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#520: Versers Employed

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This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #520, on the subject of Versers Employed.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. 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 sixteenth post for this novel, covering chapters 181 through 192.  Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
  9. #511:  Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108;
  10. #512:  Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120;
  11. #515:  Verser Troubles, 121 through 132;
  12. #516:  Versers Stymied, 133 through 144;
  13. #517:  Versers Moving, 145 through 156;
  14. #518:  Versers Plan, 157 through 168; and
  15. #519:  Versers Congregate, 169 through 180.

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.

Chapter 181, Takano 139

This definitely mashed Eric’s and my materials together in a way that makes it difficult after the fact to be certain who contributed what.  Dealing with choir practice egos was me, fixing the robot was Eric.

Chapter 182, Cooper 58

Eric s original version of Derek’s interview was in essence that he showed them the computer and he was hired.  I was unhappy with that, partly because I didn t find it credible, and partly because I thought it both necessary and credible for Vashti to be hired as well.  I expanded everything to do that, but retained the scene where he shows them his laptop.

Chapter 183, Brown 350

This was my work.  The Truth, Justice, and the American Way joke was one I had put forward weeks earlier, and Eric liked it, so it found its way in here.

Chapter 184, Takano 140

I wrote this, largely to do the bit where the enamored boy realizes that the girl he likes is a superhero.

Chapter 185, Cooper 59

This was my work, mostly to make it seem as if both Derek and Vashti were useful as employees.

Chapter 186, Takano 141

Eric agreed that having Tommy teach Robinette to read minds had potential for something in the future, but we were not sure what.

In the original, Tommy said that she didn t have Robinette’s number; as I was putting together her character sheet for the support site, I realized that in an earlier chapter she had put that phone number in her cell phone.  I could have left it as something she forgot, but I thought some astute reader would catch it, so I deleted that line and left the discussion about why she doesn t have a phone.

Chapter 187, Brown 351

I was both trying to get a feeling for what Michael Gabriel might be able to do and convey the possibilities to the reader here.

Chapter 188, Cooper 60

The party had been Eric’s idea, and we had agreed on the project in Yellowstone.  I was trying to build up Tommy learning about Cutter through mind reading without an abrupt discovery, so this was part of that.

Chapter 189, Takano 142

This was mostly to move several threads forward, including the psionic lessons and the Cutter mindreading.  The reference to the pair doing the job was critical to the upcoming plot.

Chapter 190, Brown 352

I needed again to make Michael Gabriel’s skill use credible, so I had Derek practice TK and think about other skills.  Eric added the cryogenesis skill botch because he felt a botch was necessary by this point, and he wanted to show that psionic skills could be dangerous.

Chapter 191, Takano 143

I was pushing toward getting Derek set up to be Michael Gabriel, and so he needed to get to the bank and get money and plan to go shopping.

Chapter 192, Brown 353

The shopping trip was my way of getting what I needed to make Michael Gabriel work.  The Woolworth’s idea was because Tommy had been in a 1950s world before and so had shopped at one.

This has been the sixteenth 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.

Books by the Author

#519: Versers Congregate

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This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #519, on the subject of Versers Congregate.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. 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 fifteenth post for this novel, covering chapters 169 through 180.  Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
  9. #511:  Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108;
  10. #512:  Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120;
  11. #515:  Verser Troubles, 121 through 132;
  12. #516:  Versers Stymied, 133 through 144;
  13. #517:  Versers Moving, 145 through 156; and
  14. #518:  Versers Plan, 157 through 168.

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.

Chapter 169, Cooper 54

I stuck this in the middle of the Brown climax for three reasons.  One was that the Brown chapter was simply too long and needed to be split.  The second was that having covered the youth choir I thought I couldn’t skip the adult choir, and the third dovetailed into that, that my next thoughts for Tommy had to happen the next day, so I had to finish the choir practice before I wrote that.

Chapter 170, Brown 345

This was the second half of the major confrontation, mostly written by Eric although within a few bits of framework I had previously drafted.  The verse-out was largely my construction.

Chapter 171, Takano 136

I had the idea that the boy who delivered the interoffice mail would take an interest in Tommy, so I ran with that here.

Chapter 172, Cooper 55

We had discussed having Justice meet with The Eagle and Tell, those two having flown to Yellowstone City to talk with the superheroes there.  They don’t know that they’ve learned something important, because they don’t know that Cutter is Mordenslice.

Chapter 173, Takano 137

I wanted to cover the date and bring some complications into Tommy’s life.

Chapter 174, Brown 346

I had some specific ideas about the meeting between the Browns and the other versers, so I drafted this.

Chapter 175, Cooper 56

This was my continuation of the first interactions of the Browns with Brian and Tommy.

Chapter 176, Brown 347

Our collaboration was partly disrupted at this point, as I lost nearly all access to the internet where our shared file was.  Eric wrote some material that I eventually copied to use offline, fragmenting some of it into parts of several chapters, communicating by occasional e-mails, and writing about twenty-five chapters over a few weeks.

Eric had pushed a lot of events into one chapter, but I wanted to spread out some of it, and so created this chapter to talk about Derek being a superhero.

Chapter 177, Takano 138

Eric wrote much of this as part of a longer chapter, excised, expanded, and reconfigured some by me.

Chapter 178, Brown 348

Eric had written that Derek offered to teach skills to Tommy, but I thought that out of character and so reversed it to Tommy asking to learn, particularly since she knew Lauren did a lot of things she had been unable to teach.  This was to start a progression of Derek teaches Vashti teaches Tommy.

Chapter 179, Cooper 57

Eric wrote this chapter in its entirety, with some minor edits by me.  It was mostly to keep the feeling that Mister Justice was an active superhero, but also to bring forward the notion that Brian was accepting this as his reality.

Chapter 180, Brown 349

This was mostly my work, with a few inclusions from Eric’s material.    The ideas about fixing the robot were Eric’s, and the question about Superman, although a lot was redacted–not possible that a girl who had learned to navigate a spaceship wouldn’t know the speed of sound.

This has been the fifteenth 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.

Books by the Author

#518: Versers Plan

1 Comment

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #518, on the subject of Versers Plan.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. 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 fourteenth post for this novel, covering chapters 157 through 168.  Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
  9. #511:  Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108;
  10. #512:  Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120;
  11. #515:  Verser Troubles, 121 through 132;
  12. #516:  Versers Stymied, 133 through 144; and
  13. #517:  Versers Moving, 145 through 156.

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.

Chapter 157, Takano 133

I pulled together several of Tommy’s concerns into this chapter, and managed to get Cooper pointed at some of their domestic problems.

Chapter 158, Brown 339

This began the second half of the chapter Eric previously drafted, bringing in his idea of an attack on the diner through legal proceedings.  Looking for a solution, I decided to involve the bishop.

The line “I don’t know what you came to do, but I came to praise the Lord” comes from a song sung by Barry McGuire in the early 1970s.

Chapter 159, Cooper 51

I wrote this mostly domestic chapter to try to get the new home in order to some degree.

Chapter 160, Brown 340

I wanted to resolve the banking crisis quickly but also set up some expectation for Mardi Gras itself, so I drafted this.

Chapter 161, Takano 134

When I had suggested that National Parks didn’t exist, Eric had suggested that the volcano under Yellowstone could be part of Mordenslice’s plot.  After writing the chapter in which Gorillaxe was questioned, I put forward the suggestion that he would be killed in his cell but scratch a cryptic clue into the wall.  Coming to this, I wrote that part, but the only cryptic clue I could think of was Yellowstone, so I went with that.

Chapter 162, Brown 341

Eric took over the Brown story at this point, putting together much of the Mardi Gras festivities with only a few comments from me.  He wrote a massive chapter which he then divided into three, with minor editing from me.

Chapter 163, Cooper 52

Eric was hoping for a behind-the-scenes look at being a choir director, which I thought would be terribly boring, but agreed to tackle it and started with this.

Dame Maggie Smith is the British actress who played Professor Minerva MacGonagel in the Harry Potter films.  Mary Bligh, the organist, was just the first given name and the first surname that came to me when I was writing.

There are actually two well-known settings of Crown Him with Many Crowns, either of which would lend itself to a decent choral arrangement.

Chapter 164, Brown 342

This was a continuation of Brown 341, the second of three parts very much as Eric had drafted it.

Chapter 165, Takano 135

I decided to have Tommy go to church as well.  Her family was Presbyterian, so it made sense.

The name Megan Fairchild came to me exactly that way, and as I repeated it to myself I recognized that it must have come from the name of the actress Morgan Fairchild.

Chapter 166, Brown 343

Part three of three, of what Eric wrote as Brown 341 and then divided.

Chapter 167, Cooper 53

I was looking for a name for the pianist, and trying to avoid another “M” name came up with Donna, then Brown.  I had to look up a lot of details including the name of the church secretary Miss Granger, whether Tommy had any music skills on her character sheet, and the date of Kumbaya.  I finally could no longer get away without naming Cooper’s predecessor, so I grabbed the name of my own high school choral director.

Chapter 168, Brown 344

Eric left this final confrontation to me; my first draft was not nearly so complicated or long as it needed to be.  Eric picked it up and expanded it significantly, and I came back and split it, inserting a continuation of the Cooper choir story in the middle.

This has been the fourteenth 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.

Books by the Author

#517: Versers Moving

1 Comment

This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #517, on the subject of Versers Moving.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. 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 thirteenth post for this novel, covering chapters 145 through 156.  Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
  9. #511:  Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108;
  10. #512:  Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120;
  11. #515:  Verser Troubles, 121 through 132; and
  12. #516:  Versers Stymied, 133 through 144.

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.

Chapter 145, Cooper 47

I decided that Brian could find a place to live if he prayed about it, and came up with the idea of renting the manse of a church no longer needing it.  I also decided on a whim that it would be just outside what Brian was seeking, but better than he hoped, and that he could also work as choir director for a bit of extra cash.

Chapter 146, Brown 334

Again I penned this, building toward the vampire confrontation.

Chapter 147, Takano 130

Eric drafted the original of this.  We had trouble with it because he overlooked the fact that Tommy’s costume and weapons were bulky, she had no way to carry them other than her backpack, and she wouldn’t be taking that to work with her, so we had to figure out how to have her change to being Truth on her lunch break several miles from her room.  We were still working on the problem while several other chapters were written.  It was reasonably simple to assume that Cooper brought his duffel bag with him and said it was his workout gear, but a lot more trouble to find a way to bring her protective leather coat, disguising mask and hat, and the kawanaga on a clip on the utility belt.

Chapter 148, Cooper 48

Eric also drafted this, finishing everything I had outlined as what they had to do during this lunch break before he decided that they also had to be interrupted by the need to catch a supervillain.  I did a lot of edits to get it to fit with what had already been written about Brian’s earlier visit to the church, and Eric left the part about the choir director’s job for me to write.

Chapter 149, Brown 335

Eric left this for me.  I wanted the visit to the tomb to kill one vampire but not the other, but it was a task of working out the details as the text was crafted.  Eric had recommended the holy water, and also suggested that Maurice had spent time praying over his knife, making it effective against the vampire.

Chapter 150, Takano 131

I wanted an excited Tommy to move into the new house quickly, but having accomplished that decided both that the chapter wasn’t long enough and that she needed to eat something.  I considered whether to have her encounter another crime along the way, but decided instead to have her chance upon Robinette again.

Chapter 151, Cooper 49

I drafted this mostly because I wanted to get back to the Brown story.  At some point Eric had said something about me writing something about “the job”, which had stuck in my head even though it was about the choir director job, and it drove me to think about designing processor and memory circuits, so I put that here.

Chapter 152, Brown 336

Eric and I discussed this, and Eric said I should draft it, so I did.  The only remaining question, really, was how to top it at the climax–but there were several scenes that had to be included before we got there, and not a lot of time.

Chapter 153, Takano 132

This fell to me, partly because Eric wanted to include several things in the very limited time left in the Brown story and partly because I wanted to have Tommy pass on the information about Mordenslice.

Chapter 154, Brown 337

I decided that the accelerated Brown story warranted putting him every other chapter, and so slotted this one for that.

Immersing in running water is one of the traditional ways to kill a vampire, and so I had suggested burning the body and drowning the head in the river.  Eric ran with that, and brought in Mossyback, the ancient giant alligator.

I had also suggested that Vashti would want her practice knife back, and that meant a trek to the crypt, which Eric also included here.  It was his idea that pulling the knife would bring the creature back to life, sort of, and of feeding the entire monster, in two parts, to the alligator.

Chapter 155, Cooper 50

I had suggested questioning Gorillaxe, and after staring at Cooper’s name in the heading here for a while decided this was a good time to do that.  I had intended at some point to have one of the questioners attempt to embarrass the villain by suggesting that Mordenslice might be smarter than he, but the flow of the conversation didn’t easily admit that.

Chapter 156, Brown 338

Eric had drafted this.  I made some notes, which Eric incorporated, and then I added the meeting with the Bishop and sliced the second half of the chapter to be Brown 339.

This has been the thirteenth 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.

Books by the Author, Games

#516: Versers Stymied

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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,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. 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:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
  9. #511:  Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108;
  10. #512:  Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120; and
  11. #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.

Chapter 133, Cooper 43

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.

Chapter 134, Brown 330

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.

Chapter 135, Takano 126

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.

Chapter 136, Cooper 44

Mindful of the expenses the characters faced, I decided to move them toward an apartment somewhere.

Chapter 137, Brown 331

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.

Chapter 138, Takano 127

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.

Chapter 139, Cooper 45

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.

Chapter 140, Brown 332

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.

Chapter 141, Takano 128

Having suggested that Tommy and Robinette would build a friendship, I played with that here.

Chapter 142, Cooper 46

Eric drafted this, covering several scenes including the apartment search.

Chapter 143, Brown 333

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.

Chapter 144, Takano 129

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.

Books by the Author

#515: Verser Troubles

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This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #515, on the subject of Verser Troubles.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. 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 121 through 132.  Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96;
  9. #511:  Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108; and
  10. #512:  Versers Work, chapters 109 through 120.

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.

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Quick links to discussions in this page:
Chapter 121 Cooper 39
Chapter 122 Takano 122
Chapter 123 Brown 326
Chapter 124, Cooper 40
Chapter 125, Takano 123
Chapter 126, Brown 327
Chapter 127, Cooper 41
Chapter 128, Brown 328
Chapter 129, Takano 124
Chapter 130, Cooper 42
Chapter 131, Brown 329
Chapter 132, Takano 125

Chapter 121, Cooper 39

A lot of disconnected details merged here.  I had noted that Brian had no way to transport the sword without it showing, and suggested that a duffelbag would be the solution, but then forgot; however, I noticed that Brian s clothing selection was quite sparse and had nothing appropriate for 1950s office work.  Also, Eric had earlier attempted to send Tommy clothes shopping, until I pointed out that she had purchased several period-appropriate outfits in the suburbia world and that chapter was redirected to laundry.  So I suggested that Eric put together a shopping trip here, and gave him some tips on what people wore to the office in the 1950s.

The suggestions that Cooper wanted to acquire some camping gear. that he was worrying about depleting his money, and that he decided to go on patrol were Eric s.  I made a side list of exactly what was purchased, along with prices, to get the total in the text.

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Chapter 122, Takano 122

I tackled this, trying to think of ideas that would make sense to researchers in the 1950s that Tommy and Brian could bring to the table.

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Chapter 123, Brown 326

Eric had made some suggestions concerning the direction for Derek s story, and before I managed to respond he had drafted most of this chapter.  I was intending for there to be two things before anything else happened, one that Derek would share information about the vampires with the band, the other that there would be news that suggested a vampire attack.  However, the rat attack was going to be the next step, so I wrote a new opening for the chapter and then went with what Eric had created.

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Chapter 124, Cooper 40

Eric suggested that Cooper should join up with Tell and face a supervillain.  I suggested Blue Ray, and they discussed his identity and powers.  I then drafted this, bringing Tommy into it as well.

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Chapter 125, Takano 123

Eric had given a couple ideas for this fight, and I had tossed out a few more, and then returned after dinner to put it together.

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Chapter 126, Brown 327

Eric drafted this entry in which one of the Mardi Gras black tribes becomes integrated, joined by a group of liberal Whites calling themselves the Club of the Blind Men, and supported by the music of the Living Colors Dixieland Gospel Band.

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Chapter 127, Cooper 41

I drafted this, realizing that we had done nothing about Cooper looking for a church, which is something that would matter to him.  As I started I had forgotten the encounter at the bank and so was thinking Tommy had done better than he had, but it came back to mind so I included it.  I also remembered the difficulties of the early days when banks closed at three and people got paid by check late on Thursday or sometimes Friday morning.

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Chapter 128, Brown 328

Stuck on what to do with Tommy, I changed the heading here to Brown.  We had discussed the notion of Derek locating the mausoleum by aerial recon, and I decided to introduce it at this point.

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Chapter 129, Takano 124

I started this but was called away; Eric picked it up and finished it, but there were a lot of issues with amounts of money, 1950s pay rates and prices, so I did a bit of tweaking.

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Chapter 130, Cooper 42

Eric wrote this, introducing a retired superhero and setting up a disaster.  I decided that would be a good cliffhanger, but went back and backwrote what Cooper would have taken with him on the hike so that he would have the duffel with him.

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Chapter 131, Brown 329

I drafted this.  I wanted it to take a while to find the mausoleum, but didn t want a lot of boring chapters about it.

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Chapter 132, Takano 125

I wasn t sure what to do with Tommy, so I did the mundane things.  Eric expanded it to include the near death experience and the encounter with Robinette, and left it for me to resolve.

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This has been the eleventh 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.

Bible and Theology, Law and Politics

#514: Legalized Drugs

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This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #514, on the subject of Legalized Drugs.

Once again I’ve received a difficult question which I shall endeavor to answer:  “now that marijuana and shrooms are legal, is it a sin against god to use them?”

Having not so long ago written web log post #508:  Christians and the Law I find myself returning to the issue of rules and Christianity, and the question whether having said there that there are no rules, in the sense we think, I will backpedal and say but yes, there are some.  I’m not going to do that–but it is again complicated.

Sin, in the Christian sense, is not about breaking rules.  It is rather about an attitude of putting self-interest ahead of God.  Christian faith is about trusting God and seeking to be as close to him as possible.  As I wrote in What Does God Expect?:

Many Christians are asking entirely the wrong kinds of questions.  Are Christians permitted to drink wine, or coffee, or beer?  Does God forbid smoking cigarettes?  How far can you go on a first date, or with your fiancé, if you are a Christian?  What clothing does God permit?  These questions fundamentally misunderstand the heart of the gospel.  Law is about limits and license, about going so far and no further.  These questions are like asking how close you can get to the edge of the cliff without being in danger of falling, how hard you can push against God before you push yourself out of His hand.  The gospel does not lead us to ask how far we can run away from God before we are out of His reach.  It invites us to discover how close we can get to God and to each other.  Too many of us are asking whether we can get away with choices God might disapprove.  We should be asking what choices will bring us closer to Him, what actions will build our faith, what conduct will encourage and strengthen those around us and bring us all into greater unity in the faith.  Christianity is not about how far we can pursue our own selfish desires while staying within the bounds of God’s expectations.  It is about how near we can draw to God when that becomes the object of everything we do.

Permit me to elaborate.

Several times in I Corinthians Paul wrote the words “All things are lawful.”  There are no rules.  However, he gave three qualifiers to that, caveats to this lawless concept.

  • The first caveat is not all things are profitable.  That is, you can do anything, but it’s better to do things which benefit you than things which don’t.
  • The second caveat is not all things edify, that is, build up, strengthen the church, the fellowship we have with others.  One of our priorities is to draw closer together with other believers and use our gifts to strengthen them as they use theirs to strengthen us and each other.
  • The third caveat is I will not be mastered by any.  You should feel free to do anything provided you are equally free not to do it.

That will work out differently for different people.  One obvious example is that many people can drink wine or beer with meals or snacks or simply for refreshment, while alcholic beverages destroy the lives of other people.

That example raises another issue.  In Ephesians 5:18 Paul advises “Do not be intoxicated by wine…but be filled with the Spirit.”  The verb here, often rendered “drunk”, is built on a word that refers to any intoxicant.  I, personally, have never understood the appeal of altered states of consciousness (other than sleeping and waking), but beyond that the question really is what value is there in these.  Do they have some profit, some personal benefit to the user?  In most cases they seem to do more harm than good.  Do they build our unity and strengthen other believers?  I’m inclined to think the reverse.  And there seems to be a rather high danger that use will result in dependency, that the user will be mastered by the use.

So I cannot say that partaking of such intoxicants is “a sin”.  I can say it’s a bad idea, and probably inimical to the goals of a Christian life.

I hope that helps.

Bible and Theology, Books by the Author, Elections, Games, Law and Politics, Logic and Reasoning, Memories, Reviews, Temporal Anomalies/Time Travel, Time Travel Movies

#513: Another Year

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This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #513, on the subject of Another Year.

Once again, as we did last year in web log post #490:  Looking Back and in previous years linked successively back from there, we are recapping everything published in the past year–sort of.

I say “sort of” because once again some material is being omitted.  There have been a few hundred posts to the Christian Gamers Guild Bible Study which can be accessed there but aren’t really fully indexed anywhere.  Meanwhile, the dozen articles in the Faith in Play series and the similar dozen in the RPG-ology series were just indexed on the Christian Gamers Guild site in Christian Gamers Guild 2024 Index, and won’t be repeated here.  I also posted several days a week on my Patreon web log, which announces almost everything I publish elsewhere on the same day it’s published, but again omitting the Bible study posts.  There is also a bi-monthly review of my work at Goodreads under the title The Ides of Mark, now at eighty-six installments, which does include some information about those Bible Study materials.

I continued posting the tenth Multiverser novel In Version, featuring Robert Slade, James Beam, Joseph Kondor, and Derek Brown, from chapter 92 through the end, and then after uploading support site character papers turned to the eleventh, Con Version, continuing stories for Derek Brown, Tomiko Takano, and a new character, Brian Cooper, through chapter 122.  Behind-the-writings posts on these two books dominated the web log this year:

Late in the year my collaborator Eric R. Ashley and I finished the fourteenth novel, Verse a Tile, and began writing the fifteenth, When Verse Comes to Versed.  I finished setting up the twelfth, A Dozen Verses, and have begun that work on Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story.

Depending on how you count I published two or three books this year.  That’s because An Analytical Commentary on The Book of I Corinthians had to be released in two volumes due to its size.  Before that, my little light horror novella Corpoise was released.  I am working on editing and setup for the II Corinthians commentary.

There was some time travel work, in web log posts:

A couple decades back I told a story in an installment of Game Ideas Unlimited.  That series was lost, almost entirely, so I retold the story in an installment of RPG-ology.  Then Regis Panier and the staff of the French edition of Places to Go, People to Be found many of the lost articles in The Internet Archive, and I began restoring them through RPG-ology–but when I got to this one, it was too like the previous retelling to include in that series, yet too different to allow it to fade into obscurity, so I republished it as web log post #497:  Game Ideas Unlimited:  Vivid Recovered.

When I hit the five hundredth entry in this mark Joseph “young” web log, I decided to take a look back in what I dubbed #500:  A Five Cent Review, in which I listed, linked, and briefly identified sixty-three of the previous articles I thought were memorable.

I was asked a couple questions which warranted web log level answers.  The first was a bit of a biographical, #504:  Why I Started Writing, somewhat self-explanatory.  Then a Pagan friend (thank you again, Harry) challenged Christian legalism, so I wrote #508:  Christians and the Law.  I also wrote #507:  Something About New Jersey’s 2024 Election in advance of the event; I did not follow it up, because there were no surprises and nothing of interest.

Early in the year Ken Goudsward of Dimensionfold Publishing put me on their podcast, as the Time Travel Episode with Mark Joseph Young.  I was also in another podcast a month or so later, Christian Music Network Presents–Season 4, Episode 17 with Mark J Young, so if you wanted to see and hear me, that’s two ways to do so.

I wrote a couple book reviews on GoodReads, but didn’t read that many books this year, really.

In other news, my youngest got married on a beach in September.  AnimeNEXT wasn’t held due to some administrative error.  While I was hospitalized for two weeks my wife broke a leg, had surgery, and went to rehab, and is presently not permitted to walk.  Valdron’s directors decided to move toward republishing Multiverser, and had me create a Valdron/M.J.Young Linktree to that end, although our art department is holding up developments there.  I edited the third book in my friend’s trilogy, BeautyAndTheBell.

So as we begin 2025, there’s a lot behind and more ahead.  You can keep up to date through Patreon and other social media.

Books by the Author, Uncategorized

#512: Versers Work

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This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #512, on the subject of Versers Work.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. 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 tenth post for this novel, covering chapters 109 through 120.  Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84;
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96; and
  9. #511:  Characters Change, chapters 87 through 108.

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.

Return to Top

Quick links to discussions in this page:
Chapter 109 Cooper 35
Chapter 110 Takano 118
Chapter 111 Brown 322
Chapter 112, Cooper 36
Chapter 113, Takano 119
Chapter 114, Brown 323
Chapter 115, Cooper 37
Chapter 116, Takano 120
Chapter 117, Brown 324
Chapter 118, Cooper 38
Chapter 119, Takano 121
Chapter 120, Brown 325

Chapter 109, Cooper 35

I decided it was time to go back to alternating the three characters, so I started with Cooper heading back toward Tommy, and then inserted the Takano chapter after it.

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Chapter 110, Takano 118

I flowed from Cooper 35 into this, but got confused in the middle of it, shifting to his perspective, and had to go back and rewrite it to keep it with her.

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Chapter 111, Brown 322

Eric drafted this, taking Derek to another predominantly segregated church, where the segregation makes sense because most of the congregants speak Chinese and are trying to learn English.

After what was to have been the final edit, as I was setting up Derek’s character paper, I realized that we had confused Mandarin and Cantonese–Mandarin is the dialect Derek had learned as a spy, and Cantonese the one he was only now starting to learn.  I had to come back and make a few changes to this chapter to clarify that.

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Chapter 112, Cooper 36

I drafted this after finishing Takano 118, because I wanted to get in the conversation about computers and the suggestion that both Cooper and Tommy could possibly get jobs in the industry.

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Chapter 113, Takano 119

In Eric’s original draft Tommy went shopping but bought things she already had.  I pointed this out, so Eric rewrote it as a trip to the laundromat.

Eric put Tommy in a dark blue calf-length skirt, but I shortened it, thinking that the skirts worn by teens in the 1950s were knee-length.

Eric had ended this with Tommy taking a long bath, but wanting to accelerate events in their secret identity lives I had inadvertently continued with Cooper taking her to meet Keller, so Eric came back and backwrote this to fit that.

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Chapter 114, Brown 323

On a readthrough following my hospitalization I spotted the fact that Pierre Hunter had given Derek a “ring of keys”, and realized that at this point he could only really account for the front door and maybe the back door.  Between us we had dismissed the notion that there would be a gunlock on the shotgun, and decided that one of the keys opened a cabinet somewhere in the house that they had not yet found.  We discussed what might be in it, and since I proposed that it would contain information about the monsters, I ultimately drafted this.  I thought there should be “several” folders, but couldn’t figure out what they would cover besides the three monsters Eric had uncovered in his research, so I stuck to three.

Eric’s research gave him this:  “locals believe that the city is actually the home of real vampires.  During the 1930s, brothers John and Wayne Carter were executed for committing multiple murders.  About a dozen bodies, drained of their blood, were discovered after a bloodied young woman managed to escape from their apartment.  Sightings of the brothers are often reported to this very day, as their bodies mysteriously vanished from the family’s funeral vault.”  We pushed them back a few decades, and discussed them in some detail.

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Chapter 115, Cooper 37

I drafted this, but before I had finished Eric pointed out that the previous Takano chapter had her returning from the laundromat in different clothes and immediately taking a bath.  Because it seemed important to streamline getting them working, we agreed to backwrite the previous material to fit with this.

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Chapter 116, Takano 120

Eric drafted this, introducing the idea that Brian and Tommy were sort of “rubberstamped” into their jobs.  He also came up with Janus Cutter as the name for Doctor Mordenslice’ secret identity.

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Chapter 117, Brown 324

We discussed the design of these particular vampires, agreeing that they would be similar to but distinct from those in Lauren’s early stories.  I pieced together some of what we had agreed on into Hunter’s file.  We wanted there to be some sort of cryptic clue to the location of the graves, but all I could think of at the time was that they weren’t on holy ground so they could have been in a Cajun graveyard outside the city.  I also added the notion that they were often active around Mardi Gras, as that was our next confrontation.

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Chapter 118, Cooper 38

I was jotting down notes on this, and decided to go ahead and write it.  The name Granville and some of the characteristics came from a veterinarian character in the original BBC television production of All Creatures Great and Small.  I was going to cut it shorter, but decided to finish the meeting and then figure out what Tommy does next.

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Chapter 119, Takano 121

I did this wrap-up of the day largely to get back to Derek and Brian, but thought that a bit of the lot of girls in the workplace ought to be considered.  My plan includes that at some point she’s going to show her worth to the engineers, but not quite yet.

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Chapter 120, Brown 325

I suggested that having been to a few Catholic services I should write the chapter in which Derek goes to church with Pierre, and Eric agreed that his own experience, limited to a couple weddings and a funeral, would be inadequate.

Realizing that there was separatism in the Catholic church that didn’t exist in the individual Protestant churches, I brought that forward into the theme.

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This has been the tenth 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.

Books by the Author

#511: Characters Change

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This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #511, on the subject of Characters Change.

With permission of Valdron Inc I have previously completed publishing my first ten Multiverser novels,

  1. Verse Three, Chapter One:  The First Multiverser Novel,
  2. Old Verses New,
  3. For Better or Verse,
  4. Spy Verses,
  5. Garden of Versers,
  6. Versers Versus Versers,
  7. Re Verse All,
  8. In Verse Proportion,
  9. Con Verse Lea, and
  10. In Version, in collaboration with Eric R. Ashley,

2 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 ninth post for this novel, covering chapters 97 through 108.  Previous mark Joseph “young” behind-the-writings web log posts for this book include:

  1. #498:  Characters Restart covering chapters 1 through 12;
  2. #501:  Characters Orienting, covering chapters 13 through 24;
  3. #502:  Verser Setbacks, chapters 25 through 36;
  4. #503:  Versers Progress, chapters 37 through 48;
  5. #505:  Versers Advance, chapters 49 through 60;
  6. #506:  Characters Involved, chapters 61 through 72;
  7. #509:  Character Challenges, chapters 73 through 84; and
  8. #510:  Versers Debate, chapters 85 through 96.

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.

Return to Top

Quick links to discussions in this page:
Chapter 97 Takano 115
Chapter 98 Brown 316
Chapter 99 Cooper 32
Chapter 100, Brown 317
Chapter 101, Takano 116
Chapter 102, Brown 318
Chapter 103, Cooper 33
Chapter 104, Brown 319
Chapter 105, Cooper 34
Chapter 106, Brown 320
Chapter 107, Takano 117
Chapter 108, Brown 321

Chapter 97, Takano 115

Eric wrote this, covering a month and reducing Varlax’ absence to a single chapter.

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Chapter 98, Brown 316

Eric wrote a massive chapter with a huge confusing dream or vision sequence here, and although I was uncomfortable with a lot of it, I decided to keep it, but to break it into shorter chapters and to make a few minor tweaks.  I wound up with six chapters, not all of them actually short, but the first one covers all that precedes the vision.

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Chapter 99, Cooper 32

Eric had set up the bank robbery, so I tackled the scene itself.  We had discussed the powers to go with the names Major Pain and Private Problem.  Having written as far as drawing the sword, I decided to make that the cliffhanger and return to the scene in the next Cooper chapter.

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Chapter 100, Brown 317

Eric’s dream sequence begins here, and I made a chapter of what seemed the first natural chunk, an introduction to the vision within a vision.

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Chapter 101, Takano 116

Eric drafted this as Tommy’s exit.  We had agreed on the framework that she would be trying to rescue a child from copperheads and would be bitten, but we had some difficulty with the execution.  Eric had envisioned a terrain that might exist in the mountains at the north end of the state, but not in the Cohansey Aquifer of this setting.  I made a lot of tweaks to get it to fit the setting.

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Chapter 102, Brown 318

Eric’s dream sequence at this point shifted into its first major scene, which I cut into its own chapter.

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Chapter 103, Cooper 33

When I had left the scene hanging, I was not certain what I was going to do with it.  I returned perhaps an hour later to finish the encounter.  The Hebrews quote is in the language of Young’s Literal Translation, the preferred translation of the player on whom the character is based.

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Chapter 104, Brown 319

The second major scene of Eric’s dream sequence was shorter, but still formed a coherent chapter.

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Chapter 105, Cooper 34

This chapter was originally Takano 117, but when Eric wrote Takano 117 he brought it to a confrontation with Cooper, and when I was catching up I was unaware that this had been continued in Cooper 34 two chapters later, and thought Eric was asking me to finish it.  I wrote the rest, and then when I got to Cooper 34 realized that there was overlap.  Being uncomfortable with a chapter that took Cooper back to the bank preceding one that had him across town meeting Tommy, I swapped them and did a bit of editing to make them work.

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Chapter 106, Brown 320

The vision shifts into a history lesson badly skewed toward what the south believed caused the war, and I included the suggestion that this was not necessarily the actual history of anything, and his vision was not something from the King but an explanation by the Spirit of New Orleans.

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Chapter 107, Takano 117

This had been chapter 105, but there was some confusing temporal overlap between the Cooper 34 chapter Eric had written here and the Takano 117 chapter he had written there, so I swapped them, completed this one, and tweaked them to fit.

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Chapter 108, Brown 321

This was the final chapter of the vision Eric had written, which I sliced into a conclusion with its denouement.

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This has been the ninth 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.