Life after SEE

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And... stop! It seems like I've been writing Somewhere Else Entirely forever and it is a strange feeling not to have a chapter to finish and post.

So, what do I do now? Here are some thoughts on how the past happened, what the present holds and what the future may offer.

In fact, just recently I've been in the middle of an almost perfect storm. Things started to go downhill while I was writing #139 and I just about managed to get that out and make a start on #140, which was planned to be the final chapter. Of course, #140 turned out to be far too big and I was forced to split it into two... which meant that I could progress the story at a reasonable pace without cramming everything that needed telling into one chapter.

This had one benefit, in that when the farmyard residues hit the rotating impeller I already had most of #140 and #141 written and didn't need to spend the usual amount of time in pure writing. Julia will tell you I sent her a number of drafts which were probably junked before she read them. The final result was nothing like I had originally anticipated, but I think it turned out much better.

I know many of you were unhappy about the jump in time and would have preferred to continue with Garia's life. Well, I decided on a specific end point at the time I began this project and it was originally going to be just a single epilogue chapter. I'm sorry it essentially began another story but that's how the world works sometimes. I did consider writing the Vasco da Gama's visit as a separate story from the point of view of the crew, but thought better of it...

So, what transpired to upset my day? A number of things, really. I was taken off my medication in mid December but suffered a severe cold during January some symptoms of which implied that my problems might be coming back. That means I have gone back onto a low dose to try and prevent any flare-ups. It might mean that I am on steroids (prednisolone) for the rest of my life, which won't be fun. I'm still suffering from that cold, by the way.

Next, I had to get four new tyres for the 7-seater car I bought when the family came over from New York. So, a few days later and a rear tyre is flat. It turns out the valve stem is rotten but I couldn't just get a new one, no, this special kind has the automatic tyre pressure sensor screwed to the bottom and they won't sell the stem separately. ...which means an new stem and sensor, £84, plus pairing, calibrating and fitting, £101. Oh, and the dealer is an 18 mile bus ride away which essentially means a day wasted. Cars are just money pits but I already knew that.

Next, the boiler goes on the blink with an intermittent fault... you know the kind, the fault that only ever happens when an engineer isn't around. I've had three visits so far and almost all of the boiler innards have been replaced... except, it seems, for the sensor which appears to be the root of the problem. Cue final visit Tuesday to have that done. Fortunately that is all covered by our yearly maintenance contract which no doubt will go up next time we renew it. Another racket, of course.

Then there's the networking issues. I've had trouble for some months with what looked like a poor connection to the outside world. It came and went and I put it down to water in the cable ducts. Then last week I did a bit of fault finding on another issue and it looks like one of my Gigabit switches is faulty. Not defunct, that would be too obvious but just dropping packets every so often, just enough to make websites slow and updating software a right pain. A replacement unit is arriving Tuesday.

Tuesday is beginning to look busy...

Oh, and we have had regular incursions from the grand-daughters, which means drop everything and give them our full attention. They have only just departed, which is why I'm taking the opportunity right now to get something out there.

The future. Well, I have three Anmar related tales in the pipeline, plus work to do editing out the worst excesses of SEE. I'm currently re-reading it and am appalled by the blatant plotholes and mistakes I have noticed going through it. (I'm also amazed that I wrote any of it.) Any editing I do will not change the narrative significantly but will tidy up the storyline in a number of important respects. Because the thing is so big I expect the edit process to take at least a year and I won't make any announcement except when it is over. Chapters will get done as I find time.

The first new tale will detail what Milsy did after she changed places with Garia in South Slip. I won't say much more but it will go into detail about events which were reported back to Garia and Keren in SEE. I'll have to determine how much new material I can sneak in or even if that would be advisable.

The second new tale will follow Eriana as she takes the Visund on an exploratory voyage up the Sirrel. She will stop at each country she comes to and there will be interactions of various sorts with the locals. It is likely that on her return to Palarand she will discover that Garia has just returned from Earth but I need to consider timings to see if that is practical.

The third new tale will be TG and will take place 30 years into the future. I'll say no more about that for now, except that it will be a castaway who doesn't realize that she isn't dreaming.

I may not post any of the above until they are complete. If I had tried that with SEE you would now be reading chapter 3 with about another year's worth of reading to go, so that wouldn't have worked very well. (Yes, I know all about Bike, thank you.) Making me finish them first should help to keep them down to a reasonable size.

Other projects? Well, yes, but SEE has taken so much of my time and focus some of them may never now see the light of day. A shame really because I don't want my life to be all about Anmar, there are other stories that need to be told, not all of them TG ones.

So there you have it. There is more of Anmar to come and perhaps more stories of other kinds. I'm not going away, although Real Life may have something to say about that, of course.

Thank you for reading my stories. I hope I have offered something that has kept you entertained for some short while.

Penny

Comments

1) Thanks for writing. I

1) Thanks for writing. I figured you'd be taking a break for a month or so, and just puttering around writing for yourself.
2) Crack the gigabit switch open and check the capacitors. I've had identical problems with some in the past, and that was the issue. It means I now have four or five gigabit switches in good shape that I've repaired after replacing the customer switches.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Be Proud

You've created a remarkable world/series/story. It's wildly popular generating (possibly) record comment numbers. My guess is that you'll find new issues every time you go back through the story, but from my view as a reader, it's pretty much perfect as it is. Like I'm guessing many others, I would have liked some Keren and Garia reunion time, but you handled that they got as close to happily ever after as mortals can experience in the final chapter; so, I'm happy enough (It's you story after all). Overall, I thought you did a great job wrapping up the series. Again, thanks so much. I really enjoyed the series and look forward to your future work..

can still do

since garia is still alive, you can do short see stories by having garia give her pov of events in see history like what happened when she came back from earth and other events that happened in her life over the years.

Definitely be proud of it all

Okay, life is not all about Anmar, but then again, there are all these poor authors out there who do has not produced any series of note that is cleanly written and has a coherent plot, despite the what you seem to be saying, with regard to plot holes. Yes, there are issues, plot as well as punctuation and such but your series is among the select few that stir the imagination and makes the reader think instead of just passively soaking up the words, that will be reread.

Anyway, it is hoped reader comments have helped you in looking at issues in the story (or not) and has given you the solace that you have done a good job as an author.

And of course I look forward to your further scribbles :)

Really odd

Podracer's picture

feeling to stop doing something which has gone on for a long time. It can be liberating in a way, but I and many others are glad that you had the motivation to finish the SEE epic, plot holes or not.
With any luck the run of breakdowns will end, sometimes one has to keep shovelling, maybe laugh about it later.

"Reach for the sun."

todays cars have all these

todays cars have all these fancy bits on my 72 cortina and my 99 transit camper van is one step up from a push bike simple and as easy as pie to fix. got the 1.6 l cortina in 80 for300 pounds still going.my workshop which i also live in has no boiler no central heating just colour gas no worries i also spend time in my van when i work away keep it simple cost less. my lap top so old it uses valves. i like your story think the time jump good.Oh i use a 2013 belingo WAV car to take a wheelchair use out by today car standard they are pretty simple. basic for a today less to go wrong.

Good to hear

Since I'm suffering SEE withdrawal after two weeks of non-stop reading I'm glad to hear there's more. I'll try to be patient!

Another Story Arc

Penny,

For a complete change of pace, you could give us another story about Belle and Marion. Pretty please, with sugar on top. ;-)

G/R

Continuation of Garia

As a suggestion,

I understand you wanting to move on. How about allowing Julia to continue the story of Garia and Keren?

Or allowing another Big Closet writer (you have confidence in) to continue the story?

Another suggestion:

Authorize someone else entirely to write a different story in the Anmar universe:

An Einnlander exploration of the open sea???

The story of the establishment of the Chivan empire???

The story of what happens on Earth when they find out about Anmar? Will the Doctor's notes be found and released?

The story of another Anmar "transferee"???

A third suggestion:

Big Closet Writer's Contest:

A short story set in Anmar universe (Must be consistent with "canon"). Preferably in a time period when Garia is not "present".

A fourth suggestion:

How about one more chapter with short vignettes answering open questions (such as: (a) were the doctor's notes on Garia released to Earth and Anmar; (b) what happened to Eriana's brother; (c) what happens with Marilyn; (d) is a diplomatic agreement with Earth going to happen; (e) what are the other continents like; (f) what did Garia bring back;(g) will the being's plans be sucessful because of Garia; (h) Garia's Family tree; (I) will any of the Chivian culture be recovered; (j) were there any "reverse transferee(s)"; (k) how did the planetary government develop; (l) how did technology develop on Anmar; (m) what was the threat from the other Galaxy)

Future SEE

I started to answer this yesterday afternoon but then the site got cranky so I had to abandon my post. Here's another try...

Much of what you ask for already exists in one form or another but that does not preclude further stories written by me or others. To take your points in order:

  • Julia has her hands full with Julina of Blackstone. She'll also have her hands full shortly with Real Life family matters. I'm not sure if she has other plans involving Anmar.
  • I have around a year of developments roughly mapped out, ending with Garia's return from Earth, so I'm not sure I would care to have somebody else take it over right now. Maybe in the future something can be arranged, but existing commitments mean I'd rather do it myself for now.
  • The Anmar universe is already open, and has been for a while. So far, only Julia Phillips and Di Wonder have taken up the challenge. I have had other enquiries about story writing but so far nothing concrete has surfaced. I'm always open to offers.
  • For now, there won't be an Einnlander ocean voyage, for the simple reason is that Eriana is going to take the Visund upriver to explore. Once she returns you can take it as read that she will be organising the Navy of the Federation, whatever that ends up being called.
  • There already is a tale set in Chivan times by Julia Phillips, Alibi Omnino, which by a bizarre coincidence (not) is the Latin for "Somewhere Else Entirely". The story is set at the end of Chivan rule so there is scope for someone to fill in the blanks.
  • I have not even thought about writing any story set on Earth (or any other planet) in the time of the Vasco da Gama's visit to Anmar. That would require a significant amount of additional research and preparation before I even began and my brain is full of Garia's time right now. It is basically a whole new civilisation which would need some kind of history and character development as well as an interesting story line.
  • I myself have already written the story of how Maralin came to Anmar in Armsman of Joth. Maralin will appear in at least one other story, that of Eriana's trip in the Visund. The third story mentioned in my original post involves another transferee.
  • I'm not sure about contests right now. I would prefer to get things established and settled before running something like that. One problem might be that each transferee requires some time to establish and contest rules usually limit story lengths to make things easier for submitters. I won't rule it out, however. Somebody else may end up running such a thing.
  • I tried to cram the "future" into one chapter but ended up with three. It wouldn't be that easy to plausibly cover the points you mention in such a short word count, even if I had known what many of them were. Like many good stories, much depends on the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks. It also means that there are plenty of blank bits if I wish to write more in the future. Perhaps some of those short stories?

One problem will be that many of the stories waiting to be written won't be about transferees or even TG themes but just straight adventure or romance. Erin is happy to permit a certain amount of non-TG on Big Closet but I don't want to take the whole site over. The alternative, of setting up a separate site in the same manner as Crystal Hall for Whateley, is definitely attractive but comes with a big overhead in design, construction and administration. I don't want to make that commitment if others fail to contribute for whatever reason.

I don't know if you are aware of this page which is a useful resource covering everything which has ever been written about Anmar. I have frequently made reference to it while ploughing through the later parts of SEE. I could never have set such a thing up but Julia has done a fine job of bringing everything together including all Di Wonder's maps and her story Warrior Princess.

Thank you for raising these interesting thoughts.

Penny

Best Wishes

I am sorry that your health is an issue again. Please do take care of yourself.

As I have said before, with SEE you created a world with perhaps limitless capabilities. On one side I would have liked to see Garia making babies and raising children, but I am not the author am I. I shall feel most privileged to read what ever you write in the future.

Thank you so much.

Gwen

Life after SEE - seeing the future

Hi all, for this comment is for public consumption as Penny and I have already exchanged a number of mails,

then what can I say?

I too have been living, breathing, thinking and even dreaming of Anmar. For over three years in my case, but still not nearly as long as Penny.

In one way, I have sort of painted myself into a corner because all of Julina's stuff (except for a little bit you shall read in #66) is a report of events as seen and experienced by Julina. So I can't really suddenly change that style.

So to report other events AS THEY ARE HAPPENING means that I should have to find some other device.

And that would mean my poor brain, or what passes for one anyway, would be torn asunder by my keeping track of yet another set of events and characters and so on.

So I suspect what is most likely to happen is that JoB would be posted not quite so regularly. But I still intend to keep JoB going until a railroad link is established, at the very least. So I am toying with the thought of writing maybe another thread on Anmar.

So far no news about any broken waters or anything, so I will try to get #65 up this week. My ex-wife shall be with her daughter for the immediate days after any birth, so I have today determined that I shall drive to the UK on around the 10th, maybe the 11th, and be there for a week or so, during which time I doubt I shall have much available brain power for matters JoB.

But I do promise that JoB is not yet to be concluded.

Cheers

Julia

The reactionary forces of Palarand or elsewhere?

Somehow I don't think it will be all rainbows and unicorns (btw, I betcha there are unicorns on Anmar, somewhere :)) when it comes time for the various nobles to give up their current liege powers. There is never such radical changes without some reactionaries wanting to spoil the party. It would be an interesting story to see how a transferee to arrive and disrupt such dastardly plans.

Unicorns and other animals

Interestingly, I made a deliberate decision when starting to write SEE that there was to be no mention of horns. That doesn't mean that none exist, but if they do the animals that bear them won't be on Alaesia. Since a 'horn' can also be a musical instrument, and the military seem to blow them a lot, this has meant careful choice of words which hasn't always succeeded.

Similarly, there is no reference to feathers, which makes sense since avians aren't evolved from dinosaurs the same way Earth birds are. There are one or two mistaken mentions of quills, which I will fix when I get around to those chapters.

As for reactionary forces, perhaps Marlin will get involved when he returns from Yod. One problem is that all this involves time, and that is difficult for the writer when SEE actually covers less than an Earth year. Any tale which would cover protests against change would likely happen 20-40 years after Garia's first arrival.

Penny

FWIW I agree with the time frame

The nobles will be fat dumb and happy in the meantime with all this additional wealth that they may not realize that their people, who is generating such wealth for them, will also want to benefit from it also and would want a say in their future. The changes by then would result in them questioning the need for nobles in the first place.

Honestly I can't imagine not having at least one horned animal

Triceratops anybody? That would be cool! Point is, with dinosaurs having them, it goes to show it is evolution finds it beneficial as it aids survival. I mean, it's just so useful. And it need not only be horns, buy antlers as well (antlers are different from horns, I think.)

Archery

No feathers, does that mean no bows and arrows?


I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.

Well clearly they have been using arrows

Apparently fletching can be made of things other than feathers. Google 'alternative fletching' and there are lots of suggestions out there though the commentators basically still think feathers are best but there are materials that come really close.

Likely

While I don't remember any references to bows and arrows that doesn't mean anything. I was just curious how they dealt with the whole idea. How they are fletched and what the design is could be interesting. I don't expect them to look the same as what we've developed. Perhaps they have four fins instead of three, the design of the arrows and the bows might be interesting. While they are human their science will have developed different ways to the same results as ours.

There is a Sci-Fi short story about an alien species that tries to invade earth. Apparently the whole gravitational theory is so simple that most cultures reach that and the rest of their science is stagnant. The sciences of the other civilizations apparently zigged where we zagged. They attempt to conquer earth but are quickly decimated by our superior weaponry. You can imagine what would happen if soldiers from the Roman empire tried to invade California. The aliens don't even have the means to generate light or renew the atmosphere on their ships. That was what I was thinking about.


I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.

Serials vs posting whole stories

Penny's comment made me think about the issue.

There are plenty of folks who do not like serials. There are good reasons of course. But for the hosting site (BC) it is no question that serial stories benefits the hosting site the most. Why? The hosting site needs a stream of visitors who is willing to support it. This is no different from the old magazine model for SF stories. Serial stories 'hook' the reader and if you want to see the end of it, it is essential that the site stays up, assuming of course there is no alternative site to post it to that the writer is willing to post to.

So for those people who only like solo stories, well, please forebear, it is for a good cause imho.

Prednisone

Watch the side effects of this stuff. It tore me up inside big time, I started passing blood after being on it for a few days.


I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.