If life consisted purely of juggling only two major projects, I’d have no complaints. It would be awesome if all my energies could be directed solely toward completing the background research for the Black Box Factory stories and returning to The Old Man. But who out there could honestly say they could do that while they’re still working on their debut novel?

Yup. That’s what I thought.

So, without boring you with the other time vampires and energy drains that plague my day, I’ll quickly bring you up to speed with my two major projects.

Black Box Factory.

I’ve made it a full two thirds through Infamy and as I mentioned last time, there are some interesting parallels between the apparently disparate histories of the Warsaw ghetto and the Japanese-American internment.

• In both cases the general population either drew a blind eye and completely ignored, or they otherwise rationalized the mistreatment of innocent individuals, and in neither case could the authorities complete their plans without the presence of an obedient, complicit population.
• Both cases saw the interned population turn both against itself and against the oppressor. In Warsaw, this was understood directly as it is perceived as a purely Nazi operation against the Jewish demographic. The anti-Nazi sentiment of the Anti-Fascist Bloc and later the Jewish Fighting Organization seems to me as natural as the sun-rise. In the Japanese-American experience it seems to strike me a little differently. These gangs were made of, at least at the outset, ostensibly loyal American citizens who were merely to be inconvenienced for a while. But the truth is that they were more than simply ‘inconvenienced,’ finding their own government training machine-guns on them in concentration camps – that was, by the way, the term FDR used.
• Profiteers were to be found in both situations. In the ghetto, the profiteers existed both without and within, benefiting from the prohibition of trade, especially food and, given the starvation rations permitted the Jewish population, smuggling was rampant. In the Japanese-American case, however, the indications seem to be that the profiteering was done by the administration and guards who stole rations intended for the population and sold them on the black market.
• The murdering of the entrapped population was on completely different scales, but the case of James Hatsuki Wakasa – according to an Army report, shot dead while crawling under a fence and whose postmortem determined he was facing the soldier who shot him – seems unlikely to be unique, especially since the soldier in question was found not guilty in his court martial.

This is not to equate the two experiences, but merely to draw certain parallels. I’m certain that exploring the subject further I’d find the basic conclusion would be reinforced. Those who enforce concentration camps follow a particular model of operation while those who wind up in them also follow a particular model of operation. Then there are those who exist between the two, who are either silent or actively complicit.

The Old Man.

I’ve made the decision to pause returning to The Old Man at least until I’ve completed the current research phase and collated all my notes into a more coherent form. This shouldn’t take as long as last time since I won’t need to comb through them several times in order for them to make sense.

When I do return, I’ll have a conundrum to face. You’ll recall that the feedback that I got from my Alpha was generally positive. In fact, nothing was, prima facie at least, negative, as you’ll see below.

My issue is going to be what steps to take next, that is whether to run though a full fourth edit cycle, undertake some different sort of edit cycle to see if a higher-level edit can work out any kinks without going as low as spelling, grammar and simple prose, or perhaps to say “hang it all,” and get through a Beta phase with the text exactly as it is.

Before I do that, here is an abridged/paraphrased version of the feedback I received. Spoilers or aspects I want to address are left out.

• Who was your favorite character and why?
  Kate. I simply just liked the character.
• What was your favorite part of the book?
  Kate’s defining moment.
• Was there a part of the book that you really didn’t care for? Why?
  None occur.
• Did you expect what happened with Little Jimmy Doyle? Was it believable and/or relatable? Was it effective or over the top?
  Didn’t seem over the top to me.
• Did you expect what happened with Kate? Was this believable and/or relatable? Was it effective or over the top?
  Didn’t expect it. It’s believable
• Did you expect what happened with Bessie? Was this believable and/or relatable? Was it effective or over the top?
  All seemed believable.
• What did you think about the ending? Did it show Mr. James as a human being with feelings or a weak man trying to run away?
  The ending seemed abrupt. Didn’t expect it to end just then. Mr. James didn’t seem weak.
• Did you lose interest at any point? If so, what lost your interest?
  Don’t think so. Perhaps where Jimmy was learning about doing the work – definitely longer than the other parts.
• Was anything confusing or was text clear and concise?
  Hard to discern who was the main character.
• Is the title ‘The Old Man’ worth keeping or changing, in your opinion?
  Seems like an interesting title, but a 66 year-old is not really an ‘old man.’

Up Next…

I’d hope to get Infamy finished by next post and, if someone has a magic wand that I can borrow, I’d also like to have finished pulling the notes together and be in a position for an initial, high level outline.

Perhaps I might be able to give this first Black Box Factory story a half-decent title.

I’d also like to find time to think about my next step with The Old Man, since before the month is up I’ll be moving ahead with whatever it is I decide to do.

Other than that, my hands are going to be fairly full with other work that I don’t really want to talk about here since I’d much rather keep this on topic – reporting progress on other projects doesn’t do much for a writing blog whose primary purpose is personal accountability.

So, I hope everybody has a great week and that I have some definitive progress to report.

Stay safe!

Categories: Alpha Reader, Black Box Factory, Japanese American Internment, Research, The Old Man, Writing

Tags: Alpha Reader, Alpha Reader Feedback, Black Box Factory, Japanese American Internment