The Tenth Circle

triceretops said:

When I got my first edits back on both books they were really slash and burns. I think I lost 8,000 words from the SF epic, and about 4,000 from the paranormal. It was all fat, junk, and verbosity. At first I thought "They're castrating me--my voice is being cut out!" But when I went over it, the prose ran much faster, smoother, and with a snappier pace. I found that I repeated myself at the end of just about every paragraph, trying to slam a point home. What I thought was elegant and wistful prose, was actually purple, bloated, reader eaters.

They took no prisoners, and had to remind me that they hoped they weren't coming across too strong. Hell, I egged 'em on. "Is that all ya got?" They obliged. Thank gawd they obliged.

Tri

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Thanks for sharing Tri! I missed this the last time I popped by.

Tasmin21 said:

Guys! Guys guys guys!

I got cover flats! *hugs, loves, drools*

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Yay Tas!!!!!!!

Question here for those who are writing/have written a sequel. How much repeating of stuff do you do?

I mean, I explain certain things and relationships in the first book. How much of a recap do I need? How much do I rely on the reader having read book 1 (and remembering book 1) first?

Tasmin21 said:

Question here for those who are writing/have written a sequel. How much repeating of stuff do you do?

I mean, I explain certain things and relationships in the first book. How much of a recap do I need? How much do I rely on the reader having read book 1 (and remembering book 1) first?

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It's always an interesting thing to balance, and I took a few days to reread a couple of sequels to favorite books, just to get an idea. You want to give enough info in the first chapter or two to orient a new reader to past events, but you don't want to just dump it in their laps.

When I sent the first draft of "As Lie the Dead" to my agent, he marked a few spots in Chapter 1 where he thought the info was too clustered, or where it was too vague. My editor had me add a few sentences explaining why Evy wasn't rushing into doing a certain something, because she thought a new reader would expect this action from her.

My best advice is to only hit the highlights right away--the things the reader must know right now in order for the book to make sense. You can mention book 1 events throughout the second book as they become relevant.

I know in my 2nd book, my editor tagged a lot of places in the early chapters with "Explain what a X is" or "Describe why Y happens" etc. It felt like info dumping to try and write it all in and it drove me CRAZY. But when I re-read it later, it felt...natural.

But if you're not explaining enough, your editor will point it out, I think.

Add enough to where it appears like a stand-alone, high-lighting the events. But try to do it in another guise or explain it using a different tactic.

Tri

Jill!

I found your books at the CVS by my work, and I showed all my co-workers, and I said "This is my FRIEND!" and then we had a big debate about which guy is hotter, and THEN I took all your books and moved them to the eye-level shelf.

*nodnod*

I...may have had too much caffeine today.

Tasmin21 said:

Jill!

I found your books at the CVS by my work, and I showed all my co-workers, and I said "This is my FRIEND!" and then we had a big debate about which guy is hotter, and THEN I took all your books and moved them to the eye-level shelf.

*nodnod*

I...may have had too much caffeine today.

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LOL! That is awesome. And hooray for CVS! I still find that bizarre, because my local CVS pharmacies only seem to carry random old Dorchester titles. Go figure.

Hey gang,

For those of you working on (or anticipating) revision letters, thought this link might be helpful. I have been saving it for a very long time!

http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/59127.html

phoenix said:

Hey gang,

For those of you working on (or anticipating) revision letters, thought this link might be helpful. I have been saving it for a very long time!

http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/59127.html

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Thanks! I just received my editor's response to my comments on her revision letter and I think we are now fully aligned. Edits, here I come! *runs to check out link*

callalily61 said:

My release date has been narrowed: Feb. 2011. As in, less than a year. Eep.

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Wow!!!! I'm so excited for you, Lily!!!

Woot Lily!

callalily61 said:

My release date has been narrowed: Feb. 2011. As in, less than a year. Eep.

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Congrats!

Lily (and HC too, maybe) - I don't know how your pubs. work, but in my case I was glad I got my website up early on, because now my web address will be on the book cover.

Thanks for the tip, Melia! I'll ask my editor what their process is.

Great that you got moved up, Lily. We need happy times as quick as we can get them.

Tri

Melia said:

Lily (and HC too, maybe) - I don't know how your pubs. work, but in my case I was glad I got my website up early on, because now my web address will be on the book cover.

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Yes, and in my case they wanted a website for advance PR. What I did was grab the URL for my author name and set up the site under that, and then the URL for the book, and had that one redirect to the author name website.

So you guys should both get those up and running asap.

I really like the guy who did mine, if you are looking for designers. He also just did B@rb@ra D3m1ck's. Check it out!

Thanks, Lisa! I guess I'll have to ask my pub what name they intend to publish my book under before I get my URL. My whole name is a mouthful. I also don't know what the title of the book will be. Aargh.

Oh, and I forgot to say, awesome, Lily! You know I love to read mysteries!

And in...10th Circle weirdness, I just completed my whack at a Reader's Guide for RPT. Very strange thing to do! Thankfully Red helped me or it woulda sucked.

March is here in the Tenth Circle. New month. New opportunities.

Who's got the fairy dust?

The Editor said we'd have ARCs possibly mid-March. That means exactly on the 15th, right? RIGHT???

So in 10th Circle Weirdness, I got an email on my author website from someone reading an ARC of my book. He's in DC. I asked him how he got the ARC (he works at a journal associated with a grad school there). He said that it might have come from the W@shingt0n P0st but he wasn't sure.