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New Covers

June 28, 2015 by meredithmansfield

I have a new cover for “Becoming Lioness” now. It looks more like it belongs with the series and might even give a reader the idea that it’s a fantasy story.

Becoming Lioness Cover 2For reference, the old cover looked like this:
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“Modgud Gold” has proven to be more difficult. But, thanks to some helpful internet friends, I think I finally have a direction to go.

Meanwhile, progress on the still-untitled Book 4 of the DUAL MAGICS series continues. Though, by next week I expect I’ll be ready to set it aside for a short time while I take care of revisions and polishing edits on BEYOND THE PROPHECY so I can publish that in September.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????And, I’ve started writing out a concept for another story. Like I don’t already have several in the pipeline. But you’ve got to write down the ideas when they come to you or risk losing them. And nobody wants that.

 

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Two of These Things Are Not Like the Others

June 24, 2015 by meredithmansfield

The covers for the Dual Magics series (so far–the release of BEYOND THE PROPHECY is planned for September):

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????The covers of the two tie-in short stories:

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????You see the problem, don’t you? The two short story covers don’t look like they belong to the same series.

Heck, the covers don’t even telegraph that they’re fantasy stories. “Becoming Lioness” could be something about an African safari for all you could tell from the cover. Well, except for the subtitle. Dual Magics might give you a clue.

“Modgud Gold”, again, except for the subtitle, could be a gold rush story.

In my defense, “Becoming Lioness” was released long before I had covers for the series. I have no excuse for “Modgud Gold” other than the image is a really good representation of a scene in the series. But, see, that’s not what a book cover is supposed to be. It’s supposed to entice a reader and give them some idea what kind of story to expect. This one fails.

I think I need to do a couple of new covers.

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Plotting

June 21, 2015 by meredithmansfield

We all know by now that I’m a discovery writer. (Unless this is your first time visiting my blog. In which case, welcome.)

But, however I write them, all stories have plots. Sometimes, I just arrive at the plot backwards. Sometimes not.

I’ve also said that the only time I really get detailed plot ideas is when I’m actually writing–just in the quiet times when I step away from writing for a few minutes.

Well, last Friday seems to have been a day for that. I didn’t actually get much writing done on Friday, but I did get solutions to three plot issues–two for Book 4 of the DUAL MAGICS series and one for the final revisions to BEYOND THE PROPHECY (Book 3).

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????For BEYOND THE PROPHECY, it was an issue raised by one of the two critiques I’ve gotten back so far. I figured out how to refocus certain elements of the story to help the plot be more centered. So that’s good.

The second idea was about something in the first chapter of Book 4. It’s a minor thing, really. A bit of background. But I realized that it’s probably not very accurate. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with that bit, yet. I don’t go backwards in the first draft unless it’s something really major. I make notes of things I need to look at in the second draft. I’ve made such a note and I’m sure I’ll find something that will work better by the time I get to it.

The big plot idea, though, was about the climax of Book 4. See, I know what the climax is (unless another, better idea comes along first–which I doubt.) But for what I have planned to work out, my main characters have to be forced to do something that they wouldn’t otherwise choose to do. And the logical way for that to happen is for the antagonists to do something that implies knowledge of one of the two kinds of magic. Or, at least, the basis of that magic. The kind of magic that the antagonists don’t know about. Hmm. That’s a conundrum. But now I know how they’re going to learn just enough for them to do what I want them to.

What makes a discovery writer is that we’re willing to jump into the story anyway, even with a gaping plot hole like that, and have faith that we’ll figure it out by the time we get there. Moments like Friday are what feed that faith.

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Backstory

June 17, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Backstory is such a delicate line to walk. How much is too much? What serves to add verisimilitude? Which bits enrich the story and which just drag the pace down? How can it be brought in elegantly?

I know the history of my world for the DUAL MAGICS series and how it got to be the way it is at the beginning of the story, but only snatches of that have made their way into the story so far. (Some day, I may write a prequel series about all of that.) For now, I try to keep to just what is needed for this story. But it looks like I haven’t put in quite enough.

I can’t emphasize the importance of critiques enough. Beta readers can tell me things about my story that I can’t see because, no matter how hard I try, I’m just standing too close. The first of my critiques for BEYOND THE PROPHECY has come in.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Among other things, it’s clear that I need to work in more background on part of this world. There are places where I can do that, I think, without slowing the story down.

 

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Titles

June 14, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Some people seem to have a gift for titles. I’m not one of them. I struggle to find appropriate titles.

In the DUAL MAGICS series so far:

THE SHAMAN’S CURSE fits that story well. The shaman tries to curse Vatar, but equally, the shaman’s obsession with vengeance curses him.

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THE VOICE OF PROPHECY was originally THE IGNORED PROPHECY. Both fit the story pretty well. The new title hopefully does a better job of telling the reader what kind of story they’re going to get.

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BEYOND THE PROPHECY is just so-so. The characters at least feel that the prophecy is now behind them (when, really, they’ve just survived the triggering event.) I suppose I have time for inspiration to strike. It wouldn’t be too hard to change the cover.

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The last book in the series is right now known by the highly original title of . . . Book 4. Ideas I’ve had so far:

  1. The Price of Magic
  2. Magic’s Price
  3. Magic’s Warrior
  4. Warrior of Magic
  5. Paladin (or Champion) of Magic
  6. War of Magic
  7. War Magic
  8. Magic Paladin

None of them are so far striking me as anything close to perfect. I’d like to have at least a best guess by the time I publish BEYOND THE PROPHECY in (hopefully) September so I can use it for the teaser excerpt. We’ll see.

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Why I’m a (Modified) Discovery Writer

June 10, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Sometimes I’d really like to be able to outline a story and know exactly how it goes. But that’s just not the way it works for me.

I do at least map out the high (and low) points of a novel before I start. (Though they have been known to change as I go, too.) But I could sit and stare at the screen for days waiting for the inspiration to know how to fill in the very wide blank spaces that leaves. It just would never come.

The only time those ideas come to me is when I’m actually writing. Well, not necessarily when I have my fingers on the keyboard. But, you know, when I’ve gotten up for a little and I’m walking the dogs or (infrequently) cleaning the house. That’s when I get the ideas for how to get from point A to point B. But only if, when I sit back down, I’m actually writing the story.

And, anyway, sometimes a story will just take a left turn and go somewhere else instead. And that’s often better than what I’d planned.

Not going to happen in the last book of the DUAL MAGIC series. (At least, I don’t think so.) But that is exactly what happened in DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING.

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Blurbs

June 7, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Still working on the blurb for BEYOND THE PROPHECY.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????If beginnings are hard, blurbs (or queries) are even harder.

Here’s what I have so far–on the third try. Still not there, yet.

Being one of a handful graced—or cursed—with both kinds of magic places Vatar at the center of turmoil. In more ways than one.

As power shifts in his adopted city, Vatar must choose. Support the traditional rulers for the sake of stability, even though their rule is based on a lie. Or reveal that lie and help those who would create a new order. Only Vatar, with ties to both sides, is in a position to decide which is best.

But that choice will have to wait while he tries to find a way to deal with enemies gathering on the border. Foes that could mean disaster for both his city and the plains-dwelling tribe who raised him. Only magic can provide a reliable defense. Magic the plains people fear more than any enemy.

But when he’s captured by one of those enemies, Vatar will have to prove his boast that it’s impossible to imprison anyone who can do what he can—or die.

Now, if I can just find a way to work in some of the unique aspects of the world without driving the word count up.

Yeah, blurbs are hard.

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Backing Up

June 3, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Not in the data protection sense, although I do that, too.

No, this time I mean backing up as in going back a little for the start of this story (Book 4, currently untitled, of the Dual Magics series). I said in my last post that beginnings are hard. And they are–until you find the right place to enter the story.

In my first stories, I more often had to cut from the beginning, because I’d started the story too early. A couple of times now I’ve had to back up and put the beginning a little earlier. I guess that’s a kind of progress.

Anyway, I backed up to, among other things, start with a little more urgency–and a tiny bit of action. I like this beginning much better. Of course, I won’t really know if it’s the right place to start until I write THE END at the bottom of the first draft.

Meanwhile, I’m also trying to iron out the blurb for Book 3, BEYOND THE PROPHECY, which is much harder.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Blurbs, pitches, and queries are an art form unto themselves. And they take a lot of revision to get right–or close to right.

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Beginnings Are Hard

May 31, 2015 by meredithmansfield

BEYOND THE PROPHECY is ready to go out to my beta readers.

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And I’ve just started the fourth (and final) book in the Dual Magics series. Yeah, I’ve written a whole 1600 words, but it is a start.

Beginnings are hard. Even in an ongoing series when you’re already very familiar with the characters and the world, it’s still hard. And you never really know where the story should start until you write the end.

Two scenes in and I’ve already decided that I need to back up just a little. Not that I think the story has started in the wrong place, but that I want to find a way to give the beginning a little more action. I think I see a way to do that.

Part of the problem with this beginning is that I have two conflicting issues.

  1. Every book in this series has started with Vatar. And I really want this one to start there, too.
  2. But the place where the main conflict is introduced necessarily centers on another character who has put herself in a position to discover the enemies plans. She’s not a major character and I don’t want the first chapter to be from her POV. Chapter 2, fine, but not Chapter 1.

So, I need to start with Vatar. Not–yet–with the main conflict. But with something at least a little exciting (this is the book where all the conflicts blow up, after all) and something that’s important to the overall story.

This is why beginnings are hard, but I think I see a way to do that. We’ll see.

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Plotting for Pantsers

May 26, 2015 by meredithmansfield

I’m a discovery writer (or pantser), but a modified one. Why modified? Because once, when I was fairly new to writing, I actually managed to write over 100,000 words on a novel and, as I was writing the final scene, I looked up and said to myself, “But it’s not a story.” I knew intuitively that it wasn’t a story, but it took me a lot longer to figure out why. (By the way, once I finally figured it out and learned a few other matters of craft, that not-quite-a story became THE VOICE OF PROPHECY.)

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????So, now I try to figure out a few sign posts along the way before plunging in.

Obviously, I need to know where the story begins. By which I mean not necessarily the opening scene, which can change. The inciting incident is usually pretty stable, though, and that’s what I need to know.

A few of the major plot points along the way is nice. I do make notes of or even sketch out a few scenes that come to me, but I’ve always done that (even in that draft that wasn’t really a story). Some of those will make it into the final version intact. Some will have to be changed to fit. And some will have to be left out or cut.

I like to know the climax. Of course, I’ve known the climax the DUAL MAGICS series was headed for for a long time, now, so that’s not a problem.

Sometimes I’ll even write out what I call a proto synopsis, hitting just the high (or low) points of the story.

But the main thing I absolutely have to know is the central conflict. Without that, it’s just a string of events. That’s the reason that that very first version of THE VOICE OF PROPHECY (then known as THE IGNORED PROPHECY) wasn’t a story. The germ of the central conflict was there, but it just wasn’t clear enough to be the backbone of the story.

I’ve been organizing all of this because, very soon now, I’m going to be starting the first draft of Book 4, the final book of the DUAL MAGICS series, tentatively titled WARRIOR OF MAGIC. Can barely wait.

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