Software, Writing, and Trailers

I’m going to ad a bit of software first. That’s not a typo, it’s more a deliberate misuse of a noun.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been messing about with Plume Creator, by Cyril Jacquet. Along with several other writers, I’ve been helping test out the Beta version of this software, finding bugs and providing suggestions. Plume Creator is a writing tool that offers a much more simple interface than, but has most of the attractiveness of, Scrivener or YWriter for me. Some authors, such as Ken McConnell have been using it with their current novel. With my focus on non-fiction and the Pa’adhe short stories, I’ve not been testing out the full features and interactions of Plume Creator as well as I could. What I can say, though, is that it has a lot to offer writers of any level and genre. The parts I have used, I like, and the latest version has cleared up most of my issues with it. The next version promises to remove my final gotchas.

Plume Creator has been available via Sourceforge for a while now and Cyril has just set up his website. Right now, the French version is “more correct” than the English but either way I am excited to see him finally making Plume Creator more publicly available. Downloads are available there for both Windows and Ubuntu (32-bit and 64-bit), and I know he would welcome your feedback.

If you are looking for an application that will help you organize your writing and you don’t mind working with a pretty stable Beta, I would strongly recommend you check out Plume Creator. I’m eagerly looking forward to what Cyril gives us in the next versions.

Now on to my latest Pa’adhe update. Ghost Ship is currently running around 5,000 words and is turning into one of those tales where it looks like I’ll be jumping all over the place writing this story. I started out writing the opening, moved on to some of the fallout of that opening, then jumped way forward in the story. I don’t think what I’ve got is anywhere near the middle, and it’s definitely not near the end. I’ve gone back to where I left off and moved the story forward to where I’m setting up the main story line and introducing it to the reader. In doing so, I had to make two new entries to my “encyclopaedia”. One is a character we’re meeting again from A Matter of Trust and the other is an informal guild. The person’s entry was easy enough, just a few notes to keep his character and personality straight between the two stories. I have no idea at this point how prominent this character will be in this tale.

The other entry, that of the guild, well, that’s a little different.

I’ve already mentioned two guilds in various of my stories, and I had thought they would be the only ones I needed to worry about. Then out of the blue, as I was typing story into file as fast as my fingers can move, up pops reference to another guild. I mean, where do these come from, anyway? I most assuredly did not have any intent of involving yet another guild in Pa’adhe’s world. Yet, there it is, being mentioned by various characters as if it’d been a fact of life all along. I thought I was supposed to be writing these stories?

Distracted, I had to create an entry in the encyclopaedia and flesh out this new guild so I could keep it straight, especially how it relates to the merchant’s guild already mentioned and some characteristics of its members. That was fun, and I had to get out of bed a couple times and jot down notes to be added to this entry. This is world building at its finest, I think.

Now, if I can just get the characters to let me continue telling their story, I’ll have a new short story for you readers in a couple months.

And for those of you wondering, yeah, I grew up with Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

I’ve also been working on a new map for these tales. The current one is OK as it goes, and can be seen here as my Linux box’s background. It’s a bit out of date, missing an island and a town. So I’ve been working on creating a new map that retains the existing shapes but adds more islands, and hopefully when I’m done more realistic texture. For those of you that care, this link will at least give you a map.

While I’ve not done much actual work on the trailer since I stripped it down, I have done some research on rust removal. Tonight or this weekend I’ll be pulling the wheels off the trailer and storing them in the garage a while. Propped up on some stepping-stone style cinder blocks, the frame will be more stable for me to work on removing rust and paint plus it’ll be easier to work on the areas that would otherwise have been blocked by the wheels. I’ll also be pulling the hitch off the tongue and putting that in a vessel of white vinegar for a week or so. That should clean off all the old paint and rust, leaving it nice and cleaned up. Then I can paint the parts I need to and oil the working mechanism without wrestling with all the curves and the cup where the ball fits and the small parts. In the meantime, while that’s soaking, I’ll be taking my wire wheels and brushes to the frame.

I also went over the pictures at Paleotool’s Vardo build site with my dad after he asked me just what I was building and how I was going to do it. We’d been talking about sheet metal to protect the bottom of the wood parts of the Vardo and it was easier to show him than tell him. I had a blast going over the various pictures, discussing wood thicknesses and changes I had in mind for my Vardo. Right now, it’s a little more fleshed out than it had been and my dad had some great suggestions based on the trailer in my previous blog post. His words: “Between that website and your ideas, that’s going to be one great little trailer.” Words I’m going to have to try to live up to now!

This Vardo was a work in progress even before building actually started. I’ve been thinking and researching for two years. All the plans, ideas, details, and modifications are in my head, constantly shifting and evolving. While I can see the final product, I have no idea the details of what it’s going to look like. As mentioned, I’ll be using the pictures at Paleotool’s site and others for framing, placement, general measurement ideas. The actual measurements of where things are and wood sizes, such as for the studs and siding for the sides, will be determined on the fly. My trailer’s general measurements are close to those of Paleotool’s, enabling me to have a plan and measurements to customize from. One example of a customization is the roofing: I will be having a skylight in the middle for even more light as well as smoked plexiglass runs along the sides. These two ideas will give me a lot additional light while still providing privacy, a warmer feeling to the inside, and a more open feeling interior. Another customization is my intent to use shiplap joints. There are many advantages to this, including sealing, repairs to damaged areas, and access to wiring under the floor.

The writing never truly ends, and neither does the dreaming.

The Vardo Journey Begins

I think I’ve mentioned wanting to build a Vardo before. My plan was originally to do a remake of the trailer we used for the trip to Alaska when I was a kid. My grandfather built that trailer with my dad and it was a sweet little micro-camper before micro-campers were popular. We pulled it with a Rambler station wagon over the Alaskan Highway when the highway was still a rough, all gravel road.

The trailer on the way to Alaska.

Yep, that’s me at the table.

Searching the webs for construction ideas and alternate possibilities after a friend suggested a teardrop trailer, I was inspired by Paleotool’s “The Vardo” postings. Since my first visit a couple years ago he’s posted additional pictures, more information, links to other Vardos being built, and received great discussion in the comments section. At that time I began looking for a trailer I could get cheap to strip down for this project. I intend to use his pictures, along with those of other builders, to construct mine. Just a few weeks ago, my neighbor gave me his old trailer. Last weekend I stripped it down to the frame:

My trailer, stripped down to the metal frame. Notice the horseshoe? You’ll have to zoom in.

I love the use of that horseshoe at the axle to support the tongue tube. I don’t know if it was originally used for luck, convenience, or both. I’m going to go with “both” and hope the luck this trailer has had continues. It was, after all, good luck that brought this trailer to me.

Originally a plywood-sided box utility trailer, having stripped it down this far it looks like the frame is pretty solid, well, maybe not “pretty”. Clearly, I have some rust removal to do. I’ll also need to replace the wheel bearings, according to the previous owner, but that’s simple and straight-forward work that I’ve done before. Then I can start building my Vardo.

I had planned to make a metal framework that would bolt onto the existing trailer frame to serve as a way of extending my “foundation” from 4’x8’ to something closer to a 5’x8’ base. The original construction accomplished this through the use of 2”x4” wooden cross members bolted to the frame in the above picture. Nailed to that was tongue and groove 1”x4” laid out lengthwise and finished with 1/4” plywood fastened on top of that. I’d rather have a metal framework extending the base than rely on wood for that purpose. After talking with BS (my brother-in-law) I’ve decided to weld whatever metal framework I decide on to the existing frame instead of using bolts. According to him that would be more solid than bolting. I hadn’t thought of a single sheet of metal as the base, which a good friend suggested, but I like the idea it’d protect the wood from underneath. I might combine the two ideas: metal cross-members welded to the frame to extend the width topped by a thin layer of sheet metal. That would provide me the larger support to my flooring and let me use a thinner piece of sheet metal to provide the wanted protection underneath the wood.

Then on top of that I could lay my flooring frame, bolting it to the sheet metal with brackets. I’m thinking of doing a tongue-and-groove floor on top of the floor framing, but I think I’ll still need a plywood subfloor for a solid feel to the floor itself. A lot depends on the spacing of my floor’s framing, naturally. Or I may even get lazy and just go with a nice, finished plywood floor, period.

So much to think about while doing the boring rust removal. That’s part of the fun, too, though: dreaming of my ideal little camper, what I’ll build into it, and what I’ll be doing with it when it’s done.

All in all, this should be a fun project and I’ll be getting some exercise outdoors. Mostly I figure I’ll be working on this on the weekends, but I’m hoping to have at least something I can camp in by the end of summer. Even if that’s only four walls, a floor, and a roof I’ll consider that goal met. It’ll be so nice to go to, say, Leslie Gulch, and not have to waste too much time setting up camp for crashing after a long astrophotography session. It’ll be nice, too, to be able to just finish up the photography, temporarily put things inside the Vardo, and just go to bed instead of driving out.

Hopefully, too, it’ll induce my wife to join me on more of these outings since she’ll have a comfortable place to sleep while I’m up taking pictures or observing through the telescope.

And of course, it’ll also be a nice way to get away from home for some writing in expansive surroundings and luxurious comfort. Or going fishing. Or helping with ham radio events away from home. Or….

Can you tell I’m looking forward to the time spent on this project? And afterward!

Pa’adhe Musings

One of my outdoors offices where I write.

Sitting in one of my outdoors offices last Saturday (above picture) and working on the latest Pa’adhe tale, I also enjoyed watching some hawks hunting and thought (dreamed) about the future of Tales of the Pa’adhe. The current story, Ghost Ship, is story number nine, so there are two more after that which will be put to the blog. Then will be number 12 which will only be available in the ebook collection for a year before being posted to the blog as well. Number 12 is a milestone for me, one I very much look forward to achieving.

Thoughts of story 12 dancing in my mind led me to think about the stories going forward. Right now, the order of the stories as they were written is 1, 2, 3, …, 9 but in the Pa’adhe timeline, they run as follows: 3, 4, 1, 6, 5, 2, 8, 7, 9. Somewhere between writing numbers 1 and 4 I wrote the premise of The Final Voyage, so I actually have 10 stories already written or being written. The order of 7 through 9 is somewhat arbitrary and could just as well be 7, 8, then 9. I think that from here on out, each story will just go in the order it’s written, except for the occasional back-fill story. The first six stories had to be re-arranged for the Pa’adhe timeline to make sense — I couldn’t very well have Scarle join the crew until after Flight at least. I’m still not sure of the ordering for 1 and 6 so obviously I need to re-read the series in the correct order and make sure all falls into place properly.

Once that re-readings done and they’re sorted out properly into the Pa’adhe timeline, I’ll put them in the correct order on the blog. Right now, as you can see on the right, they’re listed alphabetically. That could be confusing for someone discovering them for the first time and who starts reading with the first in the listing. I better take care of this soon.

An author’s work is never done!

Another thing I need to deal with is to go through each story and ensure the spellings are consistent. I know I have some issues with Scarle’s name, for example, in the stories that were written before I finally broke down and realized I had to create a cast of characters and locales in order to keep things straight. That file is now kept up-to-date with each character that gets used more than once and with every place encountered.

I still owe my readers back story on Scarle, and possibly some history on the Captain as well. Cook and Xinu have had their stories told in Dreamland and Restaok, respectively. Scarle’s tale may go somewhere in the existing order or it may go onto the end of the timeline as it exists when I get around to writing it. Much depends on how I tell the tale, obviously.

The Captain’s tale, if I tell it, could be problematical when it comes to placing it in the Pa’adhe timeline. The Pa’adhe didn’t exist until the Captain created her, yet there is a little about his time before that which needs to be told. Some of it will come out in various future tales, that’s planned as there are a couple underlying arcs running through all the stories. Other aspects will be told as needed, perhaps in an aside, perhaps in it’s own tale, or perhaps when the Captain is being questioned in various tales…we’ll just have to wait and see.

Then there’s the cover images for each story. Right now I have cover images for five of the tales, one of which I am thinking of discarding despite how much I like it. That leaves seven more covers to create if I want them all to have a cover plate in the ebook. Oh, and one more for the ebook itself. These cover images will be unique to the ebook collection and like the 12th story will not be available on the blog until a year later.

The map is also outdated and needs to have a few tweaks made. This is another thing that I’m debating posting to the blog. I could make it unique to the ebook, but having a basic map for reference might be nice for readers. When I say it’s basic, I mean it. It shows the mountains, islands, is to scale, has a compass rose, has a mileage scale, and so forth, but it also shows some places the Captain hasn’t been yet and could be revealing too much. Or it could be a teaser for the story that you know has to be coming. He just has to go there, right?

I have that map as my background on my Ubuntu box now. As I sit here typing this while looking at the map, I see unexplored areas, changes I want to make to the map, an idea for one more island or island group and the tale associated with it. It’s a very rudimentary map at the moment, only four named headlands and 11 towns. There’s SO much more to explore here.

Along with all that, looking at the map makes me wonder if I need to write some more about the world itself? The various races, lands, peoples…how much more of that do I need to reveal? Or can I just cover that in each short story as needed and let the map do the talking? It could be fun to create all that, perhaps in a separate ebook? A guide to the world of Pa’adhe as it were. My notes file could be the basis of that, since I keep it in a sort of encyclopaedic format. Maybe that’s a good side project. The only problem is updating the ebook as time goes by. Of course, the solution is that this particular ebook is only available from my blog. That would ensure the reader always has access to the most recent copy and can easily update their downloaded copy.

There’s so much more I want to do, so much more to write.