This writing train just keeps on chugging along. Check out this month’s writing update below:

Writing Update

Alpha and Omega

It hasn’t been easy to return to Greystone. I knew the transition wouldn’t be simple after so long away, but what it really came down to was my own pressure about coming back to Portents.

Greystone deserved the best, and I worried I wasn’t up to par. There were scenes I pulled apart for hours trying to figure out a way in from Loren’s perspective, from Soriya’s, from Mentor’s… all these little voices needed to find their way back into play.

Portents also played a big part in the series, and I wanted to keep that up. For a while I wasn’t sure how, but while piecing together the history of one of the major set pieces I remembered what makes the city work (or not work as is the case). Finding that thread, figuring out the secrets of the city, was one of the keys to really making this script come to life for me.

It took some time, but everything managed to slide back into rhythm. It was like a happy homecoming with old friends.

So yes, the script is DONE!

187 pages of Soriya and Loren and all the chaos that comes with a Portents novel. Some of the visuals are haunting (I hope I do them justice in the draft). The banter between Loren and Ruiz is still one of my favorite parts of the series, and there is a joke in the script that I really hope makes it to the final book. It has me in stitches every time I think about it. (It’s probably only funny to me.)

Next month, I’m diving into the draft. This is my first foray into a 300-page behemoth in quite some time so it might be slow-going, to say the least. Fingers crossed I still remember how to do this!

Reading List

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir’s latest is so flipping incredible. I didn’t want to put it down. Every chapter had me begging for more. The science was, of course, well over my head but I always love the narrator’s voice and how down to earth Weir’s characters can be. A truly fantastic novel you should definitely check out.

Hulk: The Dogs of War

Paul Jenkins wrote the majority of this book and it dates back to 2000 – 2001. I remember loving this. Jenkins hit all the right notes with me. Banner on the run. Hunted by the government. Split personalities, different Hulk personas.

This time around didn’t carry the same feeling. I still think the book is visually outstanding. From Ron Garney to Kyle Hotz to John Romita Jr., the book is gorgeous to look at page after page. Story-wise, it never really gets past that initial plot point of Bruce dying of ALS and the threat of this Devil Hulk thing that never really pans out. It reads like Jenkins had way more story to tell and didn’t get the chance, and that is unfortunate because I feel like he had a great handle on the character at this stage in Bruce’s life after the loss of his wife.

The back matter is where this book shines. Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben put together a four-part tale called Banner and it is phenomenal. Every panel is a treat for the eyes. I could read that story over and over again. Top notch stuff.

It’s all author commentary next month, but the writing update will return for May!

Thanks for reading.