revisions | Meredith Mansfield, Author

Posts Tagged ‘revisions’

Progress

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, revisions, series, writing on June 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

On several fronts.

I have the first fifteen minutes of the audio book for THE SHAMAN’S CURSE to listen to–again–and either make suggestions or approve it. It’s really good. But I want to listen again.

TSC Audio

And, now that I have a better idea of the right story structure for this story, I’m making progress on BECOME, too. (Also, I just revamped the cover.)

Become 5

Lightened it up a little. Not quite so dark and brooding. I’ve left the series title off, for now. I need to do some more thinking about that title.

I’ve also started getting critiques back on the final book of the DUAL MAGICS series, WAR OF MAGIC.

WarMagicNew

The second (partial) critique to come back is from a reader unfamiliar with the earlier books in the series. I always like to find someone who hasn’t read the prior books. Only they can tell me when I truly confuse a new reader. Of course, I hope new readers will start at the beginning. But I have no control over that, so I really need to try to make the opening chapters as non-confusing as possible. By the fourth book, reintroducing (in brief) all the characters and their relationships to one another, and a touch of the previous story (enough for going on with) without slowing the story to a complete stop is . . . well, tricky doesn’t quite cover it. Apparently, I didn’t do as good a job as I’d hoped at the start of WAR OF MAGIC.

So, plenty of things to think about.

I’m also starting to think I need to find some way to take at least a day or two off and recharge the creative well. That’s going to be even trickier to figure out, since the budget won’t get me very far right now. Thinking outside the box may provide a solution.

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Critiques

Posted in writing, tagged critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, revisions, sequels, series, writing on June 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The first critique of WAR OF MAGIC has come back–earlier than I expected.

WarMagicNew

And it’s given me some things to start thinking about.

There are some slow spots. Not really surprising. What to do about them . . . well, that’s part of what I’ll have to think about. Some things are necessary to the plot, so cutting them isn’t really an option. Finding a way to spice them up might be possible, but will require thought.

Some things aren’t clear enough. That’s easier to deal with.

And some things might need to be expanded a little.

The climax worked, so that’s a relief.

I’ll let these things turn over in my mind while I wait for the other critiques.

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Third Round of Revisions Done

Posted in writing, tagged critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, Multiple Projects, revisions, rewrites, sequels, series, writing on May 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Second or third pass, depending on how you count. At any rate, I’ve reached the point where continuing to fuss with the WAR OF MAGIC manuscript right now is more likely to do harm than good. Sometimes it’s important to know when to quit–at least for a while.

It’s time for it to go out to my beta readers next week.

WarMagicNew

And time for me to get back to work on the rewrite of MAGE STORM.

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Second Pass Revisions

Posted in writing, tagged critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, revisions, sequels, series, Young Adult on May 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I finished the first pass of revisions on War of Magic.

WarMagicNew

I moved a chapter and added/revised a little around it to tie it in better to the rest of the story.

Now, for the second pass, I’m trying to address all those annoying little notes I left myself in the first draft. And there is at least one place where I’ll need to write a new scene or two. Something I skipped over in the first draft.

Aiming to have this out to my beta readers at the beginning of June.

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First Revision Pass

Posted in writing, tagged critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, revisions, sequels, series, writing on May 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

For me, the first revision pass is mostly about trying to read through the manuscript as much like a reader as possible.

WarMagicNew

To read in a matter of a couple of weeks what took me months to write. Of course, it’s never quite like a reader would, because:

I already know how the story ends
I am making at least some revisions as I go through, so it’s a lot slower than a reader would go through it.

Still, I am trying to go through it as quickly as I reasonably can, to get a feel for the pacing and find any little inconsistencies that crept in over the time it took to write the first draft.

In the case of WAR OF MAGIC, I’ve also been slowed down by trying to fill in some of the gaps I left in the first draft. Places, mainly, where I knew I needed something, but I just didn’t have a clear enough picture of it in my head. And didn’t want to halt progress on a first draft that had already taken longer than I expected to figure it out.

I’m roughly three-quarters through that first pass. I’ll still have some of the notes I left myself in the first draft–and a few I’ve made in the first round of revisions–to go back and deal with before it’s ready for my beta readers.

Still trying to aim for a September release, though it may be late September.

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Promotion Results

Posted in writing, tagged boxed sets, e-publishing, events, fantasy, Learning, marketing, revisions, sales, sequels, series, writing on May 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

So, last week’s promotion was the first time I’d tried a free promotion. Here are the results:

For THE SHAMAN’S CURSE:

I gave away 914 copies, including books in two markets I’d never “sold” to before–Italy and Japan. Now, if only a quarter of those continue on to buy THE VOICE OF PROPHECY, BEYOND THE PROPHECY, and (eventually) WAR OF MAGIC, that will have been well worth it. Especially if they go on to leave reviews.

I’ll have a better idea how well this worked by the middle of next month, when the royalty report for May comes out. Of course, that won’t be complete. I’ve certainly downloaded a free book–or two–and not gotten around to reading it immediately.

BY SWORD, TALE, OR MAGIC didn’t fare quite as well, even at three books for $0.99.

Only 15 sales. Still, hopefully those are new readers of my work. Hopefully they’ll go on to read some of my other books. Or at least leave a review. BSToM doesn’t have any reviews, yet. (Which may be part of the reason it didn’t sell better.)

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May the Fourth Be With You

Posted in writing, tagged boxed sets, e-publishing, events, fantasy, marketing, Multiple Projects, revisions, rewrites, sequels, series, Special Events, writing, Young Adult on May 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »

And also the Flinch-Free Fiction sale by Clean Indie Reads.

THE SHAMAN’S CURSE is free during this sale.

And BY SWORD, TALE, AND MAGIC is only $0.99.

In other news, I’ve finished that new chapter for MAGE STORM and I’m turning back to the revisions on WAR OF MAGIC.

WarMagicNew

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New Chapter

Posted in writing, tagged characters, e-publishing, fantasy, Multiple Projects, Point of View, revisions, rewrites, sequels, series, writing on April 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I’m at the first point in the rewrite of MAGE STORM where I’ve decided to add a new chapter from a different point of view. Not a new character, but one that never had a point of view in the earlier version of this story.

Changing POV characters, especially early in the story, always slows the writing down. It’ll be worth it in the end, though. This way, the reader will get a chance to really understand what motivates this important character. Not just what she tells her friends, which isn’t exactly false. Just . . . not complete.

I want to get this chapter (or two) done before I go back for my second look at WAR OF MAGIC.

WarMagicNew

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Three Projects

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, Real Life, revisions, rewrites, sequels, series, Writer's Block, writing on April 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Not yet. But as of next week, I’ll have three writing projects in process.

The first revisions of WAR OF MAGIC,

WarMagicNew

which will be my primary project. The rewrite of MAGE STORM. And the first draft of BECOME.

Become4

That should be interesting.

Both BECOME and MAGE STORM have been significantly delayed by a whole lot of real-life administrative stuff I’ve had to deal with lately. It’s not writer’s block, but it almost might as well be. Hopefully, I can get that all out of the way before it’s time to get serious about revisions on WAR OF MAGIC.

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Thinking Outside the Box

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, Multiple Projects, revisions, rewrites, series, writing on April 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The way to get through–or around–a block is usually to think outside the box. Re-imagine whatever it is you’re trying to do.

I’ve had to do that once or twice with my writing. FIRE AND EARTH ended up so different from the original story (which didn’t work on so many levels) that I don’t think anyone but me would recognize it.

To a lesser extent, I’m doing something similar with MAGE STORM. Re-imagining it as a much bigger story with more wide-ranging stakes. I haven’t gotten very far with that, yet. That’s okay. I expect it to take multiple iterations. Right now, I’m mostly adding back some of the things I’d cut from earlier versions.

And I’ve also had to do something like that a couple of times with my cover art. Series can be particularly difficult, because I need to come up with a concept or image that not only works for that book, but also can be extended into something that will tie all the books of the series together. Oh, and not look too much like the covers of my other series, too.

And, as I mentioned in my last post, I was really having trouble with the cover for MAGE STORM. I think I’ve solved that issue. I need to stare at it a little longer. And seek some more opinions. Maybe I’ll be able to share the cover with you by my next post.

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