New Release Date For Black Earth: Exodus

The paperback proofing of Black Earth: Exodus went surprisingly well, with nearly no errors to speak of. To that end, I'm going to push up the release date for the ebook and paperback editions of the book to Tuesday, December 4th. I'm also going to be doing some giveaways shortly after the release, so stay tuned to this blog to find out more about that.

In other news, I completed NaNoWriMo! This was my eighth year in a row participating and completing the challenge. Some might say it's time for a break, but I say no way. I have many projects I've been wanting to work on that I haven't had time to mess with because of NaNo and Black Earth: Exodus, but now that both are sliding off my plate, I can focus on marketing for Exodus, building up The Crossover Alliance, and spreading word about my entire Black Earth series.

The Light At The End Of The NaNoWriMo Tunnel

We're in the last week of November (I know, time flies!) and that means we're in the last week of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month for those who still don't know what that means. Last night I crossed the 45,000 word mark, meaning I only have 5,000 more words I need to write this week and I will have accomplished NaNoWriMo for the 8th straight year.

Finishing NaNoWriMo is always a great accomplishment for me - it helps me learn writing discipline, gives me an excuse to cut out distractions in November, and also gives me a draft for an upcoming self-published book.

At the same time, I'm always a bit relieved when NaNoWriMo is over with because it means I can move that off my plate and move onto other projects I've had waiting in line. This is particularly true of this year, because November has been mostly consumed with NaNoWriMo and the formatting and completion of the fourth (and final full-length) novel in my Black Earth series, Exodus. I just received the proof copy of the paperback version of Black Earth: Exodus in the mail yesterday and from what I've seen, it came out without needing anymore revisions to the formatting or cover - meaning the release is imminent.

So with NaNoWriMo and Black Earth: Exodus moving off my plate, I can start pushing some marketing out the doors for Exodus, the Black Earth series as a whole, and the rest of my writing. I also want to dive into creating some merchandise through Zazzle, and put some more time and effort into building The Crossover Alliance community.

Great things are on the horizon! But, one thing at a time. I still have 5,000 more words to write in my NaNo novel before I can claim victory, so I'll see you on the other side.

NaNoWriMo Update

Okay, so it's Day 13 of National Novel Writing Month and I'm actually a day behind in my word count. Instead of doing NaNo yesterday, I spent the evening watching The Avengers with my wife. Decent movie, but overhyped, I think. I didn't really care for any of the Marvel movies leading up to it - except the first Iron Man - but The Avengers turned out to be worth seeing at least once for me. I have more interest in the Batman movies and in the possibility of a Justice League movie.

Anyway, I'm at 20,008 words so far in NaNo. Almost halfway there. As I've mentioned in another post, I ended up changing my NaNo project a few days into the month. Even though I spent each and every day in October doing activities via the Writing.com NaNo Prep Challenge to get ready for NaNo, I just couldn't bring myself to try and squeeze blood from a rock. The original NaNo idea I had - Black Earth: Spectrum - just wasn't cutting it for me. The characters were hollow, the plot contrived, and trying to write through it was agony.

Instead, I've been working on a novella that takes place between my Black Earth and Expired Reality series, and will serve as a bridge between the two to sum up how one leads into the other. I don't want to give away many details right now because the final book in the Black Earth series - Black Earth: Exodus - will be released next month, and to give away what's going on in my NaNo novel right now will spoil much of what happens in Exodus.

NaNo Prep Challenge - Antagonist Story

Saturday's Writing.com NaNo Prep Challenge was to write out a brief story involving one of the antagonists of our upcoming NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) novel. I decided to sketch out a short scene involving one of the council members, particularly one of the two judges, of Spectrum, Arnon Raskarat.

Arnon Raskarat sat in the judge's booth beside Reisha, the other council judge. The case was one Arnon had seen before - a child left abandoned in the Raskarat wilderness by parents who decided, quite harshly, that it was an inconvenience to deal with the consequences of unbridled romantic encounters.

"Go easy on him," Reisha whispered in Arnon's ear.

Arnon said nothing, just stared at the unshaven man standing before them. The Fountain of Judgment rose behind the convicted man, crystal clear water bubbling from the top of the stone and glass structure that stood in the shape of a capitalized 'A'. Arnon wanted nothing more than to watch this man, this delinquent of society, drown helplessly under the fountain's cleansing waters. He knew Reisha would have nothing of it, though.

"Your child was found dead," Arnon said in a trembling voice. His anger was almost uncontrollable. "Wasteland cannibals killed her and -" He put his fist in his mouth and bit down on his knuckles.

Reisha picked up for him, as she usually did in cases involving abandoned children. "Peera, you abandoned your child to the wilderness. Now that child is dead."

The man said nothing. Did nothing. He just stood, hands crossed in front of him, head tilted toward the floor.

"You have nothing to say for yourself?" Reisha pleaded. "This is your one chance to offer a defense, possibly help us understand why you did what you did."

"Understand?" Arnon grumbled. "You want him to make us understand why he killed a child? A newborn? Defenseless -"

Reisha put a hand up to stop Arnon. It was her way of saying she understood his feelings attached to this case, but that she would be the one to offer the final word. He would object had he thought it would do any amount of good. Reisha could argue that Arnon couldn't be objective because of his own past as a baby abandoned in the Raskarat wilderness. She would be right. She never did complain about Arnon to the other council members though. He was grateful for this.

Arnon shut his mouth and let her speak the final judgment.

"Peera, you've offered no defense to your abhorrent actions. We have no choice but to offer swift justice in this matter. You will, as of midnight this evening, be cast out of the city, into the very wilderness your newborn was left to die in. You will be given until midnight to gather supplies and say goodbye to loved ones. You will not take anyone with you into the wilderness. Those who follow you outside of the city will be killed on the spot. Is this understood?"

Peera nodded.

Arnon sighed, somewhat satisfied with the fact that Peera wouldn't be able to bring his wife into the wilderness with him. Justice, he thought, will be served.

NaNo Prep Challenge - Setting #1 Description

Today's Writing.com NaNo Prep Challenge is to write out a description of a setting that will appear in my NaNoWriMo novel. Yesterday, the task was to draw the setting - which I did - but since I am a horrible artist, I think I'll keep that 'illustration' off this blog. For now, I'll give a few details to the Fountain of Judgement, a landmark which sits in the center of the council chambers of Spectrum.

Positioned directly in the center of the council concourse, the Fountain of Judgment is a stone and glass structure reaching twelve feet high in the shape of a capital A. The fountain cycles through fresh, filtered water that is scented with lavender and jasmine. Aside from acting as a decorative piece to the chambers of the five council members of Spectrum, the fountain is also the place where those who are sentenced to death by the two judges on the council are drowned. The sentenced individual is restrained to the center statue of the fountain as gallons of water pour down over them, eventually drowning them. After their death, their bodies are left in the fountain for two weeks, while the council chambers are opened to the public to showcase to the other citizens of Spectrum what happens when the law of Spectrum is not obeyed in full.

NaNo Prep Challenge - Protagonist Story

Saturday's Writing.com NaNo Prep Challenge was to write out a brief story involving one of the protagonists of our upcoming NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) novel. Since the only solid protagonist I know of so far is Stephanie Bascomb, I decided to do the story on her. (For a brief background sketch on Stephanie, check out my last blog post.)

Hot coffee, pumpkin flavored. The dirty street scent of trash and exhaust blowing by on a bitter breeze. The changing leaves - oranges and red, in shades that rival blood and orchards. Fall. A terrible season, fraught with horror and themes of death and tricks.

Has it really been a year, brother? I sit here and stare at the bus stop sign - repaired now since the accident - and I have to wonder if there was something I could have done to prevent your death. I should have been with you that day. I should have been the one the bus hit. Not you. You shouldn't have had to go out like that.

A year is too long to dwell on these things, and yet not long enough.

"M'am, can I take your plate?" the barista asks.

"Yes. And please don't call me M'am." Twenty-four is hardly an age to be given such distinguished titles.

The barista nods, blushes a bit, and takes the dish away.

I wonder if you can take this ache in my chest while you're at it? Probably not.

NaNo Prep Challenge - Protagonist Profile

For the past week now I've been participating in Writing.com's NaNo Prep Challenge, which provides a writing exercise each day in the month of October to prepare me for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) next month. The point of the exercises is to build the background for my story, characters, and environments so when November 1st hits, I'm ready to write like the wind.

Today's exercise is to sketch out some of the profile to my main protagonist. Even though I'll be writing a novella that takes place in the Black Earth universe, the characters are all brand new, making this a healthy challenge, and somewhat freeing to be able to do a story somewhat disconnected from the main Black Earth storyline.

Here's what I've sketched out for (one of) the main characters of the novella -

Stephanie Bascomb - Female - Age 34 - Doctorate Degree in Business
Stephanie's parents died years before Earth's last days. She had a brother, Victor, who was killed in a freak accident involving a city bus years prior to the beginning of this novella. A lawsuit against the city was filed and the money awarded was used to send Stephanie through college. She pursued criminal justice in memory of her brother, but then changed her major to business halfway through after finding out that her brother was actually murdered by a powerful businessman involved in the mob. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get to the man via the criminal justice system, she decided to gain a doctorate in business, changed her identity to Bethany Sanders, and infiltrated the man's corporate structure, eventually moving up to the head of his main headquarters. After gaining the man's trust through a deceitful love affair, she was eventually appointed a position high enough in the corporate structure to allow her to force the company into liquidation. Shortly after going into hiding, Stephanie secured her seat on a SilverTech shuttle bound for Anaisha.

In the beginning of Black Earth: Spectrum, Stephanie is aboard the Adengors, relieved to have finally left Earth - and her past - behind, able to start afresh on Anaisha. Or so she thinks...

A Week of Writing and Design

This week I'm taking a little hiatus from my blog post series regarding my Black Earth characters and the themes found in my Black Earth novels so I can focus on some writing and design.

First off, starting today, I'm participating in the Writing.com PreNaNo Challenge. This challenge requires me to participate in a writing activity each day of the month to get me ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. I'll be writing up protagonist/antagonist profiles, environment descriptions, backstories, and outlines, all to get me ready for November.

Second, I'm going to be doing some design work this week on my main website - www.davidnalderman.com, this blog, and my FB pages and Twitter profile. My main website has had some design issues I've been wanting to resolve for some time now. This blog needs to be cleaned up a bit and possibly changed to a new style. And my FB pages need new background images, and now that Twitter has added deeper customization to profiles, I figured I'd tackle that while I'm at it.

Throughout the week, I'll be posting some of the challenges I'm doing for the PreNaNo, starting with today's which calls for me to write out my NaNo novel's premise.

First off, the tentative title of my NaNo novel is Black Earth: Spectrum. My plan is for this to be a novella set in the Black Earth timeline, but with new characters and storyline. None of the plot will take place on Earth, but in some will take place in space after SilverTech's shuttles have left Earth to head to Anaisha.

One particular shuttle - the Adengors - comes into contact with heavy space debris and is forced to crash land on a nearby planet: Spectrum. Spectrum was originally mentioned in the third novel of my Black Earth series, Dark Masquerade. The planet is the most technically advanced in the universe because twelve spies were sent out to reach twelve different areas of space to obtain knowledge and technology which was then brought back to Spectrum, and now the planet is an all-powerful utopia of knowledge, technology, weaponry, and defense systems.

I haven't sketched out any of the new characters yet, but I know that some of them will be the flight crew of the ship, and others will be wealthy inhabitants of Earth who were able to pay SilverTech's exuberant fee for shuttle transport to Anaisha. Since a good portion of the story will take place on Spectrum, many of Spectrum's inhabitants will come into play, including the Spectrum council and the Ryloc's, which were mentioned very briefly in Dark Masquerade. I will also reveal a bit of what happened to Evanescence's magical staff, which was taken to Spectrum during the novel series.