Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand . . . it's done.
Jun. 7th, 2008 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneI managed to finish the first draft of Well of Sorrows yesterday. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm exhilirated that it's all finished, yet exhausted. Out of the three published novels and this one, this one gave me the most problems while writing. This may be because I had multiple POVs to follow. In the Throne books, it was also one POV, so even though there were other plot threads going on at the same time, I didn't have to write about them except in the ways in which they interacted with that first person POV character. Not that I wrote out everyone's entire plot line in WoS, but I got to play with those plotlines more.
In any case, it's done. It's also broken. I like the first part and the end. The middle . . . not so much. BUT now that I know the ending, now that I can see the big picture, I know how that middle needs to be fixed. I've already got extensive notes on stuff I need to emphasize in the next draft, scenes I need to add, scenes I know I can delete, and scenes that I need to cut out and put in somewhere else as a quick flashback or whatever. All necessary because the book clocked in at 198,500 words in the end. This means I'll have to cut it by somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 words. If I can cut 80,000 words, I'll be happy and I think my editor will be happy. Anything less and I might end up having serious talks with her.
Can I do it? Yes. This is the first book of a new series set in a completely different part of the world. So alot of what I wrote isn't actually necessary for the story, although it was necessary for ME as the author, because it was me developing the world, creating it, working it out so that it made sense and worked with all of its other parts. I cover alot of time during the course of the book, so there's alot of history as well. Most of that will come out, except for the splash of color here and there to make the world seem real and not just a stage prop. So yes, I think I can cut that many words and not counter it by adding in that many more either (although I DO need to add in more scenes to make the plot work right).
But enough about the book! Since I'm not going to be around for the next week (off to grade AP Calc papers and take a break from the book before diving into the rewrites), I decided to give you guys something to do while I'm gone. Why not a contest? Sure!
I'm not sure what the prize will be, if any. It may just be your names in lights on my LJ. It may be more. Who knows? The intent of the contest is to just have fun . . . and to test your fantasy reading skills.
What I've done is lifted a little piece of the covers of 20 fantasy novels, just enough for you to (perhaps) be able to identify the title of the book and the author. Some of the books have been released with multiple covers, so the one I used may not be the same as the cover you have sitting on your shelf. All of the covers are the US edition covers though; I'm guessing most are NOT the same as the UK version, but they may be. Some should be relatively easy to get, others . . . not so much. All of the books are either singleton books, or are the first book in a particular series. All of the books can be found on the shelf of any bookstore, meaning they were not released 60 years ago and haven't been seen since, or if they are from a few years ago, they're popular enough that you can still find them on the shelves. Some are recent releases. Some are from 10 or 20 years ago.
What I want is for you to leave a comment with your guesses for the title and author. You must have BOTH the title and author correct. Do not give me the series title (unless the series title matches the title of the first book in that series). I want the title of the BOOK for the piece of the cover shown. If you're not a member of LJ, you can leave an anonymous comment, but please include an email so that I can contact you in case there is a prize for the contest. All comments will be screened, so that you can't all cheat by looking at what everyone else has guessed. Any comments not pertaining to the contest will be unscreened. I may (and notice the MAY since I don't know if I'll have email contact while I'm gone) respond to your comment by giving you how many of the 20 you have correct . . . or maybe not.
Even though those paragraphs were rather long, it's a rather simple contest. Feel free to link to this LJ entry and let all of your friends know about the contest, since it's really just here for fun. I do NOT want this to be a competitive thing, where you slash your friends tires or whatever. You should certainly not resort to violence in order to gain some of the answers, or to keep your friends from figuring out the answers themselves. It's not worth it. No books should be harmed during the course of this contest. *grin*
So have fun! Here's the 20 pieces of the cover art:
In any case, it's done. It's also broken. I like the first part and the end. The middle . . . not so much. BUT now that I know the ending, now that I can see the big picture, I know how that middle needs to be fixed. I've already got extensive notes on stuff I need to emphasize in the next draft, scenes I need to add, scenes I know I can delete, and scenes that I need to cut out and put in somewhere else as a quick flashback or whatever. All necessary because the book clocked in at 198,500 words in the end. This means I'll have to cut it by somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 words. If I can cut 80,000 words, I'll be happy and I think my editor will be happy. Anything less and I might end up having serious talks with her.
Can I do it? Yes. This is the first book of a new series set in a completely different part of the world. So alot of what I wrote isn't actually necessary for the story, although it was necessary for ME as the author, because it was me developing the world, creating it, working it out so that it made sense and worked with all of its other parts. I cover alot of time during the course of the book, so there's alot of history as well. Most of that will come out, except for the splash of color here and there to make the world seem real and not just a stage prop. So yes, I think I can cut that many words and not counter it by adding in that many more either (although I DO need to add in more scenes to make the plot work right).
But enough about the book! Since I'm not going to be around for the next week (off to grade AP Calc papers and take a break from the book before diving into the rewrites), I decided to give you guys something to do while I'm gone. Why not a contest? Sure!
I'm not sure what the prize will be, if any. It may just be your names in lights on my LJ. It may be more. Who knows? The intent of the contest is to just have fun . . . and to test your fantasy reading skills.
What I've done is lifted a little piece of the covers of 20 fantasy novels, just enough for you to (perhaps) be able to identify the title of the book and the author. Some of the books have been released with multiple covers, so the one I used may not be the same as the cover you have sitting on your shelf. All of the covers are the US edition covers though; I'm guessing most are NOT the same as the UK version, but they may be. Some should be relatively easy to get, others . . . not so much. All of the books are either singleton books, or are the first book in a particular series. All of the books can be found on the shelf of any bookstore, meaning they were not released 60 years ago and haven't been seen since, or if they are from a few years ago, they're popular enough that you can still find them on the shelves. Some are recent releases. Some are from 10 or 20 years ago.
What I want is for you to leave a comment with your guesses for the title and author. You must have BOTH the title and author correct. Do not give me the series title (unless the series title matches the title of the first book in that series). I want the title of the BOOK for the piece of the cover shown. If you're not a member of LJ, you can leave an anonymous comment, but please include an email so that I can contact you in case there is a prize for the contest. All comments will be screened, so that you can't all cheat by looking at what everyone else has guessed. Any comments not pertaining to the contest will be unscreened. I may (and notice the MAY since I don't know if I'll have email contact while I'm gone) respond to your comment by giving you how many of the 20 you have correct . . . or maybe not.
Even though those paragraphs were rather long, it's a rather simple contest. Feel free to link to this LJ entry and let all of your friends know about the contest, since it's really just here for fun. I do NOT want this to be a competitive thing, where you slash your friends tires or whatever. You should certainly not resort to violence in order to gain some of the answers, or to keep your friends from figuring out the answers themselves. It's not worth it. No books should be harmed during the course of this contest. *grin*
So have fun! Here's the 20 pieces of the cover art:
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-11 06:35 am (UTC)I only recognized four cover clips offhand and know I've seen four others, but 8 total is a pretty measely score, even if I could track down the ones I think I know.