C James

Marty, that was an awesome post! This is the only bit I dare comment on... the answer is, I can't tell you! Not won't, but literally can't... because i don't know. I know the overall plot, of course, and what needs to be covered, but I am absolutely awful when it comes to estimating the number of words to get from point A to point B. As an example of this, somewhere on this forum there's a post by me from back when the story started, estimating that it would have about 20 chapters in total. (i just might have be wrong on that! ) We're well past the halfway point now, and there's not a chance in hell we'll hit three digits in the chapter count, but... I can say this much; the big reveals occur well before the end, not at the end as one might expect in a mystery. You're pretty close! I do live in a remote area of Northern Arizona, but not halfway up a mountain.. more like 90% up it. I'm at just a little over 7000 feet above sea level. I'm surrounded by ponderosa pines, and ny nearest neighbor is out of sight. Roaring fire? Check! I cut my own wood, too. And one of my favorites places to write in the winter is stretched out on a thick fur rug in front of the fire. I use a laptop computer in that case (I most often write on my desktop PC). Chapters scattered about? Sort of... on the computer, definitely. (though I do have a lot of notes in notebooks around me at the moment, as I'm in front of said fire and have been writing). I write non-linearly; I have many scenes already written, but they are in large working files, not cut into chapters. I keep Trevor's storyline in one file, things in Florida (all Florida scenes) in another, and in another there are the final chapters and epilogue. (just not split out into chapters yet). For this, as in most of my stories, the end was about the first thing I wrote. Does writing non-linearly sound crazy? Yep! It's a godd thing I've never claimed to be sane... (not that anybody would believe me anyway... ) :wacko: BTW, chapter 72 will be posting sometime within the next few hours. (assuming my internet connection doesn;t go haywire). CJ

Wow, that was a very thoughtful and insightful analysis!! I love it! Of course, I'm the only one who knows the answers which means I'm the only one who can't comment on the overwhelming majority. So far, the only income-concealing that Trevor has admitted to are his tip money from charters. He kept that in cash, in part to avoid getting stung for taxes on it. We did however see him do the Greek charter, and that was done in cash, so that's another instance. Personally, I see nothing wrong with that. He earned the money, he needs it, and he earned it outside of the US. It's illegal but not immoral, IMHO. The US, by the way, is the only industrialized country that considers the income of a US citizen, regardless of country of residence, to be taxable in the US. For example, if a US citizen moves to another country, their global income still has to be reported to the US. The US makes foreign taxes count against any US tax liability, but if the citizen is living and working in a low-tax region (or retired to one) Uncle Sam still wants a cut. And in any case, the overseas citizen still has to file US tax forms. It does not matter how long the citizen has lived overseas. For this reason, a great many US expatriates renounce their citizenship, and the number is growing every year. Hrmm, I can comment on the writing techniques! I do use misdirection, foreshadowing, clues, etc... and sometimes, a bit of suspense. in fact, I've used just about every tool in the writer's toolchest at one time or another. Well, except one: cliffhangers. I never use those. My goal is to write the story so it can be read in two ways; as a regular read, or as a mystery. For rules, they are just basic standard rules for third-person writing: The characters can be mistaken, mislead, or even lie. The narrator cannot be. The narrator can use misdirection by via allusion, but he cannot tell untruths. Also, in my case, I make sure there are enough clues so that the reader has the ability, if they can figure it all out, to solve the mystery themselves. On the other hand, some things that seem like clues might have multiple meanings. Here's an example I can share, because the reveal for it has since taken place (we now know that Bridget isn't exactly the nice (though fond of formality)grandmotherly type she pretends to be. It's the scenes where we first see Gonzalez and Bridget together. Now, when we first read that, just about everyone read it the wrong way. They didn't see that this was Gonzalez's second interview with Bridget; that he's questioned her once before, as a suspect in the murder of her husband. The original impression was intended to be that she's a tough character who is helping Lisa and pushing an incompetent cop (And that's how she played it). However, now that we know she killed her husband and Gonzalez had previously questioned her, those same words read differently, because the conversation now touches on their prior interview. Reading it now can give a very different impression of what's going on. That's a mental trick; using what's in the reader's mind (preconceived ideas and theories) and using them to draw out the results the author wants. Or, in this case, making the scene to be read to give two very different impressions, based on what the reader thinks of Bridget going into the scene. There are even a few scenes in the story designed to be read three different ways, depending on the theory the reader holds. BTW, I don't know what this technique is called; I'm not very well versed on the terminology of writing. If anyone does know what it's called, please let me know. (If I'm going to use something, I really ought to know its name!) I like to shake things up to try to keep them interesting. Some parts, I wrote just for fun, as a kind of self-indulgence; the travelogues. I did include plot-relevant parts so they'd have some justification for being there, but I worried about having them, until quite a few people told me they liked them. So, I use them for fun, and also for introducing things needed for the plot. For example, Pompeii was a fun excuse for me to mentally revisit a place I loved seeing. (Trevor's route, and the photos on the chapter, are mine). But, I also used it for many other things, including prompting Trevor to think of underwater archeology. Gibraltar was in large part setup for Trevor's little pirate problem and subsequent minor nautical inconvenience (having to find a way to get to Australia). The canned hot dogs are introduced there, the garlic press is reintroduced, we see Trevor's interest in the big sundial (an early clue that he has enoguh interest and knowledge to work out solar navigation). After that, there was the scene where Joel strips naked to help Trevor with the seacocks. That was a fun scene, one of my favorites, but its real purpose was to intoduce the valve grinding grit that Trevor used to take out the pirate's engines. CJ

Oh, I always make gaffs. It goes with my other skill, putting my foot in my mouth.

But but but... this isn't a cliffhanger!! It can't be... It;s just fun parasailing, and worn gear mentioned for a bit of realism. Nobody even noticed it, so how could it be a cliffhanger?

The rules are sure complex. Just as an aside, on thing I do in Circumnavigation is mention a procedure once (Such as the light Atlantis was displaying when at anchor in Santorini, or the courtesy flags issue whn she arrived in the Azores) and then omit it from then on (with perhaps an occasional mention). It's the best way I can think of to handle an awkward situation: if I fully described the arrival procedures in every port of call, there would be a lot of repetition. So, I leave it for the reader to assume that the procedures, once shown, are occurring. (Well, not for the arrival in Australia... Emergencies trump procedure. ) You also both raise a very good point; not everyone follows procedures, especially this that are dictated by custom rather than law. And Red... you made my jaw drop when you said most sailors don't know what a gaff is! That's mind-boggling, and not in a good way! Yipes!

I loved this, thank you! As for Cia, she's noted for torturing her readers with cliffhangers (for shame!) I've been writing quite a bit this week, on two stories (one of them is Circumnavigation).

ROFL! Yep, Trevor seems to be having a pressing problem more often lately. It's been a long time since that one night stand with Thorstein in Italy. And Trevor is in danger of concussion, from walking into things. They are having a lot of fun parasailing. Shark Bay (hence the name) has loads of sharks, and seeing them from above like that would be awesome.. there are all kinds below them, including great whites. And best off all, they are perfectly safe, unless the townline breaks. And even then, they'd float genty down, only to land with a shark-attracting splash. But, all is well, towlines hardly ever break, unless they are worn out. Ummm, as an utterly unrelated asside, did anyone notice this passage in the chapter? The next chapter is called "Surprises".

Wildone!!! You know I never use cliffhangers... I am totally cliffhanger-adverse! Now, as for blame regarding the chapter delay... That is indeed your fault! How? Easy! There used to be a buffer of completed chapters, but that got eaten up when I was down with pneumonia. And how did I get pneumonia? By going out and shoveling snow (I already had a cold) in below-zero weather. It was an arctic blast that came out of the north to hit Arizona... and where did it come from? CANADA, that's where! And you are from Canada. Therefor, it's all your fault. (When in doubt, blame Canada... and thus Wildone...) Thanks! I'm still writing. But even after I finish a chapter draft, it has to go to my team, who see it sequentially. That takes time. Another thing I'm doing is making sure supporting details (forshadowing) matches future events. There are a great many things in posted and soon to be posted chapters that are clues, and we're fast approaching where it all comes together. Uhoh... I usually only get threatened with roasting whenever there's an ever-so-slightly-tense chapter ending. Thanks! Yep, many go even longer than two weeks between chapters.

This looks great!

Aww, Benji... but, this is sure an improvement over being accused of cliffhangers, because this time, it's a real issue (a dealy) and not a false one: cliffhangers, which I never, ever use. Thanks! This is an after-effect of my pneumonia. I couldn't write for many weeks, and that erased my buffer of chapters. I've also moved to larger chapters. Almost! at least one, chapter 74, is nearly 10,000 words. Can't we all just... blame Wildone?

Sorry to have to do this, but I'm still behind. Also, some of the coming chapters (in beta and editing already) are far larger than normal, and are close to two chapter's worth. There won't be a posting today. Chapter 72 of Circumnavigation will post in one week. It's called "Surprises".

Interesting points! One I can address is the pictures and Florida registration number. I based the Atlantis page on many for sale and charter listing pages. One thing I noticed early on; those pages have pictures of the boat at different times, showing differing fittings in some cases. Also, it's not uncommon for them to throw in pics of a different boat of the same model. So, that's what I did here. That's actually an excuse, because my real motive was gathering an adequate supply of pics for illustration purposes, and this made it easier. I then proceeded to photoshop where needed, changing rigging details, names, etc. The wind turbines are one example; not all the pics have them. The pole-mounted radar is another; as currently equipped, Atlantis has a mast-mount, not a pole mount. (I should really fix that one...). However, the photo may have been taken years before, when she may have had one. I did consider registration issues. For the Sea Witch, Bridget has removable adhesive decals to change the name and reg number. (that's actually illegal, but Bridget might not be adverse to a minor infraction of the law). Here's an interesting thing I found when I was building the Atlantis page... the hull registration placement guidelines in Florida are for the reg number to be on each side of the hull (or the outer side of each hull for a cat). The validation decal goes next to it on the port side. The requirement appears to be for three inch tall lettering, but... I did a web search for Florida yachts (image search) and could not find a single one (other than small one) where the lettering was visible. I tried Florida boats for the search, and found exactly one (bigger than 20 ft) where the reg was actually discernible as being there, so, I assumed that a great many boats don't go the full regulation size and color scheme (the one I saw looks like 2 inch letters, if that) and went with it. Also, we're dealing with a boat nearly 60 feet long. Would the lettering even be visible in these low-res pictures? But, Atlantis absolutely does have a Florida registration, even though she's foreign-built. The transom-mounted hull number is also required in Florida, though it can be smaller. That will actually be shown fairly soon. I can't say much of anything regarding what Gonzalez thinks, or what happened to Ares. However, I can point out that, while the narrator has to be accurate and truthful, characters (like any people) can be untruthful, or mistaken, or not tell what they actually think. But you are raising excellent points. CJ BTW... could this be the flag you saw? that's a Bahamian flag pennant, as one would fly as a courtesy flag in Bahamian waters. (It is common practice to fly the flag (often in the form of a pennant) of the country you're in, regardless of your registration country). We saw this early on, when Trevor was having to deal with courtesy flags, quarantine flags, etc. :-)

I love this post!!! :2thumbs: :2thumbs: Okay, I can weigh in with a few little info bits, like some detail from prior chapters, and some general data on the Lagoon 55 and 57, but I can't say anything about most of the points raised without giving spoilers. Anyone else can, but I can't. (For most of it, not even my teams knows the answers) Great point! The case against Dirk for Rachel's murder is weak on its own; no body, that radio call, etc. However, they do have those oddly-timed divorce papers and stuff like the insurance issues mentioned in 71. I have to limit my comments to what's been in the story (such as Dirk's attempted changes to the insurance right before, mentioned in 71) so I'll shut up now. One detail I'd like to mention is Bridget mentioned, quite a few chapters ago, finding a few bits of debris. She was the first on the scene. She concealed them. But there were only a few bits, and it appears that she is the only one to find anything at all. Ares had flotation tanks (Watertight voids in the hull)like Atlantis, but it was mentioned early on that Trevor had filled Atlantis's with foam. Ares thus may have had empty voids for flotation cells (fairly standard). If so, a moderate bomb could have cracked open enough cells to sink her. So too could getting run down by a big ship (Which, BTW, has sunk a lot of yachts). On the flip side of that fact is another; it would need to be hit (or bombed) just right to avoid a major debris field. And even then, there's a lot that would remain on the surface. The main reason cats like Atlantis are so hard to sink is they don't have ballast; a monohull boat with a keel would be carting around one or more tons of iron of lead ballast in the keel. On Atlantis, the only big heavy weights are the engines, and even though bigger than normal, they weigh a heck of a lot less than a monohull's ballast. The Lagoon 57 was the following model to the 55, but the key difference was the slight change in length resulting from a change in shape of the bows (the shape change had some advantages in sea-handling and drag characteristics). There were other changes to the fittings, etc, but the only way to tell the difference directly is how Trevor did it. How many 57's were built? I'd like to be able to answer that, but I can't... I don't know and haven't been able to find out. From the look of what I've found, and the length of the production run, there are more 57's than 55's by about double. If I'm off on that, it's probably on the low side. The next model change was to the Lagoon 570. What changed there was some interior changes (bigger doorways, etc, which weakens the hull a bit) and the vertical instead of sloping salon windows. CJ

I'm also prone to giving somewhat definitive answers, though they might be a tad hard to quantify. For example, I recall someone asking me (I can't recall who) when we were working on chapter 48 (when Trevor had his little pirate problem) whether he was dead. I replied that I could say definitively that he was absolutely in one of two conditions; dead, or alive. And further, if he was dead, he would likely remain in that condition, though the same continuity may or may not apply if he is alive.

No one knows the answer to most of the thoughts raised here. Well, rumor has it that I do, but no one else does. This of course means that I can't comment on many of the points raised. I love them, but I dare not say anything. That's the way I see it too. Thanks for noticing on the launch dates. :great:I was careful to get those right. Same with the position Rachel was at off Kennedy Space Center; that was as close as you could get, but those ranges no longer apply; after 9-11, they were increased significantly. I had one hell of a hard time finding what the actual rules were in 1997. Who? Sweet, innocent me? ACK!! But but but... I never use cliffhangers!

Much is about to change regarding Trevor being an unwitting victim. And when he finds it all out, so do we. :-) BTW, a note to everyone: don't forget to stop by the forum (linked at the end of every chapter) because story information is sometimes discussed there.

Cliffhangers? But I never use cliffhangers!

Oh, that's one reason... another might be that my eyes can be a touch on the red side... I prefer to stay off the menu... as an ingredient, at least. That looks like Henry Clay III, the Mayor of Lajes, Texas! He's famous for his beer drinking, and is the third goat to hold that office. Henry does have a meeting with Joel and Lisa schedules for Friday. :-) Yep, poor Trevor... he's around Shane 24/7, and he very much has it bad, compounded by his tendency to walk into thing/fall over things when distracted by a hot guy, and he finds Shane so veeeery distracting. Shark Bay sounds like the perfect place for parasailing! Seeing all the sharks from above... that would be the perfect way to do it. Well, it could get kinda exciting if the towline breaks, I suppose... but that's almost impossible, unless they're worn out or something. Hrmmm, Trevor still hates canned hot dogs (I sure can't blame him, ever being stuck eating nothing but for weeks on end !) for those that haven't had canned hot dogs, they aren't quite like the packaged ones. They are much closer to canned Vienna sausages, and eating those cold for a couple of months... ugh!

I also need to report a change to the prior chapter: I bungled Officer Fowler's name. His name is Greg Fowler, not Jim Fowler, and I had the latter in the chapter until a few minutes ago when it dawned on me that I'd goofed.. Ooops.

Chapter 71, Cabra Borracha, is up! I won't say what the title means. But, you'll see it explained in the chapter.

:blink: :blink: How could a demon possibly look like sweet, innocent, angelic me? :blink:

Thanks Jan!!!! That sounds great!

Chapter 71: Cabra Borracha It was a gritty little restaurant, set in a dusty, neglected parking lot just outside of Ft. Pierce. Henry Wesson had found it only with the help of his GPS, which was not high on the list of things a professional investigator liked to admit. He looked up at the sign, which was faded and peeling. ‘Cabra Borracha’, it proclaimed, in all its faded glory, lit by the waning sunset. Henry heard mariachi music from inside, and glanced around the parking lot, noting th

Yep, being blond near Trevor at the moment puts one at hazard of becoming a few inches shorter. Cliffhanger?!!?? But I never use cliffhangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been hiding a great many clues over the past few chapters. Clues to many things... Who? Me? LoL. Texas? If you mean me, I'm in Arizona. Thanks! Martin is mentioned as living near Geraldton; he drove up to meet the guys, and I'd sure hate to try that from Northam, which is inland from Perth (and a couple of days drive each way from Shark Bay). I wonder if the title of the coming chapter might relate to it? I hope not... The title of chapter 71 is Cabra Borracho For those who don't know what it means, no worries: it's explained in the chapter.

The stories that go out under my name are a team effort. Working on other people's stories is all too often a hard and thankless task. The author gets the credit, but what of the team? I'm a big fan of Team Appreciation Month, but I think there should be twelve of them in a year. The only fair way to do this is alphabetically; Bondwriter, Emoe, Graeme, MikeL, Red A, Talonrider. Thanks you, for working with me to bring these stories to life. They are very much our stories, not merely mine alone. You guys are the best. Thank you also, to Myr and everyone who works so hard at GA to create this place and keep it running.