4 posts tagged “phoenix rising (the phoenix cycle)”
Phoenix Rising has been sent off to a writing buddy for a plot check. The notes draft isn't quite done—it needs some actual notes—but the story itself is. Politics play a big part in this novel and I needed someone who likes that kind of thing to make sure they work. Last thing I want is to get to the point where I'm posting it for crits with my writers workshop and find out that the politics really don't work so the whole thing has to be stripped back to a point where I can fix them—probably back to the outline. I would have sent it off at the narrative draft stage, but there isn't really enough in that stage to see this kind of thing. It can help with general plotting, help makes sure the subplots are fairly woven in, stuff like that, but it's not so great at something like this because there's just not enough of it to see how well it works.
While my buddy checks it, I'll be adding notes and starting some character profiles and the like. I'll also be continuing with A.C. revisions. The current chapter has gone slower than the previous few, but it also was written out of order and about...7? years ago—and hasn't been touched since being written. It was originally going to be, get this, chapter 10. I should finish it by the end of this upcoming week.
Regardless, it's been a wonderfully productive weekend so far. Tomorrow (erm, later today), I'll work on notes for the notes draft and probably chapter 4 of NPB. I need 13k/week to make my word count goal for the year. With a little pushing, I think I can actually make it this week. We'll see about next week.
Between personal stress at home, work, weather, and a few other things, not much work has been done on my own writing recently (note previous entry). However, I have finally reached the current halfway mark in Assassin's Choice in terms of chapter numbers. I may be past that in actual word count because there's a huge chunk towards the end of the book that may get cut. Phoenix Rising also got a nice, healthy word count addition this week--I now have a Friday buddy that I meet with to work on "alternate" projects. Hopefully meeting with her every week will help keep me on track with it.
In publication news, two of my short stories are now available on AnthologyBuilder.com: "In the Blood" and "Intended". One of them even received positive comments from the site editor. I need to update the site to reflect that, I suppose. ;)
There's little else to post about really. I'm ruminating a new Meta and considering writing a new article on critiquing (yea, like we all ne4ed another one--but this one comes from something I realized about the crits I receive and how I react to them). I'm still working on a short, and, yes, it's very odd for me to plod my way through a first draft of a short like this. I just finished a S. L. Veihl book and have one other novel and an omnibus lined up for me to read. For work, one manuscript has been returned to the author for round 2 edits, and the second manuscript is about done with round 1.
I did start trying out a new hard copy method for tracking my submissions. It's going to take a bit to get all the old stuff in the columnar book...and I may end up having to do it all over again because I'm not so sure I like it. I like the idea of a book and the information I'm trying to keep (in general), but the book is a bit...big. I'm thinking of making my own template then having it copied and bound at Staples. We'll see.
And...that's about it. Told you it's been quiet.
It's been quite a month, with computer meltdowns and other issues cropping up, plus working on an editing project, so time hasn't been what I had hoped. Fortunately, I managed to save all my writing in the computer mess, though I did lose quite a few other things. Not as much as I feared, but something important always manages to get lost or mucked up. In this case, I can't find the codes I need for a bit of software (non-writing related) and can't seem to get a response from the company at all. I even tried to repurchase. I'll wait until tomorrow to attempt to contact the company one more time. If that doesn't work, I'll need to hunt up some replacement software that still works on Win 98 and contact the place that I purchased the software through to see if I can get my money back. Most my other stuff is saved, but, for some unknown reason, my comp won't access the CDs. I suspect my CD burner is toast.
A.C. is up to ch5 in revisions. I showed the earlier chapters to an editor friend of mine and she gave me the thumbs up. So, the revisions are on track even if they're a bit on the slow side. They should speed up a little once I get past ch10, which is the last chapter with anything to salvage from my previous attempt at v4 and v5 revisions. My only concern is making sure the chapters after ch10 have the same tone and polish. There will be a 6th revision to make some very specific changes and to check for technical errors, then it will go out to beta readers. Once it's off to them, I'll look at Quest for Ehlarayn and rework it from either the outline or the narrative draft up.
Phoenix Rising is in the outline stage. I've sorted out 2 of the plot lines, beginning to end. The people in my writing group who are actually paying attention like the story so far. I've also reposted Stolen Priest to the group. The only thing really getting ignored is my short stories. I have a few new pieces that I need to work on, and a couple of older ones I really should revise, but I seem to go through these phases where I'm so focused on the novel work that anything else is just too much of an interference.
It really is rather surprising how much I have managed to finish all things considered. I had to reformat, our phone line was torched by lightning, I've been down at least one or two days a week with migraines, storms have kept me off-line for several days, the husband was in an accident -- he's fine but the car is not. And that's just the major stuff. Hopefully things will settle down now. I have more editing projects coming up, and I'm slowly working out a schedule that allows me time for my own writing. In a month, it will be easier since the kids will be in school (though the daughter and granddaughter will be here). Not sure when the weather will stop kicking me off-line as well, but hopefully that won;t be too much after the kids are out of the house.
A.C. is still in revisions, but it's all posted with my crit group and I'm pulling chapters and getting it done. I'm trying to keep a fairly steady pace, not always easy even when I'm really focused on it -- which I have been. During May, I ended up subbing for most of the month, and that really derailed me (work always does). Then my second daughter moved back in, bringing chaos with her -- less than when she lived here before, but it was still quite a disruption. And now the kids are out and I'm trying to find something other than teaching as a job. A steady pace now days is when I manage to work on revisions 2 days in a row.
I've started Phoenix Rising, the first in a series of 5 related books with different main characters. In fact, they're also at different times in Kree (the nation in which they take place) history. So they kind of stand alone, but they do chronicle the rise and fall of one major house in Kree. The Thalionrhoes become a part of the first council when the last Life Guardian of Alden dies. They resist the pressure from the human members to change the consistency of the council. Later, they create an underground railroad of sorts, this one helping the lyanthry, declared traitors by the council, flee to Serayn. Finally, the council turns on them completely and attacks their manor, razing the land, killing any surviving members they can find.
That's the whole series. Yes, I've had it in my head for some time (like most my Alden novels). Phoenix 1 is the rise of the family to power. The main character is chosen by the last Life Guardian herself to become a council member. And it is she who is by the Guardian's side when she prophecies and dies. This is the main story, and now i have to build the rest -- the conflict from those who would rather the Guardian choose 3 people to take the places the Guardians once held, the conflict with the MC's own house and the spirit guardian that watches over them. Unlike A.C., I don't have this one all thought out yet, so it's going to take me some time to pull just the plotting form together.
I'm considering looking at books 2 and 3 in the Heroes trilogy again too. Neither were long enough rough drafts, so I need to go back a step or two with them and see what I need to do to build them up. I'm thinking I may have to start back at the outline or plotting form and see if I need to develop anything more than I did, then rebuild.
Even if these 3 books never get published, they are certainly teaching me a lot! I'm hoping A.C. will be ready for whole book readers by the end of the year, and ready for me to query agents by next summer, maybe earlier. I keep letting myself get hung up on things that I don't really need to be hung up on. I really have to stop doing that.
