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New Year's Update: Karma, Bloodshed

Before we get into the meat and bones of this update, let me first say that this novel will take me out of my comfort zone, something that truly excites me. I am writing about the life of an African-American female starting when she is struck by lightning at the tender age of nine. The story will cover her life until she is eighty years old. Perhaps the inspiration, and excitement, comes from having adopted daughters--both of whom are African-American.

On to the meat and bones.

Christmastime is the most important time of year for me in terms of writing production. (Memorial week is second.) In recent weeks, my muse awakened me numerous times in the middle of the night to notate the ideas sent streaming into my consciousness. Positive advancements have been made to give this novel breath.

I needed a concrete way to tell a story covering 71 years. Yanking notes from a notebook was not exactly ideal, so I revisited an old pal of mine: James Patterson. Okay, we don't have each other's number in our respective contact lists, but I attended his Master Class for writers a few years ago. It provided excellent content for aspiring authors, and, in closing, he shared an outline from his novel, "Honeymoon" (2002). I studied it over the past week and, feeling a tinge of excitement, knew this "James Patterson outline" method was the perfect solution.

Outlines are similar to having your map app provide directions from point A to B. There are few details along the way--just a way to get you from the beginning to the end. Character sheets will be developed along the way to help build good, consistent characters. After completion of these, I will begin to draft the novel.

Progress is being made in the Karma outline. I'm working on outlining the seventeenth chapter of the novel. The outline, itself, has already blossomed to 17 pages, 7715 words.

    Here are a few other items of interest:

  1. Needing to garner a female perspective, I shared the outline's first four chapters with a few female family members and friends.
  2. The cinematic trailer for Karma is in early production. A big piece of any good trailer is the thematic music, which I am proud to announce has been found.
  3. As with Bloodshed, hoping for a late 2023 release date.