Three Quarters Completed

[lavenderbard]

I visited medical establishments three times last week (all for routine stuff), and also went out to celebrate my 31st wedding anniversary. I think if it wasn't for all that running around I would be "fully recovered" by now. As it is, I managed to make my wordage goal for the week, even though I still haven't managed to work anything else back into my life yet and my overall activity levels were down from the week before.

But whether I didn't quite manage to make my wordage goal, or I made it just barely, I have continued to keep the story progressing for all but the one week when I crashed completely. As a result, this week I completed the third quarter of the script for A Lily Besieged. Go me! And because I finished off another quarter, I have started a fresh file, and it feels really wierd to have my word count only showing four figures. Especially since total wordage for the project should hit 200 000 in the next couple weeks.

Every once in a while I consider the possibility of naming the four quarters of A Lily Besieged something other Part 1, Part 2, etc. If it were really going to be made into a tv series there would be no point, and if I were to turn it into a series of graphic novels instead I'd probably want more than four volumes. But with each quarter of the script weighing in at just over 60 000 words, four books really does seem like the most likely way for a novelization to go -- adapting it from the script ought to add wordage, but not enough to require splitting the quarters in two. So if this story is ever published in novel form, I will need four titles. If I named the books after the various clans/characters in them, I would have a great excuse to use the clan/rank insignias as cover art. Not that I really need an excuse, but there does need to be some way to figure out which insignias get featured on which book. Hmm. Maybe go a little astrological: The Inception of the Bear, Conjunction of Hawk and Owl, the Moon in Occlusion, Red Eagle Ascendant -- people might be disappointed at the lack of astrological references in the text if I go that route though. Maybe... Rouse a Sleeping Bear, Enrage a Hovering Hawk, Guard a Battered Eagle, Catch a Shadowed Tiger? (There is no Tiger insignia in the book. But a cover showing the actual insignia of the person being "caught" in the final volume would be a terrible spoiler -- the true identity of the 'big bad' isn't revealed until near the end of the story.)

For Last Week... Writing: 5278 words Pedometer: 17438 steps

Comments

[lizvogel]

Yay for progress!!

The Inception of the Bear, Conjunction of Hawk and Owl, the Moon in Occlusion, Red Eagle Ascendant

FWIW, this didn't make me think astrology at all. Someone who's more into astrology than I might have a different opinion, granted. It does sound very cool, though, in a way that would tend to make me click through or pick up a physical copy to see what it was about.

[lavenderbard]

So Inception, Conjunction, Occlusion and Ascendant are all just being seen by you as fancy words, rather than as words coming from a particular source?

Hmmm....
Click-worthy is good.
Failed expectations are bad.
But if there is no strong expectation based on the titles, they just make people curious, then we can just make sure the blurbs are well written and the covers are appropriate?

I'm thinking that that set of titles might come off as being a bit intrigue-ish? If so, that isn't inappropriate -- there are plenty of action scenes, but the main story problem is figuring out who the evil mastermind really is, (and then finding the evidence to convict).

[lizvogel]

Conjunction makes me think of astronomy, as in conjuction of the planets. But it can also have other connotations, including a general sense of coming together or alignment.

Occlusion makes me think of things hidden, whether by natural forces and time, or deliberately by human design. Things kept in the shadows, false fronts put in place to cover real intentions. Definitely an intrigue-y vibe there for me.

Inception makes me think of -- well, the movie, first, which I've been meaning to rewatch. ;-) But more generally, starts or beginnings -- of a course of action, a cunning plot, a social movement, or more prosaic things. Potentially also intrigue-ish, if you want to take it in that direction.

Ascendant makes me think of heraldry, for some reason. Also a general sense of things rising or becoming more prominent.

All this is purely my own idiosyncratic associations, of course, which may or may not be representative of your target audience. (To be fair, I'm a spy afficiando; almost everything make me think of intrigue.) Use or discard as you see fit.

[lavenderbard]

It's the word meanings as described by you, without any additional astronomy or heraldry associations, that was intended. (Although while I was free associating over titles, I did contemplate a heraldry version, but I couldn't come up with a full set of four that I liked.)

The setting has an asian feel, and the story is about how the young chief of the Bear Clan arrives in the Capital City, and in an attempt to regain his family honors becomes secretly assigned to protecting the sole remaining heiress of the Eagle Clan, and to finding out who masterminded the destruction of the "sovereign line" of her Clan and also that of the Hawk Clan. Meanwhile the last remaining Hawk Lord is courting the eldest daughter of the Owl Lord...

Notice that I have not one, but two sole remaining heirs! This is to compensate for the sad realism in the fight scenes -- this setting doesn't do Kung Fu magic. Martial artists cannot walk on water, hit people with their inner energy, or defeat entire armies bare-handed. How humdrum.

I think I should try posting the two sets of titles somewhere else and see if I can get more feedback. I confess, I'm hoping your response is typical. :)

[lizvogel]

Martial artists cannot walk on water, hit people with their inner energy, or defeat entire armies bare-handed. How humdrum.

Oh noes! ;-)

Getting more feedback sounds wise. Good luck!