Another Set of Eyes
It is good to have friends that are willing, and interested in reading what I write. It is am enormous help in determining the readability of the content and finding typos. To a certain extent some of the errors and oversights in the plot are discovered as well. It is rare, though to have friends that is close enough to give serious, critical, constructive feedback. I am gifted with a few.I present material here to gather opinions and receive comments. Lately I have not been posting all that often and so some of you have stopped checking in regularly. My apologies. I have been working on a project that has pretty-much consumed my free time since April. It has been a worthwhile endeavor, I think.
I am having one of my friends read through the compilation of material that I have extracted from the two series and I also included the Spectre of Dammerwald. He is now past Spectre and into the body of material that I first wrote in the summer and fall of 2000. He is providing me with some feedback, mostly typos or wrong words. Regardless how carefully a writer reads through his or her own material, things will be missed. So I am grateful to Chris for his help. I am also glad that he provided some critical feedback and that he likes the book(s) in general.
The compilation continues to grow a bit. It is not 2030+ pages spanning 10 books of around 200 pages each. Since Chris' comments on Spectre of Dammerwald I was compelled to reread it. As I go through it, I am making a few minor changes to sentence structure, finding some wrong words and also I have added a few sentences to help clarify the advancement of the plot. I will proceed to read, knowing that there is no urgency in completing this project other than what pressure I create for self. No one is clamoring for it. I have promised a copy to Ela'na since her character has a central role throughout it.
I guess that I continue to work on it because I want it to be perfect. I had a very bad experience with Book One of One Over X. Despite all the delays, revisions and editing that was done to the text, it was rife with typos and mistakes. There is a second edition of the book but in that the first edition did not sell all that well it is not a top priority with my publisher. It takes money to print books and that is something that I certain do not have in any reserve for anything but paying bills at this point. So as much as I would like to print a second edition and promote it, it will have to wait.
I have considered submitting some of my other material to other publishers. I have also submitting some of my shorter pieces to magazines. I am a relatively obscure writer so it is just about as difficult for me to get the attention of a major publishing entity as any new, unknown writer. So I have attempted to make my material as perfect as possible before bothering to submit it. I have even thought of hiring a professional editor on my own (I know a few) but that also costs money that I do not have.
I continue to do what I can do, which is writing. I edit my own material which is probably one of the most humbling experiences for a writer. However, I am to the point that I am not changing much. It is almost ready for the next step (whatever I determine that to be). Eventually I will reinsert the material into the series. I have already determined that I need to add another book or two at the end of the second series. So Two: The Power of X will likely have 5 books. Knowing me there will eventually be six. It is rare though, I have a pretty good ending for it already. It should be. I have spent a month on it.
I really like the story of the Wolf Stuff else I would not be devoting so much attention to it. I am constantly reminded that I started writing it for the sake of a very narrow audience, my friends in an Internet chat group. It has been a lingering fear that the material is too directed to that select group and I have been concerned that the story might not have a mass appeal. We will see.
The material when presented as part of the larger body of work, One over X and Two: The Power of X has a more general appeal to sci-fi/fantasy readers. So maybe that will be the way that the material is ultimately printed and presented. As I have said before, I did this compilation to have a concurrence between all the parts and the material and to present that complete story in some form to Ela'na.
One day, I would like to see it in print as a compilation. I would like to see the entire series made into a movie to maybe a video game. I think there is a way for either of those genres to expand upon the storyline and plot. None of that is necessary for me, though. I write because I have stories to tell. It is not a lucrative endeavor yet it is personally gratifying just to receive the feedback that 'it is a good story'.
E
posted by Unknown @ 5:32 AM
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