This week, I began sampling critique groups, and attended one Wednesday evening. I liked the people, but the attendant costs and driving time are not ideal. I'm going to see what I can find closer to home, and then make my decision from there.
I am also working on the outline for a novelization of Thunderstruck. The biggest challenge is trying to create cohesive novel-length installments. The structure is very different from the ongoing serialized form that works in a webcomic. For instance, assuming the first novel starts at the same place as the comic does, where then does it end? I would like the novel to be a self-contained story, setting up to be part of a series. I think it ends after the "Heritage" chapter, when Sharon & Gail set off for New Orleans, but it feels like that would be a fairly short book. Maybe it ends when they reach New Orleans, or maybe I lengthen the story in some way before they set out... there are options. Just have to figure out which ones are best.
I'm also writing a book review, which is something I plan to do from time to time. I finished listening to And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer, who has picked up the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series where Douglas Adams left off. I'll post that this week sometime, and let you know how well I think he managed that admittedly daunting task.
No "Voyage of the Piquant" this week. Still working on that last installment.
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The biggest challenge is trying to create cohesive novel-length installments.
Well, obviously page 662 is a good stopping point. If that's two books, book one could be through "Trials" or be a little longer and include "Steel Angels Take Flight". Split three ways would have book one end with "Saxony's Partner" and book two with, um, middle of "Dubious Mentors"?
But that's assuming there's a constant ratio between comic pages and prose pages, which probably won't be the case. I'd suggest you start writing (use the comic as the outline) and see where the wordcounts put you: 40K is the minimum to be considered a novel for most awards, 60-90K is a juvenile or YA novel, 100-150K is a typical modern novel, 200-400K is a doorstop.
Doorstops are an incredibly tough sell for the unpublished, so I want to break it out into more manageable chunks. I'm thinking the first novel ends either when Sharon & Gail leave for New Orleans or arrive in New Orleans.
I had a brainwave that has gotten things rolling this week, so writing is underway. We'll see how the pacing unfolds in prose. More about that Monday.
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