Skip to main content

FOAT edits, round one.

A four-week interval for edits and rewrites to a 93k manuscript.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm trying not to dwell on the time constraints beyond that which is required to actually reach the deadline in a timely and appropriate fashion. Preferably ahead of it, yes?

The biggest points in the process revolve around altering character behavioral responses in the latter part of the story, and altering plot development to trigger greater conflict from said character.
In other words, someone needs to put up more of a fight.
Which is, inherently, what soldiers are born, bred, and trained up to do...so I'm fine with that.

It did a world of good, not looking at the story for a few months. The prose is "fresh", so to speak. I can see the errors, the rough spots, without executing excessive headdesk maneuvers.

Sadly, I think my 40 hours of free Pandora will be exhausted before the deadline is acquired. I like the high energy of the trance genre station a great deal. It's the sort of thing I need to stay awake, and focused, and productive. For me, and for this particular story, it's what works best. I've tried other music, but it's all either distracting or grates against the natural aura of what I feel when I try to channel the characters. Not sure how to explain it, but then, most emotions and sensations escape true portrayal. They're conveyed more accurately in an indirect fashion, I've found.

Admittedly, I spent the weekend -- instead of relaxing and enjoying the last throes of the holidays -- stressing out about !deadlines and !editing and feeling like Achmed when he sings, "Oh holy shit, I think I blew my foot off."

In the words of Tears For Fears, though... break it down again. Those are my dreams, and these are my eyes. No one can ever know all the secrets and truths in life. I don't want to master it all, just own my little corner of reality. To bend it to my will.

Yeah, yeah, I have control issues... =D

Look for the excerpt from Black in a couple days, to start off the Muse series for January.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

And the Rainbow Award for Best Gay Futuristic/Sci-Fi Goes To...

*clears throat* Drum roll, please. In a three-way tie for first place, Dark Edge of Honor. My thanks to Aleks Voinov the Best Co-Author Ever (and CONGRATS too, Darth Vader -- you rock), Deb Nemeth the Editor of Awesome, and all the very professional staff at Carina Press. Cue the Snoopy Dancing, Streamers, Confetti Parade and Sundry Noisemakers.

Meet the Muses: Origin: Mike

Mike is my character from the soon-to-be-released 'Dark Edge of Honor.' I’ve been acquainted with a number of different veterans and soldiers through the years, but there was one specifically—a person I don’t know, and never met—that sparked the beginnings of this story and was the avatar of the spirit behind him. Late in 2009, I stumbled rather deliberately upon the website of photojournalist Michael Yon and delved into the dispatches from his 2005 embed with deployed troops in Iraq. One of them stopped me in my tracks. Entitled “Gates of Fire,” (click here for the link to Yon's full dispatch) it recounted an incident involving the Deuce Four’s Lt. Colonel Kurilla and Command Sergeant Major Prosser which Yon witnessed, camera in hand.

My Mini-Vacation

I'm taking all of next week off from my regular day-job so that I can celebrate DEoH's release-- Snoopy-Dancing and Grinning Like an Institutionalized Loon. Without scaring the customers. It's not really  a vacation, because I'm still working, after a fashion. If it were a real vacation, I wouldn't be staying at home, that's for sure. If I could take a real  week's vacation, I'd be here: Best View Ever, Bora Bora Hammock. However, I'm not. I'm in my little writer corner all week long, availing myself to fans and readers and bloggers and such, doing all the marketing and promo stuff that a good little author does. [Yes, Good Little Author. Pat me on the head and give me a cookie now!] But I think I'll keep this picture handy. As my desktop background or something, perhaps. Because, woohoo, that's gorgeous ain't it? They have restaurants with extreme al fresco dining, where the tables and chairs are in the water. One d