This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #392, on the subject of Characters Resting.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, in serialized form on the web (those links will take you to the table of contents for each book).  Along with each book there was also a series of web log posts looking at the writing process, the decisions and choices that delivered the final product; those posts are indexed with the chapters in the tables of contents pages.  Now as I am posting the seventh, Re Verse All,  I am again offering a set of “behind the writings” insights.  This “behind the writings” look may contain spoilers because it sometimes talks about my expectations for the futures of the characters and stories–although it sometimes raises ideas that were never pursued, as being written partially concurrently with the story it sometimes discusses where I thought it was headed.  You might want to read the referenced chapters before reading this look at them.  Links below (the section headings) will take you to the specific individual chapters being discussed, and there are (or will soon be) links on those pages to bring you back hopefully to the same point here.

There is also a section of the site, Multiverser Novel Support Pages, in which I have begun to place materials related to the novels beginning with character papers for the major characters, giving them at different stages as they move through the books.

This is the eighteenth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 103 through 108.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.
10. #373:  Nervous Characters, for chapters 55 through 60.
11. #376:  Characters Arrive, for chapters 61 through 66.
12. #379:  Character Conundrums, for chapters 67 through 72.
13. #381:  World Complications, for chapters 73 through 78.
14. #383:  Character Departures, for chapters 79 through 84.
15. #385:  Characters Ascend, for chapters 85 through 90.
16. #388:  Versers Climb, for chapters 91 through 96.
17. #390:  World Facilities, for chapters 97 through 102.

History of the series, including the reason it started, the origins of character names and details, and many of the ideas, are in earlier posts, and won’t be repeated here.

Chapter 103, Hastings 218

I realized that I had only so many kinds of encounters and couldn’t run too many of them, but I had to keep some kind of tension in the story.  Lauren might fight my capybaras (or whatever they are) at some point, but I just had the truck accident (and have not ruled out another) and I don’t know how many chapters it’s going to take for me to bring these two groups together–and there will still be travels after that–so I have to go slowly on the encounters.

I was thinking I needed something besides apartments and retail outlets, and since no one had to work there would be no offices, and since everything was shipped directly from the surface to the distribution points there would be no warehouses.  I thought that if you got far enough away from the built up areas you might come to a more rural setting, country houses of a sort, but I struggled to figure out how they would be different.  Ultimately I decided they would be more like single apartments, and decided to make them multi-story more like houses.  I modeled the entry after my mother’s house.

I debated for quite a while whether someone lived here, and in my debates had envisioned what the initial encounter would look like.  I was so settled on that that I decided to go with it.

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Chapter 104, Beam 94

I ran into trouble on the snacks, because I wanted something consistent with what John, on whom Beam is based, might eat.  I was trying to avoid cheesecake, which several of my characters have eaten, and I actually typed baklava before I remembered that John doesn’t eat nuts.  I remembered that he often posts photos of his meals on his Facebook page so I spent half an hour rummaging through and finding dozens of breakfasts (apparently he is in friendly competition with a friend or two who also post photos and descriptions of their breakfasts) until I found myself seriously considering frying a couple eggs.  I came upon a picture of the first time he ever made fudge, but I think it was also the last, and fudge didn’t seem to be the kind of thing he would order.  Then he mentioned cookies, and I remembered that he made a lot of cookies.  Of course, cookies that you buy never measure up to cookies that you make, but I wasn’t likely to find anything else, so I went with those.

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Chapter 105, Takano 45

This was a tense situation, but a fight would have been so one-sided as to be ridiculous.  Indeed, the tension really was how Lauren could get out of this without a fight.

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Chapter 106, Beam 95

I really was stymied by the breakfast question.  I settled on something which I hope I remember long enough to write.

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Chapter 107, Hastings 219

This entire section was unexpected, springing from the encounter with the homeowner.

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Chapter 108, Beam 96

In my puzzling over breakfast, I remembered that McDonald’s did a breakfast with pancakes, sausage, eggs, and maybe a hashbrown or a biscuit or something, and I decided I could configure something like that which would be to his liking.  I also decided he would order coffee, but enough of the orange juice and milk that no one had to drink it.

Having ordered the coffee and needing something to do, I came up with a reason why Bron and Sophie would have the coffee, and played with their reactions.

The chapter didn’t get me anywhere, which was a problem I seemed to be having, but then repeated chapters of climbing to another level weren’t going to be more interesting than experimenting with cream and sugar in coffee.

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This has been the eighteenth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #390, on the subject of World Facilities.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, in serialized form on the web (those links will take you to the table of contents for each book).  Along with each book there was also a series of web log posts looking at the writing process, the decisions and choices that delivered the final product; those posts are indexed with the chapters in the tables of contents pages.  Now as I am posting the seventh, Re Verse All,  I am again offering a set of “behind the writings” insights.  This “behind the writings” look may contain spoilers because it sometimes talks about my expectations for the futures of the characters and stories–although it sometimes raises ideas that were never pursued, as being written partially concurrently with the story it sometimes discusses where I thought it was headed.  You might want to read the referenced chapters before reading this look at them.  Links below (the section headings) will take you to the specific individual chapters being discussed, and there are (or will soon be) links on those pages to bring you back hopefully to the same point here.

There is also a section of the site, Multiverser Novel Support Pages, in which I have begun to place materials related to the novels beginning with character papers for the major characters, giving them at different stages as they move through the books.

This is the seventeenth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 97 through 102.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.
10. #373:  Nervous Characters, for chapters 55 through 60.
11. #376:  Characters Arrive, for chapters 61 through 66.
12. #379:  Character Conundrums, for chapters 67 through 72.
13. #381:  World Complications, for chapters 73 through 78.
14. #383:  Character Departures, for chapters 79 through 84.
15. #385:  Characters Ascend, for chapters 85 through 90.
16. #388:  Versers Climb, for chapters 91 through 96.

History of the series, including the reason it started, the origins of character names and details, and many of the ideas, are in earlier posts, and won’t be repeated here.

Chapter 97, Takano 43

The recognition that the girls were going to need a bathroom was the starting point, and the recollection that Tommy was pretty dirty from crawling through the woods suggested showers and laundry, and that turned this into a day in the apartments instead of continued travel.

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Chapter 98, Beam 91

I had been teasing the accident for maybe too long, and knew it had to happen despite the fact that I had a long climb ahead and should have more vehicle encounters the closer I got to the top.  I was not certain how to run it, but decided that something Beam couldn’t observe was best.

I realized that this interrupted the ascent, and particularly that Beam was going to have to decide whether to try to climb this link twice or put it off until tomorrow.  I already knew that he was going to have to go all the way back to the lower level to call for medical help, so the decision was going to face him in the next chapter.

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Chapter 99, Hastings 217

Grits with strawberries and cream was something I had probably last January (2020) at a Christian Musicians Network breakfast meeting.  I’m also fond of fried eggs on pancakes, and syrup goes well with that, and sausage with syrup.  The notion that she had to pick what kind of sausage made sense in the context.

The conversation arose somewhat naturally.

I’d had the notion of ordering bag lunches, but Tommy is right, it’s easier to stop along the way.  The idea of tipping the driver was abrupt.

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Chapter 100, Beam 92

The notion that the medbots would recognize Beam as being in respiratory distress came to me somewhat abruptly, although it may have been inspired in part because I was wondering how soon I could take a respiratory treatment myself, as I was wanting not to take it too soon but recognizing that I needed to do so before I left for a doctor appointment.

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Chapter 101, Takano 44

This conversation just sort of happened.  I knew they had to eat, and they were doing big breakfasts and should sit a bit before they exerted themselves.  I remembered that they had camped the night and would have things to pack, so I did that and then settled them in the living room.  They weren’t going to talk about anything immediately, but soon enough I got things started, and then moved them on their journey.

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Chapter 102, Beam 93

It struck me that Beam kept finding restaurants that would seat over a hundred people, which was a very improbable capacity.  I thought of seafood restaurants because I had just published something that mentioned The Lobster House and I remembered taking John, on whom Beam is modeled, there once and having him order chicken.  I started the idea of moving everyone in, and realized that this might be smaller, so I set the pizza place down the hall and split the group.

I felt that a memorial service was needed, and I also felt that Beam had no talent for this, so that’s what I got.  I’ve written several articles on the notion that I rarely ever see funerals in role playing games, and that might have impacted my decision to include one here.

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This has been the seventeenth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #388, on the subject of Versers Climb.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first six novels, Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel, Old Verses New, For Better or Verse, Spy Verses, Garden of Versers, and Versers Versus Versers, in serialized form on the web (those links will take you to the table of contents for each book).  Along with each book there was also a series of web log posts looking at the writing process, the decisions and choices that delivered the final product; those posts are indexed with the chapters in the tables of contents pages.  Now as I am posting the seventh, Re Verse All,  I am again offering a set of “behind the writings” insights.  This “behind the writings” look may contain spoilers because it sometimes talks about my expectations for the futures of the characters and stories–although it sometimes raises ideas that were never pursued, as being written partially concurrently with the story it sometimes discusses where I thought it was headed.  You might want to read the referenced chapters before reading this look at them.  Links below (the section headings) will take you to the specific individual chapters being discussed, and there are (or will soon be) links on those pages to bring you back hopefully to the same point here.

There is also a section of the site, Multiverser Novel Support Pages, in which I have begun to place materials related to the novels beginning with character papers for the major characters, giving them at different stages as they move through the books.

This is the sixteenth mark Joseph “young” web log post covering this book, covering chapters 91 through 96.  It was suggested that more shorter posts were a better choice than fewer longer ones, so there will be posts every six chapters, that is, every other week, for this book.  Previous entries were:

1. #354:  Versers Reorienting, covering chapters 1 through 6;
2. #355:  Versers Resettling, for chapters 7 through 12.
3. #357:  Characters Connect, for chapters 13 through 18.
4. #359:  Characters Engage, for chapters 19 through 24.
5. #361:  Characters Explore, for chapters 25 through 30.
6. #364:  Characters Learn, for chapters 31 through 36.
7. #365:  Characters Travel, for chapters 37 through 42.
8. #367:  Versers Encounter, for chapters 43 through 48.
9. #370:  Characters Confront, for chapters 49 through 54.
10. #373:  Nervous Characters, for chapters 55 through 60.
11. #376:  Characters Arrive, for chapters 61 through 66.
12. #379:  Character Conundrums, for chapters 67 through 72.
13. #381:  World Complications, for chapters 73 through 78.
14. #383:  Character Departures, for chapters 79 through 84.
15. #385:  Characters Ascend, for chapters 85 through 90.

History of the series, including the reason it started, the origins of character names and details, and many of the ideas, are in earlier posts, and won’t be repeated here.

Chapter 91, Hastings 215

I had gotten as far in my head as the name thing, and was winging it from there.  Perhaps due in part to my recent hospitalization, I had a hard time reconstructing how Lauren got here, and almost completely forgot that she had been with Tiras for that extended time; I had to make a repair to suggest that Tommy assumed Lauren had just come from being hit by the truck but Lauren knew otherwise.

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Chapter 92, Beam 88

The truck problem was nagging at me.  It was something that would ultimately have to happen, while at the same time it was obvious enough that Beam should anticipate it and prepare for it.  Yet preparing for it wouldn’t be simple.  So this chapter came to be.

This was the point at which my brain skipped a track and the roughly hundred became a hundred fifty.  I started rewriting as “a hundred some”.

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Chapter 93, Takano 42

I needed to figure out, and create, the relationship between Tommy and Lauren; Lauren’s expectation that God was going to show her why she was in each world suggested the teacher-student relationship.

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Chapter 94, Beam 89

The notion that the trucks used the middle of the road when there was no traffic occurred to me as a minor setback for Beam’s progress.

The mixed Asian buffet is modeled on one I have been to in Glassboro (New Jersey), and I used it simply because I wanted to have things different on each level.  It also was again something different from anything the people had done before, and so provided a new challenge for Beam.

I made the count for the buffet one hundred twenty because I needed a specific number and I figured Beam would make it more than he guessed he needed so as not to run short.

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Chapter 95, Hastings 216

I had to think back to the basics in the martial arts training, which wasn’t simple because although Lauren started there it wasn’t in the books.  I pretty much had to remember where I started, back in ’93 when I first began playing the game, and what my kids learned in their various classes.

Maybe I was hungry when I wrote Lauren’s dinner order, but it sounded good to me.

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Chapter 96, Beam 90

I hope I’m building some tension.  I expect to have a disaster of some sort soon, but I have a long way to go to reach the surface.

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This has been the sixteenth behind the writings look at Re Verse All.  If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with another novel and more behind the writings posts for it.