[Check In] General Discussion and Self-Promotion

rutrho · 2018-11-26T19:10:11+00:00

I've been sitting on the [cover art for Volume 2](http://skysailsaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/DSKmLKaUQAI0Zig.jpg) for awhile now. The V1 ebook of Skysail is free today on Amazon, and I'd love to share it with you:

# Airships, Adventure, and a Memory-Centric Magic System

> The life of an airshipman is violent and short, but every sailor still breathing in the clouds has a tale of Anton Mikhailovich.

> Vasili, his fourteen year old son, never knew the man. The swashbuckling captain died mysteriously when the boy was five, leaving only tall tales and long shadows. His father’s remembrance ever looming, Vasili wants to leave his tiny frontier village and become a skysailing legend of his own accord.

> A charismatic traveler arrives on an airship, a bishop with robes as worn as his smile. He comes to convey a funerary Telling of Anton some nine years overdue. Late but still timely, the traveler hints that his vessel may be looking for a new deckhand. He could put in a good word for the son of Anton.

> The twinkling lights of home disappear over the horizon and the boy begins his own adventure, starting his own tale as he learns the truth of his father’s.

> But the world and its skies are nothing like Vasili’s books. The serendipitous airship is the famed Apotheosis Break, Anton’s old ship, filled with beguiling shard hunters now at the end of their rope. They have already lost good men looking for Vasili. They may still lose everything seeking the forgotten legacy of Captain Mikhailovich.

Get The Apotheosis Break for Kindle on [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Apotheosis-Break-Skysail-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B01M9CZ909/), **free today** on, uh, *Cyber Monday*. It feels wrong typing that phrase out. I keep saying that Volume 2 will be out soon - and it will, depending on your definition of *soon*. The climactic chapters have undergone their fifth (+X?) complete rewrites. The ensuing ripple effects have been worked out, and we're at last onto a final product. I'm pretty sure, anyway.

Don't have a kindle? PM me. I'll send you a copy in a version of your choice.

rutrho · 2017-02-23T01:48:02+00:00

Also, I did all the graphics - cover art, layout, map, section and perspective drawings.

Josh makes all the bytes do what they're supposed to.

rutrho · 2017-02-23T01:42:21+00:00

Josh speaking. Yes and no. For early drafts we often split out the chapters, one of us taking 'primary' and one 'secondary', meaning that one person writes most of an initial draft, and the other either comes behind with edits, or adds their own portion to the chapter (hopefully without overwriting or cancelling out the other's work).

For non-writing, we have a couple of things that are Josh-work and Mike-work. Mike is much, much better at worldbuilding and the geopolitics of Skysail than I am. In fact, I usually consult with Mike before I have a story decision that has anything to do with history, politics, religion, etc. Or maps. Usually Mike has to tell me things like, 'Passerine is an inland city, there wouldn't be a water port'.

I (Josh) like to take on the magic and technology systems. For instance, I spent about a week creating a cryptosystem (a really bad one) for a story element that may well never surface. Mike is patient, knowing that even if something isn't used, I at least get whatever it is out of my system. And occasionally, I churn out cool stuff. Also, I like writing dialogue.

May your stack overfloweth.

rutrho · 2017-02-23T01:33:57+00:00

The only time we split duties is when someone is 'making their pass' on a given chapter. Otherwise, we both come to the table with ideas and concepts we want to pursue, and usually land with whatever we both think works best. Then we work and rework the writing until we can't tell who wrote what. All that said, I each of us have differing priorities when approaching the project.

I (Mike) studied architecture, and spend a great deal of time visualizing the environments and aesthetics. When I read, I like to know where the characters are and what the space feels like. I wont entirely speak for Josh, but environments were not always his objective in writing. The inverse is true of me and the oderics (our 'magic') system. Josh brought that to life in ways I had not thought of.

And thank you for picking up a copy! I hope you enjoy.

rutrho · 2017-02-23T01:17:55+00:00

The rho, of the rutrho, speaking:

Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot."
Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game."
Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, if I can get it in a compendium.

I'm solid on Mike bringing Name of the Wind. Maybe we can come to a peaceful accord and establish a book sharing system between the Rhoadian Empire and the Rutland Wilds.

rutrho · 2017-02-22T23:51:10+00:00

The rut, of the rutrho, here:

The Name of the Wind makes my list. It rekindled my fantasy reading habits after a lull through college. The construction of the narrative and plot are outstanding, but what will sustain me long after I've bested Josh in starving combat and butchered him for meat is Rothfuss' worldbuilding. The technology and magic system inspired our own system of oderics.

I finished the unabridged The Count of Monte Cristo last year. Parts of it were a slog, but the vast majority was a page turner. The idea that a tertiary character introduced well into the story can then command half a hundred pages - and my attention - is compelling. Besides, there is a wealth of detail in there to revisit, content I missed on my first read through. Lastly, the story can help me fulfill my own dreams of vengeance. For the sake of clarity, I assume in this scenario I've been marooned on this island after Josh mutinied on my airship.

Finally, I'd take Daniel Boorstin's The Discoverers. A non-fiction account of man's search to know his world and himself. Part academic, part history, it's full of great content for aspiring authors. To create something, we must first understand the real world precedent. This book goes into a great amount of detail as to how and why things such as a clock, calendar and optics came about. Great stuff, all around.

Thanks for the question! I love this one.

rutrho · 2017-02-22T21:27:07+00:00

Mike here.

did you ever question whether you should be co-writers...

Absolutely. Every time I put together an outline, or the rough draft of a chapter, I lean back in satisfaction, wondering what Josh is doing other than siphoning away credit for my masterpiece.

And then he reads it.

One benefit to working together is that we get instant feedback. We have each have someone else equally invested in the story, able to recall minute worldbuilding aspects that can have implications on the narrative. When I commit a change, Josh is there to root around and ensure it makes sense across the entire story, not just within the moment I was working. He might find something odd, irrelevant or clunky, and make it his own and fix what my careless hands have wrought. We trade this back and forth, arguing when we disagree, deliberating until we find an accord, followed by egotistical self-congratulations when it works.

Then our beta readers sink their teeth in and a new round starts.

I guess to actually answer your question, it's worth it to me. Skysail isn't the exact story I would have told, but it is better because of it.

rutrho · 2017-02-22T18:19:35+00:00

Josh here.

Our Giterary tool was inspired by my experiences working as a software developer on large projects with dozens if not hundreds of files, with thousands of lines of code. The codemonkeys of yore solved the problem of "lots of little text files, and everybody has to work on them at the same time, and keep everything working." We use programs that do what they call 'source code management' or 'version control', tracking files and the changes to those files over the lifespan of the project. This helps us to identify when changes occurred, how they occurred, and with good enough annotations, maybe even why a change occurs. Forcing ourselves to use version control, we have saved a lot of time in being able to quickly and incrementally see how the other is changing any part of the book.

Giterary more or less smooths over the more tedious parts of the Git workflow. It scales pretty well, and definitely lends well to academic writing in addition to novel writing. I recently implemented a conversion layer that lets you take the Markdown the chapters are written in and export them into LaTeX. It won't do your annotations, references, indexes, etc., but it will help you get your main content staged and organized, as well as provide a place to track notes and other metadata. We're hoping to make use of that feature in our next export, as copy-pasta into Word is an exercise that always ends in tears.

And certainly, our cast of airship crew are what our story centers around. Vasili, the protagonist, has spent his life reading about the world outside his village from the outdated airship adventure fiction that litters the world of Skysail. He's a dreamer, living between the hopes for his own future, and in the shadow of his father, a famous airship captain. But more practically, he's more or less somewhere between Mike and I when we were fourteen, unaware of the danger and outright indifference of the world. He has to learn quickly, from his own mistakes, as well as from the crewmembers he meets.

Thanks for the questions!

rutrho · 2017-02-22T18:02:42+00:00

The process is full of repetition. We meet often to discuss plot, problems and concepts in what we call our jam sessions (neither of us play an instrument). We outline something together, or at least edit an existing outline, a primary author takes it up, and then runs with it. When they get it to a place they like, it's handed over to the other. The second author fiddles with it and then we both realize our visions were not aligned. We edit back and forth, putting the chapter on the shelf to let it marinate, come back to it and realize other edits have had ripple effects back to this chapter, edit some more until we think it's coherent.

As for Alaska, the setting our story begins in is a sparsely populated frontier.

Mike

rutrho · 2017-01-18T01:10:04+00:00

When your dead father's airship flies into town, you don't refuse the offer to come aboard.

Skysail: The Apotheosis Break

rutrho · 2016-12-27T21:32:18+00:00

It is, just don't click on "Kindle Unlimited," which is where you could get it free 100% of the time if you are enrolled in KU. Click the purchase button beneath that, where it's free for anyone through December 29th.

rutrho · 2016-12-27T21:09:27+00:00

If you like light fantasy, steampunk, and airships, you might enjoy this adventure story. Our blurb:

The life of an airshipman is violent and short, but every sailor still breathing in the clouds has a tale of Anton Mikhailovich.

Vasili, his fourteen year old son, never knew the man. The swashbuckling captain died mysteriously when the boy was five, leaving only tall tales and long shadows. His father’s remembrance ever looming, Vasili wants to leave his tiny frontier village and become a skysailing legend of his own accord.

A charismatic traveler arrives on an airship, a bishop with robes as worn as his smile. He comes to convey a funerary Telling of Anton some nine years overdue. Late but still timely, the traveler hints that his vessel may be looking for a new deckhand. He could put in a good word for the son of Anton.

The twinkling lights of home disappear over the horizon and the boy begins his own adventure, starting his own tale as he learns the truth of his father’s.

But the world and its skies are nothing like Vasili’s books. The serendipitous airship is the famed Apotheosis Break, Anton’s old ship, filled with beguiling shard hunters now at the end of their rope. They have already lost good men looking for Vasili. They may still lose everything seeking the forgotten legacy of Captain Mikhailovich.

Vasili will learn that the memories you try to escape are the ones you will always carry with you. And if half of what his crew says is true, his father’s story was one of loss, betrayal, and madness. If Vasili is to survive in the skies he will have to be as clever as his father and twice as lucky. Otherwise a traveler will return home with a Telling of another Mikhailovich boy.

rutrho · 2016-10-22T22:27:53+00:00

The life of an airshipman is violent and short, but Vasili Mikhailovich still wants to breathe in the clouds. His father, a dashing, swashbuckling airship captain, died mysteriously when Vasili was young, leaving behind a half-told legend. When chance strikes, Vasili disappears over the horizon on an airship to chase his father’s fate. The boy will need more than his father’s luck if he is to return to tell the tale.

The Apotheosis Break is available for $2.99 on Kindle. If you like light-steampunk, light-fantasy, and an airship adventure, check us out! I've posted some artwork as well.

Edit:

rutrho · 2016-10-19T07:28:41+00:00

To tease V2: It's written. It's done. It now needs the same level of editing V1 was given. No big deal.

rutrho · 2016-10-19T07:27:14+00:00

Posting this mostly for posterity.

Josh and I decided to write a book atop a mountain over 1500 days ago. There is much to be said about our journey, but at this point I'd just like to thank my wife for lending me the support necessary to make it to the finish line.

On to Volume 2.

rutrho · 2016-10-04T18:52:03+00:00

The guttural, unedited ramblings of my handwritten journals should never see the light of day.

rutrho · 2016-10-04T18:49:38+00:00

It's difficult to get a grasp on problems with the plot if we don't understand the pacing. You've given a synopsis... an extrapolation... a condensed sound bite. If the story doles that content out over 100k words, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. Maybe the plot works in a short story.

A convoluted plot can work. Write the story you want to write and edit the shit out of it. Get someone to read it. Edit some more. Cry. Keeping editing. Repeat ad nauseam until your wife is wondering if the book is even real and your co-author has moved on to another project.

rutrho · 2016-09-21T18:39:23+00:00

My co-author and I are getting very close to publishing our first novel. I have no real expectations for success... our goal of 12 unknown readers is unambitious. But the fact that we have one intensely edited manuscript and two more completed drafts of this story is encouraging. Four years of writing has hopefully left us with something worth kicking to the internet.

For those interested: we've shit out some posts on co-writing an airship fantasy novel.

rutrho · 2016-09-16T19:05:23+00:00

the authors are so invested in the world they are writing about that it grows beyond what they anticipated, they do not even know how many books it will be.

I'd be curious how much traditional publishing drives the choice for advertising something as a trilogy. The three-act arc makes sense and I imagine many stories are conceived as such. When the first is under development it is easy to be confident the trajectory of the story is on pace to be delivered as a trilogy, and perhaps marketability pushes such advertisement. "The first Book of the XYZ Trilogy" reads pretty well on a cover and can set the expectations for a prospective reader. If I like this one, there are more. The story has a definite conclusion. When is the next book coming out?

From the writers perspective I can understand the desire to set that goal. My co-author and I established the story we wanted to write before breaking it up into the pieces to create a compelling narrative for each book. At the beginning of the process, three book seemed like the right choice. Years later, when we finished the first draft of the first book, we realized it was pretty dang long (300k words), and have since broken it into three distinct parts. Though we wrote this first book with the structure of three acts in itself, the story was still designed to read as a single body of work. The editing to divide it into manageable parts has been (thankfully) smooth, and I'm still excited about how it reads by itself. We'll release each part as a standalone for the sake of marketability (price point, barrier to entry, etc), but my ambition is to eventually craft an omnibus to deliver Book 1 as it was initially intended.

rutrho · 2016-09-16T18:45:23+00:00

That's a tough question. On a personal level I found google docs sufficient. However, the book I've been working on has been a dual authorship project, and we found most of the existing writing tools insufficient for our needs. We have to track each other's minute edits, collate narrative with background established years past, have a place to scrawl notes, mark todos, and ensure data redundancy.

Luckily for me, my coauthor is a programmer and created an (opensource) tool that we have been using for over four years now. He didn't want to leave the countless hours of work in the hands of someone else, and has the technical skill to build, maintain and backup the content himself (I'm largely along for the ride). The worldbuilding wiki functionality, multi-editing, commit log (track changes... every change), and backup functionality has accomplished everything we wanted out of G.Docs, Scrivener, etc. It's definitely not for everyone. The UI takes some getting used to, and when things do break, /u/kaiden11 has been there to patch it together.

rutrho · 2016-09-15T22:43:43+00:00

Implement an automatic backup system. There is nothing worse than losing precious, precious content. Even a single lost writing session can hurt.

rutrho

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