The Final Push?

Occasionally I give updates on my book’s progress, and seeing as we have just barely started this new year, I thought it was a good time to let you know where I am at.

Just as a recap, I am in the process of writing a historical fantasy novel(s) set in 7th century Northumbria. I finally finished the first draft about 4-5 years ago…but soon realized that I had a problem. I had way too many words for one book. So I divided the MS up into three books and began work on revision of Book 1, rewriting and revising that book to make it work as a stand-alone, and beginning the process of looking for agents and submitting the MS to publishers.

I got some nibbles, but no “yes”, and began to look seriously at self-publishing. In the meantime, in 2016 I hired a professional editor to help me polish Book 1.

I’m not going to lie, getting her suggestions back was painful! I knew I would need some more cuts, and was ready for that. But she suggested a lot more cuts, even to the point of making what I thought would be three books into one.

Hmm. Well, after I moped for a bit I picked myself up and looked critically at her suggestions, and began to try to implement them. Gone was the POV chapters of anyone but the main character. Out came the Save the Cat book and its suggestions for pacing. And hack, hack, hack, I did.

I began to see some improvements on the book, and was warming up to the editor’s ideas. But I had real doubts that I could actually compress the story into one book. Until I actually made the attempt, however, how would I know? So throughout last year I continued to revise the book/s.

However, an interesting thing happened last year. Through the course of my Year of Fun Reading, I read (by accident, not design) several Young Adult books. Now, I’m not a big fan of Young Adult books, just because I prefer books with a little more depth, both in characterization and in plot. And as I read these YA books, I began to get the feeling that what my editor was really trying to do was to turn my adult fantasy into a Young Adult book.

This is tricky. She did a good job on the edits, and I definitely appreciate her comments and suggestions. And I don’t want to make it sound like she was totally wrong in what she suggested to me. There was lots of draggy bits that needed help. And I needed to cut some of the extra POV chapters. But on the other hand…

I’m winding my way to the end of the revisions now. I’ve cut a lot out, and I’m reworking some plot details. Especially as I’m now at the end of the story, I’m hitting places that I haven’t really looked at since my first revision. There’s a lot that needs work.

So. Where does that leave me?

Well, I have set up a revision schedule that has me revising 10,000 words per week. That’s a little ambitious, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do it, but I’m hopeful. If I can keep that schedule up I should be done my revisions by mid-May.

Then I have to take a long, hard look at what I have. One book? Two books? Probably not three, at this point. I will send it out to beta readers to get some feedback. I’m also considering sending at  Book 1 out for another professional edit, but I’m not sure about that, yet.

I’m starting to learn about book launches, and self-publishing, and how best to do all that. With that in mind, I am starting an author newsletter. All the advice out there to authors is that having your own email list is the best way to keep your readers engaged and to grow your base of readers. I will be launching this in the next couple months, so keep your eyes open!

I’ve been going back and forth on when I want to publish Book 1, tentatively called Wilding. Would it be better just before summer, or just after? Or should I try for December? What date gives me the best chance to realistically get everything in place before publication?

I finally settled on an answer. My book opens on Halloween night, so….why not target that day? Or sometime in October?

It feels right, so that is what I am aiming for. Here’s hoping I can get there! In the meantime, watch this space. I’ll keep you posted as I go. And yes, I know I have mentioned possible publication dates in the blog before, and those dates have come and gone. So sorry. All of this is a work in progress, and I’m learning as I go. For now, I’m holding to October 2018 sometime and working towards that.

We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, thanks to all who take the time to read my blog. Your support means more than you know!

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Featured Photo by Nik MacMillan on Unsplash

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