2nd Draft

So far the second draft of Titan: City Under Siege is going very well. There are no where near as many big changes and rewrites that will have to be done as there was with the first book, Titan: The Midnight Hour. There is one chapter that needs some major attention, but otrherwise the structure of the manuscript is looking very good. After that there are just some minor alterations that need to be done throughout. Also, due to the fact that Jena had started some of the character designs before i had written the characters, some of the villains will need to be re-designed. Villains such as Hammerhead were only a idea when she did the initial sketch for him and once I started writing his chapter it started taking on a bit of a life of its own. Otherwise, I feel like I am definitely on plan to have the second book released by the end of  the spring barring any unforeseen circumstances, which is a drastic improvement over the course of the fist book being written so I am very pleased.

Shadow Games

I am just finishing off the plot outline for Titan 3 'Shadow Games'. It is going to be, I think, the most exciting Titan adventure yet. There is a lot of villains and also a lot of heroes. I should have an initial chapter title list soon for the new book. This is when the whole thing starts to come together for me a s a real tangible super hero universe. After the third book the rogues gallery and character list will be rather long. The teaser I can let out now is that Michael will finally get to meet Azure, someone else may find out Titan's identity, Mr. Midnight may rear his head, and someone close to Michael may die, and it wont be who you might think.

Supporting Cast

One of the things I have tried to do with the Titan universe was to add a plentiful and diverse supporting cast the adds some extra layers of depth to the overall world I want to immerse readers into. I wanted to have the main cast, which was never just Michael, but of Carly, Perminder, Dave, Grandpa Dale, and Vince. This was the core of the books right here, but I have created and tried to establish far more than just those. I have actually broken the additional supporting characters to several groups so that I can keep them all together. I have the characters of the Courier where Vicki works and her editor Charles. Then there's the people from the neighbourhood such as Mr. Carruthers and Dylan Thompson, and people from the school and other family members like Carly's parents. many of these characters were mentioned very briefly in 'The Midnight Hour' and will be further explored in 'City Under Siege'. This,, I flet helped to create the esence of Delta City itself. As the series goes on some will even get pulled directly into being key parts in various story lines. I can already say that Carly's father, Les, and Dylan will become key players in the books to come, and hopefully in ways no one sees coming.

Price Point

When I first published Titan: The Midnight Hour one of the big decisions I had to make was how to price the e-book on Amazon. There were many theories around how to select your price and what would work best. With Amazon you can choose the 70% royalty rate or the 30% royalty rate. The 70% sounds best as the author trying to make money with your book, but there are many who believe that the 30% model works best as you can sell for $0.99, and that is how you sell the most books as an independent. I thought the $2.99 price line at 70% royalty was best for me at the time. I am thinking, however, that I may switch 'The Midnight Hour' to $0.99 after the second book is released. That, I think, is the only way to really test both sides and then I will have a much better idea what will work best.

Of course I also want to test the e-book market on other platforms and not be sold exclusively on Amazon. My sales have been okay (1700 books total so far) but I have no reason to think that what I have done is far from the best model to use. For those of you deciding to do this on your own as well I would suggest you do lots of research and read testimonials from otehr authors who have done the saem things you are thinking of. Of course there is no way to know until you jump in and try things out.

With Friends Like These

Two characters that are going to get some major plot lines are Michael's best friends, Perminder and Dave. They will become altogether more engaging and have a much bigger impact on Michael's life. In 'The Midnight Hour' they are mostly just anchors in helping Michale stay grounded as he copes with understanding his new found powers as Titan. In the second book one of them will learn his secret and the other will start to follow the footsteps of his brother, both will upset the balance of Michael's fragile world.

Editing

So far the editing of Titan: City Under Siege is going very well. I, personally, quite enjoy this stage of the writing process. I've taken that hunk of marble and carved my shape out of it, now I'm adding al the definition that will hopefully make it all pretty. It can be tedious, but so can writing a first draft. I did plenty of editing when it came to 'The Midnight Hour'. I did at least four full drafts as well as all the little editing that I did in between. With the first book there were some changes that I implemented in subsequent drafts that required complete re-writes. I changed Michael's age by four years, which changed a lot. I changed the direction of some support characters like Carly's father. Those changes had deep ripple effects through the entire manuscript. This time there has been very little structural changes to make to the manuscript. It has mostly been grammar, and sentence structure which I find quite easy. I don't think it will be as tough this time. I learned an awful lot with the first book and felt a big difference once I sat down with that blank page in front of me to start the second.  still feel on pace to have the book completed and published by May 2013. In the mean time I will also look to d another Titan mini in the coming months.

Parental Guidance

The characters of Michael's parents in 'The Midnight Hour' were left largely undefined. It was quite deliberately done, I assure you. These were two characters that I plan on revealing more about them as time goes on. It always irked me, at least from my viewpoint, how parents of orphaned heroes such as Spider-man, Batman, or Superman were largely left with very brief or vague character descriptions. Michael's parents will be much the same, but over time we will get to know them very well. In 'City Under Siege' we will learn some unsettling news about their untimely demise.

Dialogue Daze

One of the key points to any novel that is one of the trickiest to master is dialogue. Any writer will tell you how difficult it can be to master this technique and that it can ruin any good novel in a hurry. I am always trying to working my dialogue and making it feel as real as possible. The dialogue I have used in 'The Midnight Hour' I often agonised over whether it sounded 'right' or not. You really start to pay attention to good dialogue when you read it or hear in movies or TV. You also listen to people talking around you in everyday conversation, and how they talk. Because its not just how they talk its what they say or I suppose how they say it. I was very conscious of this as I wrote the dialogue for Titan. Most people have told me that they thought the dialogue was good, which was a huge sigh of relief. I only hope I can maintain at least that and improve upon it the coming books.

Team Ups

One of the key themes that will run through the third Titan book, Shadow Games, will be team work. Titan will encounter new allies in Myst, as well as another former costumed vigilante, Nighthawk, who comes forward to try and coach the newer generation. Nighthawk will be quite contrasting to Azure and the role filled there. As well in the book we meet the government run team of T.R.I. (technologically reinforced infantry) who at first oppose Titan and then become another set of allies in fighting a common threat. So in the book I want to explore the nature of the duo, and the team, and allies (sometimes teammates) as much as I can. These are key elements that run through most superhero comics and some of what I like best about them.

Picking Up The Pace

I am just preparing to begin  the first draft of vol. 3, Titan: Shadow Games. This volume is, as stated previously in other posts, the first volume that is combining the original outlines for Titan 3 & 4. It will prove to be a very action packed and fast moving book with lots of twists and turns. many books, comics, and movies have struggled with trying to balance too much story and too many characters. There are indeed plenty of new characeters (again, as descirbed in previous posts), and there are manyt more moments with the old characters. It ensures that I really have to execute at the planning stage to make sure the story flows properly and that the character development stays strong. I have spent a great deal of time already with planning the entire series, so with any luck I already have it ready. If all goes well with the editing of Titan 2 then I may even be able to have Titan 3 released by Christmas 2013. Here's hoping!