Tag: Ozias Prince in Peril

‘Prince in Peril,’ Sixteen Chapters

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

may 31 2019 001

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.

A Writer’s Resource: Other Writers

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Tolkien and Lewis: A friendship | Angelus News

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.

 

‘I Love My Characters’ (2018)

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The Cellar Beneath the Cellar (Bell Mountain, 2) by [Lee Duigon]

Ellayne at work in Book 2

I’ve written almost 100 pages of my new book, Ozias, Prince in Peril, and have had to meet a whole new cast of characters–’cause it’s 2,000 years before the events described in my other Bell Mountain books.

I Love My Characters

I say I “meet” my characters because that’s what it feels like. It’s like they’re already there, waiting to come into the story.  I take pains NOT to pattern them on real people. Let that mask slip just once, and your book is toast.

Queen Maressa has already shown herself a top-flight villain; but can she outwit Lady Gwenlann, the scatterbrained wardrobe mistress who controls the late king’s spy network? (“Scatterbrained” is only an act.) There’s the little fat man, Mallen, who heads a troupe of actors: Maressa wants to buy them. And of course Queen Parella, Prince Ozias’ mother, written off my Maressa as “that goose-girl,” but with a lot of gumption to her.

Dagnabbit, writing a novel is fun! And if it isn’t, you’re doing it wrong.

‘Ozias’ Comes to Life

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Medieval warriors fighting on a hilltop by ATWStock | VideoHive

Despite losing a whole day last week to allergies, Ozias, Prince in Peril seems to be shaping up very nicely. I’ve got eight chapters written, and already populated with a dozen major characters. They hear their cues and come onstage: I feel like I don’t have much of a say in it.

Friday I had to make up some lost ground, and it was 96 degrees at the time. Patty came out and asked, “Aren’t you hot?”

“Yes, I’m hot!” And that was that, had to retreat indoors to the air conditioning.

Hint to budding young writers: Maybe the worst thing any writer can do is make the story be about himself, thinly disguised as its protagonist. “I’m a macho stud he-man!” is a mindset guaranteed to destroy your fiction.

I strive to be invisible to the reader, to remove all obstacles between the reader and the story… so if you’re reading my book, you can be there! This effect is not easy to achieve; but read a lot, write a lot, work hard at it, and eventually you’ll get it.

And for heaven’s sake, let your characters be themselves! Never mind about paying back that bum who bugged you in third grade; frankly, the reader doesn’t care. And neither should you.

Time to Start Typing

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Busy Writer Stock Illustrations – 86 Busy Writer Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart - Dreamstime

My allergies having abated to the point where I can go back to work, I’ve got seven chapters of a new book to type up and send to my editor, Susan. Ozias, Prince in Peril–I hope you like the title.

It’s not easy, shifting gears, when you’ve just been reading and covering the dark and dreary nooze of this dark and dreary age. Ozias lived in such a time, but God put him there for a reason. I pray my description of his life and work will inspire sane and decent people to put their trust in God and do their best.

Even as David did, and Joshua, Moses, Peter and Paul, and all the other heroes we encounter in the Scriptures.

Do You Cry While You Write?

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Ailish Sinclair: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle - Amazon.com

Ailish Sinclair

Scottish blogger and writer Ailish Sinclair asks a question which I can answer, sort of: “Crying While Writing: anyone else do this?”

Crying While Writing: anyone else do this?

The other day, as I read to my wife a chapter of my new book in progress, Ozias, Prince in Peril, I found my voice beginning to break as I came to the death of a major character to whom I’d already grown attached. I didn’t actually cry, but I came close: I already loved this character and writing him out of the saga was… well, hard.

Ailish makes a good point. If the writer can’t get emotionally involved with the story he or she is telling, why should the reader? You have to believe in your story. It has to seem real to you, at least while you’re writing it.

I won’t forget how upset Patty and my editor, Susan, got a few books ago when they thought I’d killed off the old Abnak warrior, Chief Uduqu. “I was ready to come up there and punch you in the nose!” Susan said. And Sir Walter Scott had to rewrite part of Ivanhoe because his printer was so upset over the death of Athelstane. I’m glad I didn’t have to rewrite The Glass Bridge.