Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘revisions’

My Brain During a Heat Wave

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I now know exactly what happens in the next several chapters of BEYOND THE PROPHECY–and I’m still not making much progress. It’s not editor brain (at least, I don’t think it is). It’s my brain during a heat wave.

I don’t know how many of you have read Terry Pratchett. (If you haven’t, you should.) A subseries in his Disc World series deals with the Night Watch, which (after the advent of Carrot, anyway) includes not just humans, but dwarves, a werewolf, and a mountain troll. I don’t remember the troll’s name off the top of my head, but I do remember this little plot point.

The troll was big, strong, and intimidating to the bad guys. He was also dumber than dirt–until one night he got locked in an ice house. Then he was brilliant. So one of the dwarves built him a hat that would keep his head cool so that he could be smart all the time.

I need someone to invent that hat in this world. The kind of concentration it takes to write a first draft simply eludes me right now.

Maybe my efforts would be better directed to a little revision for the duration. They say this heat wave will end soon–but we all know how much we can trust weathermen. I’ve gotten the first critique back on THE IGNORED PROPHECY and it looks like I may have a lot of work to do on that. Sequels are hard. More on that in my next post.

Read Full Post »

Writer Brain vs. Editor Brain

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , 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.

Read Full Post »

Miscellaneous Stuff

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 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.

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

Going to be a busy couple of days.

Read Full Post »

Miscellany

Posted in Uncategorized, writing, tagged , , , , , , , 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:

  1. 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.
  2. I’m just starting on what will eventually be my new writing space. Digital CameraLots 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Read Full Post »

Third Draft

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Read Full Post »

Reviews

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , 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.

Read Full Post »

Progress

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , 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.

Read Full Post »

Maps

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , 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.

Dual Magics CC Map

And the same map in black and white:

Dual Magics BW Map

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.

Read Full Post »

The Home Stretch

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on July 23, 2014| 2 Comments »

While I’m still really enjoying the ride with THE SHAMAN’S CURSE (and checking sales a couple of times a day), it’s time to get back to business.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????And business, in this case, is progress on the sequel, THE IGNORED PROPHECY.

I’m coming right up on the climax. I probably won’t finish this pass this week, as I’d hoped, but I don’t think I’ll be far off. I’m going to have to do a fair amount of work on this climax. (I let our side get off way too easily the first time.) It’ll need at least one more pass before I hand it off to my beta readers (hopefully in September). Still, I love the downhill feeling of hitting the climax and heading toward those magical words “THE END”.

But I’ll need to let it cool a little, so it’s time to start wondering what I’ll work on while I let this draft cool a little and while my terrific beta readers have it. Probably not a true first draft yet. So Weird Oz will have to wait. Maybe the rewrite of DREAMER’S ROSE. I might have time to finish the rewrite/first draft portions of part one (the story of my backwards Hercules character).

Let the DUAL MAGICS characters get out of my head for a few weeks.  Or maybe I’ll work on the companion short story/novella about one of the side characters. I have the bones of that laid out. And there’s almost nothing from his POV in the books. Hmm.

Of course, I could start playing with the cover art for THE IGNORED PROPHECY, too.

Read Full Post »

What’s Up Wednesday

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2014| 24 Comments »

 

It’s Wednesday. Time for What’s Up Wednesday, a blog hop created by Jaime and Erin Funk to help writers connect.

WUW BadgeWHAT I’M READING

I haven’t started a new fiction book since I finished SORCERY AND CECELIA. I’ve been busy and I did read LET’S GET DIGITAL. I have several things on my kindle to choose from, but for some reason I’m getting a yen to reread THE HOBBIT. That tends to be a gateway to rereading the whole LotR. I might just do it anyway.

WHAT I’M WRITING

Still working on the rewrite of THE IGNORED PROPHECY, sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. I am reaching the home stretch, though. It’s at 96,000 words. That’s okay. I’m quite sure that I’ll end up cutting quite a bit from the beginning in later drafts.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Still mainly working to my own deadline. I’d really like to finish up this draft of TIP this month. Let it rest. Go through it again. And get it out to beta readers.

What I really need to get inspired on is how to do promotions. That’s where I’m weakest and why I’ve been spending my reading time on things like LET’S GET DIGITAL and LET’S GET VISIBLE. I need all the ideas I can get.

WHAT ELSE I’VE BEEN UP TO

I’ve been busy.

THE SHAMAN’S CURSE launched on Monday.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I’m still working on figuring out all the things I need to do to get the word out. With every book I get a little better at it. (Hopefully!)

I also started querying DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING — and got a partial request on one of the first three queries. So that made my day.

And I’m still dealing with trying to bring some kind of order around here and sort out things for the estate sale. I got into the garage yesterday. Big mistake.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »