First Draft of Starveyors Complete

Yesterday I finally finished the first draft of Starveyors. It feels like I’ve been writing this one forever, probably because I started it in January. I will now let it sit for a few weeks before hammering on the second draft. First drafts of my novels tend to be fluid and disorganized and the prose is sparse. I’m just getting the story down in the best, fastest way that I can. The manuscript becomes more interesting in the second draft, where I focus on scene order, continuity and the minutia of description and emotion.

The second draft is usually the one that my Beta readers get to read. After they rip it apart, I rebuild it and that becomes the final version that the editor sees. My editor usually doesn’t have to focus on form and structure, more on grammar and word choice. Once I get her changes made, it goes to the copy editor and he/she then finds the mistakes I entered while I was making the editorial changes. The process takes about three to four months until I get the manuscript into a releasable form.

So for my readers out there, what all that means is that you can expect to have Starveyors in your ebook readers this Christmas. I know that sounds like forever from now, but that’s the way it is.

Meanwhile, I’m starting to outline the next novel. Which is called The Rising and is set a year or two after Starforgers. This will be a smaller novel with only a handful of characters. Hopefully I can get it out sooner than this time next year.

P.S. For the writer geeks out there, here are the stats of the finished first draft.(64,227 words and 290 pages in Standard Manuscript Format.)

Coming Down the Stretch

* raymond via Compfight

My novel in progress – Starveyors, had just passed 50K words which in layman’s terms means writing the book has come around the final turn and is heading down the stretch to the finish line. Important scenes and chapters are being written that will include the second turning point and the big finale.

Characters are being tested and if they pass, will become better people or they will die, whichever is appropriate. Tensions and suspense are high and not coincidentally so is the danger. Things are exploding, literally and figuratively speaking.

This is a critical time for a writer. It’s not easy keeping all the subplots spinning as the entire story comes to a conclusion. I never get it right the first crack, which is what the second draft is for. After my Alpha reader tells me how messed up the story is, I go back in and clean things up and add all the parts that I skimmed over or left out in the first draft. The second draft is where the story fleshes out for me. Where the main characters come alive and their struggles become something the reader will care about. But for right now, all that maters is that I finish.

So if I’m less active on the blog in the next few weeks, it’s not because I don’t like you. It is because I’m all about finishing the damn novel. I’m not just finishing a novel with this book, I’m finishing a trilogy, so things are just a tad more complicated and I need to concentrate so I don’t miss anything. I know you’ll understand.

P.S. You can follow my word count progress in the side bar. I don’t clog the internet with daily word count brags.