e-publishing | Meredith Mansfield, Author

Posts Tagged ‘e-publishing’

Writer Brain vs. Editor Brain

Posted in writing, tagged Contests, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, revisions, sequels, series, writing, Young Adult on September 10, 2014| 1 Comment »

I’m back at work on Book 3 of the DUAL MAGICS series (currently titled BEYOND THE PROPHECY, but nothing’s set in stone). But I’m not fully back in first draft mode.

I’ve decided that’s part of my problem in really getting this one rolling. After all, I know the characters and the world. I laid down a rough outline of at least the high points of what’s going to happen. So what’s holding me back from making better progress?

Answer, I haven’t yet managed to disengage my editor brain. Writing (a first draft) and revising an existing draft are two very different things, calling not just for different skills, but a whole different mind set. Editor brain worries about what should be shown better and what should be cut, not about telling the story in the first place. Editor brain worries about whether that was precisely the right word.

I realized this yesterday when I wrote a new scene, and immediately thought that I should delete it. Well, there’s a good chance that it will be deleted and the information in it worked in with just a few sentences. It doesn’t really merit two pages. But that’s a decision for the second or third draft, not the first. The first draft only goes forward.

First drafts aren’t supposed to be good writing. Their purpose is to get the story out in the open so it can be revised into good writing. And I’ve been revising for quite a while, now. Both THE SHAMAN’S CURSE and THE IGNORED PROPHECY had already been written before.

(Not well, but that’s what revision is for.) The plot lines didn’t really change as I reworked them, just tightened up.

And before that, I revised and polished DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING, which I’m currently querying. It made the top 25 in the Pitch Plus 5 contest. You can see the pitch and first chapter (which just happens to be about five pages long) here. It’s been a while since I was in first draft mode.

It may take a few more days to switch over to the correct frame of mind, but it will happen. And then this draft will start to really move.

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Miscellaneous Stuff

Posted in writing, tagged Contests, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, first pages, Multiple Projects, Pitches, queries, revisions, sequels, series, writing, Young Adult on September 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

A few weeks ago, I entered the Pitch Plus 5 Contest over at Adventures in YA Publishing. Then, life being what it is, I lost track of when the first round of results were due. Apparently it was yesterday. Now, the way this contest works is that the first 50 entries make it into the contest. (Actually, the first 25 at an impossibly early–for the West Coast–entry window and the first 25 for a window 12 hours later.) Then, those entries are judged on a standard form by respected book bloggers on a standard scorecard. Based on those scores, the top 25 entries make it to the next round.

This time, entrants also get a short critique from that first judge. Email being what it is (newest on top), I read that critique before the announcement of who got in to the next round. The first sentence is “The opening didn’t hook me.” So, naturally, I thought that I wasn’t going any further this time. Then I get down to the list–and DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING is on it.

Here’s the initial entry, by the way.

So, now I have two days to make revisions and also do a little work on the query and get it in by midnight (9 p.m. my time) tomorrow night for the next round, judged by authors.

Yeah, that means that the first draft of BEYOND THE PROPHECY (book 3 of the DUAL MAGICS series) will be put on hold until Tuesday. (I have written a new first chapter for it, that does a better job of telegraphing the kind of story it will be.)

Meanwhile, I’m in the middle (exactly) of painting the final wall in what will be my new writing space.

What I want to know is: who had the bright idea for all those louvers?

Going to be a busy couple of days.

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Advertizing and Other Things

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, Goals, Learning, marketing, Real Life, sequels, series, writing on September 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I haven’t done much–well, any–advertizing up ’til now. My first-ever ad runs tomorrow on Fussy Librarian. It’ll be for THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

In honor of that ad, I’ll be dropping the price to $0.99 for the day.

So, we shall see. I hope it’ll give the sales a bump that lasts more than a day. They’re certainly not bad now, but they could be just a bit better. My goal is to try to keep sales of the first book in the series up as I prepare the second book, THE IGNORED PROPHECY, for publication in December.

That’s out to beta readers now for feedback on things like plot and pacing. Meanwhile, I’m trying to get the third book, possibly to be titled Beyond the Prophecy, started. Slow going at the beginning, but that’s fairly normal. Even though I know the characters thoroughly by this time, and have dozen or so paragraphs of an outline, I still have to find my way into this story. (That’s a pretty long outline for me. I’m a discovery writer at heart.)

Oh, and work starts again tomorrow.

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First Scenes

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, sequels, series, writing on August 31, 2014| 2 Comments »

I now have the rough outline and the first scene for the third book in the DUAL MAGICS series, reminding me again how hard it is to start a novel, let alone a sequel. What with reworking the first two books, it had been a while since I’d actually sat down to start a first draft.

Starting any novel–especially a fantasy–is a delicate dance between providing enough information about the characters and the setting while at the same time having something interesting happen that is relevant to the plot. Sequels are even more difficult because of the fine line between providing enough information for a reader who happens to pick up a middle book first and not boring a reader who has read the first (two) books and doesn’t need the introduction. It’s always my intention that any book in a series of mine is able to stand alone, even as it has a place in the larger plot arc of the series. That’s my preference as a reader and that’ how I write.

When starting a first novel in the series (or a book that’s not part of a series), I usually try to limit the number of characters in the first scene. But that gets harder to do as a series goes on. Other characters just are there and their characters and relationships have to be introduced somehow.

This will be the third book in the four-book series that starts with THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

I’d share the first scene here, but . . . well, spoilers. And since Book 2, THE IGNORED PROPHECY, won’t be out until December, it’s just a little early to telegraph that plot.

I still have to come up with a good title for Book 3, though. Well, there’s time yet. The only risk is that the longer I go with a working title, the harder it is for me to think of the story with any other title.

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Book 3 and Cover Art

Posted in writing, tagged conflict, Cover Art, critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, Real Life, sequels, series, writing on August 27, 2014| 2 Comments »

Well, I think I’ve done about as much as I can with THE IGNORED PROPHECY until I get some reactions from beta readers. It’s down to 108,500 words, which isn’t bad. There may be a bit more I can cut, but not much.

So, it’s time to start turning my attention to a couple of other things:

Cover art. Naturally, I’m going to want this to have some similarity to the cover of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.I can find similar backgrounds with out much trouble. The trick is going to be coming up with a good central image.
The map. If I’m going to include a map in THE IGNORED PROPHECY (and maybe go back and add it to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, I probably should get that ready pretty soon.
Book 3. Poor Book 3 doesn’t have a title yet. This is the book where everything falls apart. I need to settle the main outline of the plot. I’m a modified discovery writer. I don’t do a detailed outline, but I do find that having at least the main turning points as guide posts is helpful. Also, without having a good idea of the plot makes it hard to know where the story starts, and I really want to include an excerpt in THE IGNORED PROPHECY when I publish that in December.

Meanwhile, of course, still working on my new writing space. I got the ceiling painted yesterday. Progress!

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Miscellany

Posted in Uncategorized, writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, priorities, Real Life, revisions, sequels, series, writing on August 24, 2014| 2 Comments »

Whew! Despite a couple of busy weeks, I’m on schedule to get THE IGNORED PROPHECY (sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE) ready for beta readers next month.

TIP is now down to 109,000 words. Just a little more cutting to do and a couple of scenes to revisit and it’ll be good to go.

Other than that:

I’ve started the process to get THE SHAMAN’S CURSE made into an audio book through Audilble (ACX). I’ve even got my first audition.
I’m just starting on what will eventually be my new writing space. Lots to do before this will be ready, of course. I’ll be working from the top down, more or less. So I need to paint the ceiling and replace the malfunctioning ceiling fan. (I have the paint and the fan.) Then I think I’m going to sponge a pearl glaze on the walls, to cover up some of the unevenness in the paint. Also, you can’t see it very well in the photo, but there’s some sponged acanthus leaves in the corners. I want to add some more of that, too. Then the old carpet (at least fifty years old) has got to go. And finally, I can start rearranging the furniture. Still have to figure out what I’m going to do with that china cabinet. Oh, and one of the closets is going to become a built-in book case.
I’m also preparing to put THE SHAMAN’S CURSE on Kindle Select. In general, I prefer to make my books available as widely as possible, but TSC has been selling orders of magnitude better on Amazon than anywhere else, so it makes sense to give this a try.
Oh, and next week is WriteOnCon and the week after that the school year starts and I go back to work.

Better get back to work.

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Third Draft

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, revisions, sequels, series, writing on August 19, 2014| 2 Comments »

I’m just past the half-way point in the third draft of THE IGNORED PROPHECY, which is the sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

In the second draft, I cut about 8,000 words, including two characters and two subplots–most of which will either reappear as part of a short story or in the third (as-yet-unnamed) book in the series. But TIP is still over 112,000 words–too long. So, I’ve got two goals for this draft:

Check for consistency. Delete anything that either foreshadows those two subplots as something that will happen in this book and anything later that depends on them.
Find more scenes to delete, especially in the first third of the book.

I’ve marked several scenes as possible deletions, but I haven’t made those changes yet. This is definitely the hard part of revisions.

In other news, I took the first steps today toward an audio book version of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. Wish me luck.

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Reviews

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, Learning, marketing, Multiple Projects, reviews, revisions, sequels, series, writing on August 17, 2014| 4 Comments »

Based on David Gaughran’s LET’S GET VISIBLE, I tried something different with THE SHAMAN’S CURSE–a direct request for requests along with a link to the book’s page on Amazon. It’s working.

In a little over a month, I’ve gotten more reviews on THE SHAMAN’S CURSE than on any other of my books. And most of them are overwhelmingly positive–which never fails to make my day.

That’s not all it does. It serves as validation for other potential purchasers, of course. It also means that as sales inevitably start to slow some marketing paths will be open to me that otherwise wouldn’t.

That’s one bit of marketing that definitely works. And, best of all, it’s free for all concerned. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave a review–especially on indie books.

In spite of massive interruptions over the last few days, I’m making good progress on the third draft of THE IGNORED PROPHECY, sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

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Progress

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, Multiple Projects, revisions, sequels, series, short stories, writing on August 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I’ve made good progress so far this month, in spite of some real-life distractions. All of it, so far, related to the first book in the DUAL MAGICS series, THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

I’ve completed the first draft of the DUAL MAGICS short story “Modgud Gold” (actually, it’s not that short). It’s one of the things I’ll be working on while beta readers go over THE IGNORED PROPHECY next month. I’d hope to have beta readers on it in October and release it in November, ahead of TIP. I’ve even started looking at potential cover art for “Modgud Gold”.

I’ve also blocked out another DUAL MAGICS short story (this one really is short) that might be one of two to be published between THE IGNORED PROPHECY and the as-yet-untitled third book in the series.

I’m also making good progress on THE IGNORED PROPHECY. This pass, I’m trying to read it more or less as a reader would–quickly. I’m fixing some things as I go, but mostly marking a few chapters that I’m going to need to come back to for a closer revision. I’m on schedule, I think, to get this into the hands of beta readers next month.

I am still immensely pleased with the performance of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. Thanks to all the readers who’ve made that possible. And especially to the ones who’ve left reviews.

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Maps

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, Learning, revisions, sequels, series, world building, writing on August 6, 2014| 2 Comments »

Well, as I get ready to start the next round of revisions on THE IGNORED PROPHECY, I went ahead on bought some mapping software to see if I can provide an actual map with the next book in the series. THE IGNORED PROPHECY is the first sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

I chose Campaign Cartographer as the most likely software. Unsurprisingly, the learning curve is pretty steep. I’ve managed to produce something close to what I want. Here’s my first effort.

And the same map in black and white:

I’ll probably have to start over again. I’m not happy with the lakes or the mountains. But it’s definitely better than the hand-drawn map I had before. Like writing, this isn’t the sort of thing you should expect to get right the first time.

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