It’s really done now!

I put the finishing touches on Son of Thunder today, and sent it out to my beta readers. The final word count came in at 86,434, a bit under what I had hoped, but still within the word count needed for submission. I’m extremely happy with the book.

Next on tap: Some time off, then I’ll work a little on my fantasy Amulet of the Fallen God while I wait on my betas.

It’s been an interesting experience, and I did prove to myself that I can write a whole novel in about two months. It also tells me that setting a goal of three novels a year is not out of line.

Anyway I’m pumped and ready for the future. Can I get something published? Only time will tell.

Steve

It’s done.

…well, kind of. I finished the rough draft of Son of Thunder today. It weighed in at just a bit over 80,000 words, far short of the 100,000 words I was aiming at. The good news is that, after a bit of research, I found that the word count publishers are currently looking for in Paranormal Romance is 85,000 to 100,000 words. So I only need to add 5,000 more words to bring it in line, though I’m hoping the next edit adds more like 10,000 words to the story.

In any case, I’m so close I can taste it. I’m going to give myself the rest of the day off, then tomorrow morning I’m starting back at the beginning with a full edit.

Peace,

Steve

Think time

Well, I’m still ahead of my schedule on Son of Thunder but I haven’t written much in the past three days, and I just figured out why. I was hitting this huge block in one of the new subplots I came up with. The big problem, that I just realized, was that even though it was fun and added to the story, it never integrated with the story at all, it was just a stand alone ‘thing’ that happened, then the story went on, but it could have been left out because it had no impact on the rest of the book.

So for the past Two days I’ve been plunking my way through this section and nothing was gelling. I gave up yesterday morning and decided to work on some of those household projects that I’ve been putting off. All the while I was working I couldn’t stop thinking about this story section. I may have actually made myself sick, because by the end of the day I felt like crap, but that might just have been from actually doing some physical  labor for a change instead of pounding on a keyboard.

In any case, I decided to sleep in this morning, and as the light started to leak into the bedroom (I usually rise in darkness) it suddenly hit me what was wrong. I can now see the new scene clearly in my head, and the effect it will have on the end of the book. I’m going to have to go back and tear out quite a bit of the past week’s work, but in the end I think it will really be worth it.

So, to sum up, after hitting my first significant block,  I’m back on track. Now the subplot will have a significant effect on the ending of the book. In fact it makes the final battle quite a bit more epic.

Moral: Sometime writers block is a good thing.

Steve

Ahead of schedule

I hit the 60,000 word mark today, and I’m happy to report that I am ahead of schedule. My plan to do 10,000 words a week would have put me there next Monday, so I’m feeling really good about my progress. I was even able to go back and do some light editing on the first half of the book.

Now, there is that little voice in the back of my brain that is saying that I can take the rest of the week off. Luckily there is a louder voice that’s saying, maybe I can hit 70,000 words by Monday and be a whole week ahead. I’ll let you know which side of my brain wins.

I did have to find a few more rocks to throw at my characters, but I’m also finding that easier, and more fun as the process goes forward.

Fun Fact: The replica of the Parthenon that’s in Nashville, Tennessee, was completed in 1897 for the state’s Centennial Exposition. So, what is our Norse god doing in a replica of a Greek temple. It’s one of those new rocks above, and I think it’s going to be a ton of fun to write about.

Until next time,

Steve