Tag: writing a series

Readers Wanted!

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

Amazon.com: Lee Duigon: Books

Has anyone read this yet, besides me? (Of course I read my own books! How else am I going to remember things from book to book?) And I have zero customer reviews on amazon.com.

Edgar Rice Burroughs cranked out two dozen Tarzan novels, in addition to his numerous other works. Like, how many times could Tarzan discover a lost city? Africa was crawling with ’em! Readers kept reading them, even after Burroughs himself got tired of writing them.

Granted, our marketing isn’t much (you’re looking at a big piece of it just now), and the release of a new Bell Mountain book doesn’t exactly produce a ripple in the news. I did feel I ought to mention it here. But I am not a publicist.

Have I Written Too Many Books?

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

Bell Mountain (Bell Mountain, 1)

I’ve written 15 books in my Bell Mountain series so far (two still awaiting publication), and it troubles me a little that some readers have already said “That’s enough!” Like they were being forced to read ’em and couldn’t take anymore. The one that really hurt was the reader who said he loved this series when it first came out but now it was (*sigh!*) boring.

Two dozen Tarzan books. I don’t know how many for the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Hercule Poirot, Freddy the Pig, Rick Brant, Nancy Drew, et al, et al. Those series are all a lot longer than mine. Readers must have liked them!

Nevertheless, I did feel it was time for a change. So I turned my fantasy world’s clock back 2,000 years to write about King Ozias. It’s going to be a trilogy, I even have the titles for it: Ozias, Prince in Peril and Ozias, Prince Enthroned and Ozias, King Betrayed.

Point is, everything’s going to be different except for some of the geography (There’s no bell, no cloud, on Bell Mountain yet). Different kind of civilization, different characters–oh, yes, above all, different characters. They’ve all been waiting for their cues to come on stage. Which is very cool, and suggests to me that I’m on the right track.

Of course, it’ll be several years between now and the first reader reactions to the first Ozias book. I pray we’re all still here for that. Meanwhile I’m working as hard as I can.

‘So What’s “Bell Mountain” All About?

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

See the source image

Ten years later, I’m still trying to answer this question. The Lord has much to teach me.

So What’s ‘Bell Mountain’ All About?

I am waiting for the 13th book in the Bell Mountain series to be published (can’t imagine what’s delayed it!), No. 14 is written, and I’ve just started writing No. 15, The Witch Box. There are those who say the series is too long; but I’m still very far away from catching up Tarzan, Hercule Poirot, Rick Brant, Freddy the Pig, et al. Edgar Rice Burroughs grew weary of Tarzan, and Agatha Christie would have gladly pitched Poirot into a tar pit; but I still love my characters. Besides, there are always new ones that come along, and I never know where they’re going to take me.

Writing in the Heat

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

Kiingo's Writing Thesaurus - SWELTERING

It was all I could do to crank out two and a half pages today. Holy moly, it’s hot! But if I try to write indoors, I’ll be interrupted again and again by nuisance phone calls.

In writing a continuing series, each new book has to pick up where the previous book left off. Can’t expect the reader to remember! It’s hard enough for me to remember. I have to revisit the last manuscript again and again, lest I forget where I put the various characters and why I put them there. Only then can I launch into the next story.

I don’t have a title yet, and that’s a handicap. I’m working on a book that will have two different climaxes. One is already in the bag, and I thank the Lord for that. But the other is still up in the air. The title will somehow have to link the two together. I pray it’ll soon pop into my head.

I do wish it was about ten degrees cooler!

 

Is It Time to End ‘Bell Mountain’?

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

The Bell Mountain Series - Reformed Reviews

Agatha Christie kept writing Hercule Poirot for many years after she got tired of him, mostly because readers wanted him. Ditto Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes: when Doyle killed off Holmes, readers practically rose up in arms and forced him to bring Holmes back. And Edgar Rice Burroughs kept writing Tarzan long, long after he’d lost all interest in the character… because Tarzan paid the bills.

Lately I’ve been hearing from people who say enough’s enough already, please, no more Bell Mountain books! Happily none of them are my editors or publishers. But if the readers are tired of my books, what excuse would I have to keep on writing them?

Twelve of the books have been published, with No. 13 waiting in the wings and No. 14 being written. No. 12, His Mercy Endureth Forever, has not been well received. Even though it has giant hyenas in it.

A few comments don’t constitute a groundswell of non-support. Then again, several books ago, I wasn’t getting any “too much” comments at all.

So I have to decide what’s right to do. I pray for guidance. I listen to what readers have to say.

(No! I am not going to switch over to Oy, Rodney…)

Villain: Lord Chutt

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

The Temptation (Bell Mountain Book 11): Lee Duigon: 9781891375743 ...

When you’re writing a series of novels, you never know when a minor character might grow into a major one.

Lord Chutt entered my Bell Mountain series as the only member of Obann’s high council who survived the siege of the city–because he ran away before the enemy could surround it.

We next find him in the north as an independent warlord who, when he learns that the city was saved, after all, and Obann now has a king, wishes only to re-establish the old order, without a king. But Chutt’s governing passion is a sordid lust for wealth; and he sates this by taking his northern army to the Golden Pass and taking possession of the Thunder King’s gold. Suddenly he is the richest man in Obann.

By then he had become a major character. Returning to the city, he separates it from the king and, step by step, with his vast wealth as his source of strength, appoints a new ruling council, hand-picked by himself.

It might have ended there; but as Chutt becomes increasingly fascinated, and then obsessed, with the greatness of Obann’s Empire long ago, he loses control of his ambition. From this flow many untoward events. And I have to stop here for fear of spoilers. Suffice it to say his obsession degenerates into madness. It has taken eleven books to get him there.

I hope this thumbnail sketch will make you want to read these books. They’re full of characters who entered the story as walk-ons and, well… stayed. And grew.

Sort of like real people, only with more adventurous and hazardous careers.