RISE OF THE MOMENTS - Developing Characters - Part 1

This is a blog I wrote about a year ago with the readers in mind. I will post it, now, since the work continues on the followup. Please pardon my dust, but enjoy the insights:

As I prepared to write the second installation of the "Rise Of The Moments" novel series, I had some pretty daunting challenges to overcome. The first of them was the critical evaluation of the first novel. I re-read the novel, finding those errors which somehow found their way back into the text document as I prepared to send to the publisher for print. With that second edition done, I found my way to the next challenge: continuity.

This was such a challenge because of the format I chose to write the first in, namely, my "chronological puzzle." I had to re-read, this time taking notes and mentally getting my bearings as to where and when certain things would naturally occur. Even before the critical undertakings began, I had to spend time considering the future technologies that mankind is likely to succeed at bringing to bear, including failed attempts and adjustments of theoretical and philosophical concepts we might undergo. This was no easy task.

One of the key things I had done in 2003, when I conceived the idea of SPLITTSVILLE, was to sketch images of the Joe Splitt in his various forms. That also lead to my sketching villains to balance out the stories surrounding his exploits. It was more of a zany conceptualization, to be sure, but it would serve as the kernel which brought forth the Quantum character. That, in turn, lead to the idea of the Moments people. The name would come later on, when I came up with the title that inspired me to write the first versions of the story line.

As I developed the idea, Joe's character came to find a place as one of the story's main characters. Doctor Kerr and Joe Splitt were initially one character, in concept, but each required a life of his own to make the book work. One might even note that they never actually meet each other in the first novel. This is partly because they are walking independently toward the end result alluded to in the title: RISE OF THE MOMENTS.

The Moments, on the other hand, are ever-present. If there is to be a connection between the two of those characters, it is to be via the Moments, Eight or Eight... or maybe it will be Eight. Just kidding. Or am I? Perhaps you read the book and noted that it was Quantum who actually is the first Moment to actively engage the two of them, due to his disruptive course of actions as he attempts to force the powers that be into action.

In the second novel, which I am now writing, we will explore these characters a little deeper, and perhaps we shall see how some of the apparent gaps in the first novel are actually well-placed spaces. I cannot take all the credit for making that so, but I have to remain open to my creativity, and the story line for book two is certainly benefiting from my willingness to trust my intuition. As I said, before: It is a daunting task.

For the next few installations of my blog, I will try to allow you an insider's view... the characters' dressing room view, if you will. My hope is that it will inspire you as it inspires me to strive toward completion of this, my next major project.

Enjoy.

Time Is A Tool

In our world, many of the powers-that-be have exercised "privilege" to alter our clocks for one purpose or another.  Many have done so for the sake of societal convenience, such as daylight savings time, in which we set the clocks forward and back according to the prescribed calendar in order to allow for more efficient use of daylight hours.

Other instances include the alteration (or elongation) of daylight time so that many more patrons and viewers could enjoy commercialization of the Olympic Games.  And you don't have to imagine that a ruler or two has changed the time to suit their cause of the moment, otherwise.  Presently, you can look at South Korea and North Korea, which have both dealt with the issue of altering their standard times after having been imposed upon by Imperial Japan during occupation.

These only go to prove that "time" is not an entity unto itself.  Instead, it is just a flexible device by which we might format a broader perspective to be shared by the masses.  I may be oversimplifying it, a bit, but the same can be said of things like "address locations" or "generic temperature nomenclatures" (such as cold, hot, etc.).  This is since an address may be changed for a specific location over the years, and some people can be cold at a particular temperature, while others remain quite cozy.  Thus, each can be a device of some relativity, once you get down to it, just as with "time."

As a great example of another facet, there is the relative life span of particular species to consider.  For instance, who has not heard the term "in dog years" parlayed about in common vernacular?  The life expectancy of a creature (at whatever rung in the hierarchy of genus) determines how we think of their relative age. 

In the world of the Moments, time is just that device set in place for lower beings to engage the Universal Fabric.  This is especially because such creatures are unable to fathom the breadth of their existence, and the effects that their relatively small choices might possibly have on the universal scale.  As Moments live outside of "time", it holds very little sway over their plane of existence, and even then, only in relation to their purpose of monitoring other elements of the collective universe.


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Got your copy of the book yet?  It's now available at:  www.riseofthemoments.com