And so, the editing begins.

Tomorrow is the 1st of March, which means that it is the first day that I will be editing Poison. I am both nervous and excited for this, it means that I will be learning quite a bit from it, and also that I will have a novel that I actually want to sell in the editing stage. Hopefully it will all go smoothly, my deadline for this is April 30th.

I've begun plotting The Dead Isles as well. The first scene is down. Okay, so there are a lot of scenes in this one, but I will plod along, one by one until I come to an end. I hope to begin plotting Blood Donor pretty soon as well.

Guardian of the Lake

So I finally finished Guardian of the lake. I planned for it to be about 5,000 words but it didn't end up even reaching 4,000. Not that it really matters. I have learnt through writing Poison and Pirates that I like to write very short to the point scenes. Besides, they will probably get bigger when I eventually get around to making it my WIR.

I'm just pleased that I finished it. I like it when I finish works, both when they are novels and short stories. Makes me feel like I've accomplished something.

Blood Donor

My Muse came a knocking today. This particular story was spurred on by a bit of material that I found the other week. Now I just have to write the story. I cannot help it, I need to write it. Gosh it's been a while since I felt like that (Since I first started planning for Pirates). The story is coming together nicely.

All I have to do is a little bit of Worldbuilding, though it will be set in Australia, either Melbourne or Sydney. Then I have to flesh out a few of my characters, and plot the novel. Then I can begin. I don't think it is going to take me all that long, considering that things are jumping into my head so fast at the moment.

Here's the snippet that inspired me on this novel. I wrote it at the start of last year, so I hadn't seen it for a while;

In my life, genes are what differentiate between the needed and the wanted. I fall under the needed category.

I was genetically modified with the consent of my parents, who resorted to IVF when they were unable to conceive. Of course they don't know their daughter is a genetically modified human, or GMH as I call it.

I know, makes me sound like a food. In some ways that is exactly what I am, but in others I am so much more.

You see I'm an invisible hero. One of those people who never get credit for what they do. You know, like the people who donate thousands of dollars under an anonymous same, to charity. Only I didn't get a choice.

I'm the Savior of two races. Because without me, and the various other GMH's out there, both races would soon become extinct. The weaker of the two being eaten off, and the stronger, well they'd eventually starve to death.

That was why GMH's were created. So that we can keep the world from falling apart. Sometimes that's harder then anyone can know, well at least that's what I think.

But how can I say no? I don't have a choice, lest I want to be the downfall of two entire races.

Soon, once I have perfected it, I will post The Sentence for this story, and also a little blurb. (I find that writing a blurb helps me to focus with the story.)

EDIT -- Finially came up with the Senetence for this story. The blurb will come next ^^

A Blood donor sets out to find the hunters and end an age-long war before they completely destroy the Vampires, who are the key to the change of seasons.

EDIT 2 -- Didn't really take me as long as I thought it would to write the blurb. Here is is now;

Found by vampires and told of her true nature, Keavy Palomo, sets out to create an alliance between hunter and vampire when the age-long war between them threatens to destroy the world.

She soon finds herself lost in a world of politics, consumed by rebellious thoughts against the Vampires, and the lover of Mirze Rios - Nemesis and tracker of the man she is donor to. Keavy finds that this new world is far too big for her, with rules that are very different from the one she was born into.

But the world is depending on her, because without the vampires, there is no change in seasons, and without the hunters there is no passion. Both races must survive if the world is to stay alive.

The Dead Isles...

Book two of the War of Meadeit Trilogy has begun. I have finished laying all the ground work I will need, and now it is only a matter of an outline that is needed. I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to write the second book somehow, but things are all falling into place, and I can see what should be happening in the next book, how to connect them to the first, and how to create openings for the third book. I'm pretty excited.

Other than that, there hasn't been much work on Irvine's story. I really do have to get back to that. Tonight I will try and get, The sentence done for it, and then do a little bit of worldbuilding. I think I pretty much have everything in order, but I would like to create a map for D'nalisvereh.

The short story Guardian of the Lake is going well. I'm really enjoying the writing process, it amazes me how much I really did miss it.

Editing for Beneath Ice is still labourous, though most of it is getting cut. I think I have about 10,000 words kept at the moment. Though most of those are going to be cut and re-written. I still remain optimistic about the whole process. I have learnt heaps about both the writing and editing process just by doing so. Editing no longer seems like such a scary thing. I've also found I am better able to see how I might change some of my other books when I begin on them.

Since I am cutting most of Beneath Ice, I am going to treat it like a whole new book. Of course it will be second draft, but I will treat it as though it is first draft. I don't see myself ever wanting to sell this novel, it has simply been a practice novel. So it will never go out on shelves. But I do want to make it a good, strong story. Just so I can show myself that I can turn a pile of crud, into something shiny and fun. ^^

Update

So I've gone through 22 chapters of Beneath Ice so far, and I felt my concentrations beginning to deteriorate, so I wrote myself up a schedule, which is what I do when I begin to get lazy on things. That means by this Sunday I will have it all done, and it will be ready to go through and create an outline so that I can begin writing it. I am just going to treat it like a new book. The title will probably change as well, seeing as the main character is now Lakin rather than Krindel.

I began the writing progress again. I started on my little, 5000 word short story. So far the first scene has been written, so it will begin to come together now as well. I'm going to try and get this one finished by the end of this month. After all, it is only very small. I should be able to get it done in a matter of a few days, but it won't hurt to pace myself.

As for reading, I think that I am going to have to go back through Techniques of the selling Writer, By Dwight Swain. I started reading it again the other night, and it really amazes me how many things I missed, or forgot about. This would be about the fourth time I've read it aswell. It's just such a good book. I love it so much, and I find that every time I read it, my writing improves a little as well. I guess my writing style is fairly close to what he describes.

Editing Progress

So far the editing has been going good. Only problem is, most of the story has actually been cut. Out of 41 scenes so far, I have kept 7. I've gone through 18 chapters so far, which means that I only have 16 chapters left to do. I think I will have cut so much by the time I'm finished this stage of editing that it will simply be like writing the first draft of a new story, just with a few scenes already fleshed out. That's how I'm going to treat it anyway. This story is in need of a big change. But I am enjoying doing it.

I used Holly's The Sentence for the story before I began editing, just so that I could understand where I was going with it. It changed the story a lot and now it gives me tingles and makes me excited.

The old sentence was -- Sorcerer versus time in a bid to restore memory and stop the world from dying.

But the new sentence is -- A rogue magician destroys all magic to shake an usurper Queen from her stolen throne.

I like the second sentence so much more I can see so many ways that I can be going with this. Anyways, back to the editing process!

The Dreaded Edits...

I haven't done much editing, but now that I have finished two novels that I love, I had decided I better get a wriggle on and get some practice. That, after all, is the only way for me to get better at it, just like with my writing.

So I am planning on going through my some of my Shorter works, I've already gone through one, and then step up to my larger works.

I'm thinking that I will do Beneath Ice fairly soon as well. I say this because that story is going to have a lot of cutting involved. It will be a lot of work, and I still don't believe it will ever be salable, but it will help me take that next step. I have been putting it off and putting it off, and I can see now that it was because 1) I was scared, and 2) I'm quite lazy, once the first draft was done I was quite happy to leave it. But this time I am going to push myself and really get into the editing. It is the only way that I will learn, and I want to have the editing process at least a little bit clearer in my head when I go to work on Poison.

So, on to the edits. This time I will persist, no matter how many scenes I have to cut out!

Edit ::
Got through the first 8 Chapters of Beneath Ice tonight. The writing of it is absolutely dreadful, though I'm ignoring that at the moment, and focusing rather on the content of each of the scenes. So far I have kept 5 of the 18 scenes that I have gone through. This novel is going to take a lot of work, but despite the fact that I have cut so much, I still feel fairly optimistic about it all. ^^

The Sentence for Dead Isles

I just finished doing one of the lessons for Holly's Think Sideways Course, seriously it just keeps getting better and better with each week! Anyway I wanted to try it with 'The Dead Isles' to see if it makes my idea stronger.

The original sentence was;

Jarlath's daughter, Anabel, becomes sick with a life threatening illness. The Blackwhite Esor must find the cure, delving into the dead Isles, whilst small Sen'am groups, led by Tine Rhyner, plot the downfall of Lydie and Jarlath to take back power.

I then changed the sentence to;

Elicia Foister battles her way through the dead Isles to find the Esor Rose, trapped there until the next Tsirc and unable to provide aid against the uprising Sen'am.

I personally think the second sentence is far better. It shows far more of what is going to happen, gives it a twist and makes me far more excited for the next book than the first sentence. Even though it is more brief, I still love it a lot more.

On another note, I also finished My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, and it was brilliant. She is such a wonderful author and had me in tears at the end. The book is just so full of wild emotion. I just really loved it. That means on to Harshini by Jennifer Fallon for me!

Online Story

At the moment I'm in the middle of planning two stories, doing HTTS, and getting ready to edit Poison, and Pirates of Hcallaec. But that leaves me with nothing to write... So I was thinking of writing a very short novel, about 50,000 words, and posting it on FictionPress.com.

Once I get things started I will post chapters on a weekly basis, they will probably only be small. I will also post on this blog when new chapters come out and other bits and pieces about the story and where it is headed. When the story actually gets up, I will put a link to it on this blog.

I just have to figure out something to write. I think I have a story idea set up already, though, so it should be fine. ^^ I'm thinking something along the lines of Shapeshifters. So anyone interested in this? ^.^

The Dead Isles

My muse has been bugging me to begin planning the second book in the War of Meadeit Trilogy. So today marks the day that I begin sorting out everything and coming up with a plot so that I can write. Most of the worldbuilding is done. I did that with the first book, also most of the characters are done, so there isn't really all that much left for me to do. Only figure out what I'm meant to be writing about. :D

This is the idea I have so far for the story.

Jarlath's daughter, Anabel, becomes sick with a life threatening illness. The Blackwhite Esor must find the cure, delving into the dead Isles, whilst small Sen'am groups, led by Tine Rhyner, plot the downfall of Lydie and Jarlath to take back power.

Poison finished...!

I stuck to my schedule, and today I finished Poison. It makes me really happy to know that it's all finished. Now I have a little time to breath and work on Irvine's story, and the two courses I am doing. I'm beginning to brush up on editing this month because I want to be ready next month when I take on Poison for NaNoEdMo.

It's a great relief to have finally finished my Novels. Now that I have them done, I can focus on editing, and getting other stories ready for the First draft stage. ^.^ The process begins again.

1 Chapter left

Slogged out another whole chapter for Poison again today, which means that I only have one more Chapter to go. Tomorrow will be a good day for getting everything underway and writing the last of it. Then I will have completed two novels and Poison will be ready for NaNoEdMo this year. ^.^

On another note, I finished Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer today; finally. That means 2 down and 9 to go for my TBR list. I will finish it this year! Besides I have so many books I am just itching to read!

Poison

I thought this novel would be hard to get back into since I have been working so hard on Pirates of Hcallaec. Turns out my fears were for no reason. Today I whipped through 3 scenes, and completed Chapter 10, and I really had a lot of fun writing this story. It wasn't hard to get back into at all, and I really think that when Editing comes around in March, I will have a lot of fun editing this novel.

I've never really edited a novel before. I've started, many times, but I just never knew where to go. March is definitely going to be an experience for me, with NaNoEdMo, and it couldn't have come at a better time either. It will set me up and get me ready for when I have to edit my 2yn, which I was a bit worried about ^.^

Only two more Chapters to go on Poison! So it should be finished by Wednesday. Here's to hoping. ^^

Pen Name?

When I began writing Pirates of Hcallaec and started getting serious about being published I decided that I would use a pseudonym instead of my real name. I decided I would use Lyra Callaghan, rather than Michelle Roger.

Since finishing my book, and spreading the good cheer, the one question friends and family have been asking is; Are you going to write using your name?

To tell the truth I have no idea. I really wanted to use Lyra as my writing name, but now I'm just not sure. Seeing Michelle Roger on the cover of Pirates of Hcallaec (I'm determined to get it published no matter how long it takes or how many times I have to rewrite it) I think will be a real satisfaction.

I'm so stuck? Anyone got an opinion on the idea?

FINISHED!

I can't believe it, I'm actually finished the first draft. It felt so good to write the last word, and I think it's probably the best ending that I've written!

I'm going to miss writing the first draft, but it is just so good to have finished such a large project. Pirates of Hcallaec came in at 193,936 words which is almost two times bigger than anything I have ever written!

I'm just so happy. It's finished!