I’m currently involved in two different rewrites. Very different–and not just because of the stories.
DUAL MAGICS:
The two different kinds of magic–one acquired by initiation and one inherited in the blood–have always been completely separate. Until now.
Not quite epic fantasy. I’d call them sword and sorcery, but there aren’t any swords, really. Spear and sorcery?
In these, I’ve gone back to one of my very first stories. It’s actually a four-book series. I’d written the first two before getting stuck on the third. I’m a much better writer now. Part of what these stories need is craft-related. Some of it is streamlining the story, which is still basically the same. I’ve already done the rewrite on THE SHAMAN’S CURSE and I have it out to some beta readers. I’m on Chapter 5 of THE IGNORED PROPHECY, which is where I’m running into the interesting issues of starting a sequel I wrote about in my last post.
In both of these, the story has remained almost exactly the same, although in the rewrite I’ve chosen to expand some things and reduce or delete others. It’s almost more like a really deep, extensive revision than a rewrite, although scenes do have to be rewritten to fix the craft deficiencies in the original. That’s why I can work on this at the same time I’m working on my other project.
DREAMER’S ROSE:
I don’t have a good log line for this one, yet. It’s changed so significantly. Part of it explores aspects of the Hercules legend that fascinate me. (I mean, this guy never succeeded in anything in his life except killing monsters. And then he became a god. How did that work out?) Except I’ve turned the whole legend on its head.
But now that’s only the beginning of the story. The first part will stay basically the same. Again, it needs a rewrite/revision to bring it up to the current level of my writing craft. But after that, everything will be new. Completely re-imagined. Two thirds of this will truly be a first draft–and I’m almost to that part. Looking forward to it.
This one is going to provide some interesting challenges in structure. It has three main characters, but one character’s story starts several years before the other two characters are born. Right now, I’m just writing chronologically. I’ll think about whether I need to rearrange things after I’ve got the story down.
Two very different kinds of rewrites.
In other news, I’ve decided to put THE BARD’S GIFT up on wattpad, one chapter a week, so you can start reading it for free. (Hint: You’ll get the story much faster if you just buy it. It’s only $2.99 on Amazon)
And it’s a great read.
Love the tagline!
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Thanks. Especially considering pitches aren’t my very best thing.
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