What makes up a grand writing project?
I thought I might take a moment to ‘type out loud’, and really put down in front of me the size of the project I have in mind, in order that I record somewhere, somehow, that before I die – my family can say old Jason actually made himself pretty busy after all.
Years ago, I started several times to just come up with the idea for one novel. It took me the better part of twelve years just to come up with the perfect idea for that one novel. Of course, once I had the right idea, and focused on just that one idea, it only took 5 months to write the book. That one book contained approximately 80,000 words, 49 chapters, 12 main characters, several factoids about venomous snakes, the military, history, Christianity, Islam, and the FBI. The story took the reader to Egypt, Brussells in Belgium, California, and all over the Eastern seaboard of the United States. And I daresay, the story made people think about what they believe.
Now, almost 18 years later, let’s look at what all will have to be part of a 30 novel series!
First of all, there is the obvious: 30 novels, averaging 67,500 words per book, will equal an approximate word count of more than two million words! Two million words, written by a guy who hated reading when he was a kid. Heck – there are more than 780,000 words in the King James Bible. That’s crazy.
Next, we are talking about novels that will average forty-five chapters a piece. That is around 1,350 chapters of action, drama, intrigue, factoids, violence, morality, emotion, spirituality, and reality. Who knows how many page-breaks I will have to include in there?
And what about characters?
John Knox, Beth White, Malik Sharif, Robert Brady, Jones McCoy, Rebecca Brady, Jessica Brady, Naseem Sarraf (The Arbiter), Charles ‘The Sarge’ Lipscomb, Terry Mitchell, Warden Clybourne, Director Walter Marks, Felix Von Steinmuhler (The Klansman), Jeremy Gold, President Robert Thompson, Alexi Stahlekniov, Mirana Sarraf, Rebecca Sarraf, Thomas Sarraf, Joshua Sarraf, Howie Dobbins, Dylan Langford, Fatima Sharif, Sheikh Abbas Sharif, Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abbas Sharif, Habib Sharif, Captain Barbara Wayne, Grant Welsh, Reverend Ryan Strong, Barbara Strong, Byron Matthews, Zhana Brechka, ‘Legion’, Astaroth, Omar Abadi, Tsippi Abadi, Haddad Abadi, Kairan Abadi, King Ibn Assad Saliman, Andru Stoikavich, Azazel, the Angel Gabriel, the Archangel Michael, and Jacob Omer… to name a few.
There will be several more, but that is already 44 main characters. That is over forty detailed life stories and descriptions I will develop over thirty books. Each and every main character in my books will associate at some point with one or more minor characters directly, in each book in which they make an appearance. Each one of these characters will be facing some kind of problem that they will need to solve. And of course, these characters and the ongoing story will require me to focus on many important themes.
I will really need to do my homework and research the following: demonology, eschatology, biology, molecular biology, dimensional portals, physics, astronomy, particle accelerators, artificial intelligence, Islam, Christianity, Communism, disaster preparedness, history, prophecy, doxology, monasteries, Judaism, secularism, atheism, predestination, Catholicism, diplomacy, and probably many more. Who knows; maybe I will learn something.
But when I go back and read all of this, it at least shows that I’ve come a long way since that first book… or that first little poem I wrote back in 2002.
Why did I type all this out? It took the words of a friend to tell me that he commended me for starting such a large project. When I first wrote down a summary for the project, and had 30 story ideas that all connected, it didn’t occur to me just how big this project is. So I thought I would put it down into words (yes, I know; probably too many words). I would appreciate it and be very grateful if you decide to follow me along on this writing journey. I am sure I can give you and your friends plenty to talk about.
After all, my parents called me Motor Mouth at a very early age.
Why should I run out of things to say, now?