New Post Your Progress Thread

In that Baldemar/Oldo story mentioned above, "The Ghost-Wrangler," l created a new character: Nachecko the necromancer. Now I've started a story -- could be the first of a series -- featuring him as the central character: 2600 words in and having fun exploring.
 
Finally started writing ‘Firebirds of Kiranithiaen’ about 3000 words since early this morning.
It may need an easier to say and spell title, despite the Kiranithiaen Mountains being included many books ago.
I like Émer and the Firebirds, but stupidly accented words in titles cause problems. USA-centric-English IT worldwide despite many in USA speak and write Spanish.
Actually, even more crazy is the Irish Health Service computer system only takes unaccented letters and many Irish names without the accent(s) are unrelated words.
 
Finally started writing ‘Firebirds of Kiranithiaen’ about 3000 words since early this morning.
It may need an easier to say and spell title, despite the Kiranithiaen Mountains being included many books ago.
I like Émer and the Firebirds, but stupidly accented words in titles cause problems. USA-centric-English IT worldwide despite many in USA speak and write Spanish.
Actually, even more crazy is the Irish Health Service computer system only takes unaccented letters and many Irish names without the accent(s) are unrelated words.
 
Changed it to ‘Tom Og and the Firebirds’. There was an older Tom in the same class at school, so naturally one was Tom Mór and became Tommo and the younger Tom was thus Tom Og, which can mean younger, youth, lesser etc, literally youth.
 
Didn't Tom Og and the Firebirds have a top 10 beach hit in mid-50s called "Surf Party Wild Things"?
 
I've no idea. Nor has Bing or Google.
The Russian folktale of the Firebird has inspired music, ballet, picture books and maybe the names of some pop groups.
There may have been a real bird with a flame like coloured tail, purple bits (Hence Phoenix cf Phoenicians, purple dye makers), a feather crown and probably related to a Golden Pheasant that lived in the Horn of Africa. The legends about magical rebirth via a burning nest appear to start hundreds of years after Egyptian and Greek reports of a largish vividly coloured bird, the size of which grew in reports with time from eagle to ostrich. The Russian story seems unconnected.

‘Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ was formed in 1976
I also remember ‘Big Tom and The Mainliners‘, who formed in the Mid 1960s, an Irish Showband.
I'd never heard of ‘The Firebirds’, from about 1981. Possibly I had lost interest in new pop music by 1981. There is a possibly newer group ‘George Griffin and the Firebirds’.

I did change one title from ‘The Enchanted Maiden’, a Portugese folk tale, to ‘The Enscorcelled Maid’, though books can use another book's title. I actually have two unrelated books called ‘Dancer's Luck’ and there are loads of books with similar titles to Magician.
 
I'm afraid I was busy being Very Silly, Ray.
 
No, it's a valid point and "<front man> and the <somethings>" is a common band name.
It's easy to be blind to the flaws in a title so comments are appreciated!
 
Only wrote about 1500 words yesterday on ‘Tom Og and the Firebirds’, but I was at the dentist. Oddly the next book after that is a complete draft, but will now need extensively re-written. Earlier as yet unpublished books in the series unchanged so far.
Ret-conning earlier books and in later books is invisible when they've never been published. Don't sit around waiting for agents to respond. Write more.
 
Now at about 7,700 words and I know roughly the ending and have a suitable Antagonist.
 
Now about 14,730 words on ‘Tom Og and the Firebirds’. The ending is done. Accidentally slept in, got up late after 10 am, so 3600 approx. today isn't too bad.

Edit:
Did a bit more just before bedtime. About 15,350 words total.
 
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Just starting on Part Three of Amulet of Tears this week & have been trying to come up with some names for new characters/planets, thought I'd post my progress (not procrastination AT ALL). Reading above posts has reminded me everyone's in the same boat with name choosing...
Apparently there's been a recent sighting of a bird, thought extinct in the wild in the UK, called Lady Amhurst's Pheasant, not a firebird but pretty snazzy all the same.
 
The original Firebird of the Egyptians, known to the Greeks,(not the Slav legend) probably was related to the Golden Pheasant. But purple legs. Purple stuff got named after the Phoenicians by Greeks because they were experts at purple dye. The Egyptian deity Bennu seems related to the firebird. The legend of rebirth from an egg in a burning nest is much later. It was the bright tail feathers that suggested flames.

"Tom Óg and the Firebirds" is nearly 20,000 words now and I'm working on other stuff so as to read the incomplete (but with ending) early draft as fresh story. I've collected some of the Russian and Slav stories for comparison from Gutenberg and will include them in an appendix.

There is a website that generates planet names and one that does fantasy names. Swap vowels for other vowels etc. Make sure you can pronouce them for the audiobook.
 
On the positive side, between October 2020 and now, I have written a new novel The Child's Prison. It is a blend of fantasy and science fiction, just like my first trilogy, The God's Bracelet.
The Child's Prison is a thriller about dragons from another world and people of our universe, both Earthlings and aliens. It is filled with mysteries and adventures, and suspense spans hundreds of pages, until it is revealed who is who and what is going on.

OTOH, the inspiration for my WIP novels, Evil 100% and The Things I Love and Hate is on hiatus, and I simply cannot find strength to complete them, while the work on The Child's Prison is nearing fruition. Till later date.

On the topic of names:

The names of characters do not come easy! Sometimes I make up a perfect name for someone while busy with other stuff, and then I forget to write it down and have to make up another one. This can be so frustrating! I learned a hard way, to carry a notepad and pen.
 
I'm at about 30,000 words now on "Tom Óg and the Firebirds, but progress is slow. I've been working at other projects and did a final proof of "Dwarves and Rooks" which is out in May 2021. I've a nearly final draft of "The Mission's Talent", but I've decided it won't be released till spring-summer 2027. I've backups of everything except me.

Names are tricky. Even human ones. I've 17 books of names, some from charity shops and some bought. Also edited printouts from Wikipedia and name sites.

I now add pronouciations on my cast lists. Unlike Lovecraft I think even alien names should be pronounceable. Or lampshaded, "People call me ****** because they can't pronounce my real name". I think the officials at Ellis Island maybe didn't try very hard?
 
I've been making a concerted effort to get-the-hell-back-with-it this month after literally years of languishing. Blame it on the political climate etc... In any case I've been particularly focusing on getting poems and microfiction in shape and beginning to submit things again. Have sent out some 17-18 pieces since the beginning of the month (some out more than once) and just had my first acceptance - a poem for Star*Line.
 
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