Editor Status
I have found an editor! I know it seems fast, but I was doing some research before I restarted my blog. My new editor is Monica Wanat. She edited Elise Kova’s novel and I like her style of editing. I think she’s going to be a good fit for me and the price is reasonable. I’m excited to get some outside input from an expert to tighten things up. Hopefully, this’ll make my novel better than ever. I’ll know her thoughts and recommendations come July.
Yesterday’s Writing
I decided to focus on my causal loop, time travel short story. The idea came to me mostly-formed and I’m pretty excited about it. The hardest part is that it’s set between 1843 and 1865. Getting details from that time period right takes a lot of research. The tail end of that time window was kind of a tumultuous time in American history. But then there are little things like sewers weren’t built in Philadelphia until the 1880s. That changes a minor detail in my story, but it took a while to figure that out.
I had already started the seed for this story a while back so yesterday was re-researching historical details as a refresher course and re-reading what I had already written. I made some modifications and that resulted in a whopping 72 words written. That sounds paltry, but it’s more than I’ve written in months. It’s a spark to hopefully set my passion ablaze.
Once I’m finished writing it, I will probably funnel it through my editor before submitting it to a magazine for publication. I’m hoping this will catapult me forward into writing my next novel while I wait for the edit on the first one to come back.
Personal Update
Like I said above, I’m excited to get writing again. This blog is helping me clear my head and heart to make way for words-on-page. It feels good and it helps me get something done. Even if I fail to write very many words in a story, I’ve blogged for the day. That’ll help.
Not much else is going on. My wife is getting a handle on her business and we’re getting ready for a trade show next weekend. It’s going to get fun.
The Stratasphere
Now for the core of this blog post: The Stratasphere. No, that’s not a misspelling; it is deliberate and has a reason. One of the things that I admire most about Brandon Sanderson is his Cosmere. So, I thought about how to design my own literary universe. If there’s one thing I love, it’s organization into stratified levels. This led to the idea of the universe, governed by God, being divided into Strata. Each Stratum contains several solar systems and is governed by a Stratarch, which is an archangel. They only have one rule: their job is to observe and report to God. They can only intervene if their interaction is protected and sterilized by God. Otherwise, strange things happen.
It should come as no surprise that strange things happen. The Stratarchs don’t always listen. Any time they take a direct action in their Stratum, it changes something on a fundamental level. It’s like changing something in the Matrix: the system takes notice. Every time this happens, magic is born. This “magic” is called orenda and takes its form based on the Stratarch’s action. For example: in Tarion Stratum, the first in which I’ve written, orenda arose as empowered vibrations. Now, these vibrations have different manifestations depending on the system and planet and this is what leads to the different forms of magic in my stories.
I already have four Strata planned out: Arjun Tar Celek, Carlaas Oganar, Epoch, and Tarion Stratum. Epoch is where Earth is and, yes, I have stories planned for an alternate Earth…one day. My first book is in Tarion Stratum and my short story is in Arjun Tar Celek. As my stories get published, I’ll release more information about each Stratum and its form of orenda. For now, I’m keeping those details under my hat. Suffice it to say, all the stories are connected, but those connections won’t become clear until a lot of publications have happened. I have a big plan in mind and if I am blessed enough to bring it to fruition, it’s going to be great.
For now, back to work. Catch y’all tomorrow.