Black and Silver Going Forward + Random Thoughts

Some of you know I'm going through personal family drama right now. Getting myself in the mood for writing B&S has been tough, but I've been working on the next chapter, which is the final chapter of the current story.

I decided to talk about some of the stuff I've been thinking about.

Firstly, doing those chapters takes a lot out of me. Unlike - I guess - a lot of the fiction writers here, I don't just copy/paste pre-existing material, I write each chapter from scratch. And it's not just the writing part, a lot of planning goes into it. I need to know what's going to happen two-three-four chapters later before writing a single chapter. Some things do change, yes. For instance, Gwen/Alexa was originally not going to be a major character, but I started liking her so much, got a ton of ideas for her, so I decided to give her a larger role, and currently she's becoming one of the main characters.

So, it's a time-consuming process.

To ensure quality for each chapter, I've decided on a weekly schedule.

Meaning that I'll post a chapter once per week. I will make those chapters longer, too. I've been doing 2000-3000 words per chapter up to this point, but I think I will aim at writing at least 4000 words for the weekly chapters.

I can write the chapter throughout the week, ponder on it, plan on it, give it some time and thought. I believe this will lead to better quality.

I know I'll never have a ton of readers, I realize this is Steemit, a lot of people don't read or care - especially not fiction - but I still really enjoy the story, the characters, I have plans for where to take them, I'm excited about those plans and fully intend on giving those twists and turns for the few who have invested their time into reading what I've produced.

It really means a lot to me on a personal level that even a few people have really put in the time to go through the story that I've created. Creating a story, your own characters, etc. is really personal and I find it very cool to have other people give it a try.

Some people have asked for a summary post for what's taken place so far, and that's coming up.

The story is - and is getting even more - convoluted, and that's by design. It's always been something of a dream of mine to create a story that's very complicated with lots of twists, turns, characters switching sides, all that crazy stuff. But in the end, you go: "Okay, so that's why that happened, now I get it!"

I'm also aware that not everybody is a fan of that sort of storytelling, but it's what I do, and I won't spoonfeed everything the moment it happens. You need to be patient and see where the story goes.

The way the story works is sort of like seasons of TV shows. Black and Silver is the second "season" of a larger story, the first being Black Dawn that I wrote last year. I have already outlined the main story and big moments for the third "season".

For those of you who haven't checked it out, the story has a lot of guns, explosions, conspiracies, corrupt government officials, all that good stuff I love so much.

The long chapters are sure to turn away a lot of people, but I decided what the hell. I'll just write for those who care. And I'll try to reward them with a good story.

I actually dislike the fact that so much of the fiction here on Steemit is 200-500 words per chapter.

To me, it comes across as the person attempting to stretch the story as long as he or she possibly can just to milk the votes.

Because I'm so thankful for everybody bothering to give a shit, I want to work hard for them.

One other thing to note is that the structure of the story is like this:

There is a larger, overarching story in the background, while each "season" has an individual story specific for that "season".

This is done to possibly grab some new readers and not make them feel too isolated. But, as I said, the story does get convoluted and perhaps hard to keep track of. But thankfully, I have plenty of notes!

So, expect to see a post in the near future explaining what's happened thus far.

I derive enjoyment out of putting Adam through hell, so you can expect a lot more of that in the future - though, not infinitely, since the story does have a definitive endgame where everything is leading to.

But it's a ways away.

Also, here's a piece of trivia to cap things off:

Originally, I was going to write a story that would have taken place during the tail end of the Cold War, involving the characters of AJ - Adam's father - and Simon Silverman. I had it mapped out and ready to go, but then got inspired to write what turned out to be Black Dawn, featuring AJ's son Adam.

The fact that I've had it in my head the entire time what took place between AJ and Silverman has given me a strong backstory to build from - and I'll definitely write the story in its entirety as a "prequel" of sorts. At some point.

The final chapter of the ongoing story will be posted "soon".