Meredith Mansfield, Author

The realization that my voice as a writer is a better fit for the young adult market has me doing some reassessment.

MAGE STORM, which I thought was young adult, is probably actually middle grade.  I’d already made plans to rewrite DREAMER’S ROSE as young adult, which I think fits the story much better.  Now, I realize that BLOOD WILL TELL is probably young adult, too.  That’s three fifths of my completed work.

That leaves me in something of a quandary on my planned work, though.

I plan to write SEVEN STARS (I really need to find a new title for this) as young adult anyway.  The only obstacle there is that so far my main character’s voice is sounding a little too old and experienced to me.  But I’ve only written a little over 4000 words, barely enough to really start getting into his head.  I’ll find his insecurities and things will fall into place. 

The two possible sequels to BLOOD WILL TELL pose an interesting problem.  I married the main character off in the first book.  I’m not sure how that would impact the second and third books from a young adult perspective.  Of course, I could find a reason to torture them some more and force them to wait, but the plot of the first sequel sort of depends on their being married unless I think of a way to change the inciting incident and main conflict.  That’s a pretty major change.

THE SHAMAN’S CURSE is probably pretty close to young adult, too, except the pacing is way off.  Too slow.  But I was going to have to fix that anyway.  But then there’s the problem of three more book in that series with a progressively older, more adult protagonist.  Crossover?

I need to spend some time considering the implications.

I’m at my least favorite phase of writing–being between things. 

MAGE STORM is basically complete and ready for readers.  I’ll do one more read through, but I expect any changes to be minimal at this point.  Just tweaks. 

My chapter exchange with DREAMER’S ROSE is not quite complete.  I don’t want to start the heavy revision until that’s done.

I’m working on revisions to a short story right now.  I may go back to working on the revisions for THE IGNORED PROPHECY next week. 

I don’t really have anything else that feels ready to start right now.  The world building for SEVEN STARS isn’t complete.  I have an idea for a sequel to MAGE STORM, possibly to be called DRAGON MAGE, but it’s not a good idea to spend the time on a sequel until you know if book one is going anywhere.

I start getting itchy for something new to work on.  I may even start the rewrite of the SHAMAN’S CURSE.  It’s not new, but a lot of the writing will be.

Well, I finished the second draft of MAGE STORM yesterday.  It came in right about where I wanted it at 56,000 words.  So, now I’m in revision mode for a while.

I haven’t decided yet (I have a few days) whether I’ll put this up for a full novel read or just continue section by section.  Either way, it’s time to have a few readers look at it with fresh eyes.

Meanwhile, I’ll be catching up on the chapter revisions for DREAMER’S ROSE.  I have a backlog of eight chapters to work through.  And that’s if I get caught up before more come in (unlikely).  Yikes!  And two of those are going to be significant revisions.  I knew there was something wrong with that scene, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.  My critiquing partner nailed it–it’s from the wrong point of view.  Duh!  That’s what happens when you’re too close to something.  Can’t see the forest for the trees.

After that, I’ll be making some revisions on a short story and deciding exactly what to do with it next. 

Meanwhile, I’ve already started to get an idea for a possible sequel to MAGE STORM

I’m not sure yet whether SEVEN STARS (I really have to find a better title for that one) is ready for me to start over.  I like my new plan for it.  I know where it starts.  I know the central conflict.  But I don’t really see the climax yet or exactly how it ends, so it’s probably premature to start on that.  Therefore, it may be a couple of weeks before I start any really new writing.  We’ll see if I can stand it that long.  Maybe another short story will come to me in the meantime.

I’m making good progress on the second (and last) pass through on the second draft of MAGE STORM.  I hit close to the half-way point this morning.  This pass through I’m mostly finding places where I need to show instead of tell something, though I have done a little rearranging, too.

It’s mostly small things that I need to show.  Not things that need a whole scene.  Just places where I need to expand three sentences into something more like three paragraphs to flesh things out a bit more and, you know, make the story come to life.  Even so, I’ve added about 2500 words.

I hope to finish the second draft this month.  That’s going to depend partly on factors beyond my control.  Then it’s on to getting readers and incorporating revisions from critiques–the third draft.  I’ve actually already done that with the first three chapters.

I’m pretty well on pace to start querying this one early next year.  Fingers crossed.

As to the factors beyond my control:  Wednesday’s blog may–or may not–be delayed.  I’m on jury duty next week so everything will be, as they say, at the mercy of  the court.  My group hasn’t been called up for Monday.  So far, that’s all I know.