Building another bridge

The middle book in a series almost always gets lost in the shuffle. It is like the sixth floor of a ten-story building or the third leg in a mile relay. It is the Jan Brady of literature. When done right, though, it can do more than continue a series. It can serve as a vital bridge. It can connect elements of a saga in ways the first and last books cannot.

The Winding Road is my latest bridge. Set in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut from 1777 to 1779, it serves as the centerpiece of a family saga that began with The Patriots and will end with the third book in the Stone Shed trilogy.

In the novel, Noah and Jake Maclean, time travelers from 2024, settle in the 1770s. The brothers commit to a time they have called home for sixteen months. They chart new courses during the thick of the American Revolution.

Noah, now 23, joins the cause. Driven by patriotism and a sense of duty, he enlists in the Continental Army as it retreats to Valley Forge. He brings modern weapons, medicines, and knowledge of the future. He takes tools he hopes will help him survive the rebellion and return to fiancée Abigail Ward, the lovely older daughter of Samuel Ward, a furniture maker who gave the brothers jobs and a home.

Jake, 16, stays behind. He helps Sam and his wife, Elizabeth, resettle in rural Gulph Mills after the British seize Philadelphia and drive patriots from their homes. As he does, he strengthens his relationship with Rachel Ward, Sam and Elizabeth's mischievous younger daughter.

Meanwhile, Douglas and Donna Maclean clean up a mess in 2024. The retirees try to convince police, reporters, and relatives that Noah and Jake vanished on a hike in Colorado. Unwilling to reveal their nephews' whereabouts or the existence of the time portal that sent them to the past, they carry out a ruse. They attempt to manage a crisis in the present while keeping track of the boys through the lens of history.

As in The Patriots, readers will get their fill of history. Noah will befriend George Washington, fight in the Battle of Monmouth, and work with Caleb Brewster, a member of the Culper spy ring. Jake and Rachel will have a run-in with Benedict Arnold and Peggy Shippen.

New figures will enter the series, including British General Henry Clinton; Jasper Jennings, an American cavalry officer; and British tracker Malachi Maine, a villain worthy of Silas Bain and Hans Weber, the bad boys of the Time Box and Second Chance series. Along with characters from the first book, they will propel a story that chronicles the deceptively quiet middle years of the American Revolution.

At 110 chapters and 140,600 words, The Winding Road is my longest book by chapters and second-longest by words, trailing only The Patriots. The Kindle edition goes on sale today at Amazon.com and its international marketplaces. I hope to publish the paperback in May.

Drafting the drafts

As I wrote here in February 2015, I'm a plotter, not a pantser. I plan every book — and every series — in great detail before writing a word. I cannot even fathom producing a novel "by the seat of my pants."

I am similarly meticulous with drafts. In each of my five drafts, I try to do different things. I attempt to build on what came before.

In the first, or original, draft, I tell the story. I throw everything and the kitchen sink into the manuscript, in case I forget to include something later. And I try to do it within ninety days. As Stephen King notes in his Top 20 rules for writers, an author should complete his first draft within three months lest it look a bit unfamiliar when he is done.

In the second draft, I mold the clay. I usually do this without the assistance of others because I want the first beta readers to get something resembling my best work. At this stage, I attempt to pull random thoughts together and clean up prose that is often rough and foreign. I try to make more than 100,000 words make sense.

I give the third draft to my editor and early beta readers, the ones with subject expertise in medicine, the military, horses, law enforcement, education, and even modern youth culture. I work closely with these folks and even outside sources to remedy my knowledge gaps and fix big problems, like plot holes, that might come back to bite me.

In the fourth draft, I clean up the prose, check facts, and correct inconsistencies not only within the novel but also within its series. If a character has blond hair and brown eyes in one book, she cannot have red hair and green eyes in another. I cannot count the times I have found discrepancies or even plot holes at the eleventh hour.

Most of my beta readers consider the fourth draft or the fifth. They catch the typos and missing words my bleary eyes miss and occasionally offer new and useful insights. They are the people who note the most inconspicuous flaws before the train leaves the station.

I am now several chapters into the fourth draft of The Winding Road, the middle book of the Stone Shed trilogy. I hope to publish the finished novel, which is weeks ahead of schedule, by the end of April.