My calendar says a book review is supposed to go in this spot. Oops?
I’m reading a book! Actually, I’m reading three. Chronologically, the first one I started is not holding my attention very well, which is why #2 happened. However, the offer a free ARC leaped into my lap (You might have seen it in my Teaser Tuesday posts here and here…). It came with a “read by” date, so it elbowed #1 and #2 aside.
Aaaand I haven’t finished it. It is hovering on the brink of landing in my DNF pile.
Stuff Happens
In the meantime, there’s been Spring. (Yay! Warmth! Buds! Birds! RAIN!)
There’s been a (feeble) attempt to organize some of the messes I’ve collected.
And there’s been writing.
Yes, it’s true. I know it’s hard to believe at this point, but I am plugging along like a veritable herd of turtles.
I finished the first draft of Book 1. I dove into Book 2.
What Do You Mean, “Epic”?
I’ve contemplating turning the whole thing into one book, and I swivel back and forth crazily on the final decision. In the meantime, since Book 2 is so intimately connected to Book 1, I’m writing it separately.
The entire story is long.
I like long books! My friends like long books! The names of a few epic fantasy authors immediately leap to mind—And if we each made a list we’d probably get at least one duplicate!
On her blog post in October 2012, E.M. Castellan makes this comment:
“So it seems that I’m far from being the only Epic Fantasy writer struggling with a high word count.”
Yeah, huh.
I want the “epic” part of my novel to be about its awesomeness, not its awesome size, so I still need to carve out the fat.
In that same article, Ms. Castellan gives a great example of how it really is possible to put your book on a diet that will make it shine like a star:
“YA Epic Fantasy author Sarah J. Maas did just that with her 240k-word novel Throne of Glass back in 2008. And guess what? She got rejected. She did eventually get an agent with her manuscript at 145k words. And guess what? She got rejected by editors. Throne of Glass was finally published in August 2012, with a final word count of… a little over 100K words.” (Read the entire article here)
I feel encouraged!
Bookending for the Wordy
I was recently reading some things online about story structure, and one of the authors talked about how the beginning and the end must serve as bookends for the middle. The beginning inevitably leads to the end. They nest each other. (Sorry, I do not remember who to give the credit to! Link me up if you have the answer!)
This reinforced other advice I’ve read. My beginning was good (but not great). I’d written the end—and it’s very pretty, but it’s very soft. Not at all what I’d like out of it. Ugh.
So I mulled that over as I was going to sleep one night. (BEST thinking time—if I can remember my great ideas in the morning. Yes, I know, I need something to write on by the bed, but I’m lazy, and Hubby would not appreciate me turning on the light twenty-seven times in a row as he’s trying to fall asleep.)
Much to my delight, I remembered what I’d been thinking. I ran to my computer first thing the next morning and banged out the New and Improved Chapter One, and scribbled notes for the New and Improved Ending Chapter (the poor, sad thing has no number yet).
My writing partner says, “I like it! A lot better than the previous opening, actually. Surprisingly, because I liked that, too. It’s tight, serves the purpose of introduction well and gets rid of the distractions.”
It also whittled long three scenes down to one shorter one and took a chunk out of the scene that follows.
It’s a win!
The new Last Chapter is in progress.
“I love it when a plan comes together”!