A Major Revision Change In My Fantasy Novel in Progress

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As I was in bed last night, beginning to fall asleep, I suddenly had a fire of understanding about my fantasy novel, which is now near the completion of its second draft. I was very tired and did not want to get up,  but I have learned never to ignore such realizations. If I do not at least jot down a few sentences, the new comprehension would be gone in the morning.

This nocturnal understanding will certainly set up the work for the third draft of this work in progress. The setting is now completely different from what it had been, and the basis for  the major characters became clarified. I now understand why they are doing what they are doing, and what the foundations of their relationships.

Now, it is time to get started on draft # 3!

Have any of you had such late night sudden writing understandings?

Gallows Hill can be found here in ebook.

Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.

An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.

Please follow the following links to find my novel:

ebook

Print book

Thank you!

The book trailer:

Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I

My radio interview:

interview

 

Available on Amazon

 

Stephen King on Revision

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“To write is human, to edit is divine.”

“When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.”

 

“Your job during or just after the first draft is to decide what something or somethings yours is about. Your job in the second draft— one of them, anyway—is to make that something even more clear. This may necessitate some big changes and revisions. The benefits to you and your reader will be clearer focus and a more unified story. It hardly ever fails.”

 

All quotations are from

Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

 

 

Writing Progess: An Update

It has been a long time since I have done a post about my writing progress, so I thought I would mention what I am doing. I self-published Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society, Book I last October. Since then, I completed what I hope is a very good draft  — draft 4 — of my YA novel, The Ameriad: The Monastery of Knowledge, which I am in the process of submitting to agents and editors.

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I am close to being done with draft 1 of Gallow’s Hill: The Investigative Paranormal Society, Book II. My goal is to have the initial draft done this coming week, and then I will do heavily focused revisions, one after another over the next couple of months.  I hope to release it in October.

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I also should be able to release a Spanish language version of Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society, Book I  in October. And I am looking into an audible edition.

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When I am done with these projects, then I will work on one of two books I have already drafted and need revisions. Plus, I have many other tales waiting their turns to be written.

 

 

Please follow the following links to find my novel:

ebook

Print book

Thank you!

The book trailer:

Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I

My radio interview:

interview

Writing Quotations

Here are a few of my favorite writing quotations:

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“You put one word after another until you are done.”

                                                                                   Neil Gaiman

 

 

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“If you write books, you go one page at a time.”

                                                                                   Stephen King

 

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“I don’t fiddle or edit or change while I’m going through that first draft.”

                                                                                   Nora Roberts

Quotations on Writing by Stephen King

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“Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

 

“Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life.”

 

“The story always comes first.”

 

All quotations from:

King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York: Scribner, 2000.

 

 

Writing Progress

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I believe I have not done an update in a few months on my writing progress, so I will do so now.  I have finished a first draft of book 2 of my young adult series: The Ameriad.  Now like most first drafts, it is not very good, and I am being charitable, and it needs massive revision, but it is done. As I say to other writers and to my students, get a draft done, otherwise you have nothing to work on.  Now I have about 50,000 words for future revisions. I am anticipating both cutting and adding in the next draft.

That means, I will continue on my plan on completing 2 first drafts every year.  I now move on to book 2 of The Investigative Paranormal Society.  Each book in this series will focus on one of the three older gentlemen who form the nucleus of the group. This one will center on Sam, the retired homicide detective.  So, to work with this!  I hope to have the draft done by the end of the year.

And I am moving along with the manuscript of my horror novel, Maledicus:  Investigative Paranormal Society Book I. I will shortly send it out to be formatted, both for ebook and printing, and I am aiming at a release in late September. I will keep you informed as I move forward with promotion on it.

In addition to drafting, I am always revising also.  So I try to find separate times to do both most days.  I am now beginning a major revision of book one of my young adult series.  I will speak more of this in future posts.

Remember folks, keep writing and revising!

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March Writing Progress

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As I was working on a draft of one of my books yesterday, I realized that I had not give my monthly report on my writing progress.  My apologies for tardiness!

I received excellent feedback from a fellow blogger on my novel Evil Lives After –thank you!  I finished the 9th draft, and I am now currently working on smaller revisions for the 10th draft, which I hope will be done this month. Then I have to decide–do I keep trying to get an agent for it, or do I self-publish? I am leaning now towards self-publishing this book.

I am continuing timely progress with book 2 in my YA series. I expected to have about 100 pages written by the end of March, and I am exactly on target.  With this rate,  I will complete the first draft by the end of June.  It will also keep me on my target goal of drafting two first drafts every year.  I know that these are not finished works, but without something down on paper, there is nothing to correct.  Also, I have so many novels and a few nonfiction books patiently, or not-so-patiently, waiting in line to be composed that I must continue this pace.

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Book One of this series is now the novel that I will begin to pitch to agents.  I think I have a much better chance of finding an agent for this piece than the horror novel.  I will work on both my query letter and a pitch to give at the Writers Digest 2016 conference in Manhattan this summer. As always, I am excited about going to this conference.

That is all for now…will do another update in one month or so!

 

 

February Progress

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With February having come to an end, I want to give a monthly progress report on my writing efforts. It was a very busy month for me with a full load of classes, so there was a great deal of teaching, planning, and grading.

My writing, however, is keeping on course. I have reached page 80 on the first draft of the second book of my young adult series, which means I should be able to complete the initial draft by the end of June. I am also progressing on revisions. I am close to finishing the 9th draft of my horror novel Evil Lives After, and I will then begin revisions on the 4th draft of the first book of my Young Adult series.

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I have also made several more submissions of Evil Lives After.

I will post an update in about one month.

 

 

Writing Update

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It has been a while since I have posted my writing progress, so I want to give an update on what I have been doing. I posted a while ago that I want to write a first draft of a novel every six months or so, and I am on target with that goal. I hope that the first draft I am currently writing will be between 200-250 pages, and I currently have about 40 pages written.  At the pace I am going, I should have it complete in June.  This is book two in my YA series.

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I am also very busy working on revisions of my horror novel Evil Lives After and the first book in the YA series. In both cases these revisions are minor. I believe both books are ready for submissions; I will see what kind of results I get.  In the case of the YA, I have been getting excellent feedback and reaction from readers. I have also received excellent advice on the horror novel, and I have cut some and rearranged chapter order, so I believe it moves along much faster and better than before.

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On the academic writing front, I am working on revising an article on Gothic literature as well as conducing research for a book on an obscure Irish playwright, Seamus Byrne. I hope to send the article out again soon, and I will work on drafting a chapter of the book in the summer.

I will give an update every month or so on my progress.

 

 

 

 

My Current Writing Progress

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It has been a while since I have updated my writing progress, so I decided this would be a good time to do so. I just finished the first draft of a horror novel about a werewolf.  It is clearly a misshapen skeleton of a book at this point, but at least, it is done and can be developed and edited later. As indicated in my previous post, without words down on paper, there is nothing than can be revised.

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My writing goals for the first half of 2016 follow. First, I will revise my horror novel Evil Lives After, which would be its 9th draft and to continue submitting it to agents and publishers. If I have no success, I will then plan on self-publishing this book.  I believe it is time. Next I will revise the first book of my YA series and also submit it to agents.  I am not sure if submitting two books is recommended or not, but I am following my own plan of action.  We will see what happens. Finally, but definitely not least, I will write the first draft of the second novel of my YA series.

As long as I maintain the pace I have been keeping over the last few years, I should be able to accomplish these goals.  We will see at the end of June if I have reached the destination.

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