Battle of Terra - notes

Still afternoon here in AZ.

Old Cruiser

Any idea when three square meals 101 to be published?

Deryck Stevenson

Interesting, and thanks. I wondered if you wrote the separate narrative threads out with rough timelines and then merged them. But it seems you plan that first at the outline stage. Personally I would find that harder, trying to get the ebb and flow of the various views of the battle lined up that early.

Smart wombat

Thanks for giving us a peek into your creative process, very interesting, and I'm impressed how you chart a course for the plot and then stick to it methodically.

Trimtab

Damn, I thought the new chapter would be released the first of the month. Guess I was mistaken, I can't wait for what comes next, it's a long time to wait for such a great story (which I haven't found the equal of anywhere).

Jacek Tyburski

lol do you really want to put yourself through that torture again?

Jedi Khan

Maybe if we ask him really nicely he would let us read part one...knowing there is going to be the mother of all cliffhangers...You know, last time he did that, Jade died.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Well, I would say. But I get jacked up when a do...so my lips are sealed. I would not hold my breath though.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

cheers mr

Braw

I'm just wrapping up the first half at the moment. I'll hand it over to editors later today, then get stuck into part 2. It took a lot longer than I expected, because there's a bunch more fight scenes.

Tefler

Anthony Joshua wins again wilder here he comes ko time

Jim lynch

Hope within a few hours - say T-2

Kim Biel-Nielsen

Any idea when the new chapter is out .

Jim lynch

When they return to Karron to exterminate Kirrix, maybe Alyssa could use her wealth to buy it and improve its child welfare system. Tax the miners to help the kids.

Benj

i woud think being captured alive to be birth vessel/food is somthing a predatory warrior race that also eats its prey probably would let happen

It's possible that the Drakkar don't have a large enough population to be on the Kirrix's radar, so to speak. Either that or the Drakkar, having been designed for war, are just too hard for the Kirrix to subdue.

Jedi Khan

Yes. He said first week in April.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Tefler, last I heard was 101 was scheduled for 3/31; has there been a change?

Hey Tefler, when are you Letting John face his progenitor guide?

I just want an update for the status of 101. Anybody?

DTC

When I originally planned this battle out a year and a half ago, Dana and Sakura were both going to be on the surface. That was before I came up with the Valkyrie (hence no Sakura + the orbital bombardment), A few weeks before I started writing Chapter 100 I came up with Dana dragging the mines, but I was originally going to have her fly through the carrier armada. Firing them off like a shotgun blast I came up with as I was writing it (to avoid them being caught in the blastwave).

Tefler

Also, a question for Tefler: where's the Dana "mine field sling shot" scene in the doc? Did you just come up with that on the fly? Was Dana originally planned to fight on the surface with everyone else?

Chiilled Chilean Monkey Brains

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Very interesting although it seems we still didn't get to find out what a mad scientist has for breakfast, probably something mundane like porridge.

ringill

Love the insights!

Harald Link

Tefler, you take the same approach I tell all my students, when writing science reports. Map out the story you want to tell, use headings for sections, then fill in the missing text to link the sections. Simples, no? ;-)

Thanks for the share

ILRibrarian

phew! even just the outline for that chapter was 3 pages long! That almost seemed more like an IT Project Plan document... heh. Thanks for the insight. It really does help me understand your level of effort to write like you do. I wonder if any of the classic writers of olde did anything similar? Hemmingway seems more like he'd have been a "just wing it"-type of writer, personality-wise. But, what do I know? Thanks again, Tefler!

GrandPaM

If I think of any dialogue I want to add, then I sometimes sketch that out (as you can see). Sometimes it goes in verbatim, but more often than not I make changes as I go, because when you write the full scene, the flow of the dialogue might go in a slightly different direction. I think when I wrote that particular bit of dialogue, it just sounded better the second way. After all, Ailanthia is definitely not his mother (Jessica Blake is!).

Tefler

I thought of that, but the editors are fans too, so I don't want to spoil it for them. They also don't tend to want me to juggle sequences, more a case of add in more PoV scenes (and inserting new scenes is relatively simple).

Tefler

You're welcome! There's probably better ways of doing it, but I've kind of stumbled onto this method through trial and error and it works for me. I think of it a bit like storyboarding a movie, where they make sketches of all the scenes before they start filming. I remember seeing James Cameron do that on a "making of" for Terminator 2 I think it was. I always thought that was very cool, so I just swiped the technique. Thanks Jim! ;-)

Tefler

No problem, I'm glad you found it interesting!

Tefler

Interresting - thanks

Kim Biel-Nielsen

Tefler...thank you for a little peak into how you weave your magic . I did notice one little difference that caught my eye . In outline you had BSP refer to John as "our whelp" & in the story "the whelp" just wondered if there was any significance to the change (only if it doesn't disclose any spoilers that is ) . Thanks

bigdawguw65

Thank you!

Kalen Turner

hmm, one scene missing...

Frostfyre

Thank you for posting that. It actually helped seeing that and got me motivated again, thanks! Just a suggestion, if you do another huge space battle, include the outline when you send to the editors to give them an overview, especially if you split it up.

Frostfyre

Just fascinating to see how you approached such an undertaking. To go from that to 28 pages is just incredible. Thank you for the insight, and I hope it gives people a greater appreciation for your craft. Youve really spoiled us with some extra goodies this week! XD

Wow thanks tefler for a wonderful insight into your creative process. As patreons we are blessed to have such access.

Yeah I just write each one as I get to them. If you write them in one go, breaking them up into chunks can be a bit tricky. Having said that, I did split a couple of scenes, particularly the reworked dragon fight to add a bit more tension. :-)

Tefler

Thanks. Was always curious whether you write scenes in order of appearance or whether you write each thread and mix them up after? I guess it’s the former?

Hahaha great job. That ending was great.

Scott

THANKS!! Very interesting.

Thanks for a peek into the process!

Thank you.

morris ridgeway

Thank you!

Evan

Something to read

Jim lynch

Yay

Jim lynch