Fantasy books (and children's books, writing as Lynn Helton)
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!