A fair slice of Sunday

Ever have one of those really productive weekends when you just get heaps done. No? Well, I can't worry about you.

I was given Saturday afternoon and a fair slice of Sunday to work on Caliban's End and rather than spending the time wandering round the house and checking the fridge for something to eat, I just wrote... and wrote... and wrote. This morning I awoke at 6:30am, had a shower and was writing by 7am. I didn't stop until midday. And it wasn't a struggle!

I'm beginning to get the pay-off from writing in a non-linear fashion. This week-end was devoted to completing the final draft of Chapter 10, one of the trickiest chapters in the book. It starts with two almoners coming to Garlot Abbey to collect alms. It introduces the character of Cate Audrey (her picture's in the sidebar somewhere) who becomes more significant later on in Chapter 27. There's a quite a lovely sense of structure with this chapter as it reintroduces the character of Maeldune Canna who will be the catalyst for the drama that unfolds in Chapter 27.

More importantly, the chapter gives us great insight into Wade Grayson, who is the closest thing to a protagonist this book has. The majority of the chapter occurs as a flashback as Grayson sits in his room in the abbey contemplating events that had taken place 30 years earlier. If the book was written in a chronological fashion, this would be the first part of the novel. This chapter explores why Wade Grayson packs his twin brother off to a leper colony. It presents a moral dilemma that will hopefully lead readers to considering what they would have done if they were in the same position. It is in this chapter we meet the Morgai Lilith Cortese.

I really enjoyed writing Lilith's vision sequence. I was worried about this part, thinking it would be difficult to write, but now I have the entire book nailed down in draft format, it was quite a painless passage to pen. In this sequence Lilith presents Wade with a series of images that paint a rather bleak future for Terra. Wade sees the monster his twin will become and is catapulted into actions he would wrestle with for the rest of his life.

I'll finish this blog entry with something completely unrelated to Chapter 10. If you look below you will see a picture I came across whilst I was perambulating down the web's many paths. I found it on at: http://www.androidblues.com/gallery/34/.

It's by an artist called Steven Stahlberg (an ex-pat Australian no less). Now I haven't received permission to put this image up but believe me it wasn't for lack of trying. I spent a good hour trying to track the artist's email but his site didn't have it nor did any of the message boards. I will put it up here for now, and hopefully he won't mind as I think his artwork is brilliant. Reminds me of the fantasy stuff of Frank Frazetta I adored as a young pup. Just click on it to get a better view.

I had big pots of money to throw around, I would definitely employ this guy to illustrate my book, or be the art designer on the film when New Line approach me with a blank cheque. In many ways, the picture resembles the plight of Lara Brand's baby Birren who is kidnapped by the Ghul and kept captive in the harsh, rocky realm of the Endless. The young girl's naivete and vulnerability echoes the dreadful situation into which Birren Brand is placed.

That will do for now. It's a warm Sunday night here and time for dinner.

Bye now. Paul

p.s. Hope you like the funky word counter I added at the side. It should give an indication of how things are progressing!

'One Last Time' © Steven Stahlberg 2007