It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything about my writing so I’ll kick a whole new round of writing related posts off with some awesome news. I finished the last round of edits on Entangled Fates yesterday. July 4th at 8:24pm.
Now this is quite a few years in the making. I started writing my series when I was in 7th grade which is 7 years ago now. As I read the last line of my book I thought about everything that I’d put into this to get to the point where I’m so much in love with it that I’m confident to send it out into the world. I don’t know how many hours I spent writing and editing it but I’d be willing to guess it’s been a couple hundred hours. There were a few times that I didn’t think it was going to be worth it but now… now it’s totally worth it!
I’m also quite tired of it… I hate to say it but I’m ready to stop reading it over and over. How could I possibly be tired of my precious book? Well it’s changed a lot and taken a lot of my brain power to work everything straight.
When I first started writing it all out in notebooks it was really going to be straightforward and rather cliché. It was also going to be one book. They were going to get all fours pieces and have a happy ending to boot all in one book. Back then it seemed like a brilliant idea to me. So I kept writing all through the 8th grade finishing a few notebooks in the process. Somewhere along the way I’d changed my mind and decided I wanted a series. I finished writing the first draft in notebooks and felt triumphant.
Then I realized that hand written material wasn’t acceptable to send to publishers. So I started typing it all up. When I reopened my first notebook I realized what I’d written was complete crap so I scanned the rest of the notebooks and realized the whole plot was shit.
That’s when I outlined a new series to write. I set aside my very first draft and kept in mind a few of my favorite parts as I started a new first draft. I don’t remember when I first started it but I finished it freshman year in college.
I started reading from the beginning and realized that once again it was shitty. I’d changed characters and the eventual ending so much that the beginning made no sense. So the first half of the book underwent extensive changes.
And now after three more rounds of edits I look at the finished manuscript and I picked out the things that were the same as my very first original story from 7th grade. Here’s the dismal list:
1) Neal’s name
2) Jamie’s name
3) Billy/Tantin’s name
4) Reuniting the Armlet
5) Exyel and Lawrence names and cities
And that’s all I could pin. It’s under gone a lot of work to get to the shinning gem it now is. Another thing that I love is the word count. I’ve done three rounds of edits from what’s saved on my laptop as the original. I had older copies but switching between computers they slipped between cracks somewhere never to be found. But check this out.
Original - 143.551 words
1st round - 127.792 words
2nd round - 129.808 words
Final - 123.823 words
I love that I cut so much. Most of it from the original to 1st round was plot lines I didn’t need, characters that were useless, and fluffy scenes that wasted time. And from the 2nd round to the final was simply word smithing, that’s a whole other post. In short I simply took out useless words and sentences and picked one word to replace two. Hard work but it makes everything flow easier and read faster which makes the effort worth it.
Now all that’s left is to write my cover letter and send the whole lot off to DAW books. Everyone cross your fingers that DAW picks me up. They’re pretty much my dream publishing house as the publish most of my favorite authors (like Pat Rothfuss).
Cheers,
I’m so fickle sometimes. So The Snowy Waste has had it’s title for seven years now. And this morning as I was doing my life coaching assignment for the week (which is to set goals) I realized as I was typing The Snowy Waste completion as one of my short term goals that the title no longer fits. Basically I’ve changed the plot so much that the title no longer fits with the whole story. I brainstormed two new titles. 1- Threads of Time and 2-Entangled Fates. Then I went to google books and googled to see if there were any books by the same or similar titles. This threw Threads of Time out the door. So The Snowy Waste is now entitled Entangled Fates. Cool right? And it’s not even one o’clock and I’m making such big changes!!
Laters,
P.S. Pat Rothfuss now has NOTW shirts! yay!
Apparently I have a lot to catch you all up on. it’s been nearly a month. Props to me and my summer lazyness on updating my blog. So it’ll be jumpy… but fun.
Honestly I’ve been productive otherwise. For instance I’m now 70 something pages into my edits on part one. I’ve deleted lots and lots but not to worry I’ve changed some plot lines which means I’ve got lots of addin in to do. But it’s slow work. Like I feel really, really inspired but I sit down to edit and I feel blocked. It’s this one part that I just feel like taking out all together but it’s half of the first part and I basically need it later on otherwise Myles can’t join the quest. So I have to deal with it and wade through the stuff I don’t feel like editing. It’ll get better…
I finished my friend’s book I was running edits on. it was short so now I feel bad that he has to read all of mine… I’ll probably tell him that he can stop after the first part if he wants. Anyhow, it was a good read and I liked the plot line. But it was short and fast, I’m usually a fan of the longer fantasy books. but that’s just me.
I’ve been going to my writers group every Tuesday since I got here! It’s so awesome to go. Like for serious I love it. I love what people have to say about my work. Because I’m the youngest person there, everyone else are like my parents age. And basically they don’t read fantasy so it’s always interesting to have them read my stuff. It’s usually grammar they pick out. And I always need grammar help.
I picked out my classes for the fall! Whoot! I’m taking Chemistry I, Human Anatomy and Biology, Photography I, U.S. History Till 1877, and The Tudor, Stewart Age. Pretty awesome right? I wanted to take a Japanese history course… but alas I figured Anatomy would look better on my transfer application. I’m still waiting to hear back from res life to see where I’m living. I’m crossing my finger that my roommate isn’t a douche like last year. I’m also hoping that I’ll be in the New Upperclassman dorms.
I haven’t gotten my new compy yet cause I’m waiting for my check from the insurance money. So I’m still fighting with my old one which is angering me quite thoroughly. Why you ask? Because I have two options to type with. 1: Type with a frozen screen and smack it ever couple of lines to look at the newly typed stuff. Or 2: hold the screen so it works with one hand and type with the other. Neither are very fun. But I’m dealing with it till I get my check. But there are some very nice days that it agrees with me and I don’t need to hold it for it to work and not freeze. Like right now it’s being nice… which means I should probably be editing instead of blogging but I’ve neglected this long enough…
The beach has been ever so good to me. I’ve already read three books. I’ll be doing a book review on them soon enough. I finally have time to catch up and read Laini Taylor’s books that came out during the school year. So that’s super good.
I’ve officially become a super nerd. My brothers and I have recently become quite the addicts to Magic the Gathering. I’ve got a red-white deck and it’s super fun to play.
I’ll stop there for today least I make your eyes bleed with my boring rant! Enjoy your summer!
Laters,
So as part of my writing class final portfolio i wrote a tesaer for The Snowy Waste and i thought i'd post it here!! Enjoy
The thriving country of Exyel slips into civil war after their national treasure The Armlet of Exyel is broken apart. It’s only hope of ever finding peace again lays in the hands of the prophesized Quest Quartet. In the first decades after the outbreak of war people were hopeful that these Questers would arise. But after 30,000 years of bloody battles the Quest Quartet is nothing but a child’s tale. Yet this does not faze three motley friends from taking up the task. Jamie Stean of Vanton, Nealock Jordan of Flar and Billy Bones set out from the small vineyard town of Flar to seek the only thing that will save their dying country. Although each has their own motive Billy’s is the purist because he, Sir Tantin Exyel, will remain in the form of a skeleton until his country once again resides in peace. So he joins up in hopes of bringing Exyel back to the magnificence it knew when he was king. The three leave in hopes that the tale of The Quest Quartet will be like the ones told by bards where they fought valiantly and conquered evil with no effort. What they never expected was for them to get swept up into a power struggle between Darkness and Queen Zayden'Ash of the Dragons. They did not foresee one them leaving to accomplish good for the quest and giving her life for it. Zayden'Ash is the savior of the motley group but also the puppeteer of it. She has the power to make the search for The Armlet an easy task yet she with holds her power in hopes of making The Quest Quartet a story to be told for an eternity. When the Quest Quartet threatens to fall to pieces will someone step up and push them toward finding the second piece? Or will they all fall to Darkness?
Laters,
Happy Monday!! Gosh I just love Mondays! I have writing class first thing which makes me ever so excited! And I’m working on my portfolio for being a fiction author and it’s pretty much the funnest assignment ever. Like right now I’m working on my assignment for next week. It’s a synopsis for The Snowy Waste. Muhahah. It’s so way fun. Plus all this writing about my writing is making me super pumped to edit. Which good news… I’ve decided to just take out a lot of stuff… so I’m down about 20 pages currently (and I’m only like half done with the cuts) but that’s okay cause I’m putting in more Raven sub-plot to make it even more mysterious and fun. That will probably just about cover the lost pages. But also I just came up with a super awesome new idea to add in which might make it longer… not sure yet…. I’m still fixing in where I’m going to add it and how it’ll give a lot away without giving away too much. Also I’m rewriting the prologue… muhahaha. I came up with an idea that will be super cryptic and exciting for the prologues of the Quest Quartet! So I’m reworking The Snowy Waste first. Ahh I feel so productive! Now all I to do is follow through on this productive stream…
Laters,
In honor of my fantastic editing so far I thought I’d share a wee bit from the beginning…. So here it is!!
When Neal started coming to he was bobbing up and down with the motion of a horse. But apparently he was not the only one on the horse for there was an arm around him and he could see the other one on the reigns. To add to it his head was on the persons shoulder. Neal sat upright and would have fallen off if the person’s thin muscular arm had not held him in place. Neal turned to find himself looking into light blue eyes. “I was wondering when the mud boy would wake up.” Said a girl’s voice. Neal’s eyes took in the whole of the face.
“Jamie I knew you’d fallow me!” said Neal throwing his arm around her without falling.
“We were waiting only a few human strides down the road when we saw the highway men. So we waited for the opportune moment then struck. They were taken aback so they were easily taken. Then we picked you up and we went on.”
“We, what is this we stuff. Who is with you?” Neal said.
“Tantin also known as Mr. Billy Bones.” Jamie said airily. This time Neal really fell out of the saddle.
“Ow.” He yelped as he hit the dusty road. Jamie pulled her horse, Heir, to a stop. Another two horses trotted to the other side of Neal, he sat up. When he looked up he had to shield his eyes from the sun. “Oh no! By Zantor! I’m gonna kill you Jamie I’m gonna kill you both.”
“By Billy!” Billy reached down to help Neal up but Neal fell back onto the ground and would have started hitting his head on the ground but pain shot through his spine and he sat bolt upright. “Come on. Up. Up!” Said Billy’s annoying voice.
“No I’ll die here thank you.” Neal crossed is arms like an angry child.
“Get your sorry ass up.” said Jamie clearly annoyed. She dismounted her golden chestnut gelding, walked other to Neal yanked him off the ground, picked him up and put him in the saddle of Jam. “Now we are all going to the Snowy Waste. Whether you sissies like it or not.”
“Now see here old chap” Billy started, but changed his mind after a glare from Jamie “Chappette?” He looked back at Jamie but just received a roll of her eyes. “I Sir Tantin Exyel am not a sissy! Just because I ran and hid in the bushes and screamed like a little five Elson old girl when you chopped that one’s head off does not mean that I’m a sissy.”
If you want to read the beginning excerpt from The Snowy Waste check it out on my website! HERE
Laters,
Hi. Hi.
I have beyond amazing news! Today at 9:46 I finished the rough draft of The Snowy Waste! It’s 331 pages manuscript format and 145053 word. I’m sooooo excited about this. I text all my friends ran into my suitemates room yelled about it in there then a friend and I went to applebees to celebrate. Tots def awesome night. And it’s Sunday so this week can only get better. Now I can sit down and do some hardcore editing and work my way toward getting this bad boy published!! Yay! And feel free to run around and scream in joy… it’s what I did. haha
Laters,
T.V.
Hi ya,
So awesome news!! I finally got over my writers block with The Snowy waste! Whoot! So I decided to honor my lack of writers block with an all night writing fest. So far it’s going great. I’ve been at it since midnight and I’ve typed almost 5,000 words. I’ve typed 11 pages manuscript style (one inch margins arial 10 double spaced). So I’m pretty proud of me. And I’m having a riot typing cause as I think I’ve mentioned I’ve chucked out most of what I had written in favor of some new plot twists and just general tweeks that will connect it and make it flow better. So I’ve been adjusting that tonight. I was so excited I added in two battle scenes…. Hehe I have such a bad addiction to those things. Over all in what I have typed for The Snowy Waste I’m fast approaching 100,000 words!! I’m at 81,000ish now so when I hit 100,000 words we’re having a party! Haha any how I just wanted to share that I’m working on the series again. I’m still coming up with ideas for my vampire book but I’m going to pass on typing. I just want to work on the series so I can finish The Snowy Waste! I’m just so excited that it’s my main focus again! Yay! So as a bonus for you all here’s a little tid bit of what I’ve typed tonight.
This is just some down time/kill time till it gets good. But basically they just left Vayger and they found out that Vayger wasn’t welcoming at all and they lost their horses there so they are on foot…. Which sucks for them…. a lot. So here you go!
The air was crisp and cold when the five awoke later that day. Even though noon had passed the air was still freezing. Neal rubbed his hand together to try and bring some warmth into them. Jamie started a fire with nothing but magic and Billy helped her keep it up so they could all warm up and eat before they started their long walk north. It was going to be tough without the horses but they had to make it. Winter was upon The Waste but it had yet t snow and that made the questers a little apprehensive because it meant that the snow would come soon and there was a great possibility that they would be caught in that storm. If they were caught in that storm it would spell doom for the surely. So it was wise of them to get right back to walking after they were warm.
Muscles were sore from yesterdays fleeing but no one complained because they knew that they needed to do this. They needed to get to The Twin Talons before they were all caught and killed in a storm. As they trudged north not many words were exchanged for they knew it was easier to keep walking then to talk and waste precious energy. So one foot was paced in front of the other and they walked stride after stride north. When night fell they had covered good ground but not enough to bring them to The Talons on the next day. It would be at least another day if not more and the way the wind was blowing it felt like a snow storm was on it’s way. But they kept walking. It would have been easier with the horses and it would have been a nicer journey because they legs wouldn’t have been aching so much… but they could deal. They all knew what they had to do.
Sore legs was a small price to pay for the peace of Exyel. All of their struggles would work out for the better. Exyel needed them to finish this and they would even if they had to walk the whole way they would complete it. They would see this quest through till the end. It was this thought that kept them walking over the hard cold ground of the waste. It was this that made them pull their cloaks tight around them as they trudged on. Even with their gloves on their fingers froze and their hands shook from cold. Through two layers of socks and through their boots the cold seeped. They would stop periodically so Jamie and Billy could start a fire and warm them all before they continued on.
Day slipped into night and they stopped for rest. This time though they all had enough sense to make a fire to sleep by. After the fire was secured for the night and they had all eaten they fell asleep without much thought or talk. The days journey had taken a lot of energy and they were all anxious to get it back. So sleep blessed them all.
Hoped you liked it!!
Laters,
T.V.
