Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Friday, July 9, 2010

Don't worry, just write

OK, that's more like it. Killer Eyes is now on page 105, and over 30,000 words. That would put it at about one third done. I like to target 300 pages or at least in that vicinity. That would put the word count at about 85,000 words. According to many editors and agents, they like a novel to be in that range. KOK is 89,000 words, and The Vase is 87,100. Both are slightly more than 300 pages. KOK is 334, and The Vase is 323.

Anyway, I found myself worrying about the outline fitting all the elements of what I wanted to put in the story. I am featuring many characters in here, many good, many bad, and many just plain weird. But each has a specific role in the story, and as I figured out new things to do with them, I got too caught up in making it all meld so that it made sense in the end.

But you know what? It got me snagged. It slowed me down. Yeah, I wanted to blame the vacation and distractions, but no. It was me getting worried about all of it fitting like a puzzle. Don't let that happen to you. It's like, how can you worry about fitting the puzzle together if you don't even have all the pieces yet.

So don't let uncertainty slow you down. Keep writing. Then when all the pieces are in front of you, that's when you put them together and make it work.

Keep writing.

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