First Draft of "The Chosen" Finished!

I am very excited because today I finished my first draft of my second novel! Just to make it clear, this is not a sequel to my first novel, and is in fact not at all related to my first novel. They are both very different. This book, tentatively called "The Chosen," is essentially a young adult science fiction thriller. It is non-stop action from page one until the end with quite a few twists and turns. The first draft ended up being 85,981 words long, which is just a bit over what my goal was. In the next paragraph I'm going to give a very brief description of the book (basically a blurb like what you would read on the back of the book). If you don't want any spoilers on the book because you want to read it and figure it out for yourself, don't read the next paragraph.

The story follows Anthony Taylor, a young teen who is about as average as they come. His parents have recently divorced and he lives in New York with his mom. Out of the blue, his father calls and wants Tony to come visit him at his new apartment in Los Angeles. So, Tony takes the train from New York to Los Angeles, and finds himself the sole survivor of a mysterious train accident. What follows is a non-stop thrill ride where Anthony discovers that the train crashing was no accident and he is actually being tested by some mysterious group called 'The Chosen.' Who is this mysterious group? What is the purpose of the tests they are putting Tony through? These are questions Tony tries to answer as he ends up in the middle of several terrifying disasters. Through sheer determination and the help of three unlikely friends, can Tony survive long enough to figure out who 'The Chosen' are and what they want with him?

The thing I am most proud of with this book are the four main characters, whom I believe are fairly complex. I am excited to flesh out these characters even more as I revise the novel several times. I'm also considering changing the name of the group the book centers around (and therefore the books title). I am considering changing it to "The Elite" or "The Elect." At the moment I am leaning towards "The Elect." I hope to revise the book over the next few weeks and allow some of my closest friends and family to read it and give me feedback on how I can improve it. Hopefully by the end of the summer or so I will feel confident enough in it that I might try to get it published. If anybody who reads this blog is interested in reading a very rough, early draft of my book, please comment or e-mail me. It'll probably be a few weeks, though, since I'd like to go through and revise it at least once before I let people read it.

But, I am very excited, and can't wait to continue working on it, and perhaps even start thinking of ideas for a potential sequel...

Updates

I just wanted to write a short entry to let people know that I'm still alive and well and that I plan to write even more in the near future in this blog. This past month has not been particularly eventful. The one event that stands out is that I went to the LA A Capella Festival this past weekend. The LA/AF is a day long event for people who want to be in A Capella groups or are fans of A Capella. All day there are different classes that can be attended to help teach people more about A Capella and how to be in a successful group. I didn't attend the classes, but I went with my dad to the concert they had that night featuring different A Capella groups. The event took place on the UCLA campus, and it ended up being really fun to visit. The was one of my dad's Christmas gifts to me, and I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

It ended up being rather incredible. First a local group from UCLA opened the show and they performed two songs. The first was an original, and then they did a Backstreet Boys medley that was a lot of fun. Second was the group, The Backbeats, who placed third on The Sing-Off. They performed every song they performed on the Sing-Off plus a fun rendition of California Girls by Katy Perry, which they were not able to perform on the show. They were excellent, I particularly enjoyed their heartfelt take on Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.

Next up was one of the most interesting acts, it was actually one man who did some incredible beatboxing that sounded like an actual drum kit. Then, he played around with a loop machine so that he was able to sing over his own beats. It was really awesome, he must be one of the best at what he does. The final act was the amazing Mosaic. They played a very diverse set of songs that included Jazz, R&B, Pop and even Opera. They were tons of fun and played off the audience. Their voices blended together perfectly. There were moments were the harmonies gave me goosebumps. They were extremely awesome and I wouldn't mind seeing them again. Besides that concert, nothing much eventful has happened in the past month.

I suppose a big thing is that I've made significant progress writing in my book. I passed the halfway mark and am well on my way to reaching my goal of finishing the first draft of my novel. I really think it is coming along nicely. I love the four main characters and am having a ton of fun writing for all of them. Their interactions are a lot of fun, and I think they are all really different. I think there is a good blend of action and humor in this book. It never stops moving, the characters continually are finding themselves in difficult situations. I can't wait to finish the book and start planning a sequel.

The other news that I can think of is that I've heard a lot of new music recently that I love. I wrote a review of "The King Is Dead" by The Decemberists. I plan to write several more reviews in the upcoming week. I have albums by Pallas, Magic Pie, and Hotel of the Laughing Tree that I should review soon. I've also come across a magical new discovery. The band is named Reign of Kindo and they are completely amazing. They are very different from the music I typically like. They lean more towards Jazz and Pop than they do Prog. But, there is just something really special in the band and they have created some really beautiful music. I may do an entry about their music where I review their albums, including their most recent album, which I think is a masterpiece, perhaps one of my top 20 favorite all-time records.

So, that is pretty much the updates for right now. I hope to write a lot more in the coming days!