The last book in the series is done–in the sense that my accomodating-yet-scrupulous beta reader is now going through the draft and noting its many problems. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, once the previous publishing commitments expire I’ll find a way to get the five books out into the world as a set of some kind.
Happy NaNoWriMo to those who are participating. I’ll be doing NaNoEditMo for the foreseeable future.
Blah! It should be obvious by now that I’m a poor blogger. I can usually find something marginally more interesting to do than write about my life. Usually, that means writing about other people’s (imaginary) lives.
Speaking of which, I’m a week or so away from finishing the first draft of THE LAST BOOK IN THE SERIES! That would be City of Blood and Fire, which follows City of Shadows, which follows City of Sand, which follows City of Masks, which follows the first book, City of Demons. It also follows that I’m going to have to do something with this series. That is, after all the editing and continuity work necessary to align a five-book behemoth. What should that be?
Option one is to find a new publisher. Option two is to self-publish, probably on Amazon’s e-book platform. Hmmm. I will have to think about this . . .after the editing.
It’s been a long road, and it’s not over yet, but I wanted to finish this for both me and you. For me, since I hate leaving stories unfinished. For you, well, it’s the same reason, really. Everybody wants to know how the story ends.
Back to work.
One of my talented ex-students, Fiona Tang, is exhibiting her incredible (and often gigantic) art work in April. I have one of her ravens (a small one!) and love it. Anyone who is interested in animal art, charcoal work, or really impressive images should check this out.
If only she drew demons!
Sorry to report that City of Sand will not be published in the foreseeable future due to a disagreement about the book with my publisher. Unfortunately, we have radically different ideas about plotting and POV.
My plan is to finish the series and find alternative venues for presenting it.
Apologies.
After much wobbling, City of Sand has toddled off to my publisher for judgement. I apologize to those of you who waited so long for this day, but this was a difficult book to write. One reason was the need to expand my imaginary world to atlas-like proportions. The other had to do with character arcs, which I’ll leave for the reader to discover.
Excuses aside, I’m starting on the next two books, tentatively titled Cities of Shadows and Plots and Cities of Ice and Blood. I hope I’ll finish these quickly, but that’s what I said last time so . . .
A milestone for City of Sand, the first draft is finished! Coming in at about 77,500 words and 270 pages, it is the shortest in the series so far. It will probably get shorter now that it’s at the next level: editing and revising.
I’m searching all the cubbyholes, drawers, and old, chipped mugs for a really dangerous looking red pen.
Oh, and regarding the e-Festival of Words mentioned in an earlier post, City of Masks won in the YA category. Many thanks to those who voted and to the organizers of the festival.
And last, but not least, VCon is coming up at the end of September. If I’m chosen for any panels, I will post the information on this site.
I only recently discovered that City of Masks is nominated for an award in the YA novel category at a site called the e-Festival of Words. I confess that I’ve never run across this organization before, but power to them for organizing and running it–and many thanks for the nomination!
If you want to vote for City of Masks, or any other of the nominees, go to this url: http://bardsandsages.com/efestivalofwords/2016/07/01/vote-for-the-2016-winners-here/
Also, 134 pages done on City of Sand. I’m almost certain that 100 of those pages will survive revising and editing. Almost.
The first three-day Creative Ink Convention is over, and it was brilliant. I hung out with fellow Tyche writer Pat Flewwelling and met Galen Dara, the amazingly talented artist of my book covers and interior drawings.
Three panels this time around: humour, creating new worlds, and writing about the future. I think they went well, and the audience didn’t fall asleep, which is always a bonus. As an observer, the highlight might have been seeing a master and student from the Academy Duello in Vancouver whack at each other with various pieces of ironmongery.
I do recommend going to conventions, even for introverted writers like myself. You get information you can use and meet people you can celebrate and whine with. For example, this convention had editing sessions, pitch your story to a publisher sessions, and how to get an agent panels.
Congratulations to the ever-energetic Sandra Wickham for creating this con and running it so well.
Galen Dara, after a presentation of her artistic process (note: I was not part of the process).
If you are in the Vancouver area this weekend, consider going to the Creative Ink Festival. Tickets are still available at the door, and you’ll get to see amazing people like Robert Sawyer and Galen Dara. Galen is the cover artist for my books, so I’m looking forward to seeing her too. I’ll be on three panels: Writing the Future, Build an Empire, and Humour–How Do We Do It? They all sound fun, so drop by.
I understand there will also be sword fighting.
I just downloaded City of Demons (as read by Tony King) from Audible.com. Even though I hate reading anything I’ve ever published*, I like the way he expresses the characters and communicates the mood. I recommend this for long walks, boring drives, and cleaning the house. It will transport you from the humdrum of life to the horror of being attacked by demons, which is still better than washing dishes.
*I re-read my work more than a dozen times in editing and revising, but I can still fix things then. When it is published, I get a terrible case of “Why did I use that word” or “Arrgg! I hate that sentence.” I rarely get upset over my characters or plot, just my writing skills. It’s probably best to think of it as a work-place related illness.
