Tag: fiction
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Crush Depth 5 – To the Habitat! Chapters 3-5
So far, I’ve: And now we’re going to discuss Chapters 3 through 5! Chapter 3: Parkowski travels down an elevator on the oil rig to the habitat. The journey is like Deep Storm’s but the habitat below is like Sphere’s. At the end of Chapter 2, Grace Parkowski, the main character, is told that she’s…
Ryan Patrick
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Crush Depth 4: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2
In my update early last month, I talked about how I wasn’t happy with the last draft of Crush Depth and how I was going to start over. Here, the first in the series, I did a postmortem to figure out where I went wrong. Then I did a 3-act summary and expanded that into…
Ryan Patrick
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Crush Depth 3: From 3 Acts to 45 Chapters
In part 1, I did a postmortem of what I did wrong with the second draft of Crush Depth. In part 2, I took my new one-sentence plan for the novel and expanded it to three acts. And this is part 3, where I will expand that outline further into chapter-by-chapter descriptions that will serve…
Ryan Patrick
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Crush Depth 2: A Sentence to an Outline
Last week, I talked about what went wrong with the last version of Crush Depth and why I had to throw out a nearly 100,000 word second draft. This week, I’m going to discuss how I am going to go from a new one-sentence summary to a full 3-act outline. It’ll be followed in subsequent…
Ryan Patrick
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The Saturn Anomaly Update
It’s at the Pentagon for a security review – here’s to a short turnaround! If all goes well, I’ll shoot for a December release. Here’s what I’m planning to put in the “About this Book” section at the end: If you’ve read any of my other books’ “About This Book” sections, you know that most…
Ryan Patrick
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Crush Depth 1: In Late, Out Early!
If you read my update from earlier in the month, you know I shelved Crush Depth. It was a hard decision. It’s a 2nd draft and a story idea that I’ve spent a lot of time writing and editing since 2020. And if giving up on the manuscript last time was hard, this one was…
Ryan Patrick
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Crush Depth Update
Ok, so the bad news first. I’m going through feedback on Crush Depth and while it’s overwhelmingly positive, I’ve come to the realization that just it’s not the book I wanted to write. The idea isn’t dead, but the current draft doesn’t work in the way that I wanted it to – for a number…
Ryan Patrick
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End of August/Beginning of September 2025 Update
Another month in the books! Actually got a few blog posts in, but wrote a bit slower than I would have liked. Crush Depth Feedback is still trickling in, and I decided to get The Saturn Anomaly out the door to my beta readers before I really dive into the feedback. Still, I don’t think…
Ryan Patrick
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Where My Writing Is Going
Quick thread on my books/series and where they’re going. The Martian Incident was released as a standalone. It now is the first book in a trilogy. I’m 80,000 words into the first draft of The Saturn Anomaly and have the 3rd book nearly outlined. Expect the 2nd novel in late 2025/early 2026. Lag Delay’s standalone…
Ryan Patrick
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The Saturn Anomaly Update
Today, I’m going to discuss The Saturn Anomaly, the sequel to The Martian Incident and three of my biggest challenges with drafting it. The Martian Incident was originally a prequel to what became The Europan Deception, then the two books diverged – a lot. For a while, it was a trunk novel, then I had…
Ryan Patrick
Ryan M. Patrick 