Parts 1-3 of Market Day-
952 pages of 12 font word document, 453,739 words, and at 300 words per page in normal novel format, 1514 pages as a novel.
With everyone's encouragement and readership, what started a a small 3000 word short story based on one of the wife's extra credit school assignments that I posted here because I was tired of reading the same formula-matic prepper fiction back at the end of July of 2019, has blossomed into what it has become a year and a half later.
Hopefully by Monday I will start laying down Part four to you guys. Part four should answer many questions and make some things make more sense, and hopefully make some of you guys go "Holy Shit! I didn't see that coming!" enough you want to go back to the beginning and start it all over again. Soon I hope to have Part 1 actually published so you guys can get the product improved version rather than the clunky version you guys started with here, but rest assured, no main elements are changed, just things smoothed and more detail added.
In writing this story from Part 1, up through part 6 or seven as currently projected, I start with the rough framework and know basically where it’s going and what most outcomes will be but there are details of how that show up as I work through it and the muses and wife throw some elements for me to consider and, with her editing, make me sound intelligent and keep my characters in character.
I still try to work contrary to the typical stereotype elements
women heroines who do more than wring their hands and cook, not everyone with the same solution/weapons/ cars
In reading a lot of prepper fiction, an author locks into what he thinks is the best solution and equips the heroes with it, regardless of how many books and characters later, it keeps happening. Another trend is the six hundred part catalog of items i.e 'BillyBob pulled out his XYZ brand thing and attached it to the turboencephelator which was the new and improved model made of real genuine cast molibnium and.....'
I have used some brand names for some things, but I try to keep it rare and primarily for identification (like Bekka's Subaru, Paige's Cherokee and so on and so forth) I went down the rabbit hole with some things sometimes for a reason and sometimes because I thought it was neat. I wanted the touch memory moment with Doug and his grandfather so I used the watch as a vector. I then went and found an unusual one that fit the timeframe and the writers needs. The watches scenes in Part three at Christmas was in many ways too much but I wanted to convey Sabine giving away items of worth, both monetarily from what others would see and personally from what Andrea and Amber (and later Silas) would see.
In most prepper fiction, there would have been pages about the sewing machine they gave Andrea, everything from model to capability. There would have been whole build sheets on the exact engine, transmission and every other part of Paige's Cherokee build, Sabines, Garen's truck and so on and so forth. I mainly threw enough to give people a feel for how they thought when they designed and worked them. All told, I'm trying to make it about the people and along the way have enough gear to keep it interesting and informative from that aspect as well.
When I started writing this, I made it a point to try to break some of the common stereotypes. No SEALs, no Green Berets, no unlimited funds for everyone, no thousand items in their pockets, no 8000 cubic inch pack with everything they might want. The hero's for the most part are the middle of the road people depending on perspective. Even the special operations affiliated people are mostly the support people for the special operators. They need cooks and medics and truck mechanics and finance to do their mission just as much as everyone else.
Most of the gear load outs were built and tested by me or friends. The weapons are trying to be what would be appropriate for them to have, not what was the exactly right tool.
Some elements I try to the best of my ability to get right, or if they aren't right, make sure they aren't right for a reason. A couple places such as medical and firearms are the prime places. What Paige did with the 1911 truck guns is completely feasible, quite easy to do in a short amount of time and a hand tool or two if you have the knowledge and ridiculously illegal. I made sure I didn't describe it much at all, otherwise too many people might be tempted.
I try to make whole characters with complex backgrounds and motivation. That way, regardless of what situation I throw at them, I know how they would act. 98% of the characters backgrounds the readers will never see, like Sabine’s favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla and Garen likes ranch dressing on baked potatoes which Bekka finds disgusting, and so on and so forth.
I hope I have made characters you feel like you could meet , chat with and so forth as opposed to some cookie cutter fill in the bad-ass blank prepper dude that knows everything and never gets something wrong, always has the right tool and always survives or goes down in a blaze of glory.
For example, Henrik was a red shirt from day one, but the story wouldn't be served properly to develop Paige, Sabine and Andrea if he wasn't a likable character to invest in. He went out in a way that was shocking to someone accustomed to standard survival/prepper fiction, but it is more realistic, just like having injured or less than capable characters early in the book instead of a flesh wound for effect in the final reel that doesn't impact performance (Bekka and her gunshot/broken ribs in the first third of Part 1, leading to problems all the way through)
All told, I hope I am entertaining people because writing it is entertaining me. Part 4 is coming