Tag: Ozias Prince in Peril

How Do I Do It? (Part 2)

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The Thunder King

I have 15 Bell Mountain books in print, with three more planned, one of which is written and is currently being edited (Ozias, Prince in Peril).

I don’t know how many characters I had to make up to populate these books. At a guess, say three or four hundred. Some come back in book after book. Some appear only for a walk-on. But as they say, you can’t tell a story without characters.

Where do they come from, all these characters?

Some I create to carry out certain jobs demanded by the plot. Having done so, they either remain in the story to do more, or quietly fade away.

A few start out as just a cool name. I borrow a lot of names from various sources–Greek and Roman history, ancient Welsh stories, Norse folklore. And then, often, a character takes form around the name. You can’t let a handle like “Abombalbap” go to waste.

Even fictional characters, of course, have to live somewhere. I had to invent a bunch of countries to house my characters. Obann, Wallekki Land, Abnak country, Arachosia–oh, all sorts of countries! And cities, too.

To invent all this stuff, nothing will prove more valuable than years and years of reading. It’s fun hanging out with Herodotus or Sir Thomas Malory; but you can also learn from them. The more you read, the better. And it’s okay to concentrate on reading the kind of stories you would like to write someday.. I have no time for Serious Mainstream Literature. Give me The Lord of the Rings or The Worm Ouroburos any day.

And that’s enough of this for now.

Now For the Bladder Stones

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Symptoms and Diagnosis of Bladder Stones

A collection of bladder stones. I hope mine are smaller than these.

I won’t be here tomorrow, but please come and visit anyway: lots of stuff in the archives that you haven’t read yet.

I will be busy having bladder stones removed. I don’t know whether they’ll send me back home when it’s finished or keep me overnight. But it’ll be a relief to have one more thing taken out of the way before I move on to colon surgery next month.

Sometime this year I’ve got to do something about Ozias, Prince in Peril. I may have to re-type the whole thing: I don’t know where my finished manuscript went, or even if it still exists.

Please continue your prayers for me. I still have a long way to go.

I’m Wiped Out

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Male Writer Worker Fall Asleep Front Stock Photo 469107836 ...

Sorry, but I’m knocked out, weary, etc. We have to go to the hospital again this afternoon–to get to a weekend of staying home, watching movies, and not having to take my chemo pills again till Monday.

If I could just get rid of those &%$#^ bladder stones! But the cancer has to come first. Until then, all I can do is pray for a decent night’s sleep.

We’ve also had to do some work on Ozias, Prince in Peril. My primary editor, Susan, lost those first several chapter sets when the hurricane messed up her computer. Good thing we had them stored here! And the rest of Prince Enthroned has to be typed up and submitted for editing.

I still feel normal while I’m working on my books. It seems my host of symptoms can’t follow me into Obann. Thank you for that, Lord!

Meanwhile, Back in Everyday Life…

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When You Hear the Bell, Come Out Writing"

I’ve just finished doing my author’s edit of Ozias, Prince in Peril. I thought it would be pretty good; but it’s better than that. Primary editing by Kathy Leonard: no one does it better.

Any day now, Ocean of Time will go on sale–in time for Christmas. I love the cover Kirk DouPonce created for it.

I’m almost finished writing Ozias, Prince Enthroned, and then after that, God willing, will be Ozias, King Betrayed. 

Keep working. Stay sane. I try to live up to that.

kirk douponce – Lee Duigon

(Ah, here it is. I thought I’d lost it.)

 

Progress on My Book (I Hope)

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Ancient War Images – Browse 316,396 Stock Photos, Vectors ...

Physical therapy this morning, and waiting for various doctors to schedule me for chemotherapy (not looking forward to that!).

But at least it’s a sunny day, and I took advantage of it to set up outside and crank our four more pages of Ozias, Prince Enthroned. A major battle is shaping up, but I think Maressa’s lost her nerve. She wants a parley; her allies are infuriated.

In case you were wondering where I get this material, I can tell you that I’ve patterned this looming battle after Hannibal’s fight at Lake Trasimene. I’ve even named the terrain “Lake Trasm.”

I’m fast approaching the climax of the book and don’t know what I’ll do with myself once it’s finished. Well, I do have to type it all. And I have to finish editing Ozias, Prince in Peril. It feels like an age since I wrote it.

And Ocean of Time will be coming out any day now–so dream up some gang-busting names for as yet uncreated new characters. Contest winner gets an autographed book.

Eeyah! I Lost a Book!

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Scared Cat" Images – Browse 516 Stock Photos, Vectors, and ...

We’ve been doin’ a lot of tribulatin’ around here lately; and this morning another pile of bricks without straw was added to our load.

Ozias, Prince in Peril went missing.

No! No! The whole cotton-pickin’ novel! Eight sets of chapters floating around in cyberspace. My editor, Susan, got a new computer recently… and guess what wasn’t on it? And as luck would have it, we, too, got a new computer. And I couldn’t find my chapter sets.

By and by I happened to think of my webmaster, Jill, at Chalcedon. If she didn’t know what to do, no one would.

Huzzah! She did know! And she walked me through it, and we recovered the whole book, all the chapters. And now I know what to do if (heaven forbid) it happens again.

I guess I’d better post some nooze today, I’m too worn out to go back to Ozias Prince Enthroned. Try again tomorrow.

 

Can We Climb Out of the Hole?

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Head Like an Orange — A rapidly panting dabb lizard tries to cool its...

Last week (and last night was no picnic, either) has just about flattened us. We are not able to administer assorted pills to Robbie. We are stressed out, weary, addled, a total mess.

To add to the fun, my manuscript for Ozias, Prince in Peril, has gone missing. I can’t find it. My editor can’t find it. Doesn’t it have to be somewhere? I don’t see any possibility of me re-writing it.  I think that might just finish me off.

Maybe a cigar will help. I have to wait till after 12:00 to call Jill, my webmaster. She’ll know what to do! (He says this with a painful smile…)

I’ve Got to Get This Book Re-Started!

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The Wind from Heaven (Bell Mountain, 13) - Kindle edition by ...

Behold! isn’t the end of the Bell Mountain series; but COVID screwed things up, and there are another two books waiting to be published–and half a book waiting to be finished.

Oceans of Time–Kirk DouPonce is busy with the cover art, editors are busy with the text, and I hope and pray it comes out this year in time for Christmas.

Ozias, Prince in Peril–Now we’re going back 2,000 years in Obann’s history to tell the story of King Ozias, King Ryons’ ancestor, who wrote many of the Sacred Songs and was Obann’s last anointed king until Ryons came along. The book has been written, but I have no idea when it’ll be published.

The weather around here, this spring, has been cranky–and there sits Ozias, Prince Enthroned, only half-written, waiting to be finished. So what I have is a bunch of notebook pages outlining the rest of the story. Weather permitting, I would very much like to start writing it tomorrow!

What’s with all this stuff about the weather? Well, I write my books outdoors. It helps me visualize what I’m writing about. And the physical therapy sessions chew up a lot of my writing time. Obstacles! I had to write a Newswithviews column today, and go to the supermarket–so no Ozias today, and only four blog posts. As my mother used to say, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

I hope I can find the bakery tomorrow.

No, I Haven’t Forgotten My Book

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Behold! (Bell Mountain, 14)

Book No. 14 of the Bell Mountain series

These past few days I’ve been reading and editing that portion of Ozias, Prince Enthroned that I wrote before the cold weather set in–some 30,000 words of it. I guess this must be the acid test: Do I like it, so far?

I do! I wish I had more of it to read. Before very long, the weather will allow me to start writing the rest of it. Meanwhile, we have two finished books to publish: Oceans of Time and Ozias, Prince in Peril. Kirk DuoPonce is on board to create the covers. And of course there are the 14 that are already in print.

I pray I’ll be ready to take up the tale as soon as weather permits.

 

My Writing Mentors

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Livy (3) - Livius

Titus Livius–a great historian

[Let’s see how much I can get done before taking Robbie to the vet.]

It might be asked of me, “Hey, you’ve got a book to write! What the dickens are you doing, sitting there and reading Livy?”

For those who don’t know, Livy, aka Titus Livius, was an historian who lived in Augustus’ Caesar’s time and wrote a history of Rome going all the way back to the beginning. I read the edition published in several volumes by Penguin Books. Livy was suspected of having republican sentiments at a time when maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have them; but as Augustus himself often said, “I’m a republican at heart,” he was hardly likely to persecute Livy for sharing them.

When I’m working on a book, it helps me a lot to select another writer as my mentor. For my previous book, Ozias, Prince in Peril, my mentor was Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose History of the Kings of Britain (including King Arthur), was a runaway best-seller… in the 12th century!

Now I’m writing Ozias, Prince Enthroned, and Livy has stepped forward as my mentor. Not that I’m imitating him; rather, I see in his work an inspiration for my own. Livy wrote real history, while I have to invent a history for a fantasy world. His vivid descriptions and keen analysis of early Rome’s one-after-another social, political, and military crises suggest to me the kinds of things that King Ozias would have to deal with. How should he respond to crisis? Livy knows! In fact, he knows about not only successful responses, but also failures.

Prince Enthroned is going forward rather slowly, from my end; but my editor, having read my most recent set of chapters, says “You’ve got your foot on the gas pedal, haven’t you?” I take that as encouragement.

I now suspect that maybe the Lord wants me to slow down a little. Okay. I’ll try that. A good book is worth taking risks for. Not to mention the abundant distractions we’ve had this year: Patty’s hernia, new computer, refrigerator dies and we lose a raft of frozen food, and my accident that badly damaged Patty’s car, and now Robbie’s sick. Oh–and tons and tons of really bad weather, lots of workdays lost.

So I hope it’s sunny and clear tomorrow, and that Robbie will get better, and that I can start another set of chapters. For “hope” read “pray.”