Writing Update 2018 week 51

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

Early in the week I put the 3rd pass editing capstone on my thriller book 2, and fired it off to my Dad and Ailz – Ailz got back to me within a day and said she thought it was great, better than the first!

Thank you Ailz! Much needed relief there – the topic matter skirts an edge, and I didn’t want to tip over.

I moved straight on to re-editing Mr. Ruin book 1 – going over this again after writing the 2nd thriller has definitely showed up how much I’m learning about pace and story. I already edited Mr. Ruin once, while writing the thriller book 1! But already I see areas that bog down, are repetitive, are slow.

It’s getting better with every pass. Soon I’ll tackle book 2.

In other news, I was on the Fantasy Fiends podcast! This was a great experience – I wasn’t sure I’d have enough to talk about, but it turned out there was so much to talk about that we skipped the hosts’ normal style of reading a sample from one of the author’s stories. I was fine with that – it was interesting to chat to Stevie and Andy. I also got to plug the audiobook release of The Rot’s War.

Final update on thriller book 2:

  • Word count: 95,000, down by 3,000 from 1 week ago. Had to cut these words- which was a few hundred words from lots of places. Sad to go further away from the vaunted 100k, but I have to serve the story.

Projecting thriller book 3:

  • It always happens when I finish a book in a series, and think I want some time off to clear my brain – new ideas for the next book come rushing in! Usually when I’m about to sleep, and I tap it out in notes on my phone. It’s great and slightly annoying at the same time!
  • I’m starting to get more idea of an overall arc. I could close it off in book 3, but I think it’ll go longer. It won’t end the series, but end the first major chapter – and no chapter will only be focused on building to a climax. More like Marvel movies that have their own stories while also building around the edges to climactic Avengers movies.

Agent update:

No news, just waiting on the one agent who requested the full.

Plans:

I’ll do a whole year roundup next week. Lots of things to reflect on.

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