7 posts tagged “under a blood moon (randi kayde)”

The building draft for Under A Blood Moon was finished last week.  It came in at 55,112 words.  However, it didn't survive the scrutiny of most of my alpha readers.  There are some huge plot problems that I need to think about before I work on it, or any of the series, any more, so the novel (and the series, if there will be one) has been set aside for the time being.

I'm already starting to consider another project to work on in its place.  So far, it looks like either Mirror Master or Mist & Shadow book 1.  Mirror has the least amount of work done (like, next to none), but has been on my mind the most frequently of late.  Mist & Shadow has been an on again, off again project that I think is cool, but I just haven't been as interested in it as it deserves if I'm going to work on it.  Another one in the consideration pile is Huntress (title not really settled), which is one of the newer of my project ideas, but it isn't nearly as formed as I think it needs to be for me to work on it.  I'm obviously still doing some thinking about what to pick up.  I don't mind the few days off, but I know I also need to pick something else up fairly soon.

In the meantime, I'm still working on A.C. (which is still a ways from completion, but is also the only book I have in revisions at the moment).

Really, now that I've proven I can draft a book, I really need to finish one.

Under A Blood Moon broke 50k today -- the building draft is now 50,429.  I've been keeping pretty steady with doing 1500 words a day on it.  I'd do more, but I have other projects that need my attention.

When this draft is done, it's going out to Alpha readers for a plot check.  I am now involved in a real life critique group and they have the first 10k for our next meeting, and I have another friend (who used to be in the same online group with me) ready to take the whole manuscript when it's done.  And I think I'm really close to being done with this draft:  the last of the girls is dead. leaving Randi as the final victim, and she's under police protection.  All that's left is to have her run in with the killer and the clean up.

I have realized that I will need to add at least 1 or 2 suspects to the book.  As it stands now, there are 2, and while I'm sure the behavior of one of them will have readers thinking he's the killer, it's still too easy to figure it all out.  So, once I get the full mss off to my other Alpha reader, I'm going to print the sucker out and make notes to help add those 2 new suspects.  I already have an idea for one of them, though he'll get cleared by the third killing.  but that's part of the point, right?

The other thing i need to do while it's out to my Alpha readers is to try to get some world building done.  This book has been unusual in that I don't "see" it in my head as I'm writing, so I have almost nothing to go on as I'm working.  It's very weird.  and I've not been inclined to do the necessary world building, so some people don't even have descriptions yet because I haven't taken the time to think about it.  I'll get there, I think Assassin's just burned me out on that part of the process.  I know I need to do it though, and the time that the Alphas are taking care of business is a good time to do that, especially since it will take the non-virtual friends at least 2 1/2 months to get through it.  This is good though -- it will force me to take a little space from it for a bit, something we all need to do.

Yes, I've been gone for a bit.  Went to Hawaii to spend time with the oldest and to see my grandbaby born.  I got back March 8th, but have been pretty out of it.  The time change didn't help any either.  Still, some progress has been made, and now I'm pretty much ready to get back into the daily writing thing -- made easier by the fact that I'm taking a break from work.  We don't know how long of a break yet.  I don't want to go back to subbing, but don't know if not working will remain feasible for us, and it's not looking like a full time permanent position is coming my way any time soon.

So, in the mean time, I'm going to enjoy my writing time.

Finished: "Painted"  Submitted it to F&SF.  We'll see how it does.  I have 2 other new stories in progress: "Iris" and "The Reckoning" plus all the old stuff that's still in progress.  I'm not too sure about "Iris", but I do believe that "Painted" and "Reckoning" have a good chance of pro sales.  I'm also still waiting to hear from Hitchcock's about "Cameo."  I'm hoping the delay in response is a good sign.

Under A Blood Moon is moving along nicely.  The notes draft is almost 40k, and I've already lined up a alpha reader.  The timing will be good.  She wants me to wait 3 weeks, which gives me a deadline for finishing the building draft.  She can read it over with all its warts and comment on the story while I add the bits I need to to complete the rough draft, which is the next phase.  I'm still enjoying it immensely, with the exception of the world building.  I'm just not used to writing something where things are still so vague.

I've finally picked up Assassin's again as well.  Because what I've been doing in terms of the revisions hasn't been working, I've dumped v4 and v5 (as far as each of them got -- no more than 10 chapters) and gone back to v3.  I see some compromises in the language coming, but the goal is to reach something close to what I want without taking a week to a full month per chapter.  Good thing this is my learning novel.  Probably an even better thing that I'm determined to finish the sucker, publishable or not.

I'm alternating writing time with house cleanup.  The husband and I have decided to go ahead and do some work on the house even if it is a rental, starting with a deep clean.

All of which makes this a busy, but exciting, time.  I'm enjoying my time off.

Friday I finished the notes draft for Under A Blood Moon.  I took the weekend away from it, other than to pull out my world building notes and set up the building draft.  I started my first profile late Monday night, then my allergies hit yesterday and I pretty much had to write the day off.  Today I'll get in 3 more brief profiles for the first section (1 location, 2 character), then actually dive into the writing.  I've cut my word count goal back to 750 from 1000 new words per day to account for the profiling.

I'm being a little more judicious in my world building than I was with Assassin's Choice. I actually think the fact that I don't see the world and everything as clearly as I see Alden is going to work in my favor with this book.  The Alden world building got scary, to say the least, if only because I could see so much.  My profiles for the people, places, and things of Alden have been deep and detailed.  I think that, as much as anything else, helped derail my working on the novels.  This is not to say that what I've done for Alden is bad, I think it's good, it's just overwhelming and it took over my working on the novels.  Because I have less to go on with R.K., I should actually get more done on the novels themselves.  And, because the language I'm using to write them is simpler and cleaner, they should be much easier to write and complete.

I'm probably going to have to "layer" my work on this building draft more than I've had to on the Alden novels so far as well.  First, there are several things I'm still trying to figure out.  For example, I've not been too sure about the pov.  Traditional pov for "detective" novels has been first person, but I've been writing and thinking in third pretty much sine the get-go.  I've debated it a little, and i think I've pretty much settled with third.  It's what I'm most comfortable using for this novel, even though I'm actually good at first person (so I'm told).  There's a few issues in the world building itself to work out, including how far away I can walk away from current reality and still have Atlanta work as the setting.  So with this novel in particular, I'm going to have to write what I know for sure for now and add what I figure out or discover later.  This will probably slow down the building draft a little since a few visits to the city are definitely in order.

Which actually seems to fit the whole opening theme of this draft.  So far it's been delayed by real life stuff (including a nasty allergy attack yesterday) with more coming up.  The kids are home early from school for the rest of the week, which gives me less time to work since I need to help my son manage himself.  The end of the month supposedly sees me off to Hawaii to see my first grandbaby born.  She doesn't have a computer right now and I don't have a laptop, so I'll actually be taking a vacation from everything usual for me, including my writing.

And that will be as interesting as writing the novel.  ;)

I'm almost done with the notes draft phase of Under A Blood Moon.  While I'm very excited about this, I'm also concerned.  I don't see it yet.  Maybe I don't have to see it, but I'm very used to seeing it because I can see almost every one of my Alden novels.  There are a few that I'm not as in tune with, but that's okay, I figure they will come because they are Alden novels and Alden is my baby.

I'm trying to not let this panic me.  R.K. isn't as old as Alden -- only a few years compared to over 20.  The storyline and genre for the R.K. novels are totally new for me.  I've read Anita Blake.  I've read Phyllis A. Whitney.  Heck, I've been reading Jim Butcher.  Reading mystery is nothing like writing it, and I'm pretty sure I've dropped the ball somewhere along the way.  I'm still writing it because it's FUN, and one should have fun with what they love to do even if they hope to eventually make money out of it.  Perhaps especially if they mean to make money out of it.  Funness is good!

But, right now, I'm just pleased with the progress and the things being revealed as I go along.  So many people seem to think my way of writing is a straight jacket and doesn't allow for any surprises, and that's not true.  This fella that just may end up being her boyfriend?  NOT my idea.  Well, not planned, anyway.  The protective detectives were supposed to be merely that, but this fella isn't turning out that way.

In the meantime, the notes draft is at 32k right now.  I'm just getting to the ending -- where the killer is revealed in his attempt to kill her.  Then there's the fight, the clean up bit, and the tying of loose ends.  So, I imagine this will hit somewhere near 45k?  Maybe less. We'll see.  Who knows what other surprises are going to come up for me as we near the end.

The holidays were okay for us.  The food didn't quite come out as good as usual, but it was okay.  I told hub that I really need to start writing down what I do when I make my game hens so I have an idea of what works.  Maybe then I wouldn't have these off years.

Actually, I probably would anyway.

We miss the oldest -- ticket prices were to high for her to come out this year.  And the kids' father could have had better timing (we told him none of this arriving on Christmas day again -- it throws everyone off).  But, overall, it was a pretty good holiday.  Of course, we have other plans over the next few days that will take up time, but the truly busy part of everything is over and done with.

Which gives me about a week to get some writing in before the whole work thing comes up again.  Actually, maybe even longer since I'm only in my long term classroom for 3 days and I don't plan to take another long term any time soon.  (Unless, of course, I get that ft/p position I've been trying for for 2 1/2 years now.)

Today I started with some Randi Kayde.  Managed just over 1300 words.  It was a bit on the slow going side, but it did feel good.  Because I've been out of the habit for awhile, I also had to keep reminding myself to just write and worry about all the details later.

1300 words is pretty good after so long.  I'll take it.

Therre's a lot of talk about how writers need to be readers and need to write every day and so on.  Very little is said about how writers need to also be learners.  We never really fully know our craft -- there's always something new to explore and learn, whether it's a new genre or new guidelines about what works or new background information that we need for a story or novel.  Writers should always be pushing their boundaries or they become stale.

I'm learning a "new" genre.  Under A Blood Moon is urband fanrasy, not so hard, mixed with mystery, I guess.  Think Dresden Files meets Anita Blake, only with a paranormal main character.  Now, I read these books, and Phyllis A. Whitney.  Reading mysteries doesn't prepare you for writing them as much as one would think.  While I'm still using my NPB method, I've had to add a step or two and modify a few things.  And there are so many questions -- what forensics do I need to know?  How do I keep the real perpetrator from being obvious?  Then there's the doubt -- can I really do this?

I'm plowing through and trying to keep it fun while I do -- Assassin's was such a struggle despite being a learning novel, that I need fun in addition to not mind bending.  But every step of the way comes with new questions.  I just did a timeline and not only found an error (I doubt a detective agency would be open on a Sunday -- most places aren't) that I'm going to have to figure out how to fix (I just need some Sunday padding), but am now wondering if the time from start to finish is too short.  Granted, I'm not done yet, but there's also not been much "down" time so it's only been 11 days so far.

I did end up cutting a murder from the total.  So, today I get to make the adjustments, then I get to turn those adjustments into the narrative draft format.  I was worried it would be too much work and I'd have to go back to the outline, but it'll be fine.

Best of all, despite the second guessing and all the doubt and the questions, I'm enjoying the story and delving into the genre.  And that's a very good sign.