This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #516, on the subject of Versers Stymied.
With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,
- Verse Three, Chapter One: The First Multiverser Novel,
- Old Verses New,
- For Better or Verse,
- Spy Verses,
- Garden of Versers,
- Versers Versus Versers,
- Re Verse All,
- In Verse Proportion,
- Con Verse Lea, and
- In Version, in collaboration with Eric R. Ashley,
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 eleventh, Con Version, again written in collaboration with Eric R. Ashley, 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.
This is the eleventh post for this novel, covering chapters 133 through 144. Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:
- #498: Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
- #501: Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
- #502: Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
- #503: Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
- #505: Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
- #506: Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
- #509: Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
- #510: Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
- #511: Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108;
- #512: Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120; and
- #515: Verser Troubles, 121 through 132.
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 also the longest book to date, and has quite a few long chapters in it, so there will be quite a few of these background articles.
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.
Quick links to discussions in this page:
Chapter 133 Cooper 43
Chapter 134 Brown 330
Chapter 135 Takano 126
Chapter 136, Cooper 44
Chapter 137, Brown 331
Chapter 138, Takano 127
Chapter 139, Cooper 45
Chapter 140, Brown 332
Chapter 141, Takano 128
Chapter 142, Cooper 46
Chapter 143, Brown 333
Chapter 144, Takano 129
I had no clue what Mister Justice could do to help miners in a collapsed shaft, but took it step by step and found something that would help. I also made the point that the ordinary people were the real heroes.
We had a continuity error here. When Eric introduced Green Hawk in Cooper 42, he made the point that the hero didn’t give his name; further, he had not been mentioned previously in the book. I made the mistake of naming him when Cooper was reflecting on the situation, and had to go back and change “Green Hawk” to “that guy who turned into a hawk” to fix it.
We had discussed the Brown story extensively, so I was mostly following the rough outline we had created as I drafted this. The irate customer was Eric’s idea, along with the revival meeting; I had worked out the part about finding the crypt and the path back to the city.
I drafted this, deciding that a lunch with the verser duo and Mister Keller would be a good way to advance several threads of the story, including the major villain plot.
In the edit, I rewrote the mention of Green Hawk so that Keller would give the name.
Mindful of the expenses the characters faced, I decided to move them toward an apartment somewhere.
I had outlined a sequence by which as soon as Morach found the crypt events would conspire to prevent them from going there. The first of those was Eric’s idea of the complaining customer, with the ensuing revival, and then I wanted three days of rain during which there was another death and an apparent kidnapping. I put it together here, but cut it short, pushing parts of it into the next chapter.
I had this notion of Robinette and Tommy having lunch together and becoming friends. I floated it past Eric, who suggested putting it at Robinette’s townhouse. I drafted this from that, putting the meeting off for another chapter.
Eric wanted to bring expanded backstory of the world into the telling, so he created the idea of Cooper visiting the library and reading up on accounts of other superheroes.
I had suggested that rain would continue for several days and suggested events concurrent with that. Eric came up with the arson plot against the diner to expand it, and gave his Texas Ranger a name in the process.
Having suggested that Tommy and Robinette would build a friendship, I played with that here.
Eric drafted this, covering several scenes including the apartment search.
Eric was leaving the vampire battle to me, but I thought it needed more setup so wrote this to cover several bits including the murder of a girl in the French quarter and the kidnapping of Marion Malcolm.
When I came to write this, Eric was in the middle of doing so, so I came back later, wrote the opening paragraphs, and changed the meal and made a few tweaks, plus added a bit to the end.
This has been the twelfth behind-the-writings look at Con Version. If there is interest and continued support from readers we will endeavor to continue with more behind-the-writings posts and another novel.