Fantasy books (and children's books, writing as Lynn Helton)
I’ve been working through the proof of Duplicity of Power. I’ve found a few typos to take care of, but nothing too serious so far. So, I’m pleased with that. Getting closer to publication!
I’ve also been working on pulling together the pages for a kids’ book Bye Bye Magpie, getting the illustrations and the text all settled in together. Making good progress there, too. This book is a picture book featuring haiku-style verse. I’m excited to see it coming together so well!
I can hardly contain my excitement! My proof copy of my first novel (Duplicity of Power) just arrived today. I’ve now held in my hands the book that I wrote!
It’s hard to set it down. I feel like I just want to carry it around everywhere with me and show it off. I feel like I could bounce off the walls!
As soon as I can settle down, calm the excitement enough to concentrate, I get to work my way through the proof to make sure everything looks right and good.
And then it will be available for people to buy. And read!
So soon!
I can’t stop smiling…
Whee!
So, I’m a logophile. Who knew there was actually a word for someone who loves words and language!
I like playing around with words, testing alternate pronunciations to decide which one I like, exploring the differences in British and American spellings. I like plunging into the thesaurus… to find just the right word with just the right nuance for what I’m trying to say in my writing… or to just explore all the differently-nuanced words that kinda, sorta mean the same thing – but not quite.
I like putting together different spellings for the various sounds found in spoken languages. I often use that to create names – one way my logophile inclinations show up in my stories. But in my poetry is where I really get to play with words. Making blend words, maybe even a portmanteau. (And there’s a lovely word!) Mixing words and sentences so sometimes the poem can read one way and sometimes another. Playing around.
And here’s a marvelous new word (to me) that I just came across: aptronym. Might have to use that one somewhere. 😊
Too much fun!
I’ve been working on the formatting of Wild Heritance Book 1 for its eBook and print versions. So much fun! Well, sort of, anyway. For the most part I’ve only been seeing small format issues that I could fix fairly easily. Of course, the true test will be when I upload the file for the actual book to be created. But I’m pretty sure that I fixed any issues. (Fingers crossed.)
One interesting phenomenon I encountered… I needed to check/adjust the format for each of my chapter headings so they were all the same. Naturally, since I was doing that for Book 1, I decided I should also do that for the novella… and the draft of Book 2… so they would all match throughout the series. (And then I went on to do something similar for the 2/3-done draft of a book in another series…) That’s a lot of “Chapter”s to look at!
So… after looking at Chapter, Chapter, Chapter… etc, I found that the word began looking odd to me. My eyes and brain tried to trick me into thinking it was misspelled. It just didn’t look right anymore.
And then… as if that wasn’t fun enough… it began looking like it was in Russian. (I studied Russian in college – great teacher – another story.) Because I’m using small caps in the chapter headings (
), my brain really tried to convince me the word was actually in Russian, something like this: Снартея. So then I had to pronounce it in Russian… “snart…” was as far as I got and then I was off thinking about the character in the show “Legends of Tomorrow”. Wow!
Now that I’m done with Book 1’s formatting (knock on wood), I’m happy to report that “Chapter” looks normal to me again… at least until the next book(s). 😄
Working my way through the draft of a scene that was plodding just a bit, I wasn’t sure exactly where it was going, but I knew elements of it, at least, needed to be there. Then suddenly my characters surprised me when a couple of them began joking and teasing one another. Everything had been rather serious for quite a while, so it made for a delightful change. And it fit perfectly! I love it when that happens.
I’ve finished the draft for book 2 of the Wild Heritance series!
Well, hello!
(I have followers! 😊)
Sorry that the greeting is so belated. I’m still learning my way around all the tools I have available to me here.
So, welcome followers! I hope you enjoy your reading here.
For the Wild Heritance novella, I decided that I needed to know more about medieval markets, handcrafts, and food. (The culture in the Wild Heritance series resembles – in some ways, anyway – our Middle Ages.) Yay, more research!
So I delved into those topics and came across something completely new to me: nalbinding. I love it when that happens! Look it up! And look for it in the novella when it’s published.
And then the need for a unique greeting custom for Wild Heritance Book 2 sent me looking into the fascinating topic of customs and etiquette around the world. I could spend a lot of time just exploring that topic! I found a plethora of information that gave me some great ideas for creating a greeting custom!
Making some good progress:
The cover art for Wild Heritance Book 1 is nearly complete. So the actual cover will soon follow. After that is finalizing formatting for publication. Then publication!
The Wild Heritance Novella is getting close to being ready for beta readers, and I’ve got the concept for the cover art mostly figured out.
The draft for Wild Heritance Book 2 is now over 70,000 words and proceeding well. I estimate only another (roughly) 30,000 words and the draft will be done!
And the beginning is coming together nicely for the draft of Wild Heritance Book 3. I have parts of several early scenes already written, with notes and ideas for the rest.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks since my last post – mostly with non-writing stuff. But I’m still making progress.
The draft for Book 2 in the Wild Heritance series is coming along. I’ve been able to write 500 to 2000 words many days recently, so I’m happy about that! I’m approaching 70% completion on that draft – based on my estimate that it will be roughly the same length as Book 1. And I’ve written a couple of the early scenes in the draft of Book 3.
I’ve been letting the Wild Heritance Novella sit after my last revision run-through. I was finding that I had been in that story too much and was just glossing over the words when I was supposed to be reading them. So I’m taking a little break from that.
Ideas for my other fantasy series, my trilogy, have been floating around in my mind. Important pieces for the first book are slowly coming together for me – especially how the magic will work.
Hoping to get back to more consistent writing very soon. I really want to get Wild Heritance Book 2 finished!
Like many writers, I usually listen to music while I’m writing. I set up a playlist last November when I decided to do NaNoWriMo and have been using that playlist, with a few additions, since (so far). I like a variety of types of music and my selections vary from time to time. My current favorites from my writing playlist are:
And every now and then, I need to listen to some songs by Queen. 🙂
Whew!
I’ve just finished up the last editing cycle for Book 1 of my Wild Heritance series.
Hooray!
Next, I am diving into the formatting, getting it all set for publishing. Also, the cover art is close to being done, so I’ll soon be putting the cover together, too.
Feeling some excitement here as the reality gets closer!
I like to focus on one of my books as my main project, but I do end up taking periodic side trips to my other stories.
In the back of my thoughts, while writing in my Wild Heritance series, if something I can use for a character or scene in another book takes shape, I’ll divert to make a note, or write a paragraph – or several. And then I return to the main writing project. Although sometimes I get caught up in the other story for a bit, so it might take a couple of days for me to get back to the main one.
This means I’m actually writing several stories simultaneously. I love it that way! If I’ve run into difficulty with part of one story, I can jump to a different one and write there, while working out the problem with the first in the back of my thoughts. It also helps me try to keep everything consistent throughout the series.
This is how I have Wild Heritance Book 1 in its final (I think) edit before publication, the draft for Book 2 at about halfway done, and the Novella in its 4th/5th revision.
I’ve been going through Wild Heritance, Book 1 doing what I am calling “word edits”. For this type of edit, I comb through the story for certain words or short phrases, frequently fillers, that I discovered popping up over and over in my writing. I think taking another, closer look at these and assessing their value in their particular places in the story has improved the writing and the story. Many I’ve eliminated, many others I’ve rewritten to strengthen the story.
Getting closer and closer to publication!
Recently, it’s felt like the universe has been conspiring to keep me from working on my books, with other things needing attention. Still, a little time away lets ideas roll around in my brain and sometimes come together into something good for the story.
I believe I’m now to the final edits for Book 1 of the Wild Heritance series. I’m several revisions into the novella for that series (Book .5, if it’s numbered), and I’m at about the halfway point (estimated) on the draft for Book 2. All this writing is coming along nicely and I’m pleased with how things are turning out. Now back to it!
I recently purchased some books that are thesauri specifically for writers. Unlike a “regular” thesaurus, these focus on things like positive and negative traits, emotions, stuff like that to help with brainstorming characters and interactions. Within each trait entry are suggestions of actions that might demonstrate those traits, also background ideas that could explain why a character acts/feels that way. I’m so thrilled to dive into them and see what I discover. Getting excited about thesauri – only a writer, right? 😀
I often work out dialog in my mind before typing it out. And I like to joke that I’m listening to the voices in my head. But, I swear, sometimes I do feel that I’m just listening in.
The other day, while driving of course, I was considering a scene for much later in the book and three of my characters just started arguing. I’m not even anywhere close to writing that part yet, but there they were filling it up with a rather impressive argument. I’ve taken notes and we’ll see what we see when I get to that part in the story. 😊
One of the great things about writing is all the quirky subjects I get to research. Recently, my research has ranged from flint-lock pistols to bluebirds to knife fighting techniques to cabochon-cut rubies. Too fun! Especially when considered together like that. “What could she possibly be writing about?”
Please enjoy the samples of my writings that you find here, and check out my published books, too.