I've been thinking about the novel again. 

I've probably said this before, but over the years I've gone through various fads and crazes that burn brightly for a while and then fade out (poker, Games Workshop, Warcraft, etc). But writing is an addiction, the desire never leaves me. Oh sure, the urge to write does (that's kinda why I go through long periods without writing) but the actual desire to write a novel and see it published is as much a part of me as blood and bone. 

After a long hiatus, I'm getting my urge back. I want to start writing again. There's only so long a whale can go without Oxygen, afterall. Not that I'm a whale, but you get the idea. If I was a whale, I'd be a Blue whale. Not a sperm whale because then I'd have to fight huge squids and that would suck. But I digress...

The novel idea has changed again. You may recall that I was working on a story taken from The Ashes of Autumn and combined with another plot. There was a big war in the north, and there was a lot of strange shit going down in the city of Ember. 

Well, the whole 'war in the north' storyline has gone. It's a shame, because I had some pretty cool ideas and was looking forward to writing about Graven and Barusk. I've ditched it mainly because I want to tell a more focused story. I don't want to write a big epic fantasy trilogy; there are plenty of other writers doing exactly the same thing, and are doing a better job than I could do. Besides, when I was writing this novel last year I found myself looking forward more to writing the Ember sequences than the northern war sequences. So why not just ditch the whole plotline and focus solely on Ember?

Lukan is still here though, along with Channa the Witch-hunter. The Phaeron and Ghalgarith are still present and correct, and will form the main thrust of the plot. I still love the idea of their war spilling over into the world of men (and women) and never considered ditching them. My problem now is that I have loads of cool ideas for characters, chapters and locations, but I don't know how they all fit together. It's kind of like seeing a cool magic trick and trying to figure out how it works. 

I've got a few hours spare today, so I'm going to try and work out some basic points. I hate planning, because it's boring and I'm crap at it. But it is a necessary evil. When I have more news, I'll write an update. 

In other news, Speculative Horizons is going really well. Over 1000 hits already, with a recent average of around 40 a day which is good going for a new blog. It's a lot of fun and I'm glad I went ahead with it. 

Hope you are all well. 

-J

 

It's been a criminally long time since I last posted an entry in the old livejournal. I have been pretty busy, but the real reason for my absence was the sad lack of stuff to write about. Still, I've decided to write an entry as two months is too long, and now I do actually have some interesting things to talk about. 

Firstly, let me say I hope all of you had a good festive season and I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2008. 

Right, with the pleasantries over, here's what's happened in the last few weeks: 

I'll start with the best thing: I won an ARC of Joe Abercrombie's novel Last Argument of Kings. OH YES. What made it all the sweeter was that it was not just the luck of the draw, but the fact that Joe actually considered my entry worthy of winning a copy. Check out the post here: http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2007/12/i-deserve-proof-because.html
This is easily the coolest thing I've ever won. It is even going to have a personalised message inside. Nice. Plus the best thing of all is that I get to read the final chapter in the First Law trilogy BEFORE THE COMMON MAN ON THE STREET. Excellent. I think my copy arrived on Friday but because our postbox is too small it was sent to a depot somewhere. I'll need to get it re-directed and that will waste valuable time. Gaaah... 

My short story 'A Song for the Dead' was rejected by Sorcerous Signals. It apparently made it onto the 'maybe' pile but ultimately 'didn't grab' the editor enough. Sigh.  

I've written a new short story called 'Potatoes.' It is about a guy who is obsessed with potatoes (omg, seriously?), and a girl who becomes obsessed with him, despite her growing revulsion towards him. It's the first time I've written something that has made my skin crawl. The story is strongly influenced by 'The Pear-Shaped Man by George R. R. Martin which is an amazing horror story. Check it out in his Dreamsongs anthology. 

Last, but not least, I've started a new blog about speculative fiction. I'd been toying with the idea for a while, and so I decided to go ahead and do it. The blog is called Speculative Horizons and will have book reviews, author interviews and other various tasty speculative snippets. There might even be some Terry Goodkind piss-taking. The blog has only been going a week, but there's already three book reviews up with some other stuff. Other material will be added as the days and weeks pass. I'm having a lot of fun with it and it looks pretty cool. The blog can be found here: http://speculativehorizons.blogspot.com/

Please feel more than welcome to drop by and check out what new stuff I've posted. I ought to say that this blog is by no means replacing my livejournal, I will continue to post here about my writing and whatever stuff. Sepculative Horizons is just a hobby where I can talk about other people's writing.

As for my own writing plans this year, I've not really made any. But after toying with the idea of writing a screenplay, I'm thinking about the novel once again. I'll post more about this when I know more. 

In December I also: 

Went to Prague. It was good. Very good. Everyone should go. 

Bought an Xbox 360. Halo 3 is good. Very good. 

Wondered how the hell I'm going to write a novel when I'm maintaining a new blog and have an Xbox 360. Watch this space...

Anyway, here's to a prosperous 2008.

I submitted 'The Ashes of Autumn' to Aberrant Dreams many months ago, and had pretty much given up hope of hearing back from them. So imagine my surprise when I found an email in my inbox from Sara King, the fiction editor of the 'zine. 

Had Ashes finally been accepted? Had I finally found the poor thing a home? In short, no. But it is easily the best rejection I've ever had. 

Here it is in its entirety: 

Hi James,

Thank you for submitting THE ASHES OF AUTUMN to Aberrant Dreams, but I'm
afraid we're going to pass. However, you're a very strong writer and I
believe you've got the potential to do amazing things, which is why I'm
taking the time to give you a more in-depth critique than I normally
give--I think you've reached the point in your career where you can digest
constructive comments.

So here goes: While your storytelling carried me through the entire 33
pages, when I reached the end, I didn't feel as if the story is quite
there yet. There were certain points that felt rushed, whereas others
felt drawn out. For instance, I felt that the scene in which Jerek frees
the soulsinger could have been much more powerful if drawn out a bit more,
showing us that Jerek really was afraid of him before untying him.
Afterwards, the soulsinger mentioned that Jerek freed him while he was
afraid, but I felt more like the story told me Jerek was afraid, instead
of showed me.

The scenes I felt dragged on too long were mostly the prolonged fighting
scenes in the church. Also, I noticed that the story has a tendency to
state things twice, which is sometimes useful in novels, but with
wordcount being so important to a short story, redundancy is usually its
death. I think if you cut back by about 1/3-1/4, this story would be much
likelier to sell.

I went through the first page of your manuscript and offered a few
suggestions on where to cut (highlighted.) I liked your hook very much,
by the way. You'll notice I left the first paragraph alone :)

Aside from the redundancies, I would have liked to feel more emotion from
the protagonist overall, both in action and dialogue. A few key points
for this would be when his horse got killed (was it his favorite horse?
Had it been his companion throughout the war?), when the celebrant
confronts him (has he dealt with zealots in the past? Did they get people
killed?), when the first wave of demons attacks (what did his body feel
like? Did he have butterflies or did he feel like puking himself?), when
he sees the first defender die (does he feel responsible?), and when he
rescues the soulsinger (does it go through his head that the man could be
controlling the demons? That he IS a demon?).

But again, your professional storytelling was impressive. Thanks again
for submitting THE ASHES OF AUTUMN to Aberrant Dreams and I truly hope you
submit your work to us again soon.

Sara King
Fiction Editor, Aberrant Dreams

Any disappointment I felt at the story being knocked back for the fourth time was erased by Sara's response. The fact that she took the time to offer some serious advice is great, but what really gave me a boost was the fact that she thinks I'm a strong writer who can achieve good things. Interestingly, Howard at Black Gate said almost exactly the same thing. This is really encouraging; to have two people who clearly know the business give praise like this is a massive boost (and a hefty massage to the ego). Sara also included a file of the story with some highlighted passages. Not only can I learn from this, but I also got my story back! (The original file was lost when my pc died a few months back).

The downside is that it makes the voice in my head say, "See? I told you that you can do it. Now, stop screwing about and do some friggin' writing."

Yes Sir. Right away.
 

Just a quick note to wish everyone, on this night when the boundary between the worlds of spirit and flesh is at its thinnest, a very happy Samhain (or Halloween if you prefer to use the more modern phrase)! 

As our pumpkins flicker in the window, I'll be kicking back and eating too much chocolate, as well as raising a glass of 'Pumpking' ale (no, really!) to celebrate, er, well, all things ghoulish and ghastly! 

Happy Samhain!

I realised a couple of days ago that something was bothering me about my novel. I wasn't sure what the problem was at first. I was writing a scene where Lukan goes out in search of some dinner in the forest and finds a scouting party of northmen instead. Now, I don't know what roast northman tastes like, but I bet it's not nice. Plus you would get lots of hair stuck between your teeth. They are quite hairy after all. I was struggling to write the scene for some reason, and it was only after an hour or so that I realised it was my bullshit alarm going off. There's no loud claxon or a flashing neon lights; just a vague sense at the back of my mind that something isn't quite right. Like when you leave the house and have a odd sense that you've forgotten something, but can't remember what it is. With much grumbling and muttering I stopped to think. 

• The first is that we don't see enough of Lukan before he gets hanged and has his moment of epiphany. After he is saved from the executioner's blade, he is a changed man. But we don't see nearly enough of his former personality to make this change that significant.
• The second is that Lukan is actually a more interesting person before his change of outlook. I realised I prefer Lukan as a wise-cracking rogue more than I like him as a sincere scout.

The first of the above problems was not that difficult to resolve - I'd just add some more material at the start of the novel so we can spend more time with him in his former state. The second problem is more difficult. By that I don't mean in terms of resolving, I mean in terms of what the actual resolution involves. 

So, after much gormless face-pulling I've come to a solution. I'm going to swap Lukan and Osuran around. Lukan is now going to be the focus for the Ember storyline, and will be teaming up with Channa for an adventure into the bowls of the city in their attempt to find whatever it is they are looking for before their enemies get hold of it. Osuran is now going to take Lukan's place as a scout at Longhorn Watch. I figured this change means Lukan can retain his rogue-like personality (or Chaotic-Good alignment, if we're talking geek terms) and can now get up to all sorts of mischief in the city. This makes sense, as I'd always envisaged Lukan as a bit of a loose-cannon, while Osuran is meant to be more cool and collected. I think now I originally put them in the wrong places and that if I switch them things will work much better. Besides, Lukan didn't like the frozen north much. He put on a brave face, but his heart wasn't really in it. I think he'll be happier in Ember. Rat is going to come too; there is a dynamic between the two that I want to have some fun with. Plus, I like Rat. He's a cheeky little bastard but his heart is in the right place.

The only real problem with the above decision is the fact that I want to write the Lukan/Rat/Channa/Ember storyline, and I don't really know nearly enough about how it is going to work, so my thinking cap is going to have to stay on for a while yet. I've also realised that this book is going to be way more than 120k words (which to be honest I think was a rather optimistic estimate). In any case John Jarrold wrote in one of his posts on the chronicles website that 120k words is too short for an epic fantasy. I think the book will weigh in at about 175-200k words (if it ever gets finished). 

In other news, we got 300 on DVD yesterday so watched it last night. I've seen it before of course, but it was fun to watch again. I didn't really feel any differently about it second time round. It's decent, fun entertainment but little more than that. I'm still re-reading The Lies of Locke Lamora and am enjoying it almost as much as the first time. I'm struggling to think of a novel that I've enjoyed reading more than this one. I'm looking forward very much to reading the next in the sequence, though I've heard it is slightly disappointing (probably only because the first one is so damned good it would be impossible to top it). 

More news as and when. Meanwhile, below is the result of my Song of Ice and Fire personality test. I was rather surprised and am not in total agreement, though can see where it comes from in some ways. 

Link: The Song of Ice and Fire House Test

Progress so far:

26,355 / 120,000 (22.0%)

 For some reason that word count looks disappointing. I think it was because I was hoping to hit the 30,000 word mark, but given that I was only on around 21k at the last count that was a pretty unrealistic target. Still, 22% is not far from 25%. By next week, Barring some sort of disaster, I should hit the 1/4 way mark. Given that I only started writing the novel on 17 September, reaching the 25% point after only 6/7 weeks is pretty good. 

Writing has been good this week. I didn't manage to write every day, but I wrote enough on the other days to make up for it. I shoot for about 5k a week, which was achieved this time around. I've found myself concentrating purely on Lukan and Rat's plotline, rather than writing the chapters in order. The reason for this is twofold: firstly I have not sketched out how the 'Ember' storyline is going to go, and have not really developed the characters of Channa and Osuran enough. Secondly, at this stage I prefer to just concentrate on a select group of characters. By writing from Lukan's perspective all the time, I'm learning more about him at a faster rate than I would otherwise. It makes the writing easier too, as I'm not constantly flitting between POVs. The finished novel will be totally different, as the first third of the book with alternate between the 'Lukan' and 'Ember' chapters, with the 'Magnus' chapters joining the mix later on. The Magnus chapters will focus on Magnus (obviously) who is the garrison commander at Longhorn Watch. As things are going down in Ember and Lukan is gallavanting across the frozen landscape, we'll see Magnus attempt to thwart the invasion of the northmen with the meagre resources at his disposal. Magnus is a character that intrigues me: all strength and honour on the outside, but all pain and regret on the inside. Can he lead his men to victory despite the demons that hound him? We'll see...but not yet. 

Things are not looking good for Lukan and Rat. After settling in at Longhorn Watch, they discover on a scouting mission that the skath are moving south in a mass exodus. After a rather hairy (literally) run-in with a skath tracker, they return to the Watch, where they discover their scouting companions have yet to return from an assignment. Scouring the wilderness for their friends (and to find the reason for the skath migration) they find Glissek, one of their missing companions. Trouble is, he's missing three of the fingers on one hand and all the nails from the rest of his remaining ones. He's also dangerously close to insanity at the horrors that have been visited upon him. Lukan and friends hope they can coax what information they can from him before his inevitable death. They'll get their information, but will they be any better off for it? Would you rather know that a 50,000 strong army of hairy northmen is about to 'liberate' your land, or would you rather remain ignorant? One thing is for sure: there will be dark days ahead. 

In other news, I managed to get back most of the music I lost when my pc died on me a few months back. If I'd known I could just import the tunes from my ipod, back to my pc, I could have done it ages ago. Sigh. Oh well, better late than never. And it'll save me £150, as well as the boredom of having to buy all the music again. 

My fiancee brought home a little furry mouse toy that squeaks when you shake it. Not for me, but for our cats. Nyla, who normally sits on her chair looking thoroughly bored with everything, went absolutely beserk and spent the next hour carrying the damned thing around in her mouth. The electronic screeching from the mouse almost drove me insane. At one point I managed to wrench it from her grasp, only for her to squeal and launch herself at me like a little demon from the burning pits. I beat a hasty retreat to the bathroom, to wash the kitten drool from my hands...

I stopped reading Bitterwood. I made it about halfway through and just couldn't manage the rest. The story and characters just completely failed to grab me, and some of the dialogue I just felt was painfully juvenile. The only thing I liked was the little piglet called Poocher. The rest is already a dim memory. Instead, I've started re-reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, in preperation for reading Red Seas Under Red Skies. Damn but I forgot what a great novel it is. I'm only about 40 pages in and already I'm hooked, just like I was the first time. Lynch can write, but more than that he writes some of the funniest dialogue I've ever read. Yeah, sure, so it is unrealistic because 'real people don't talk like that.' Who gives a shit, when it's so funny. In any case, why should the people of Camorr speak like us? It's a different world, where they have wolf sharks and Jereshti jellyfish. Why the hell would they speak like us, when our worlds are so different?

Well, I was meant to do some writing tonight. Instead, I surfed the net and found this hilarious story about a nutcase that tried to pass off the late, great, David Gemmell's 'The Dark Prince' as her own book...

Check out the comparison between her first chapter and Gemmell's (scroll down the page a bit): http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2007/10/11/top-10-tips-for-plagairists/

Here's her own website: http://www.alongstoryshort.net/LanaiaLee.html#anchor_254
(Note the 'To the writing community at large' message where she (hopelessly) tries to explain away the similarities, in the face of an increasing backlash...

And here is a little taster of her own writing. As you might expect, it's shit: http://www.alongstoryshort.net/IDENTITY.html

A discussion about this whole scenario on westeros: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=23433

Looks like the 'author' is completely denying the blatant plagiarism, blaming her 'ghost writer' instead. She's now threatening to sue everyone, promising "ten-fold Wiccan retribution" despite the fact that she's the one who actually broke the law. 

In her own words: "God gave me this literary gift, so why not use it?"

Unbelievable.

You just couldn't make this stuff up.

Novel progress so far: 

21,059 / 120,000 (17.5%)

Almost forgot that it was progress-update day.  

Well, this week saw more progress than last week. It's not been easy though. Perhaps I've mentioned this before, but there is an old Chinese proverb that goes as follows: "If you neglect your craft for one day, it will neglect you for two." 

So true. So painfully true. I've neglected my writing too much in the last two weeks (mainly for legit reasons) but it made no difference - neglection is neglection. In the days when I tried to make up for lost time, it was a real struggle. I liken it to standing at the foot of a wall and staring up at it, thinking 'Wow, how the heck did I manage to get up there?' I've really learned that writing every day has so many benefits. Not just in terms of word count, but in terms of creativity and enthusiasm. So, some days were hard but it gave me the chance to put to use a new attribute I've developed: the ability to keep writing in the face of adversity (namely, when the voice in my head is saying 'Stop. Why are you doing this? Why? Go and have some tea and biscuits and a nice lie down. Who cares about the novel? No-one is buying epic fantasy at the moment anyway. In fact, just jack the whole thing in and take up gardening' and so on). But I bit the bullet, slaved away and the word count this week is a sign that it was worth it. 

Incidentally, the notion that editors are not currently looking for epic fantasy is one I've seen being bandied around several well-informed blogs. If it's true I have no idea why. George R.R. Martin is as popular as ever, while Joe Abercrombie's rapidly-increasing following indicates the sub-genre is in good health. Well, whatever. I'm just going to keep slaving away. 

Lukan and Rat are almost at Longhorn Watch now. They're spending the night at the Roundhouse, a sort of halfway house between the Watch and Mordvayne. I've almost finished chapter 5, which has turned into something of an info-dump chapter yet without being overly info-dumpish. If that makes sense. I've said before that it's funny how characters sometimes pop out of nowhere. This is what happened with Rat, and now it has happened with Avran. I decided that Magnus,  garrison captain of Longhorn Watch,  just wouldn't travel alone, so I decided he was accompanied by two guards - Callas and Avran. Callus is fairly quiet and a bit uptight, whereas Avran just opened his gob and didn't shut up. He's witty, talkative and a bit of a ladies' man. He's also quite a lot of fun to write. I've no idea where on earth he came from, but he's livened things up a bit. I hope he'll stick around. I think Lukan hopes so too, the two of them seem to get on well. 

It's not all good news though. Some skath have been sighted south of the Watch, not far from the Roundhouse, which is unheard of. Why have they come so far south? It will fall to Lukan to discover the answer, and find the answer he will...but not without paying a deadly price.

This week bore witness to the inevitable: the first stuttering in my so-far indomitable writing progress. The danger was always there, the hounds of inconsistancy snapping at my heals as they waited for me to stumble. This week they finally sank their slavering jaws into my, er, hmm...ok let's dispense with the imagery. To put it more simply, I got little writing done this week, demonstrated by the following diagram:

15,874 / 120,000 (13.2%)

 Barely over 500 words more than last week's total. This doesn't show the whole picture however. True, I only managed to write on Tuesday and Wednesday last week but I had good reasons: Thursday night I was preparing for my trip to London, Friday I was in London all day and didn't get home til late (not to mention being utterly knackered) while Saturday and Sunday I was busy being ill with a shitty cold and a head so fuzzy that I could barely remember my own name let alone do any writing. 

The writing I did get done was not particularly progressive in a word-count sense; I mainly re-wrote earlier passages and so the overall count did not really increase much. Still, after my four-day absence I managed to get back into the swing of it today. I didn't get that much done, but what I did was important. I had to write a scene where Lukan finds out why Magnus rescued him. I couldn't get it to flow properly and in fact I didn't have a clue how the scene would go. Worse, I was bored at the prospect of such a scene. So I scrapped it. Lukan no longer gets hanged: instead he demands execution by beheading on the basis that he doesn't want to die like a common criminal. He gets his wish, and is distraught to find that, as the shadow of the sword hovers over him, his life doesn't flash before his eyes...because he never really had one. All he feels is regret, and after he is gifted his last-minute reprieve, he realises he has to make something of his life.

In other news, I found an interesting thread on the Chronicles Network site in the publishing forum. It involves John Jarrold, fantasy publishing guru, who kindly has answered the questions of forum members. It is extremely insightful, not to mention interesting. John appears to be away at the minute, but there are over 20 pages of past discussion to get your teeth into. Check it out: http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/10900-personal-question-s-to-john-jarrold.html Incidentally, John Jarrold is the (un)lucky chap who will be receiving the finished draft of The Winterstone, when it is done. I bet he can't wait...

My trip to London last Friday was pretty good, if you ignored the pretty horrific schedule: awake at 4.30, up at 5, taxi to station at 5.30, train at 6.35, arrive London for 9. Still, we went first class so got lots of nice food. The journey back was especially good fun, with much free drink and loud conversation, to the clear irritation of the tosser  business man sitting near us. 

Finished reading Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley recently. A solid effort but slightly disappointing. I found the serious style a little hard to swallow after the witty cynicism of Joe Abercrombie, and never really connected with any of the characters. The overall premise is good though. Currently reading Bitterwood by James Maxey. It's certainly not your usual cup of tea. Once you get your head around the dragons that act and live like humans it is pretty good. Some of the dialogue is a bit crap though.

Novel progress so far:

15,351 / 120,000 (12.8%)

It's been another good week, novel-wise. I've managed to meet my 500-words-a-day target once again, and have surpassed this on quite a few days. The weekend was particularly productive, with an entire chapter being written on Friday night and another whole chapter being completed over Saturday and Sunday. I feel like I'm well into the groove now. More importantly, I feel like I want to write and that makes such a difference. 

Already there is a marked contrast between my progress on this novel when compared to my last project. My consistancy was nowhere near as good last time around; I'd write 1000 words one day, then have a couple of days where nothing got done, then write 2000 words in a day, then nothing for a few more days, then 500 words and so on... This time, hitting a minimum of 500 words a day has just been great for progress, but also for the actual process. I feel far more switched on and motivated. I'm determined not to slip and have a day where I don't write, because I know I could end up falling back into old habits. Just over 15,000 words in two weeks is good enough reason to not start slacking. Friday might be a problem as I'm travelling to London on business, but I'll try to get some writing done on the train. The company's sending me first class, so I'll get plenty of peace and quiet. 

As for the story, Lukan found himself framed for a murder he didn't commit. He was hauled before a magistrate, found guilty, and hanged that same afternoon...only to be cut down just before he choked to death. Luckily for him, his neck didn't snap. Lucky for me too, otherwise we'd have a pretty short novel. Hmmm, now that I think of it, that might be a good thing...Anyway, his life was saved by Magnus, the very same fellow who accosted Lukan the previous night and seemed like a potential problem. Appearances can be deceiving. Magnus didn't just save Lukan for no reason; Lukan will find out in due course that he is to travel north to Longhorn Watch, one of the most northerly colonies, to serve as a scout. The idea is that Lukan will find the direction that his life has been missing,  the sense of purpose he has looked so hard for, but then it'll all be torn away from him, leaving him rather angry and caught up in a nasty conflict that is far more complex than it looks. 

It's nice when writing suprises you, which is what happened to me this week when Rat popped up out of nowhere. Lukan needed to find out which of the merchants were heading south so he could travel with them (the road south from Mordvayne to Ember isn't safe). While I was pondering how he would go about this, a little street urchin popped up and tried to pickpocket him. Lukan caught him in the act, and rather than handing him over to the guards, he paid Rat to find out the information he needs. Rat then went on to play a crucial role in the murder trial (he was blackmailed into giving evidence against Lukan) and he will accompany Lukan to the colony. The two will become quite close, with the idea that Rat will eventually die (for a bit of emotional turmoil). I've really come to like Rat, he's a cheeky little scamp with a good heart, but he'd serve no real purpose beyond that which I've intended for him. Then again, you never know. 

The only other thing of note is that Jharn, the clansman POV character is no more. I decided that having three POV characters who were all male and all roughly the same age might be both difficult and possibly a bit dull. I've made Graven the POV character from the clan side, and I'm already enjoying writing his scenes. I feel that he and his companion Barusk are two of the strongest characters I have so far, so I want to make maximum use of them. By getting rid of Jharn, I can do this. 

I'm having second thoughts about the prologue; I'm currently using an amended version of the old one. Having written chapters one and two, I'm wondering whether they serve as better openings. The writing I feel is superior in both chapters to the prologue. We'll have to see. At the moment, I feel that every new chapter I write is better than the last, leading me to think "Hmm, maybe this could be the start of the novel!" Still, no need to worry about this yet. Such things can be resolved when the first draft of the whole damn thing is done. 

So far, so good.