Waffles

I have this killer waffle recipe which I'm not going to share today.

The waffle I'm talking about is the title for my fantasy novel.  For a long, long time it was Loremaster, and I like that title.  I liked the original novel, but I got some feedback from agents and others that my novel had too many traditional elements.  Guilty as charged.  Loremaster started out with wizards, elves, dwarves and giants, along with a myriad of other old fantasy standbys.

I took a long, hard look at the manuscript and made some changes.  Wizardry, with all its mysticism became Craftsmanship, with all of the hard work that the word implies.  Dwarves became a race of swarthy, hardy humans known as the Volkstamites.  The elves became a detached, almost ghostly race of outsiders called the Nitherec.  And the giants...well, there's only so much you can do.  The giants are still giants, and rightly so.

I'm happy with the changes made.  I'm glad I moved from preconceived notions of elves and dwarves etc and flavoured the world with my own creations.  I think these changes make the novel unique.

I also changed the title.  It went from Loremaster to The Edgeling.   "Edgeling" is the name that humans have given to the Nitherec people because of their tendency to stand at the fringes of the world and not become involved.

Why did I change the title?  Well, to be honest, after making various changes to the body of the novel, I wanted to approach some of the agents again with a revitalized manuscript.  I thought maintaining the title might stand against me, so I changed it.

But it bothered me.

All of the changes I made to the body of the story added to the novel.  Changing the title, I think, took away from it.  Loremaster, I feel, has more punch than The Edgeling.

And so - after lots of waffling and consultation with those familiar with the book - my fantasy novel is once again, Loremaster.

A Masterful Performance

I like golf.  I like to play it.  I like to watch it.

Congratulations Mr. Mickelson on your Masters win.

What's the plural of "synopsis"?

I know the answer is "synopses", but it just seems like it should have an octopus or hippopotamus-like plural somehow.

That's what I should be doing right now.  It's what I was doing before I convinced myself I needed a break from working on the synopsis for The Edgeling.

But I did need a break.

One last look at Britain, then back to work...

After spending time in Wales we returned to Copthorne Bank, just south of London.  During our last few days in England we went here:

That's St. Paul's.  We climbed the stairs to the Whispering Galley and yes, I could hear my kids whispering to me from the other side of the dome.  We went to the vault and saw Nelson's Tomb and discovered that while Westminster Abby has a Poet's Corner, St. Paul's has an Artist's Corner (more of an Artist's Wing, actually).

We crossed over the Thames on the Millennium Bridge and headed toward this imposing structure:

It's hard to get the scale from this picture.  This is a decommissioned coal-powered generating station which has found wonderful re-use as the Tate Modern Art Gallery.  What a treat is was to show the kids Warhol, Lichtenstein, Picasso, Dali and more, up close and personal.

I have to admit that there was one piece that had me confused.   I unfortunately couldn't get a picture.  There were three upright Hoover Vacuum Cleaners standing side by side with an acrylic platform over them on which stood a single industrial wet-vac.  The piece was lit from both bottom and top.  The acrylic did interesting things with the light and the surfaces of the vacuums.  Was it art?  Some people thought so.

I thought it sucked.

After the Tate Modern we went a little way down the block to this place:

What trip to London would be complete without a trip to the recreated Globe Theatre.

This concludes our trip to the UK.  Now, back to work for me.