Friday, May 2, 2014

What I'm working on at the moment.


Heads-up: I'll be critting queries, first chapters and or synopses next week at Unicorn Bell. If you've been struggling to get your submission stuff just right, feel free to send all three in and I'll see if I can root out any issues. Please send submissions to unicornbellsubmissions(at)gmail(dot)com. Put my name in the subject line. 


Right. On to today's post. 

At the moment, my biggest priority is to prepare the two War of Six Crowns books for publishing. The first book, The Vanished Knight, basically means that I need to apply all the proof-reading I'd sent in before Etopia published it. Interestingly, though, I'm finding lots of errors that somehow got missed, despite the fact that Etopia has a very rigorous editing style.

I guess that goes to show that no matter how you try, you'll never be done editing.

I guess I could do all this later, but there are some benefits to going through The Vanished Knight before getting into the sequel.

Firstly, it lets me pick up all the strings I left loose for the rest of the series. There are lots of them, and many are very fine and subtle. The other big thing it does is let me get a feel for the narrative voices again. There are five, all are different. And the thing is, I've been working on other stuff in between so it's not just a matter of launching back into things.

That's the thing that I'm worried about most, making sure that the voices keep feeling like they're progressing naturally as the characters develop. Plot and character arcs are easy to keep track of, but voice... voice develops as the stories go on, and it has to feel natural or it won't come across right. Especially when the reader will potentially read the two books sequentially. (Likely when they'll be coming out at the same time.)

And when the sequel requires more revisions and edits, having the voice right is just plain helpful.

So that's what I'm doing at the moment, but I'm hoping that by Wednesday  next week I can start revising the sequel. I want to take about two months to finish those revisions before getting into edits.

I have to say, though, it's just too damn good to be actively working on something again. What are you busy with at the moment?

13 comments:

  1. No matter what, mistakes still slip past. It happens.
    This weekend, I dive back into my current manuscript.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good luck with the writing/revising! I am starting a new project, which always makes me twitchy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good idea. I am working on a fourth book in my series- a book I never planned to write. I should re-read the other books to get a feel for the family again.

    It's amazing how many mistakes slip through so many eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Best of luck with the editing, I think it sounds like a good idea to go through the first book again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi, Misha,

    Having just finished the A-Z, I have to start wrapping my head around the book I should have released in April. Now I'll be working on non-fiction stuff and trying to look at my book once in a while. It never ends, does it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Misha, you always amaze me. You do SO much. Keep pushing and keep rocking it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, what an amazing project! Goop luck with editing. Looking forward to following your journey and to getting to know you! :) Thank you for saying Hi to me on my blog. Have a wonderful Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Keep up the good work, Misha. I'm hoping to have my MS query-ready by summer. May the 4th be with you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am so glad you are feeling better. It is good to get back stuck in with the writing and revisions. I have been busy with editing on my first manuscript, The Amaranthine, which i hope to self-publish next year. Editing is going slow, but i agree with you, it is nice to actively work on a project again. Best of luck to you. Enjoy the revisions.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Editing is definitely an ongoing process. I think we could edit the same manuscript into infinity and never run out of things to correct.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is nice to be back to work, I can't wait to dive in today. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Aw, you're so nice to do that critiquing for people. Good for you, Mischa. But you're right. It is awesome to have something to work at.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good luck with all those edits! And thanks for the heads up about the critting.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! I love to read what you think.

Feel free to ignore the check-box saying "Prove you're not a robot." My word verification is off, but I moderate comments to posts older than two weeks.