Writing Out Some Thoughts/Looking for Input

I know that as usual I have been pretty unproductive lately. On my end though, there is stuff still being worked on. It just isn't comics or anything to show you guys yet.

Some of you know I've been working on an original work called Sheer Power. While I still have a bit to go, I have been working on it a lot lately and it's nearing completion. This is good new to me who has been writing and rewriting this thing for like nearly 13 years. Granted, a lot of that time was spent working on other things instead of it, but still, that's quite a while.

What is my plan after it's done? Well, hopefully after another go through of proof reading and tweaking, I'll be ready to get it published. I've done some research on that and it seems unlikely I'll be sending Sheer Power to an actual publisher.

Why not? Well, this would be a first time work. If Sheer Power was a one shot story with an easy to hit market, I might give it a try. However, Sheer Power is planned to be a series and likely a long one at that. It is very unlikely that a publisher would take a chance like that on a first time author. Even if they did, I'm not sure how much control I would have over the product and its future.

I plan then on publishing the book online. I haven't decided where yet, but it seems likely that it'll be through Amazon. More research is required before that is finalized. I'm hoping that I've proven myself to enough of you that you would be interested in purchasing the final product there. Of course, I'd also be hopeful that it can find even a new audience there that would allow the series to continue. If enough people show interest there, I would then have a backing to prove to a publisher that it's worth their time to publish in book form, should I decide to pursue that later on. It may end up just being 100% online or it may end up being a failure in which case I'd just keep writing it for fun. Either way, the online publishing is the first step.

When is this going to happen? Well, I keep saying this to myself, but hopefully by the end of the year at the latest. Sheer Power to me has an A plot and a B plot. This means I have to plan, write up, and build up to two climaxes. I've already had the climax and conclusion to the A plot so I just need to wrap up the B plot. So we are closer than ever before. I just have to crank out those last chapters.

If it was complete now, I still have some concerns. I've mentioned this a lot, and even touched on it in this post, but I seem to have the inability to make things short. The current version of Sheer Power is the fourth version I've gone through. For comparison, the original version, (which was the only other version to get to the last chapter,) was 22 chapters long with 5 "extra" chapters with flash backs. In total, the whole thing was around 220 pages in word. The current version of Sheer Power? Currently it's sitting at 51 chapters and around 340 pages long. I'm not sure but the final product will probably just be short of 400 pages. These are pages in Word and I have no idea who that will translate into a book or digital format so who knows how many pages it will show up as there?

I've looked through the story for anything that can be cut. Seeing as this is the first story, however, this means there is a lot of exposition that is required to set up the characters and the setting. I've done what I can to make this exposition entertaining, but to me it all seems needed. So I worry that a 400 page book will seem really long to people.

There isn't really anything I think I can cut, so the only solution I see to that is to cut the story in two and let the second book pick up where it left off. If I were to do that though, my concern is that there is not a satisfying point to end it off and start up again in another book. If neither plot has any kind of resolution by the end, won't it just seem like the two books were arbitrarily cut in two? This could be seen as a money grab when really I just don't want people to feel overwhelmed or intimidated by such a long story.

Another concern I have, oddly enough, is with my pen name. Even from the original version, I had planned on publishing Sheer Power under my pen name, Vye Brante. But then once I chose that name, I started using it on sites like Smack Jeeves and Deviant Art.

I do not dislike the name so it's not the name that's the problem. (In fact I usually refer to myself as Vye in my own head now more than my real name.) What I'm worried about is the fact that as Vye Brante I've gained fans and followers through the use of fan work. Let's face it, none of you reading this originally followed me because of Sheer Power. I won't be surprised if most of you don't even know what Sheer Power is.

Most, if not all of you, are here because of my work with Pokemon whether it's Just Gotta or Nightmare. I am worried then that if Sheer Power does do well then it's like I used a copyrighted work to advertise myself. I used Just Gotta and Nightmare to practice and improve my writing skills and I am grateful for everything I have learned and enjoy working on them. Would it then become an issue if Sheer Power only gains readers because of Pokemon? Would Nintendo or Game Freak or whatever take issue with that?

I don't know. Sheer Power itself has nothing to do with Pokemon but I can't ignore how I'm sure the first people to read Sheer Power will only do so because of my work with Pokemon stuff. I could be over thinking and I probably am. But I still worry about it. I don't want to find out someday that I'd have to quit doing Just Gotta or Nightmare just because of Sheer Power.

What would the solution to that be anyway? I don't know that there is one. Even if I were to publish Sheer Power under a different pen name, without being able to advertise it from here or Smack Jeeves, it probably won't gain any attention. And if it somehow did do okay on its own, how long could I keep the secret that Vye Brante of Just Gotta is the same person as the one who wrote Sheer Power making the other name pointless anyway?

It may be a silly concern, but it's still on my mind. I think I'm basically stuck at this point so I'll still publish under Vye Brante. Time will tell if that will come back to bite me.

Some time ago I had posted the first chapter of Sheer Power for people to read. If people are interested, I can post it up again. The input I'm looking for? I don't know. You can comment on anything I've talked about. Do you think Sheer Power sounds too long? Would you even be interested in it? Should I just abandon this dream of mine and just write Pokemon 100% of the time? (That's not going to happen, so I'm sorry if that's what your thought is.)

Also, I'm still looking for people with the time and interest in reading Sheer Power as it is now. I want/need feedback and proof readers. I've done as much analyzing and criticizing of it that I can but I need other people's opinions so keep myself in check. For all I know, the current version of Sheer Power is garbage but I'm too attached to it to see that. So if you're interested in doing that, just say so.