince in Peril, popped into my head, along with what she’d be doing in the story. I’ve learned that it’s usually a good idea to stop what I’m doing and write it down in case I forget it overnight. Enter Aylen, the old nurse of the late King Flosi, who may have a loose screw somewhere but is otherwise sharp as a tack.
Where do these characters live when they’re not breaking into my plots? It’s so cool, the way that happens. It’s like I knew these people, once upon a time, and now they’re coming back. Do you think that’s weird? Welcome to the world of fantasy-writing.
This scene is from the very beginning of Book 2, The Cellar Beneath the Cellar: Jack and Ellayne, having rung the Bell, find the assassin, Martis, swooning on the snow. Drawn by Kathleen.
I love the idea of having young adults fiction illustrated by young adults and children. I’ve been posting pictures drawn by Katheleen and her sister, Kerolyn, 9; they live in Brazil. If we ever get to the point where we can do a second printing of Bell Mountain or any of its sequels, I wonder if I can get one or more of these drawings included.
Well, back to work for me! I’ve got to write a cover blurb for Behold! and start the next chapter of Ozias, Prince in Peril.
Ah, there it is! Kirk DouPonce’s wonderful cover for the next Bell Mountain book, Behold!
Those fearsome-looking men are some of King Ryons’ chieftains, former Heathen who are now servants of the true God. But who’s the old lady? And how has she provoked such an alarmed reaction from the chieftains? A few of you will be able to guess rightly; but if I’ve played my cards well, most of you will be surprised!
I must resist the temptation to spoil the surprise by telling you what it is.
Hopefully we can get Behold! available to you in time for Christmas. But that’s not in my hands.
I’ve been very busy this afternoon. I have to edit Behold! and provide some material which our artist, Kirk DouPonce, can work up into a cover.
But we do have a hymn request from Susan–Speak to the Mountains, by Chris McClarney. You might find the lyrics reminiscent of a Psalm.
Holy moly, it’s hot out there today! Patty’s trying to sleep off her back spasms, and my heel spur is giving me fits. I’ve been to the stores today, we’ll have lamb shanks for supper, and it’s hard for us today to summon up a festive mood.
I’m plugging away at Ozias, Prince in Peril–sixteen chapters done so far. Mid-November seems a long way away, especially now, but you’d be surprised how fast it comes when you’re trying to write a book. I finished The Ocean of Time last year on absolutely the last day I could have finished it before it got too cold outside.
Prince Ozias is learning the ways of the forest, the Red Queen has sent hunters in to capture him, and Lord Claudus has his hands full, keeping Queen Parella safe. You know what’s going to happen if Maressa ever gets her hands on them.
You may have noticed that I haven’t covered any nooze today. Leaving it out is the best I can do by way of celebration. And thank you, O God, for air conditioning!
We’ve got to wipe out the Democrats in the midterms. Got to! And we know they’re going to cheat. May the good Lord fight for us.
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
I was in a jam last year, trying to write The Ocean of Time. I knew it would require a double climax, but I didn’t know how to pull it off.
For no conscious reason, I began to reread Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Not that I was trying to follow him, or imitate him–but suddenly my own book got very much easier to write! I managed the double climax, and by the time I was done, I thought I’d written my best Bell Mountain book ever.
Now I’m writing Ozias, Prince in Peril–and it looks like the guide that has emerged is C.S. Lewis’ trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength). This conviction has been strongly reinforced by a study of the trilogy, Deeper Heaven by Christiana Hale. So while I’m writing my own book, I think I need to be reading these four books.
Not to copy them in any way–that’s not how it works. A writer who tries to do that will damage his art. Actually, I’m not quite sure how this works. Somehow Lewis’ stories are giving me a clearer vision of my own. Writing novels is kind of weird, that way. I sort of wanted to revisit Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Martian novels, but the pull of Lewis’ trilogy is too strong to resist. Something’s telling me just to go with it. I was temped to call it “my instinct,” but that gives me too much credit. I do ask God to guide me in my work; and I think my prayers are answered.
