War Reports, Erebus, and the (Maybe) Return of Barry Allen

I bring you news from the front. I return after a regretfully long campaign into the realms of plotting and viciously smug ideas that appear in the night and vanish before I can find a pen. My war against their evanescent nature continues daily. But, behold! An exit strategy appears for the first novel of XIII, which, by the way, needs a better title. Any suggestions?

How did I do this, you ask. I will tell you. I read. I read a lot. I read George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, Steven King's The Drawing of the Three and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. I watched my favorite episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. I watched and read and observed, making notes. And the method in which they plotted out long-standing story lines and character arcs became increasingly clear and not so amazing. I could see the mechanics behind the writing and applied those same observations to my own outlines of XIII.

Tension created by additional complications ("Bushwacked" episode of Firefly), foreshadowing given frequently, subtlety and early (Drawing of the Three), and the methods of creating interesting political scenarios and intrigues (Battlestar Galactica, A Game of Thrones and Children of Dune) were all things I added to XIII's first book.

The result was amazing. The story took on a new life and the scenes where I felt the action dragged had a way in which to improve. I'm not saying that the story is perfect, at all. But I am standing in the middle of a faster paced, more tightly woven story than I was a week ago.

Other news, not from the front. Our neighbor across the street has a giant black male cat. I have named him Erebus. While, Erebus is not so fearsome as his name would suggest (he let me pick him up and he flopps around on my driveway), he is very dark and very fat. Which had nothing at all to do with him being fierce or like Erebus. That's all.

Last thing: DC is probably bringing back Barry Allen as The Flash. And while this fills me with glee, at the same time I wonder if this does not cheapen his death and his character from the late 1980s.

So say we all.
Bri