Never Too Late by northie

[northie]

Sorting out the next chapter which takes place on Christmas Day. Wish we had some winterish weather here - umpteen weeks of frying temperatures is trying the patience of this northerner ...  😒 This chapter is the first of three which will conclude this volume of Eric's story.   

[northie]

Just finished Chapter 11 of the second volume. I how exactly how it's going to end, but it might take longer than 16 chapters to get there. Shows how good my story planning is ...    I have to leave Eric for the present to get back to Geoff and Tony (I'm trying to get two or three chapters in hand before I start posting). And my next antho entry. 

[northie]

This volume of 'Never too late' is now complete. If you prefer your stories complete before you start reading, then this is your opportunity. 

 

As I've said previously, Eric will be back in the New Year. 

[northie]

Just a reminder that if you're looking for another chapter of Eric tomorrow, there won't be one. The story has finished for now and should resume in the New Year.

[Former Member]

7 minutes ago, northie said:

Just a reminder that if you're looking for another chapter of Eric tomorrow, there won't be one. The story has finished for now and should resume in the New Year.

I’m greedy, I want Geoff & Tony and Eric!  ;–)

[northie]

42 minutes ago, droughtquake said:

I’m greedy, I want Geoff & Tony and Eric!  ;–)

Tough.  . 

[Timothy M.]

22 hours ago, droughtquake said:

I’m greedy, I want Geoff & Tony and Eric!  ;–)

 

Now I'm having dejavu

[northie]

I haven't forgotten Eric in the midst of everything else. I've made a start on chapter 12 and I pretty much know what's going to happen (cross fingers) from now until the end of this next volume.   

[northie]

On 10/4/2018 at 7:09 PM, northie said:

I've made a start on chapter 12

Not much progress - chapter 12 is about half way through. With the antho entry out of the way, things should speed up. Though the demands of my other pair have to come first ... Anyway, the main reason for this post is the series banner for Eric which I've produced, with assistance from @Carlos Hazday Hope you like it.   

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by northie

[Timothy M.]

looks great - although Eric has wider shoulders than I expected. When will we see it as banner on the story ?

[northie]

28 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

although Eric has wider shoulders

 A by-product of the stretching necessary to make the image fit the stated dimensions unfortunately. I think it's OK. It's a series banner so it'll appear when I start posting the second volume. Thanks, Tim.   

[Former Member]

56 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

looks great - although Eric has wider shoulders than I expected. When will we see it as banner on the story ?

Eric is a Little Person. He is severely vertically challenged. @northie was just very polite in not mentioning that fact.  ;–)

[northie]

@droughtquake    PS the series banner has Never Too Late as the title because each volume will be titled Never Too Late To ... 'Change' is probably my choice for volume 1.

[Carlos Hazday]

18 hours ago, droughtquake said:

Eric is a Little Person. He is severely vertically challenged. @northie was just very polite in not mentioning that fact.  ;–)

 

Are you saying he resembles one of the garden gnomes he was always surrounded by?

[northie]

3 minutes ago, Carlos Hazday said:

one of the garden gnomes

Since when have I ever mentioned gnomes?    Can't imagine Eric would be a fan somehow ... 

[Former Member]

3 hours ago, Carlos Hazday said:

Are you saying he resembles one of the garden gnomes he was always surrounded by?

3 hours ago, northie said:

Since when have I ever mentioned gnomes?    Can't imagine Eric would be a fan somehow ... 

Apparently Carlos is writing the prequel. Eric hated the garden gnomes that his employers loved. In his own garden there are no gnomes!  ;–)

[Ivor Slipper]

16 minutes ago, droughtquake said:

Apparently Carlos is writing the prequel. Eric hated the garden gnomes that his employers loved. In his own garden there are no gnomes!  ;–)

 

Perhaps his former employers were bankers from somewhere in Europe?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_of_Z%C3%BCrich

[Carlos Hazday]

31 minutes ago, droughtquake said:

Apparently Carlos is writing the prequel

 

Hell, no! I have enough on my plate. And my writing style's so different it would be jarring. Can you imagine Eric smoking pot and getting into fights?

[Former Member]

11 minutes ago, Carlos Hazday said:

Hell, no! I have enough on my plate. And my writing style's so different it would be jarring. Can you imagine Eric smoking pot and getting into fights?

The pot smoking and fighting would be his employer! Eric would be the straight-laced observer. Keeping his head down and staying out of trouble while his employer raised hell. Eric would be quietly repairing the damage to the gardens that his employer caused! That’s why Eric kept to himself all these years.  ;–)

[Carlos Hazday]

15 minutes ago, droughtquake said:

The pot smoking and fighting would be his employer! Eric would be the straight-laced observer. Keeping his head down and staying out of trouble while his employer raised hell. Eric would be quietly repairing the damage to the gardens that his employer caused! That’s why Eric kept to himself all these years.  ;–)

 

I prefer not to speculate in public on another author's characters and plans. I realize it's common for readers to do so. I've managed to surprise/tick off a few when I've had a character do something they considered out of character but to me was exactly what he/she would do. There are certain writers (cough-Mann Ramblings-cough) who've changed the plot to steer it away from what some guessed would come next.  Not me! But then that's probably because most of my stories are entirely written before I begin posting.

 

[Former Member]

14 minutes ago, Carlos Hazday said:

There are certain writers (cough-Mann Ramblings-cough) who've changed the plot to steer it away from what some guessed would come next.

GRRM says he considered doing that when too many people figured out key plot points (eg John Snow’s ‘actual’ parentage).

 

I’ve heard of authors (usually in comics or comic books) who do their own take on another author’s characters. as a one-off. I remember a bunch of comic strip characters drawn in the style of another artist. It can be fun to view characters through different eyes. Perhaps on the day following the end of March?  ;–)

 

There have also been spoofs of Family Circus and Peanuts in humor magazines. I can think of very popular Nifty sub-genres that are eminently spoof-able. The one where all the straight male classmates start falling in love with each other as if an extremely contagious virus is running rampant through school! Another is the ex-military, lottery-winning, billionaire Ayn Rand-fan who keeps finding dozens of abused and abandoned Gay boys to adopt – but he’s not like those flamboyant Gays who live in Gay ghettoes, prance around covered in glitter half-naked in parades, and (in his mind) giving the rest of us a bad name.  ;–)

[northie]

3 hours ago, droughtquake said:

Apparently Carlos is writing the prequel.

I think it's you, drought. You have the ideas ...  

[northie]

2 hours ago, Carlos Hazday said:

Can you imagine Eric smoking pot and getting into fights?

I dunno .... Maybe Andy goes Stateside - you could do a spin-off.  I appreciate all fan fiction.    

[northie]

2 hours ago, droughtquake said:

The pot smoking and fighting would be his employer!

See my earlier reply ... 

[Carlos Hazday]

1 minute ago, northie said:

I dunno .... Maybe Andy goes Stateside - you could do a spin-off.  I appreciate all fan fiction.    

 

You know I'm not averse to borrowing characters. I do happen to have one living in London. A Brit with Pakistani parents. Former boxer and Harvard educated attorney. He returned to the UK after a breakup and my two MCs visited with him on their way to a rugby tournament in Amsterdam.