Off to the Editors! Again!

Having completed the edits to the book and then a quick proofread to clean up any inconsistencies, my 2nd draft of the manuscript is officially off to the editors! This time we're doing a targeted developmental edit of the additional and modified chapters to ensure the new character POVs flow with the rest of the book, and that I didn't miss any plot holes with the new content! I am certain that my editor will come back with some excellent suggestions for changes afterwards, but as the 2nd draft currently stands it clocks in just over 116,000 words, and just under 500 pages in my print format, a very satisfying size for my debut novel!

Theoretically the more targeted review will also come back sooner, however with the holidays coming up I'm just setting my expectations as 'end of January' to avoid worrying about anything. On the plus side, this round of edits IS cheaper than the first due to their targeted nature.

In the meantime, I have started working on storyboarding for the series I have planned to follow this debut novel. I have had a vague outline of where I want the series to go, but the more I thought about it the more I realized I just need to go through, book by book, character by characters, and plot out how things will play out. How each character reacts to a situation is an important part of building out my stories, so its not enough to just say "I want this event to happen in this book at this time." I have to examine how the characters arrive at that event, how they're going to deal with it. The outcomes could very well change major plot points that I have planned for the series, or at the very least the following book! This is going be a lengthy process, but one that I think will pay off mightily: once everything is mapped out, I'll be able to start writing in earnest, and will always have the next book ready when I run into downtime waiting on editing passes to be complete. Oh, I'll take my breaks in all of this as well, have to avoid burnout! But this will ensure I don't get stuck mid-series thinking to myself "where the heck was I going with all of this??" At any rate, stay tuned for more updates, I'll be teasing the overall direction for this series and perhaps a few sneak peaks at the storyboarding efforts after the New Year!

Ad Astra Per Constantia et Somnia - Strix