So I finished the first draft. Yeah me!
Took a little time off to get perspective on the story because I KNEW it was rough.
Then I started into the rewrites. The first chapter, no problem. It was pretty much just smoothing out some stuff, polishing. I can do that.
Then came chapter two.
Damn.
I took an 8-ish page chapter, the first real action scene in the book and cut it completely.
Tore it out by the roots.
I didn’t want to. I tried to do what I did with first chapter, just go in and smooth the edges, add a fresh coat of paint and call it good. The Muse, bitch that she is, had OTHER plans.
It started with changing one small bit of dialog. Then that small change rippled thru the after effect and how things would have occurred. With the change in the after of course the set up for the dialog was all wrong. Then I had a flash of inspiration. Damn inspiration. So all of that led to me deleting the ENTIRE chapter. (eep!) It HURT to cut out those 8-ish pages. It was like I was carving those 8-ish pages from my own flesh.
In their place?
52 PAGES OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, WORLD BUILDING, KICK ASS ACTION, AND DRAMATIC DIALOG! (I even managed a tiny sliver of humor in the mix also.)
So thank you Muse. You are still a bitch, and I pray to G-d that this is NOT indicative of how this is going to work, but I thank you from the bottom of my pea-pickin’ little heart. (it’s a southern thing. Move on.)
Now this 52 page rewrite took me forever. I started about two weeks before christmas, and just now finished. Now most of this is because of time suckage, and the fact that I do not have deadline looming over my head like the Sword of Damocles. I caught up on a LOT of reading. Started and put down a lot of books. But I did read some GREAT ones.
At Graves End -Jeneaine Frost. Go buy this! If you have not read this series, go buy it. Go now. Don’t wait and borrow it, just go buy it, it’s that good.
Hunter’s Prayer (Jill Kismet series)-Lilith Saintcrow. Lilith is one of my favorite writers. I LOVE her stuff. She can drop her book into a dark place that few can follow. This book blew me away. Damn. Go buy it. Go buy all her books.
Devil Inside- Jenna Black. I know, I know, you all read this AGES ago when it came out. Look I get it, I’m slow, I suck, I just now read this. But still, let me tell you, it’s a GOOD book. I highly recommend it and I WANT to read more about Morgan.
The Conqueror Worms – Brian Keene. Yes another old book. I enjoyed it. Not as much as some of his books, but it is light and I breezed thru it in a day. I love Brian Keene. He’s one of my favorite straight out horror writers.
On The Prowl- anthology. This book made me want to go and buy everything Patricia Briggs has ever written. I can’t understand why I am not reading her stuff. And Sunny’s story was amazing. I will be picking up both authors series.
And finally
Another Life (Burke series)-Andrew Vachss. Andrew Vachss is my hero. I love what he stands against. I enjoy his writing. I buy all of his books the moment they come out. This is the last in the Burke series. I will say, this was not the perfect ending to a series. It was not the best book in the series, but it was good. And now reading it as a writer I analyzed some of the things I liked about it. One of the main things is that I will be trimming my dialog. I will be paring down all the things I use to say that someone said something. Dialog can stand on it’s own and using quotation marks is sufficient to indicate who is speaking.
It also doesn’t help that Diana Peterfreund sent me an ARC of her newest RAMPANT. You have heard of this book. It’s the one about the killer unicorns.
OH MY G-D!!!!!!!
I am COMPLETELY hooked. This book is going to be HUGE! I am 105 pages in and I can’t put it down. I predict huge sales for this book and a movie deal in 12 month after release. This book could be the next Twilight. It is THAT good.
I am reading this book and continually switching from amazement at how well written it is to blind jealousy that she thought of this and I didn’t. Killer unicorns.
Damn.
Just, damn.
So, there ya go. It’s been a minute since I posted one of these, so that is what I have been up to.
James
NOIR MUSINGS 