Journey of the Voodoo People

So, as a late addition to the book, I added a couple chapters that focus on a character who otherwise shows up late in the book. Originally, this mysterious man in a white hooded tunic was known just as the Ash Eater. However, that’s not a term he would use for himself, so in the earlier chapters, I called him The Stranger.

Now, I frequently find myself wondering if what I’m writing really does have the Deity’s approval. Well, I downloaded Magic, a play by G. K. Chesterton and saw this…

“The Stranger is discovered, a figure in a white pointed hood. His costume may belong to our time or any time.”

As long as I’m getting my ideas from the same place as Chesterton, I’m quite confident of the value of my work.

I’ll be old and beyond money worries and there will be nothing to do, except read and write and stare out the window at some picturesque scene. And I’ll have all day to sit in a comfy chair, listening to sad music and writing atmospheric stories about unrequited love full of exciting, talented and clever people who just can’t make love work. They’ll be moody and witty and just sad. Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad. Like, just holding the book would bring an ADD kid down to earth. There will be all this fire and passion that brings nothing but pain and isolation. It’ll be awesome!

Okay… now back to planning my next book; an examination of the nature and function of gender roles in a pre-industrial society… with vampire-zombies.

For me, somehow editing means adding more than subtracting. Which will make no sense to any of my friends. I’m actually a very economic writer. Who knew?

So, what was originally ~89,500 words is now 94,006. Imagine if you printed ‘Slaughter-House Five’ with ‘Fahrenheit 451’ in a single volume and that’s about the length we’re talking. Or, take a copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ and cut it in half. Or, split the difference between ‘1984’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. That’s where I’m at. Also, I recut the chapter breaks in a way that makes it just a bit more elegant.

I still need to finish copy editing. My creys!

A group of anthropomorphic cats fighting behind Nazi lines in the North African Campaign. I call it ‘Inglorious Baasterds’.

In which I talk about a lot of books in order to procrastinate on editing my own.

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