Chapter References

To make things easier when I start posting the other parts in the saga, I came up with a different way to refer to the specific chapters. Sure, I could just say chapter 4 of I Love NYC but that's a bit too long for my tastes. So, Chapter 4 of NYC will be referred to as 3.04 (or 3.4 if I get lazy)) where the 3 represents part 3 (I Love NYC), and the 4 represents chapter 4 (A Pack of Foxes). And I probably will include the chapter name in parenthesis but won't if I'm feeling lazy.

[Light Spoilers] Just for clarification, here are a few more examples: Chapter 11 (Two Garages) of Aftermath is referred to as 2.11; Chapter 6 (Taking a Punch) of The Project is 5.06; Chapter 8 (Rio Grande) of Triumvirate is 7.08. The chapter name in parentheses will be optional but I do like to include it so we'll see how that plays out.

[If you're worried about spoilers, don't be, I didn't give much of anything away!]

July '09 Update

I know I haven't been keeping up on the blog much at all lately but it's certainly not for lack of wanting to. I'm a person like any other and I have things going that greatly prolonged my hiatus longer than I wanted to. And just because there isn't much on the blog here doesn't mean I'm sitting on some street corner picking my nose!

Seven Days Progress

Over the past week, I've been working on Seven Days. For some reason, this story has always been a thorn in my side! Part of it is that it's the first story of a huge, epic saga and there is a lot of pressure to start things off right. (This is part of the reason I wrote NYC first!) Going through this process has given me a bit of empathy for George Lucas in his writing Star Wars Episode 1 (especially after 4-6 were already done!).

But I'm determined to push through to write the rest of the saga in order! But Seven Days will be a little more difficult to get through because I don't actually have a summary for it. I know what you're thinking... "I thought he already wrote a summary version for each part?" And you're right, I did. But I have since changed/modified the scope of Seven Days. This medium and the story are quite malleable until I actually publish the works (which is why I'm waiting to do that until after I finish the entire thing; to allow for adjustments and such as I go). And one thing I learned in a college art class (Photoshop actually) to "always be aware of you're frame (scope) and don't be afraid to explore a change."

So why am I not posting anything yet?

As of this post, I have finished 3 chapters (including the Prologue). I want to get a few more under my belt before I start posting anything. This is to give myself a little breathing room since I haven't nailed down the antagonists) 100% just yet. I have a general idea for them and basically how I want the protagonists to deal with them, but nothing is concrete just yet. The breathing room will allow me to take some time to flesh out the story and their interactions in more detail when I get to that part.

So, "hold on to your butts" because I am writing and will hopefully be posting stuff in the next week or two.

Promises, Promises!

Wow! I really have fallen off the wagon! I know I haven't done much with the blog and the novel but I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things soon! I have some blog posts that I hadn't posted yet and I'm going to start writing Seven days (pt 1). I've had some ideas on more of the plot recently so hopefully I'lll get moving on it in the next few days. I'll start posting stuff when I get a few chapters in so I can keep ahead a little.

Getting a-Head

I just added a header image. I was trying to think of something that represented the entire saga. I think it accomplishes that. Perhaps, down the road, this will get updated. But For now, I think this is pretty much it.


Overall, I like it. It's simple and conveys some meaning at the same time. What do you guys think? (Leave a comment or send me an e-mail.)


(And no need to tell me, I know the title is a bad pun... but it's the best that came to mind.)

It's all Happening!

Being the first post, I figured I'd start with an overview of what The Wolf Saga is and what I'm planning on doing with the blog.

First of all, The Wolf Saga is a series of eight stories that I'm writing. Here are the titles:

1. Seven Days
   
2. Aftermath
3. I Love NYC
4. The Rookie
   
5. The Project
   
6. Revelation
   
7. Triumvirate
   
8. The Eighth Day

The Wolf Saga is basically the story of David Martin, whose nickname is Wolf. The Saga spans around 30-40 years and follows from the time he is a young man to great heights. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so I won't delve into any details. The basic idea is that Wolf is writing these stories as he heading home from a great war and looking back on his life and the world left. The prologue to Seven Days really spells that out a bit, but I'm not quite ready to tackle that part yet.

I have been working the Saga for a long time (about 15 years, since high school) off and on... mostly off though until recently. A few years back, I knew the time for planning and organizing this was over and I needed to just start writing it. Up until then, I had a lot of information mapped out and summary versions written of the entire saga. (If there is any interest, I can post that as well, if you don't mind knowing what's coming up.) Also, a few years back (after finishing the summary versions) I had the idea for an alternate version to Seven Days and started writing it but hit a block of sorts. Not that I lost the desire to write, I just got to a point in the story where I needed to have an idea who/what the protagonist was actually (I had a vague idea up to then) and nothing came to me. So, last fall, I decided to work on another part and picked part 3. Then at the beginning of March, I picked it up again with a new impetus and have been doing really well since then.

So, what's with the blog?

With the blog, I'd like accomplish a few things. First of all, the main focus is to share my writing with more people and have a formalized, central way of doing that. Secondly, by promising an update of some sort it keeps me writing. My goal is to have an update every Thursday. Since documents can't be posted on blogs, so I found a site that hosts documents and I'll link to it.

A few ideas for future posts (but my focus is going to be the stories):

• The story/explanation of how I cam up with the entire saga (it is rather interesting).
  
• The process I'm going through in writing this. Thoughts and ideas I've had and such. This is where questions and comments from you, the reader, come in. A friend was reading it and asked about a certain aspect that I hadn't addressed or just glazed over. So, I thought about it and included it in the story.
  
• More about me and my interests/hobbies/etc.
  

So, without further ado, here's the link to the first 3 chapters of I Love NYC:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13891694/I-Love-NYC

(I was planning on just starting with 2, but including the 3rd provided a better break point.) Currently, I'm working on chapter 9, so I'll be updating 2 chapters a week until its caught up. The blog posts I make will also let you know what was updated like if its a new chapter or an update/addition to an existing one. If you like what you read, please pass it on to friends and family. (A later post I'll make will get into NYC a little further and why I'm doing it first.)