Today is a day of celebration! My goal was to finish going over Beta feedback by the end of May, and I did! It was a close call, but I made it!
Now I only have three more rounds before I achieve my final draft. For the first of those three rounds, I will be sending my draft to two “Gamma Readers” who will give me one final appraisal of the book’s quality. After I get the Gamma draft complete, I will send it to the first of my two editors, apply those changes, and then send it to my second editor, and apply those changes.
Why so much editing? The human brain is great at plugging in corrections for mistakes by itself. I already had several people look over the book and they all missed a totally misspelled word, which I myself missed until it just happened to catch my eye. So, the more eyes on the manuscript, the better.
Once all the editing is done, I will format the book for both e-book and paperback. You’ll be able to find it for sale in November!
As of today, I am beginning to implement changes suggested by Beta Readers for my debut novel, Charybda!
Charybda: Book I of the Worldstrait Duology Cover image: Koltyrin Alexander/Shutterstock.com
This is an exciting (and terrifying) new step for me. After completing the second draft and giving it a quick run-through, thus producing the third draft, I sent my novel out to the intrepid folks who read over it and provided feedback.
Lots and lots of feedback.
While I waited, I focused on some other writing projects as well as the cover design for the book. Now, however, the time has come to get back to the old grindstone and produce the fourth draft of Charybda, which then gets to be edited for grammar, thus producing the fifth draft, which then gets a final edit and formatting for the sixth and I pray FINAL draft. I hope to launch the book sometime in November.
So what is Charybda about? Here’s what is probably going to be on the back cover:
Nivin has never seen the colors of a sunrise. She has never seen the brilliant green of trees in summertime. She has never even seen her own face. Blind from birth, she has lived seventeen years in a culture where anyone with physical defect meets death by the King’s sword. When she is discovered and flees, she encounters the first thing she has ever seen in her life: a Charybdon, a portal in the form of shimmering ribbons of light. Along with a fellow fugitive, she meets a young man who seems to be from a different world altogether—a world where the dragon Scylla and the wicked sorcerer Scyllorin hold the lands in an iron grip. Sword and steel have proven worthless against their reign. Out of her element in more ways than one, what part can a blind girl play in a centuries-long war?
Intrigued? I hope so! Check my blog regularly for updates on the editing/rewriting process, and also look for regular content such as Flash Fiction Fridays and book reviews. Or, if you’d rather not have to check all the time, subscribe to my blog using the form in the sidebar or the email “follow” icon at the bottom of this post.
Share any thoughts in the comments!
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