What are you writing about now?

[david_wendelken]

Really slow progress on editing over the last month. I have two flawed chapters and haven't quite found the right way to fix them. It's been hard to focus on them. My wife had back surgery early last week, after the doctor said it went well, I felt an entire weight of a person leave my spirit. That's when I realized why I wasn't able to focus. Now I'm just sleep-deprived taking care of her. But she's getter better every day, so this won't last long in the scheme of things.

To make some progress, I've been working on the book's graphic layout. I think I'm homing in on the final look and feel.

 

[WatcherWraith]

I'll pray for your wife's well-being. Sounds like you guys are going through a lot together. You deserve praise too, for watching over her so constantly! I'll pray for both of you.

 

[david_wendelken]

I have chapters grouped into topical sections. Each section has a quotation from an "historical" source or personage.
Here's one I particularly like:

“Running from problems only makes them fleet of foot.
Dodging problems trains them to strike without warning.
Embrace them, discard fear and make them allies.”

- Telicur, Lessons to my Sons

 

[Fingon_Findekáno]

Really slow progress on editing over the last month. I have two flawed chapters and haven't quite found the right way to fix them. It's been hard to focus on them. My wife had back surgery early last week, after the doctor said it went well, I felt an entire weight of a person leave my spirit. That's when I realized why I wasn't able to focus. Now I'm just sleep-deprived taking care of her. But she's getter better every day, so this won't last long in the scheme of things.

Praying for you and your wife, David! I'm glad her back surgery went well. May her recovery bring relief to the both of you as she heals. 🥺

This free online writing conference is going on now. You can also pay a nominal fee if you want to re-watch some sessions in the future. It's worth every penny. The third session, by Jessica Berg, is worth the entire fee. Each session is free for 24 hours from when it was scheduled, so you've got 23 hours to watch Ms. Berg's session for free.

Develop Your Premise Summit 2026

Find out how to convey your vision in a way that your reader will love at this four-day event.

summit.developyourpremise.com

This was very interesting! I attended it through the free version and was only able to watch one session, the What To Do When Your Draft Gets Stuck talk (it was a busy week, so I couldn't get to any of the talks live, let alone rewatch any others). Still, the talk itself was informative and interesting, and the concept of the conference itself sounded like it would be helpful. Thank you for sharing this with us!

 

[david_wendelken]

Here's a good piece of advice from the writer's conference. To protect yourself from concerns that your writing might be AI generated instead of your own work, save your revisions. So, instead of editing in the same file over and over, save a copy with a new date in the file name (I suggest YYYYMMDD format so they sort well!) and make your edits in that new file. That way, you can show your revision history over time.

 

[WatcherWraith]

I honestly never anticipated that kind of concern. Huh. Well, now I can! Thank you, @david_wendelken

 

[david_wendelken]

I honestly never anticipated that kind of concern. Huh. Well, now I can! Thank you, @david_wendelken

People have been losing book deals over accusations of their writing being AI-generated.

 

[david_wendelken]

I'm skipping further editing on my problem chapter for now. I've beaten my head against that wall long enough. Moving on to the following chapters. I'll come back to it later.

Good news, though. The overall graphic look and feel is coming together. Need a few more drawings to make sure.

 

[david_wendelken]

Oh! Forgot to mention. I've figured out the opening sequence of material in the book. It's a delicate balance between diving into the story without the background needed to fully understand what's going on, and the need for an explanation of the framing device around the story.

The framing device is that this is a history, not a novel. The original history was penned by a Gondorian historian with a Lorien bard supplementing it with additional material about 900 years later, just after the War of the Ring. And, of course, the Modern Editors add in a few glosses here and there.

The sequence is a trigger warning from the Modern Editors with a bit of framing info included on the back end. Next comes the map pages, title pages, and table of content pages. They fill in the importance of the Two Trees and what happened to them, show the lineage of the history's text through the 3 layers of editors, and introduce the existence of the hero/villain-to-be and the heroine-to-be to the readers. The graphics let me minimise the need to have so much text exposition.

Next comes the Elven bard, introducing herself before diving into the story about how she became involved in the Two Tales, which is intended to create a sense of wonder about the world and the mystery before her. She slides seamlessly into the first of the Two Tales.

I'm really pleased. I think that, between the graphics, the text layout, and the stories themselves, it will be a solid hook. Can't wait to test it out, but I'll have to, because I still need a few images done first.

 

[Ent]

I honestly never anticipated that kind of concern. Huh. Well, now I can! Thank you, @david_wendelken

The concerns are very real.
Ent just finished co-authoring an article for a magazine, and for the article Ent had an AI image generated showing Tolkien sitting at a desk, in a study room, depicting him "considering every word" as he wrote - a somewhat key element of the article.
Before we could submit the article with this picture, research needed to be done to see if we could use it, given its portrayal of a 'very obvious simile of J.R.R. Tolkien.'
Ultimately, research showed we could because: 1) - the image was a "likeness" constructed from no existing picture, a real study room, and contained no books, typewriter, etc. known to be duplicates of 'real' Tolkien things.

However, for safety, it was recommended we:
1. Put a caption on the picture indicating it was AI done.
2. Keep record of the content of Ent's request to AI forming the creation of the picture and its content, engaging AI to construct the picture.
3. Keep record of any requests for change to the picture following the initial creation.
4. Make sure the records were dated, so we could always show exactly when the engagement of the picture was done.
5. Be able to show the picture's integral connection to the article it was created for. (Very simple, in this case.)

THEN, we needed to understand while we had the 'rights' to the picture without infringing on the AI producer itself, AND while we could use the picture, we did not have "exclusive rights" over the picture's use by others in the future, just by reason of having had it generated consistent with Ent's instruction.

Publication is a tangled web.
Here is the work finally submitted with the article. (Entirely based on the INITIAL background request/details Ent provided for its rendering... no changes or alterations needed..! Ent was impressed..!)

 

[david_wendelken]

I'm 2/3rds of the way thru Volume I, A Tale of Two Tales, with my editor.

It's hard work but I'm learning a lot! I'm going thru the remaining chapters I haven't yet sent my editor to make the kind of changes I've learned how to make in the first 2/3rds of the book. Good practice and she can finish her work faster, too.

 

[Ent]

she can finish her work faster, too.

A writer who learns a little about the world of editing will see a dramatic change in the depletion of funds available in bank accounts...!
Ent strongly recommends it to all writers.
That said, despite the many books, articles, and classes available on the subject, there's nothing like the learning arising from the first "hands on, real world" experience of submitting one's work to an editor.

And most certainly, not all editors will see, or say, the same things.

So no matter how far we come, we are not yet at our destination. Nope - not ever.

 

[Halasían]

Here's a good piece of advice from the writer's conference. To protect yourself from concerns that your writing might be AI generated instead of your own work, save your revisions. So, instead of editing in the same file over and over, save a copy with a new date in the file name (I suggest YYYYMMDD format so they sort well!) and make your edits in that new file. That way, you can show your revision history over time.

Great advice!

 

[Ent]

Not sure if this has been shared here yet, but Ent's current work is revising his Appendix from the book Middle-earth Lore into an article for Fantasy & Fairydust to publish. (This is where our co-authored article just got accepted - serving in part as a launch point for Ent's work(s)).

The revision is substantial for several reasons. This article will also serve as the launch point for a series of articles to follow.

The title is (currently) changed to: Tolkien's Silmarils: Faith, Choice and Providence.

Ent believes these 3 "moral and religious elements' Tolkien has included throughout his works serve as the 'cornerstones' of the many "moral and religious elements" he chose to include "in solution" throughout all his writing. (The current list is an easily identifiable 34 'elements'.)

Our co-authored article is titled Getting A Grip On Tolkien, or: Fly? You Fools! and deals with reading Tolkien as closely as he wrote his works, paying attention to the words themselves, their syntax, and more so we see what he has said in its full potential, why it's there, and don't need to ask questions like "why didn't the eagles just fly the ring to Mordor?" Tolkien has provided answers to such questions within the works... we just don't 'look' for them.

(Thus, the picture posted elsewhere of Tolkien sitting at the desk "laboring over every word."

The current work, Tolkien's Silmarils, will take the next step and begin to show HOW Tolkien did what he did, sinc he said "all mythology and fantasy must contain...moral and religious elements in solution...but not explicitly." And he "...intended (his work) to be consonant with Christian Theology."

To understand what he said in his work, we must see it as he wrote it, looking for the continuous "implicit" things he put within it. In short, the series will show HOW he did what he did...his subtleties and precise choices - so we can start to "get a grip on Tolkien" as he intended for us to.

The articles will briefly cover some of the content to be expanded in the book Ent hopes to publish in the end.

 

[david_wendelken]

Is this correct?

590 years: First Age of the Sun.
3441 years: Second Age
3021 years: Third Age
======
7052 years since the sun rose at the end of the 3rd age?