Titan 3030

Hey- Readers.

I just realized I dated my last entry incorrectly. Embarrassing. It's fixed now.

So, February was pretty rough as far as linear progress on Revision Three edits. Excuses aside, here is something I have done, and I managed to do it.

A little back story to the content you’re about to see below.

The subject of the content was original nested and woven into the narrative of Chapter 2 in my original rough draft for Titan 3030. In my second revision, after rereading it and receiving feedback, I decided to remove a lot of what had been out-of-context-narrative from Chapter 2 and place it in the Prologue.

The following content is not the entirety of the prologue, but merely one element of it.

When I started revision three on the prologue, it was technically the second revision of the text-as-prologue and not-as-chapter-2, so the intensity and thoroughness of the revision needed to catch up the text, as it were to the quality of the chapters in the current revision.

Hope I haven’t lost anyone yet.

This is, the original text, from the second revision (Prologue First draft) of the section I’m highlighting in this blog post. (870 words)

[The original post quoted 870 words of the prologue draft here. It is not reproduced in this archive — Titan 3030 is an unpublished manuscript.]

This is the revision 3(.1 (start)) of the same section (Prologue Draft 2) (767 words)

[The original post quoted the same passage again, 767 words, revised. It is not reproduced in this archive — Titan 3030 is an unpublished manuscript.]

So at this point it should be clear there isn’t much difference between those two versions, yet. I needed to really dig into it and refine what it was I wanted in there, and cut the trim out and I think I was successful. First, I took the section and boiled it down to the following itemized list.

1 – How Helena begins the meeting. Walter isn’t welcome. (Redundant) Jung is there.

2 Why is Jung there? Alchemy breakthrough. He’s credible.

3 Tesla is there too. Helena is a good host.

4. Tesla demonstrates wireless electricity

5. Walter sees Tesla as an economic opportunity. Jung mention’s Felix Klein’s theories of hyperbolic geometry. Tesla finds this intriguing.

6. Helena founded the Theosophical society. Foreshadow of new dawn, Walter’s. Walter’s attendance was a mistake. (POV regret)

7. Tesla can build off the foundations of hyperbolic geometry to manipulate space-time through resonance and frequency. Jung had applied the geometry to alchemical symbolism. A collaboration at this point could produce a philosopher stone. (lapis philosophorum).

8. Walter manages to leverage his wealth to offer employment to the duo. The Maitreya was unable to influence the series of events.

9. The Maitreya tries to instill Buddhism into Walter. Walter manipulates the situation and blessings of the Maitreya by creating an Academy of Alchemical Arts, this offer seemed to be mutually beneficial for everyone, the Maitreya had, reluctantly, agreed to it.

10. Maitreya was the last thing in Domini’s way to unfettered control.

After I had the essence boiled down like that, I re-thought the information and attempted to reorder it to make the flow more seamless and I generated the list below.

• Helena founded the Theosophical society
• Helena is a good host.
• How Helena Begins the meeting.
• Jung is there, He’s credible. Alchemical breakthrough.
• Tesla is there too. Tesla demonstrates electrical breakthrough (wireless)
• Jung mention’s Felix Klein’s theories of hyperbolic geometry. Tesla finds this intriguing.
• Tesla can build off the foundations of hyperbolic geometry to manipulate space-time through resonance and frequency. Jung had applied the geometry to alchemical symbolism.
• A collaboration at this point could produce a philosopher stone.
• Walter sees Tesla as an economic opportunity.
• Walter manages to leverage his wealth to offer employment to the duo.
• The Maitreya was unable to influence the series of events.
• The Maitreya tries to instill Buddhism into Walter. Walter manipulates the situation and blessings of the Maitreya by creating an Academy of Alchemical Arts, this offer seemed to be mutually beneficial for everyone, the Maitreya had, reluctantly, agreed to it.
• Maitreya was the last thing in Domini’s way to unfettered control.
• Foreshadow of new dawn, Walter’s. Walter’s attendance was a mistake.

Then, once I had the reordered list, I had to re-write it in narrative, which is what I’ve produced below. Revision 3.5.1 (Prologue Draft 3) (273 words):

[The original post quoted the rewritten passage here, 273 words. It is not reproduced in this archive — Titan 3030 is an unpublished manuscript.]

And that’s the process. So just imagine, that began as 870 words, 5 step process nestled in one-round-of-revision, refined to 273 words.

Rinse. Repeat.

I should be sleeping, circa 1am.

I’m not.

I’m thinking about the fact I should be ‘writing’ which really means ‘editing’ which really means combing through line after line of sentences you’ve already written making them better or just deleting them entirely. I’m like 5 or so pages into revision three chapter 4. My goal was to be done the chapter by the time I updated the blog again. Last week was difficult, a lot of things weren’t equal, as they saying goes. So far this week is on pace to be as ‘normal’ as they come.

Tomorrow, err…today…later when I wake up, the goal will be to put a real push on chapter 4. I’ve already listened to the chapter in review, and it’s not too bad. I’m deleting a lot of stuff, and I feel good about it. Chapters 1 through 5 have this completely different pace and atmosphere, reading and editing them, than the chapters later in the book. There is a lot of obvious, evident, and also, of course, remembered, discovery in the narrative. A lot of notes, written into dialogue or setting that really don’t belong.

There are also places that scream opportunity, and those are hard to look over. I’m trying my best to make notes as I think of things, embedding a lot of foot notes in this draft with an accompanying note page for each chapter. A lot of it has to do with terminology usage and continuity, naming conventions for characters, foreshadowing and implicit meaning / themes.

I need to figure out something else, to do, while in the editing process, that doesn’t suck as much as editing does, yet I can still qualify as work. Maybe some shorter pieces could be refreshing. Editing could go a lot faster on those as well.

I’m going to leave the rest of this until morning, I’ve officially bored myself to fatigue.

So yesterday, the 9th, was not as productive as I would have liked (I’m noticing a trend. It hardly ever is as productive as I’d like it to be.)

I could write about what’s distracting my mind and attention from not editing, but honestly, these thirty page chapter edits are horrible. You work for like an hour or more and realize you’ve only gone through about one or two pages, rethinking every word order of every sentence too many times. The bad spots of writing become highlighted and obscure from the narrative. I guess it is that struggle between being able to read a finished flawless product and allow yourself to let-go, into the narrative as opposed to forcing yourself never to fall into-it, as it were so you can maintain critical analysis of every word and term.

I think I need to create a structured methodology to follow when I find myself in these pits devoid of motivation. I need to do something fun like world building, or even rough-drafting. The problem with that is there is constantly a workload of to-be-edited work that follows those spurts of ‘fun-work’.

I feel like I keep telling myself the same excuses over and over again as to why I’m not or can’t do something, and I’m tired of hearing it but wonder what else should be said instead.

All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day- put the pieces back together my way. – Aesop Rock

I’m having trouble this week really getting motivated. It feels like there is a nebulous weight dragging my productivity down. Not sure what it is. It’s not like I haven’t been moving. Chapters One and Two are now behind me in revision three. I’m finding myself cutting large segments of content. A lot of content that feels like information dumps are just chopped. The information is for me, not the reader.

I find it difficult to find the right kind of music to listen to. Sometimes, music I would otherwise normally enjoy, is grating and distracting and just out right irritating when trying to compose. And I do need to listen to music. If I don’t have it as background noise, my actual thoughts are far more distracting. I’m not a fan of thinking about my grammar and sentence structure in something like this blog update, but I am. For instance, I’m not a fan of some of my sentences I’ve used here, but, ultimately, who cares? What’s the point? I’m writing now as I would actually speak, which, we have discovered all too well in this century, is all too commonly pseudo-illiterate.

This is all I can muster for an update. Hopefully the next time I update I will be done chapter 4 revision three. That is optimistic, but hey, that’s what goal setting is.

SF

Hey Thursday. How’s it going? Wednesday treat you well enough?

So yesterday I managed to do a few things. I started organizing data from the novel, pulling from chapter one to start. The data I pulled were two lists, terms and characters. After surveying they chapter, and compiling the two lists, I then went and created a placeholder file for each of them with their respective names/terms.

Now, as I go along continuing the revision three process, I can be compiling the lists from each chapter, and create a comprehensive list of characters and terms introduced in the novel. This data is important because I can use it to very quickly populate a wiki page for each of them after generated. So this is all in an effort to content fill the companion wiki so that it would be ‘ready’ upon book release. I have some other ideas surrounding this detail, but those will have to wait until I think them through a little more.

So, a year ago, I still hadn’t finished the novel first draft. I was struggling right about now to write chapters thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen. I was struggling to level-up, as it were.

I think the goal for today moving into tomorrow needs to be one of the following few: Begin the Rev3 process on chapter 2. Compile the term and character list for the chapter. Reopen the content developed for S&F (Sundogs and Foxfire) and get writing, planning. Or, completely alternatively, work on some technical development stuff regarding the wiki / data management.

I hate when I have a list to choose from, I often end in indecision. I think the plan is to figure out which of those I’m likely to continue working on once I start and then just do it. The wife is also here this morning which is a source of distraction, as well as joy, but I will say, I work much more rigorous and focused when she’s not around.

Welcome to Tuesday folks.

So I was successful in completing the chapter one revision three, and I’ve uploaded it to the shared space I have setup for alpha readers and editors.

I have not particularly been productive today, as even this update has taken me several hours to compile.

And this is all I wrote for an update to motivate myself by midnight.

So, now it’s Wednesday.

I need to be more progressive today. I think I need to start on chapter 2 revision three as soon as possible. I also think I want to try to use the notes and ideas I’m forming now and mulling over to feed a parallel content update to my wiki. I feel like feeding the wiki the structure of the book as I go along will help me feel more concretized in some of the more ambiguous elements. Like, for instance, degrees of skill level when it comes to the use of alchemy.

It will also help to create a solid and definitive character list and information repository for those individuals. On a totally separate note, I need to revise The Krill short story. I feel like that is a tap-able revenue stream and an ideal ‘test’ vehicle to get the universe and series underway, from a publishing standpoint.

I’m glad I’m able to at least finally ‘talk’ something out today, if albeit at the end of the day and in the beginning of the next one. At least it’s a plan to follow. A goal to be met. Start chapter two revision three, start compiling wiki entry entities from chapter one into two. Revisit The Krill for editing.

I also need to get to work on Sundogs and Foxfire as well, but that seems so far away, I really haven’t allowed myself to see much further past the first chapter.

Without looking at anything, I’m pretty sure it starts off with a POV of Davrick’s father back at the Academy on Earth. What a strange thought, really. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Davrick and the Charon crew lately in my mind, and before that, the NANOWRIMO break project in November had me thinking all about Abgaur and the alchemist Sel’tec. Such distinctly intricate space-times each of those are.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this new ninth planet lately. I’ve been wondering what to call it in my series, as I believe it has a role to play. I think I’ll name it Cronus. I mean, technically, Saturn is already named for the Romanized version of Cronus, but, Cronus was the one unseated by Zeus, exiled if you will, into the void.

So, this was interesting; writing this update between a couple days, but I found the exercise helpful. I don’t always have to post, but I can always work a little bit towards it, right?

Hey there-

It’s Monday. First day of the work-week. Time to get busy and get organized. I’m not sure if I like the idea of updates every Monday or not yet. I’m working on becoming more rigid with my work schedule, but I’m not going to rigidly decide what that schedule should be. So right now, I’m feeling out the Monday update.

I didn’t get a chance to mention much about it in the last update, but if you had been here any time last year or before, the blog site probably looks a little skeletal. The whole original blog was lost around the time of my wedding last year when I backed up what I thought was the entirety of the site but (oops!) I forgot to back up the SQL tables. Turns out, that’s where all the good content was anyways. Oh well. The archive was miraculously saved because at some point, the word count of my blog concerned me and so I had made copies to feed into the word processor to word count. Because of that psychological insecurity, I was able to save almost if not every blog entry, sans their posted dates.

I don’t feel great about not having chapter 1 revision three done yet. I think that is the goal for today. I think it will happen fairly quickly. I’ve been dragging my heels a bit because I’ve been compiling a list of ideas parallel to my edits. I feel like my story, as a shell or as a framework, is strong, and complete. I feel like the ‘flare’ of my novel is not yet started, or at the very least far from finished. One of the most prominent pieces of feedback from alpha-stage readers I’ve received is that they want more. More description, more explanation, more depth to the world and its environment than the-story-itself. And I get that.

Alchemy is a central focus in my series as an arcane and powerful force of nature. Alchemy is only performed by alchemists. So far- there exists two degrees of an Alchemist, a senior and an apprentice. Something has been striking me about this as “not-enough”. I feel like there need to be at least one or a few more degrees of skill levels that individuals would fall into. I think I’ve begun encroaching into this realm by overlapping the ability of alchemy and shamanism in certain individuals. But again, I feel like the degree of skill is not enough.

I’ve been contemplating a lot about mechanics, tech, procedures, operations, and logistics for using alchemy as a skill, and as a weapon.

Toiling with the ideas of alchemy, it’s difficult to create plausible challenges for alchemical users to face. How does one make something akin to ‘magic’ or from a literary standpoint ‘deus ex machina’ and turn it into a believable and probable tool that isn’t simply a magic wand or a Djinn’s wish. Figuring out these specific nuances of alchemical skill, and degrees of knowledge / implements, will help me present problems to the alchemists that perhaps a more seasoned alchemist COULD magic-wand their way out of, but for the more inept, proves to be a challenge that requires creativity.

I honestly think like revision three and four will be heavily laden with peripheral additions, adding depth and nuance to the scaffold structures already in place.

Well. That’s all for now, I have to refill the coffee and push myself to finish the chapter one rev 3 run through.

-S.F.

Hello, dearest reader (website viewer). I hope this update finds you well. There have been a lot of moving parts behind-the-scenes as it were, here at the Titan 3030 Development blog.

The novel status. Currently in REVISION 3. 87,613 word count. 410 pages, formatted. 15 chapters, plus Prologue.

What do these numbers mean? Good question.

So, Revision 3 means precisely that. The novel’s draft is in what I consider to be the “third pass”. I don’t exactly know how many of these revisions the novel will actually need. I can say that before I even finished the rough draft, I had in mind it would take anywhere between 3-7 rounds of revision for the novel to feel complete in both sense of content and quality.

I am, at the moment, trying to finish the third pass of chapter one. There are maybe about 6-10 pages left for me to really comb through and make notes and revisions to. I find myself, at this phase, no longer being concerned about my word counts, or page counts. None of the numbers support me, emotionally and psychologically as they once had.

Writing a novel, when the longest paper you ever wrote was only barely scratching 30 pages, is an undertaking unlike any other I have ever attempted in my life. Clawing away at an idea and trying to piece together the debris into a papier-mâché of original art, is not something that intrinsically endows support into the artist as he or she does their work. You have to sort of choose where to get your dopamine bursts for goal completion when your actual goal is so far from finished.

And that is precisely what word count and page count meant to me as a fledgling author. I can’t believe I just used that word to describe myself. Author. Even if albeit fledgling, it is a term I have not allowed myself to be called by others, and most especially myself. Not until I’m done. That’s my big Dopamine score at the end of this all. That one is to go straight to my head.

But until then, I am, now, officially, a writer. I write. I do it a lot. When I’m not writing, I’m wordsmithing in my head. I’m smashing terms together or ripping them apart to find their etymological significance and meaning. I’m researching space and exploration to ensure I have the most informed opinion when I decided to rewrite history. I have somehow, found myself, truly in-it as it were. Devoted, and immersed. I have to say, as trying as it is, as difficult and overwhelming, as financially bleak as it all is. I am happy to do it. Reluctantly, I admit I have found my passion.

What is the reluctance? Well, when you’re passionate about something, you’re not allowed to bitch or complain about the less graceful aspects of your craft. For me, that is editing. Editing has made me really question my passion over the last few years. But, as much as I don’t necessarily enjoy reading the same story over and over and over again, at least I wrote it, right? At least it’s my story. My idea. Forcing myself to re-read it as many times as I have and will, is a testament, in my mind, at the inherent quality of story that exists in my novel. If I couldn’t re-read it even once, I would have known how horrible my story was. But not only did I create every word in the story, meticulously guide each and every character’s thoughts, behaviors and motivations, but I’ve made myself laugh and smile, reading what I’ve wrote. Reading my story, I have stopped and wondered, how it was, I wrote something so well.

Finishing the second revision of the novel, just a week or two ago. I noticed, looking back between chapters thirteen and fourteen. In my original draft, I had for the lack of a better term, “Leveled-up” between those two chapters. The quality and flow of language in chapter 14 was simply on another level from where I was writing chapter 13 from. It is amazing and humbling to witness that sort of transition, ascension really, of skill in your own ability.

As the novel stands right now. I think it is entirely possible to have it finished this year. I have not yet made that psychological leap and conviction to guarantee it yet though. Also, finished doesn’t mean published. It simply means ‘ready-to-publish’. We shall see.

Hello blog. I have been neglecting you. It’s okay. I’m here now— and all is well. Things in the 3030 universe are coming along. Lately, I have been working on second round edits for the manuscript draft. So far, it has been an interesting journey.

One thing I found myself doing early on was gutting Chapter 2 and using a large section of it for the prologue. When I originally wrote that chapter, I thought weaving the two stories in parallel was somehow clever, but when I reread it I thought it looked like garbage. The editing processes is strange.

An update for those interested.

Old Business

The Titan 3030 Manuscript is resting at 6 words shy of 76,000 words, 268 pages, and in the fourteenth of fifteen chapters, +/- pro/epi-logue.

I’m still in desperate need of a graphic artist who is interested supplying illustrations and web-content visuals with a negotiable arrangement of web-comic / graphic-e-novel project.

Short story “The Krill” is opened by many, read by few. If this is applies to you; you know what to do.

Birthday completion deadline failed, but it served to be conducive to production levels.

Stats:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February, 19, 2012: Story is not even conceived, final semester of undergraduate study.

August / September 2012: First 20 pages of outline for 7 book Epic Novel series created.

October 30th: I updated a facebook status stating I had completed chapter 3.

November: I decide to start prequel that turns into Rings of Rhea, decide on a 3 book follow up series to prequel. Decide release order of (sos)1,2,3(ror)1(sos)4,5,6,7(ror)2,3,4 making 11 total books.

There seemed to be a fairly large gap in narrative construction of the novel. Much of this time was spent working at measured progress as a temp-slave or fruitlessly applying for jobs no one wanted to talk to me about.

April 14th 2013: Purchased 1889 dictionary from thrift shop.

June 5th 2013: Facebook status ‘Come on words, form sentences.’

September 6th 2013: Facebook status update indicating I have first A-Z outline of Titan3030 done, “filling most of the big holes”.

September 24th: on Facebook I posted a status indicating I needed to decide on a last name for my protagonist.

September 28th 2013: I purchased the Titan3030.com domain and put up the web-blog for manuscript progress.

October 9th 2013: Blog update indicates I’m mid-chapter 4 and thinking about chapter 5.

October 18th 2013: Blog update, first character profile page created.

January 6th 2014: “As it stands for 2014, I entered the year with 25k words in the draft. Chapters One through Five are considered draft-complete.”

February 10th 2014: Blog update indicating that I know where “Shwha” goes.

February 28th 2014: FB status “Another day of plotting 250 years of pirate family history”

March 2nd 2014: FB status “Proliferating 250 years of fictional family history becomes taxing around the ninth generation, fyi”

March 25th 2014: FB status “It feels like for every 5000 words in notes, I get about 500 words of congruent text. It's interesting to watch this story of mine unfold; some parts take longer to 'cook' than others.”

March 28th 2014: Infamous 3/28/14 blog update. “The compilation file I have, (which is essentially, each individual chapter pasted into one document for the sake of analyzing progress) is 90 pages long. 90 pages, wow; Easily the longest thing I’ve ever written so far. Word count: 28,095 words.”

March 31st 2014: I indicate how much writing code hurts my brain. Speaking to the development of the website PHP / AJAX backend

June 4th 2014: FB status “Finished my programing project; feel victorious. Now for the next module. *cracks knuckles*”

July 31st 2014 / August 1st: Blog update “As slow as it may seem, I’m still working on chapter 7, or 8, I think.”

August 11th 2014: Back to writing this week. Current stats include 113 pages typed, 35k words; working on chapter 8 of 15.

October 2nd 2014: FB status “Whenever I read about current research and discoveries being made about Titan, it makes me excited I put my first story there. First methane oceans; now cyanide clouds! Love this place.”

October 23rd 2014: FB status “In other news, short story I'm working on as a teaser-sort-of for the novel, 3.2k words, the novel its self is closing in on 40k. I hope to have a presentable version of the short by the end of the month.”

October 29th 2014: FB status “Short story draft complete. Needs revisions then I can share. 7,282 words, 21 pages. If you feel like reading it for the purpose of editing, please message me.”

October 31st 2014: Short story is published on Titan3030.com

November 3rd 2014: Blog update puts word count at 40k.

November 5th 2014: FB update “First Nanowrimo-custom-challenge mile marker met. Ch8 done.”

November 8th 2014: blog update “So far chapter 9 is about 2,500 or so words deep… The novel draft is at 144 pages, 43,856 words at the writing of this entry. Chapter 9 is waiting on page 7.”

November 10th 2014: FB updates “Nanowrimo custom challenge mile marker two complete: Chapter 9 draft: ~5500 words (all but one scene). Book total: 47152 words. 6 chapters to go… 48,500 words; an eerie stillness falls over the city.”

November 11th 2014: FB status “49k”

November 12th 2014: Blog update “Where am I at? Manuscript draft word count: 49,435 words at the month of November. When I began November, I was somewhere in the mid to upper 30k’s for word count”

November 14th 2014: FB status “51k”

November 16th 2014: Blog update “Today’s a day. Here’s an update.  51635 words in the manuscript. Actively, painfully, writing Chapter 10, still.”

November 17th 2014: FB update “54k words”

November 18th 2014: FB updates indicate 55.5k words, chapter 10 finished.

November 23rd 2014: FB update “58k words, 202 pages”

November 24th 2014: Blog update “Progress- There has been some. Not as much as I would have liked. 58,100 words. 200+ pages now.”

December 29th 2014: FB status ” Entered 2014 with 25k words in my manuscript. Just broke the 60k mark. Chapter 11 of 15 and climbing, word by word, as I would imagine an ascent of Kilimanjaro might be like.”

January 2nd 2015: Blog update “I did manage to end the year with a word count of 60k+. In terms of regular 8×11 pages double spaced 11 font, that’s 210+ pages.”

January 7th 2015: FB status “62K words. 3.75 chapters left”

January 16th 2015: FB status “64.5k+ words, chapter 12 is crawling. Up to 225 pages.”

January 17th 2015: FB status “65k. Those 3 characters don't do it justice, really.”

January 20th 2015: FB status “66.7k”

January 21st 2015: FB status “Chapter 12 (Draft) complete, weighing in at 6604 words, 23 pages, and lots of work to be done in revision phase.”

January 30th 2015: FB status “68k. Chapter 13 is moving again.”

February 10th 2015: FB status “70k words. Chapter 13 is 80% done content.”

February 13th 2015: FB status “Chapter 13 done. ~72k words. Detailed outline for 14, 15 done. 5 days to deadline. yikes!”

February 15th 2015: FB status “Big dent in ch.14 73.6K”

February 16th 2015: FB status “75k”

Welcome back to Titan3030 and a Happy New year to all. 2013 was in my eyes a slow developmental year for the novel and series. More was created peripherally than linearly, which is not helpful to a mentality of finishing a novel’s first draft. However, what this expansion along the fringe of my forethoughts affords me is the deepening and widening of my 3030 universe. So many great ideas struck me out of nowhere.

As it stands for 2014, I entered the year with 25k words in the draft. Chapters One through Five are considered draft-complete. The next goal is to outline the next 5 chapters and begin filling in the story around my ‘mile-markers’. Chapters 1 through 5 were interesting because to myself, they were the biggest challenge to write. From the first word I worried whether or not I’m engaging my reader, or if I’m alienating them with the strong technical language from the very beginning. Regardless of my very initial attempt to spark wonder and interest in the reader, I feel as if though chapter one as a whole provides that ‘Grabbing-moment’ to the reader that compels them to continue reading and have to know what’s next.

The following 4 chapters really set the stage for the novel’s setting. We learn more about our protagonist and his history and place in the universe just continues its slow expansion. All of this build up catalysts with The Distress Signal received from deep space concerning his father. The news pushes our hero to visit his friend for comfort, and reflection. His friend obliges in a way Davrick could not have anticipated. And then Davrick flashes back to a moment in his childhood that would become a defining moment in his and his family’s history.

The next 5 chapters perform a similar role to the first 5, but instead of setting the stage, they expand it. A new pivotal player is introduced in the middle of the novel, a member of an alien species, that has been co-habitating with humans unbeknownst for millennia. We also explore the underworld of the city of Jalex, and learn more about the corrupt corporate history that manufactured this city on the brink of a frozen hell.

Not only do we learn more about why people are on Titan, and how it is they subsist, but Davrick learns an incredible amount more about himself, as well as gaining some interesting insight as to the fate of his father; and not a moment too soon, because as soon as he begins to feel optimistic about his father’s welfare, tragedy strikes the city from the skies. Another seemingly-alien presence arrives with force and begins attacking the residence of the colony.

The last 5 chapters, of course, finalize the conflict and provide some partial wrap-up and closure to some of the micro-events that happened in the novel. What remains open and unsolved is even larger, paving the way for the continuation of the series.

I’m setting a goal for myself right now. I’ve read some good advice on goal setting and systems/processes. My goal is to not have a goal of when to finish this novel, but the goal is to instead create a process by which to follow on a regular basis to produce progress. Not a goal, but I hope to have chapters 6-10 completed by my birthday toward the latter half of February. Also, I hope to, as a part of this system, implement more updates here, for you, the loyal (curious) reader / fan.

Hello,

My name is Scott. I am a human being, just like you. Do I have your attention yet? Great.

I am writing a book. It’s a novel. An installation of what I like to call an Epic Series. My seven book series is titled Shades of Samsara and it’s a genre-bending tale that touches on the realms of philosophy, psychology, science, fiction, fantasy, spirituality, dogma, ontology, alchemy, myth, Buddhism, phenomenology, and maybe even some ethics. The first installment is Titan3030, taking place on the Saturnian moon Titan, in the year 3030 of an alternate earth timeline that deviates significantly from our own beginning in the year 1919.

In 3030, a man named Davrick Ro’lan works aboard a methane harvester as an alchemist’s apprentice over the Kraken Mare, harvesting an alien species of bio-luminescent krill. Immediate challenges and his strange history that brought him to Titan collide and test his fortitude. A Monopolice was created as a singular Corporate-run entity that painted on its largest face the image of Maitreya, thanks in large part to ancient theosophists.