[This is Andi, a priestess-in-the-field, with spirit guides back tattoo. From Book 2 in the Heirs to Camelot series, THE SOLSTICE BRIDE.]
What I’m listening to: “Hey Jude” with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sting and a cast of thousands
I ended last year’s posts saying I would be better at posting… and here it is early February. So much for promises, hmm? But I had a ton of family come visit, then I got the flu (coincidence? I think not), then this and that happened. And well, here we are.
I received the first round edits of THE MIDSUMMER WIFE from Fawn Neun at Vagabondage Press. She had me change over the manuscript from first person/present, to close-third person/past. I think some of the closeness is lost in this switch, but I have been watching the hostility adult readers have to 1st/present in fantasy fiction and share her concerns. It’s hard enough to sell indie fiction—let alone Arthurian fiction—to the market, let alone one whose audience doesn’t like a particular tense. (Apparently YA readers are fine with 1st/present, as most titles are written in this tense.)
The biggest plot holes she had me fix were about the King Arthur (Ron) and Merlin (Harper) heirs. I thought most of their backstory was sort of implied. But that’s what comes of writers living in their day-to-day fantasy universe. Everything seems quite obvious to you. Not so much to your readers. And this is why we NEED editors!
We have one more serious edit round before it goes to the mechanical editor. So I can’t really say when THE MIDSUMMER WIFE will be out. I’ll know more after the next edit round.
I have “completed” Books 2 (THE SOLSTICE BRIDE) and 3 (MISTRESS OF THE ROSE MOON) of the Heirs to Camelot series—and after the tense change of THE MIDSUMMER WIFE, I went through and changed those into close 3rd/past tense. I put completed in quotes, because they are both a little on the short side. I’m happy with Book 3 (at the moment), so that might not change much.
However, this morning, I woke up with a whole new through-line for Book 2, realized I need way more King Arthur-y stuff, need a magical King Arthur-linked weapon, some tougher stuff for my protagonist to do… yeah. Major re-write to come.
A writer’s work is never done!
Comments
As I read along in your post, I thought “a manuscript is never finished” . . . so when I read your last sentence, I saw that great (writing) minds do think alike. 🙂 (We’ll just forget about the second half of that old aphorism.)
Author
LOL. I am completely rewriting Book 2 after the new edits on Book 1 and liking the stuff I did on Book 3. No artists is ever actually done. We just let people take the damn thing out of our hands!