Tag Archives: bound trilogy

March 31, 2015

Another One Flies the Nest

This is it.

This is the last day when Torn gets the spotlight, at least in my office. Starting tomorrow, it’s all about book three (which I will use the proper title for soon, I promise–I just don’t want to spoil it for the first people who discover it at the end of Torn).

Today, though, we celebrate.

We celebrate a little over two years of off-and-on work. The struggle of a skeletal first draft, the joys and pressures of revisions, the triumph of positive responses from alpha readers, and the crushing discovery that edits won’t be as easy as anticipated. The months of struggle to make the book what readers need while remaining true to my own vision for the story as a whole.

The frustrations of the publication process.

Even the things that were stressful or seem negative at the time are worth celebrating, because they’re part of a beautiful process. A new book is a victory.

It’s like raising a baby bird, really. You nurture it, encourage it, feed it, and give it tough love when needed… and in the end, you have to shove it out of the nest and let it fly on its own, knowing you’ve done everything you could to prepare it for this day.

Maybe it’s the painkillers I’m on right now (hello, migraines that helped inspire this whole story!), but I’m a little weepy.

No. No tears. This is happy, exciting, wonderful!

And in case anyone missed the announcement yesterday, we’re having a party to celebrate. A Facebook party, because I don’t expect all of you to come to my house (you’re welcome).

Here’s the link. Drop by any time between now and about mid-afternoon EST on April 1–we’ve got great prizes!

Ooooooh…

….Aaaaaaahhhh!

Come on down and celebrate with us, won’t you? It’s gonna be fuuuuuuun (and you know it’s true, because I used extra letters).

—

TORN purchase links:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id980782062

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1121647522

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TWOW7YC

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/torn-77

2 Comments | tags: book two, bound trilogy, kate sparkes, launch, paperback, party, prize, release, torn | posted in books, Headaches, promotion, publishing, Torn

March 30, 2015

Consider Yourself Invited

By Kate Sparkes

Yep, we’re having a party to celebrate Torn’s ebook release tomorrow, and you’re invited!

We’ll have chances to win paperback and ebook copies of Torn, as well as other great prizes. Watch for the author AMA (ask me about writing, publishing, the stories or characters, whatever!), a party playlist, a scavenger hunt, flash giveaways, guest authors, and more!

Mmmm… papery and yummy

Here’s the party link. Events will be posted between 2:00 and 9:00 PM EST on March 31, but will be left open overnight in case anyone wants to drop in and add responses to games/activities. Winners will be selected at random on April 1 (no foolin’).

See you there!

–

(Please note: March 31 is the official e-book release date. Paperbacks will be available as soon as formatting issues are sorted out. Party prizes will be sent out soon after… and the party is not endorsed/sponsored/etc in any way by Facebook, etc).

8 Comments | tags: Aren, bound trilogy, Bound Trilogy Book Two, e-book, kate sparkes, launch, paperback, party, release date, torn | posted in promotion, Torn

March 12, 2015

Torn Prologue available NOW

By Kate Sparkes

Hey, folks!

For anyone who’s been waiting, I’ve got the prologue for Torn posted up there in the blog’s “Free Fiction” tab!

I know, it’s confusing. The header says “Disregard the Prologue,” but this one’s actually important. So… not so much with the disregarding this time, hmm?

Click here!

And enjoy. 🙂

2 Comments | tags: book two, bound trilogy, fantasy, kate sparkes, nox, potioner, prologue, revenge, sample, torn, tyrea, YA | posted in Fiction, Torn

February 25, 2015

Wednesday’s Writing Stuff

By Kate Sparkes

Exciting title, no? It’s been kind of a crazy week, I’m a little off-kilter, and that’s actually the best I can do.

Quick update:

Torn is off for copy edits and proofreading, which means I have a few weeks to ~~freak out~~ get back into revisions on book three, which needs some adjustments after Torn‘s big edits (and just because I’ve come up with a few ways to give the story a more satisfying conclusion).
We had the cover reveal for Torn on Monday. Big thanks again to everyone who helped out by sharing or posting the reveal on your blogs! It made it a great party.
So pretty!
Pre-orders are up, too. It feels like this is really the point of no return, but I… *looks over shoulder, whispers* I feel good about the timing on this. Still releasing in March (31st), but leaving time in case things go wrong.
And Bound is on sale for 99 cents this week, in case anyone missed THAT on Monday, as well.

WIPpet Wednesday

I guess we only have a few weeks left when I can call Torn a work in progress.

Holy carp.

As always, potential spoilers ahead. I’m trying not to give away twists or surprises (or the main plot), but if you’ve read Bound, you might guess who’s being described here.

And be happy. I can’t be held responsible for that.

2 paragraphs from chapter 25 for 2/25, from the mysterious 3rd character’s POV. She’s just met some strangers, and isn’t feeling particularly warm toward them.

I guess you’ll meet her when we do the prologue reveal in a few weeks… 😀

One look at him told me I had better not let my guard down. It would be far too easy to be overcome by his obvious charm. Skin the same color as the woman’s, eyes like the depths of a lake on a summer day, black hair that he brushed back from his face in a gesture that was somehow bashful and self-confident at the same time. His smile revealed the hint of a shallow dimple at the corner of his mouth. I glanced lower, taking in the challenge. Broad shoulders, a muscular body obvious even under layers of clothing. Big hands with long fingers gripped the reins in an awkward hold.

I’d always had a weakness for beauty. We saw so little of it in Cressia.

Hmm…

For more WIPpet Wednesday, click here. The WIPpeteers (including our host, KL Schwengel) post snippets of works in progress every Wednesday, and it’s always fun to see what they’re up to. The only rule is that the snippet has to relate in some way to the calendar date. If you think that sounds like a good time, jump in on your own blog! We don’t bite.

Hard.

22 Comments | tags: Bound, bound trilogy, fantasy, indie, kate sparkes, magic, pre-order, snippet, torn, WIP, YA | posted in promotion, publishing, Torn, WIPpet Wednesday

February 23, 2015

COVER REVEAL: Torn (Bound Trilogy Book 2) by Kate Sparkes

By Kate Sparkes

At last, the time has come!

I’m not going to tease, or make you wait any longer. I’m pleased as punch, proud as a peacock, and flipped-out as a fairy to present the cover and back-cover blurb for Torn (available now for pre-order through Amazon!)

cover art by Ravven (www.ravven.com)

Aren Tiernal knows that safety is an illusion, that his cruel and powerful brother will never forgive his betrayal. Still, returning to Tyrea to challenge Severn for the throne would be suicide. It’s not until Severn himself comes to collect what’s owed to him that Aren decides to risk everything in an attempt to bring down the most powerful Sorcerer Tyrea has ever known. The mission seems doomed to fail, but it’s Aren’s only chance to save himself, his country, and the woman who thawed his heart.

Rowan Greenwood has troubles of her own. Though she should be a great Sorceress, years of being closed off from her magic have left her unable to control her incredible power. When a pair of ominous letters arrive from her home country, Rowan has to choose between her new life and a chance at saving her family—and just maybe changing an entire country’s beliefs about the evils of magic.

Torn apart by separate quests, Rowan and Aren will have to discover untapped strengths and confront their darkest fears in order to overthrow a ruler determined to destroy them both.

–

Coming March 31, 2015. Pre-order here!

–

And as an “author’s birthday, so why the heck not” celebration, Bound is now on sale on all retailers (Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo) for 99 cents! The sale is only on for a week, so if you or anyone you know has been waiting for this, now would be a great time to grab it.

Special thanks to everyone who’s helping out with the cover reveal today (yay, you guys!). If you want to stop by and say hello to these wonderful folks, here are the links. Shares and re-blogs are always appreciated!

–

Krista Walsh

Joanne Guidoccio

Charles Yallowitz (Legends of Windemere)

L Marie (El Space)

Lori L MacLaughlin

Emily Witt (A Keyboard and an Open Mind)

KL Schwengel (My Random Muse)

Denise D Young

24 Comments | tags: adventure, Aren, bound trilogy, Bound Trilogy Book Two, cover reveal, dragon, fantasy, kate sparkes, magic, mer, pre-order, release date, sorcerer, torn, YA | posted in books, cover reveal, promotion, Torn

January 9, 2015

So Long, Farewell…

By Kate Sparkes

I’m typing this quickly, and at 5:00 in the morning. There’s a feeling of adventure about being up at this time of day when you’re not used to it. It feels like the days when my parents used to wake us up early so we could get the long drive to my grandparents’ cottage out of the way before:

a) traffic hit in Toronto

b) my brother and I were awake enough to “ARE WE THERE, YET?” the whole way

…I’m not actually sure what the reasoning was, there.

The point is, ADVENTURE.

Well, my friends, I’m on a different kind of adventure this morning.

Edits are back, after a few delays in getting started and finished. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s not pretty. There’s more work to do than I’d anticipated based on early reader responses, thanks to some amazing ideas from my editor on how to make this thing kick more ass.

Like, ALL OF THE ASSES.

Mature, I know.

It’s the advantage and the disadvantage of getting developmental/substantive edits, I guess. There’s no “I can whip through this in a week by accepting and rejecting line edits,” which I imagine feels pretty sweet. There’s more gnashing of teeth this way, more re-writing of scenes and re-considering of elements, and more hard questions about everything. It leads to more self-doubt, for me at least, and more heartburn.

But damned if it doesn’t lead to a better, stronger, more satisfying and more entertaining book in the end. Bound was good before those big, bad edits. It came out of the fire far better. I’m aiming for the same here, and want to create the most amazing book I can for the readers who are making all of this possible.

So what does this all mean?

For me, it means a lot of hard work. I still want to stick to the time-frame I had planned, but… well, remember when I joked about becoming an editing-cave troll through much of the winter?

I thought at the time that I was exaggerating. I was not.

It means you’re going to see less of me around here, and on Facebook, and elsewhere. That stings. Authors these days are expected to stay on top of social media, and quite frankly, I enjoy it. I love you guys. Chatting with you in comments and posts makes me smile.

But that’s why I need to back off. Because you deserve the best.

Torn is a good story. It’s one I believe in, and one beta readers already loved. And after going through editing notes, I believe it can be great. Better than Bound (and isn’t improvement always the goal?).

It also may mean a delay in the book’s release. It definitely means I’m not putting a firm release date out there until I’m at least through the larger re-writes. If I were free to work on this all day, every day, I’d say there would be no problem sticking to my original goal. But I’m not. Technically, writing’s not my full-time job–my family is, and they’re not going to be pleased if I throw bags of uncooked ramen noodles at them every day for the next few months instead of cooking, or if they have no clean underwear… ever.

I know. Totally unreasonable, right? But I’m basically stuck working the 5 hours a day when the kids are in school, weekends off.

So here’s the plan.

I’m using this up-early time to write this post, and then to go over notes again, read through the line edits, see what changes I’m going to make, and which I’m not. It’s not an easy process, but it’s step one. After that, it’s organizing, brainstorming, re-writes, minor edits, line edits… and then my wonderful second-round beta readers will get their hands on it and tell me how we’re looking.

I’ll keep you all up to date on what’s happening as we go.

Yes, I’d still like to do pre-orders by the end of February. Yes, I’d still like to release in March.

But quality first. This isn’t an assembly line.

It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.

18 Comments | tags: bound trilogy, editing, edits, fantasy, indie publishing, self-publishing, update | posted in critique, domestic goddess stuff, Home Life, publishing, Revision, Torn, writing

December 29, 2014

…And Now For The Fun Bits

By Kate Sparkes

Not those fun bits. Get your mind out of the gutter.

No, this is the annual post where I make big, ridiculous plans and you can all laugh at me next December. Hooray! We’ll make it a huge event: The Chastisement of the Over-Ambitious and Obviously Deluded Author.

Tickets available now. Get ’em while they’re hot!

Let’s make it good.

*drumroll*

There’s a short story coming as soon as e-book distribution thingies are back from the holiday break. That is, if anyone’s interested in something set almost 20 years before Bound… nothing important happened back then, right? Nah.

We’re going to have a novel that one or two of you have been waiting for. Some kind of a sequel… thing. Torn something something? Yeah, that one.

That’s going to be coming in March. My priority is always going to be quality over speed, but I feel like we can at least have the e-book out by then. I’ll keep you posted.

I will be a giant ball of nerves and stress. You might not see much of me through February.

Then there will be a cover reveal, a first chapter reveal, pre-orders, a launch party on Facebook, giveaways, guest posts, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff.*

So that’ll take us through March.

After Torn is out, it’s back to work for me. Book 3 is drafted, but I’ve just had a bunch of ideas on how to improve it, and this means minor-to-major rewrites. And then there’s everything else that comes after that: beta readers, revisions, editing, etc.

But I’m going to go out on another limb here and say that it’s going to be out before the end of 2015. November. Early. Possibly sooner, but October seems like a terrible month to release a book. We’ll see how it goes.

Does that seem like a long way off to you? Trust me, it doesn’t from where I’m standing. It seems like a huge, crazy goal that’s going to require me to somehow break my distraction addiction.

And in the times when that one is resting or with readers or in editing, I’ll be working on a completely different project. I want four novellas starring a certain vampire that you’ve met before ready to go (or at least ready for editing) by the end of the year. I’m planning a big release of the whole shebang in 2016. But more on that later next year.

I’d tell you what I’ll be working on while those are being published, but it’s too nebulous, too uncertain, and quite frankly too exciting to share right now.

This post is, after all, about 2015.

So, to recap:

short story
publish Torn
party party party party
publish ______ (almost said it!)
party party party party
write a handful of novellas in another genre
more partying and/or anxiety

And of course we’ll continue to have fun here. There’s a 95% chance I’ll be moving in the spring, and even if it’s hell for me, I’ll share whatever adventures we encounter along the way in the most amusing way possible. In the summer we’ll take some more trips (Fogo Island was fun, right? Guys?), and along the way we’ll have more promotions and cover reveals for Authors Who Are Not Me.

And the mini aquarium! Remember? So fun.

On a serious note… I can’t even begin to tell you guys how thankful I am to have had you all in my life this past year. Those of you who have been around for a while gave me the encouragement and kind words I needed to actually push my little project out the door. Some of you went ahead of me and weren’t afraid to talk about your writing and publishing journeys, and I thank you for that. Those of you who have come more recently are the readers I’m doing this for, and your messages, comments, and enthusiasm mean everything to me.

I’m going to stop before I get sniffly. Somebody must be cutting onions over here.

So there we go. Maybe my goals don’t sound like a lot. Maybe they sound insane. But this is what they are.

There are other things in the works… top secret things. But we’ll discuss those another time.

*evil laugh*

*more evil laugh*

*coughing fit*

—-

*If you have a blog and would like to help host the cover reveal, release news, an interview, or just about anything else that relates to the book and does not involve embarrassing photos or videos of me**, please let me know! kate.sparkes (at) live (dot) ca

**We can totally post them of you, though.

9 Comments | tags: bound trilogy, goals, indie publishing, publishing, resolutions, resurrection | posted in about me, Bound Trilogy Book 3, Resurrection, Torn

December 24, 2014

ROW80 Recap Post (or: Most Boring Post Title Ever)

By Kate Sparkes

Yeah… no WIPpet Wednesday this week. Sorry, guys.

But I will give you this teaser snippet. I’ve got a short story almost ready for you. Some of you saw a pre-edit draft here a while back. Others will find it completely new. Either way, it’ll be my gift to you (at least until it eventually goes Amazon exclusive and I have to charge a whole 99 cents for it).

Coming soon.

Okay, on to the looking back bit.

Goal #1: Finish drafting Bound Trilogy Book Three

COMPLETED. I flew through that one faster than anything I’ve drafted before, thanks to better outlining than I usually do. I was pleased to find that there was plenty of room for surprises… maybe a little too much, as the draft currently sits at 130,000 words. Good words, but still.

I’m exactly half-way through revisions now.

Goal #2: Self-edit Torn one more time before it goes for professional edits.

COMPLETED. My beta readers had wonderful suggestions for me, and I incorporated most of them. Editor J.E. took the book a week ago, and last I heard is making good progress. It’s kind of a crazy time of year, and I hope he’s taking Christmas off, but I’m feeling hopeful about getting this thing back in early January and getting back to work on it.

And then we might just get a release date. And plan pre-orders. And, and, and…

Goal #3: Short Story

Okay, I’d hoped to have it out for Christmas, but a) it’s not exactly a feel-good Christmas cheer thing, and b) distribution is pretty much shut down most places for the holidays, so it can wait a little longer. But it’s edited, I made a cover (sorry guys–can’t do my regular artist for a free story!), it’s formatted, and it’s ready to go. I’m calling this COMPLETED.

Other Goals:

Listen to two podcasts a week – not even close.

Beta reading – COMPLETED

Other reading – I read several books. Besides the beta reading, I finished Behind the Scenes (Dahlia Adler), The Virgin Cure (Ami McKay), Blink (Malcolm Gladwell), Moon Bound (Sylvia Frost), Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell), Here Be Dragons: Strange Creatures of Newfoundland and Labrador (Bruce Hynes), and am making my way through UnSouled (Neil Schusterman). All great books.

I should really do a review of The Virgin Cure on here, or a more complete one on Goodreads, but I haven’t recovered yet. Seriously, so good.

Didn’t read a writing-related book (still can’t get into Writing 21st Century Fiction a year after I bought it), but I asked for Save the Cat for Christmas. Fingers crossed.

Audiobook release – we did a giveaway, it was fun. I still haven’t managed to listen to the whole thing yet, myself. It’s nothing against the production or the actors, I just can’t do audiobooks. They sound so different from how I read in my head. That said, I still have a few copies for people who love them… we’ll have to have that as a party prize at the Torn release party. 😀

Use Duolingo to learn French – I actually forgot about this. The boys lost the iPad for a few weeks, and I got off track. Better get back to it.

So there we have it. Not all complete successes, but I hit all of the big ones and won NaNoWriMo.

We’ll see what comes next round. 🙂

Link back below to your wrap-up posts if you’ve been participating! I want to come say hi.

4 Comments | tags: #ROW80, bound trilogy, goals, torn, writing | posted in Bound Trilogy Book 3, Recent Reads, ROW80, Short Stories, Torn, writing

December 12, 2014

Want Bound for Free? Read On.

By Kate Sparkes

When I look at this blog’s stats, I see search engine terms that bring people here. Sometimes they’re amusing. Sometimes they’re confusing, like the person who tried eight different search terms trying to figure out how to put notes for chapter one of their book into a notebook.

Sorry I wasn’t more helpful with that.

Sometimes they’re people wondering when they next book in the Bound trilogy is out, which is super cool. Still aiming for late winter/early spring (Northern hemisphere), guys.

A lot of the time, they’re people looking for free copies of Bound. They’re looking for BOUND KATE SPARKES (or SPARKS) FREE, BOUND TRILOGY FREE, yadda yadda.

Now, I have no problem with that. I’m glad there’s interest. Ecstatic, actually. And a lot of authors do offer their books for free from time to time. I get the feeling that a lot of these people are looking for pirated/file-shared PDF files, though. That’s less of a good feeling.

I’m not talking to those people, though, and that’s a totally different topic.

No, this post is for the people who have heard good things about Bound but don’t have five dollars to spend on the e-book. I totally get that. I often wait for books to go on sale when they’re $4.99 or above, and almost never spend more than about $6 on an e-book, myself. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re cool. High fives, frugal buddies!

I’m going to tell you a secret. There are ways to get it for less.

If you want a bought-and-paid-for copy at a lower price (bless you), you could wait for a sale. It’s going to happen some time.

The best way to be alerted of that is to sign up for my newsletter here. I don’t spam, only send messages when something of interest is afoot, and share information on sales and events like cover reveals there before I do anywhere else.

Following on Twitter (@kate_sparkes) or Facebook are also options, but there’s a better chance you’ll miss announcements that way. Facebook reach is low. Tweets are fleeting. *sigh*

(The other cool thing about the newsletter is that that’s where I’m going to be making the first offer for advance review copies of Torn. Depending on how many I decide to pass out and how much interest there is, that might be the only place to get them. Seriously, sign up!)

Or… there’s another option.

Have you guys heard of the Books Machine?

It’s an interesting concept, and one I’m still figuring out. Authors list their books, and readers browse or search for specific books, then request review copies.

Free review copies.

What does that mean? Well, in this case, you send a message to the author through the site stating why you’d like to receive a copy of the book, and the author accepts or rejects the requests. I haven’t rejected a request yet, but if you send me one saying “I hate Fantasy and love is stupid,” I might just say no. The other reason a request might be rejected is if an author is giving out a set number of copies a month, and that’s already been exceeded.

But mostly, authors like reviews, and it’s worth it to us to share our work through the site. Because…

You have a job, too. You get the book free, direct from the author. In my case, I’ll send you a mobi file via e-mail or direct to your Kindle, since for some reason I can’t gift through Amazon.ca. In exchange, you agree to read it within a certain time frame and leave an honest review on Amazon*.

Not necessarily a glowing review. You’re not obligated to leave ALL TEH STARZ.

But you as a reader do agree to leave a review, and in a timely fashion.

After you do that, you let The Books Machine know what a keener you are, and the author rates your performance. Again, NOT based on how well-written the review is, or how many stars you gave. It’s based entirely on whether you fulfilled your side of the deal within the specified time frame. If you do that, you get a better reputation on the site, and will be more likely to have other authors accept your requests.

Cool, right? Seems like it to me, anyway. Not everyone is in a position to read quickly and review, but if you’re doing that anyway, this might be something to look into. It works a bit like Read4Review groups on Goodreads, but with one big group.

I’ve only had three requests through the program so far, so no comment or assessment on whether it’s worth it for authors to sign up (we’ll look at that another day). But it seems like an interesting deal for readers. I thought about requesting Unicorn Western through there, but realized I couldn’t guarantee I’d get through it in time.

Curses.

To recap:

WAYS TO GET MY BOOKS CHEAP OR FREE:

-Wait for a sale

-sign up for the newsletter to be informed of said sales (or if you want a chance to get the next book free and in advance of publication, and who doesn’t want that?)

-check out the Books Machine. Bound comes up in their search (click “Books” at the top), but there’s lots more there that’s worth checking out.

There you go. You’re welcome, search engines.

—

*Yes, you have to review on Amazon, but you’re also free to review elsewhere. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can read using the Kindle app on a computer, phone, or tablet. Or you might find an author willing to send an ePub file. *ahem*

3 Comments | tags: advance, Bound, bound trilogy, free, kate sparkes, review copies, sale, the books machine, torn | posted in books, Bound, promotion, Torn

December 9, 2014

Revision Time, Baby! cracks knuckles

By Kate Sparkes

Yessir, it’s time to get back to work on Book 3 of the Bound Trilogy.

Wait, you say. What about book two?

Well, that will be off to my editor soon. I hope. In any case, trying to do more to it right now would be a waste of time. It needs a new set of eyes on it. My time is better spent revising the next one, making big cuts and changes and adjustments and WHAT THE HECK HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO AGAIN.

It’s okay. This is always a scary time for me. For a lot of us, actually, so I thought it might be interesting for writer types to talk a bit about how we approach this. I don’t usually do “how I write” posts (because who cares, right?), but this is what’s happening right now, so here we go.

Let’s take a look at what I have here.

Um… It’s 126,000 words, for a start. And I need to add a few scenes, plus throw in some more description all over the place. It’s a fairly big book, is what I’m saying.* What else is it? Well, I think it’s a good story. It needs work. There are places where I didn’t quite have character motivations nailed down, where I missed out on crazy good opportunities for character or plot development, or where something just doesn’t quite fit yet.

But honestly, I think it’s my favourite story of the trilogy. I think Bound is a great story, and that Torn is better… but yeah, this might be my favourite. I pushed characters further and harder than ever before, and… well, no spoilers.

So how do I approach revising something like this? Like so:

1) Read through and take notes. Squee a little at the great moments, note what’s not working, and what can be cut. Make notes on lined paper. Good lined paper, because I’m spoiled. Mead Five-Star or bust.

2) Add these notes to the ones I made while I was drafting re: things to go back and change. I don’t revise while I’m drafting, for two reasons. One, it costs me momentum. Two, until the story is drafted, I can’t see how all of the pieces fit. I might go back and change something, and then need to change it again later. Big waste of time for me.

2) Make a plan. This consists of looking back over what I’ve read, making notes on character arcs, plot, subplots, character interactions and tensions, timelines, and anything else that I need to keep an eye on while revising. I make notes on what these things SHOULD look like so that I can easily see where they’re not working. This is still all on paper. I just brainstorm better that way.

3) Go through, scene by scene, and fix what’s broken. This pass is about the story and characters, not about making it pretty (though I can’t help fixing the writing sometimes). This is the stage I’m at now. I’ve re-written the opening, because as written in draft one it just picked up where Torn ends, and wasn’t particularly compelling. It’s not perfect yet, but it’s better. I will do this for every scene, using my notes. I will cut scenes and completely re-write if I have to. Scary, but worth it if it makes the story better.

4) Go through each POV character’s scenes individually to check for consistency of voice and characterization. Make sure they’re not acting in chapter 2 the way they should be in chapter 22. Now is also the time to make the writing shine a little brighter, add descriptions that I missed before, chase down character observations/feelings/etc. that really get us into their heads.

5) Send to beta readers. Pray they don’t think it sucks and needs to be completely re-written. Hasn’t happened yet, but it’s always a fear.

6) Fix based on their notes.

And after this, it’s all editing, not big revisions. Or at least that’s the hope. I might have to make big changes and re-write scenes post-editing, but hopefully won’t have to change the story.

Is it more work than some writers do? You bet. But every pass gets me deeper into the story and the characters and shows me things I missed before. For me, it’s totally worth the extra work because this is how I make my stories the best they can be. Others have their own methods, and that’s great. In fact, I want to hear about them.

So… yeah. We’ll see how it goes. I’m trying to get through revisions quickly for reasons we’ll talk about in another post. For now, I guess I’d better get back at it.

Pictured: Revision fuel

So tell me, writerfolk: What’s your revision process like? How do you know what works and what doesn’t? What’s the hardest part for you, and your favourite?

—

*For perspective, Bound was about 118K, making this one a little less than 10% longer. Not so bad, when you look at it that way.

6 Comments | tags: bound trilogy, kate sparkes, process, revision, writing | posted in Hows & Whys, Revision, writing

disregard the prologue

Tag Archives: bound trilogy

Another One Flies the Nest

Consider Yourself Invited

Torn Prologue available NOW

Wednesday’s Writing Stuff

COVER REVEAL: Torn (Bound Trilogy Book 2) by Kate Sparkes

So Long, Farewell…

…And Now For The Fun Bits

ROW80 Recap Post (or: Most Boring Post Title Ever)

Want Bound for Free? Read On.

Revision Time, Baby! cracks knuckles

Vines and Vices (All the Queen’s Knaves book one)

Urban Fantasy (writing as Tanith Frost)

Bound (Bound Trilogy Book One)

Torn (Bound Trilogy Book Two)

Into Elurien

At Any Cost (Bound Trilogy prequel novella)

The Binding (Short Story)

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disregard the prologue

Tag Archives: bound trilogy

Vines and Vices (All the Queen’s Knaves book one)

Urban Fantasy (writing as Tanith Frost)

Bound (Bound Trilogy Book One)

Torn (Bound Trilogy Book Two)

Into Elurien

At Any Cost (Bound Trilogy prequel novella)

The Binding (Short Story)

Follow via Email

Kate Sparkes

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