Donald A. Robinson - Aspiring Author Detailing my journey of fiction writing and the road to publication. Snippets of my current novel and other works will find their way onto these pages.

Just making a quick post here.

Let's just say that things have been a bit hectic lately. The good news? My site, DM-DR Adventures is now online! Every month, there will be new, free RPG adventures compatible with The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by Paizo. What's more? I'll be bringing you other game day tips, advice, and randomness to make your tabletop sessions a hit!

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One project down, more to go. Now to get back to writing...

I had put my manuscript on the back burners for a little over a month now. We have been trying to get the baby room ready (and it almost is there! Finally!). Our little kiddo is due in exactly 7 days (so any day now). Talk about cutting it close.

I have also had other "projects" in the works. Baby Shower/BBQ, Job interview with a DNA Crime Lab (received my "we went with another candidate" e-mail today. Everyone thinks I was overqualified).

In exciting book news, I am pretty certain that the first page of my book (well, original opening that is) will be on Ellen Brock's "First Page Fridays" this Friday (April 11th). Be sure to expect a post from me then. I am sure she will set me straight on quite a few things. I told her not to pull any punches (and she is a professional, so I know she will get to the heart of the problems).

Time to get back to writing!

-Donald A. Robinson

Work week is finished! I haven't made it quite as far as I had planned for this week. However, I did get a few things accomplished.

I am currently in the 7-10% range for the word goal of the novel. I am trying to keep it below 80K words, but above 60K. Continuing on with the progress of my book, I am one scene away from completing the set-up of the initial complication/main plot set-up. Yay! There is still some sorting out for the next few stages, but I have worked through the block. There are plot points filled in! Just not fleshed out... boo.

I really need to learn to draw. Or I'll have to hire someone later. Or take pictures. Something. I have finally came to a decision of the symbol I wish to use for the "evil organization" in the group (aka. The Universal Truth). Each of them will have golden pendants. The pendants will be the alchemical symbol for the torrefaction of gold. Wait, you don't know what that is? Well, the symbol is basically a circle. With an "X" through it. And each arm of the "x" is a cross. Oh, you meant the other thing. Torrefaction of gold? Basically, it is setting gold on fire. That's the basics. It'll all make sense later.

Soon, I plan to start releasing information about the characters, organizations, and other random facts. But that all is going to have to wait.

Until next time, -Donald A. Robinson

As promised, I'm back.

I completed the first draft of the alternate opening I discussed in my previous post. Rather than delete my original opening, I am thinking of placing this scene just prior to the current opening.

In this scene, five of the main characters are introduced. These characters are all supporting characters as the master character is introduced in my current opening. Maybe it is a bad idea not to introduce the master character first. Maybe not. I think this new opening will at least circumvent my current cliché opener.

Send me your thoughts on this new scene. Like it? Hate it? Should I add it into the book?

Keep in mind: This is only the first draft of this scene. I have edited out the most glaring of spelling and grammatical issues. Guess that would make this the second draft...

-Donald A. Robinson

“Come on, Melissa. Keep up.”

Melissa stopped. She crossed her arms and glared at Aiden. “I still don’t think this is a good idea, Aiden. We all know there are trolls in this forest. Let’s just wait until morning. It’ll be much safer.”

Turning back with a smile, Quinn embraced Melissa’s shoulders. “It will be okay. Maybe we can find a clearing that is not very far in.”

“If you’re so worried about it, why don’t you just fly to the other side?”

Melissa switched her gaze to Ethan. “And when you get lost, again, who is going to bail you out this time?”

Isaac raised his hands. “Ethan, Melissa, calm down. I don’t wanna go very far into this forest either, but I’m sure it’ll be warmer under the canopy. I don’t know about you guys, but I was freezing last night.”

“I think it’s already starting to freeze. I can hear the leaves and grass cracking from the cold,” said Ethan.

Quinn went pale. “That’s not the grass.”

A pair of gnarled, wood-encrusted hands sprouted from the shadows of the forest. The hands seized Ethan by his ankles. With a sharp tug, Ethan fell. Aiden withdrew his flamberge. Lightning crackled from his blade. A single stroke severed the hands below the wrist.

“See! This is just what I meant,” said Melissa.

Isaac helped Ethan to his feet. Aiden held the heavy blade at the ready. The electric-kissed blade lit up the enclosure. His eyes scanned trees for the aggressor.

“Aiden. The hands are still moving,” said Quinn.

Aiden looked at the severed hands at his feet. The fingers twitched. Once. Twice. The detached wrist elongated. Each sprouted into a new arm. Then a shoulder.

Aiden turned to his friends. “Run!”

Last week, I started outlining the rest of the novel. The main points were quite easy. I beginning phases of the novel plus the climax and ending were already envisioned (for the most part). One thing I that I have become stuck working on is the middle portion. You know, the majority of the book...

For the main plot line, I am looking at three pivotal complications (estimate based on word counts). There are subplots to flesh out as well. These subplots will not be as difficult fleshing out because they are inherent to certain characters, mainly the antagonist(s). In saying antagonist(s), there is a central antagonist as well as some smaller ones, that while main characters, are not the central driving force. At certain times of the novel, these antagonists carry different weights in opposing the protagonist at different times.

In order to introduce (the powers of) the characters centered around the main character better, I am considering adding additional scene in the first chapter. This would only work in the first chapter because it directly relates to dialogue of these supporting characters and their recent actions. I plan to write the scene, but I feel that it is not fully needed.

I will post the scene later when it is finished and decide whether to keep it or drop it. I need to get back to writing. I promise to post a snippet next time. Need to decide on an appropriate scene to introduce to everyone. There are a couple of scenes I need to either edit or cut from the book.

-Donald A. Robinson

Progress update: Outline ~50% completed.

It has been over a year. Not too many things have happened. I stepped away from the writing on the book and blog. Last week, I decided to take to writing once more. More on this later.

Since my last post, the only BIG news in my life is that my wife, Tanya, and I are happily awaiting the arrival of our new baby boy (our first child entirely). He is expected to arrive April 14th. If he is early, we have already started to imagine what would happen if he was an April Fools baby. We can be quite silly at times.

On to the book! For starters, I do have a title (hopefully THE title and not just a working title). Going to keep that under wraps for now. I have edited the first chapter more times than I can count. I also expanded the first chapter into the 3.5K word range (combining the original first and second chapters with some cuts). The second chapter (albeit much shorter than the first) is also complete, though I am hesitant to begin the third chapter. I would like to see my second chapter reach at least 2,000 words, but I may have to settle for a shorter chapter as I am not sure what would add to the story without slowing everything down and becoming boring. Might have to wait on that until I am further along. More to post within the week on progress. I have already started researching agents for possible queries. I have a tentative schedule to be finished with at least the second draft complete (if all goes well) in about 2 months. I will take 2-4 weeks off after that. During that break, I will find some reviewers. I hope that after those revisions as well as a few of my own, I will be ready for my first round of queries to agents and publishers. Target word count is still around 80,000 words.

Until next time,

Donald A. Robinson

P.S. Thoughts on the pen name? (D.A.Robinson). Progress: Title: Check. 4,831/80,000 words.