T. Ellery Hodges

As I’ve been working on the finale for The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs I’ve been repeatedly experiencing creeping productivity lows followed by surges.

This can be attributed to a number of different factors. A main one being that I now have a one year old that makes it harder than ever to get time in front of the keyboard.

That said, there are things happening in the actual writing this time around that I haven’t had as much trouble with in the past. I’ve always had the basic foundations for the book in my head.  Sure, edits have been made here and there along the way as I wrote TNH and TNP, but the fundamental story has not changed. Still, every writer will tell there is often a wide gap between how a scene he/she imagined will play out and what actually happens once they start putting the words down.

In the past, if I couldn’t get what I wanted out of a scene, I didn’t let it shut me down. If a chapter wasn’t working I’d go onto the next. Sometimes the very act of skipping ahead would jar lose the answer I needed anyway. Then, I could go back to whatever section wasn’t quite working and fix it.

This hasn’t been a real option on the finale.

This (hopefully) being the final book in the series, certain plot lines have to come to pass at certain moments. I haven’t been able to skip ahead with much confidence because  I need to see the reality of how a scene worked its self out  as opposed to how I’m hoping it will.

More specifically, I need to know exactly what characters A, B, C, and D know, where they are, and what condition they’re in, before writing the next scene. The ability to assume that the natural progression of the story will get them where I need them in the condition I imagined is a bit more of a gamble.

Of course, I’m only really ‘gambling’  with my time, but as I mentioned–time isn’t as abundant as it once was.

This is all to say I’ve noticed a pattern in the writing lately where certain key scenes lead me into week long periods where I try to tinker the words into working before I finally see the answer, realize I’ve gone about it all wrong, and then crank out the finished scene in a single day.  All the writing that came before doesn’t necessarily go to waste, as it still influences the final version, but man… those treading water periods take their toll on the spirit.

Yes, its always worth it in the end. I re-wrote a scene yesterday that, again, hadn’t been working for weeks before hand, and now it feels amazing to be able to figuratively stamp it: First Draft Done.

Lastly, don’t get to caught up on the whole Catalog Entry #451546217.23 .

Said catalog only exists in my imagination… and even in my imagination its highly unorganized, theoretical at best really. I mean its kind of like these scenes I’ve been talking about.

Since March I’ve been getting questions from readers worried that there is no planned third installment into The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs (TCOJT). If you fall in that group I want to relax your concerns. I’m working on the next book daily. I have an infant these days, so sometimes I only get butt-in-seat-typing time for twenty minutes, but I use it to move the project forward.

I have a working title for the next installment, but I’m holding off on announcing it for two reasons:

• I’ve decided that, if TCOJT III starts heading upwards of 800 pages without feeling like I’m near the planned conclusion, I’ll need to seriously consider breaking the book in two. I am rather resistant, after having stated for years that I had planned a trilogy. Regardless, if this happened I would obviously need two titles and in that scenario my current working title might not fit either of the theoretical books.
• I’ve learned my lesson from book two. If you don’t know, I was at one time, pretty sure that The Never Paradox was going to be titled The Never Trespass. During the revision process I felt the book should be more focused on the complexities of time paradox then it was on the many ‘trespasses’ that took place. So, I changed the title, and for months afterward, I saw people confused about what book was coming out. So… yeah… let’s not do that again.

Updates:

(1) The Never Store

The Never Store launched back in August. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can here.

(2) Kindle X-Ray

Amazon has given authors more power to improve the reading experience of ebooks. If you have seen the X-Ray option in the kindle app when reading before you may already know what I am talking about. If you haven’t, the X-Ray option now allows me to go in and basically set things like a glossary of characters and terms that the reader can access while reading. This includes descriptions of characters as well as aiming Wikipedia articles to the appropriate content. For instance, if you didn’t know who Mr. Miyagi was when the name was dropped in The Never Hero, I can now actually select the appropriate Wikipedia information that will tell you about the karate kid character.Now, I know most of you reading the blog aren’t going to go reread the whole book for that…

“but wait… dares more!”

The new tools now allow me to put in commentary.  So, I spent awhile the other day putting in anything I thought was noteworthy about the characters. In other words, it is a lot like watching a movie with director commentary turned on now.

Anyhow, if you were ever curious about things like what inspired characters like Hayden and Collin, you can check it out in your Kindle App. Also, if you haven’t done so, I do recommend making sure you have the latest version of the ebook. It has been a long time since I’ve been notified of any errors in The Never Hero, as I always fixed them immediately if a reader was kind enough to let me know, but that doesn’t mean that the file you’ve have on your device is getting those updates. I recommend checking out this tutorial on how to check for updates and make sure all your ebooks are actually the most recent published version.

*Note, at this time I’ve only completed commentary for The Never Hero.

(3) Donuts Gaming

Readers, I am going to abuse you– just this once, I promise–but its for nepotism! …er I meant… a good cause!

My oldest son, Luke, has always wanted to start a youtube gaming channel. For obvious reasons he has always found the idea daunting. So, in an attempt at being… I don’t know… a role model or something, I recently decided to help him. So, I’ve started teaching him what I know about video and sounds editing so he could learn to bring the production quality of the videos up.

Anyhow, if you happen to be a gamer, like gaming videos, or just want to laugh a bit, it would mean the world to me if you’d check out our first video. Hoping a few likes, comments, and subscriber will inspire him to put his creative efforts “all in.”

I know a lot of you have been waiting for The Never Paradox to be available on paperback or audiobook. Steven Barnett and I wanted to give both these formats 100%, and now that they are here we can’t wait to hear what you think! I am perpetually honored to have each of you as readers. I can’t thank you enough for your patience, support, and kind words!

Audiobook

Currently Available on:
Audible
Amazon
iTunes

Paperback

Currently Available on:
Amazon
Barnes and Nobles

Hi Folks! I was recently interviewed on the Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast.

I had a great time talking to Simon about the The Never Paradox and all that came between book one’s release and the sequel. We discussed the fans and beta readers who stepped up to see it through–and a few of you will recognize yourself in the stories.

Hope you enjoy! Follow this link to podcast interview!