So, in the first version of ARGENTUM, I wanted to explore the world of the Violet War and needed a story to do it. Did my first draft make an excellent novel? NO. Why? Because the story wasn’t cohesive and seemed forced. After I put some distance between myself and the first draft, I realized that because I needed a plot to take you through places like the In Between, I ended up manufacturing one around the setting and not around the character.

Seeing a world through one character’s eyes, though, isn’t enough to carry a story for an entire novel. Serafina needed to have one, clearly defined goal — not engage in a collection of sub-plots and afterthoughts. Without that, you’d end up reading some interesting prose and that’s about it.

To tighten up the re-write, I wrote a one sentence character ambition that I could follow all the way through to the end. Now that I have that, the revisions are coming along a lot easier. (And I’m finding out where all my mistakes are, too.)

All in all, I feel that this rewrite was necessary. Even though it was painful to admit that it needed to be done, the story is a lot stronger. After all, if I couldn’t tell you what my book is about, then maybe you as a reader wouldn’t be able to figure out the plot either.

Sometimes, it’s too easy to get lost in the idea of a story or a world or get super excited about a new project. When that happens, my quality does suffer. The gods certainly know that I am not perfect and really? I wouldn’t want to be. Perfect is b-o-r-i-n-g. Still, it feels really good to move on after remembering those hard lessons.

Regardless, my goal is to finish the rewrite and acquire some beta readers. Once the story is out with that select group, then I’ll be able to focus on the game.

To help me wrangle this beast, I started looking at tools that would help me define character motivations, scenes, etc. For the Mac, a lot of writers recommend Scrivener. Unfortunately, the software is only available for the Mac, so I was pretty much out of luck there.

After checking out several other options, it pretty much came down to two: Liquid Story Binder and a shareware tool called Storybook. I ended up selecting Storybook because I don’t have the time to learn a new software program, and Storybook is pretty intuitive. If I pass the thirty day mark, I’ll definitely donate to the interface.

Here come’s the cool part. I’m a big fan of Dropbox.com, which allows you to store your files online and access them from anywhere. After installing Storybook on my laptop and my netbook, I saved the database file for the program in my Dropbox account. Translation? I can access the same “binder” from any computer provided I’ve installed the Storybook software on it. That provides me with a fair amount of flexibility, since it’s easier to haul my netbook around town.

I’ve only just “begun” documenting the characters and the setting locations, but I have to tell you — this part is a LOT of fun. Now, I can build in all the little secrets that I may (or may not) share with you in this story because everything is spelled out in one location. I’m not reaching back into my brain; I’m just reaching for my laptop.

I’ve been going back-and-forth during my revisions, because the memories interrupt the flow of the story in a way that might be too challenging for the reader to overcome over the course of the full-length novel. There are other ways I can provide the memories that wouldn’t interrupt the flow, but that also means that I’ll have to rework the story to include more setting description to pick up the “slack.”

The mosaic-style of writing for the first draft works well for a lot of novels, but I’m not convinced that it’s the right way to go for this one, in part because that flow of memories leads to a conclusion.

Well, back to the drawing board I suppose. Sorry I didn’t have better news for you, but some days that’s just how it is.

1) The overall story needs to be consistent and a lot more simplified so that it can stand on its own.

2) The relationship between William and Serafina needs to be more prevalent, because it’s part of the larger plot.

3) Serafina’s path needs to be a bit convoluted, because of her role in the Violet War, but in the story it needs to have a better focus.

4) Integrate the pieces of memory better.

5) When Serafina does enter the Realm, spend more time on her perception of it.

And that’s just for starters! So while I have a really good foundation, it’s not ready to submit to an agent yet. So this month, I’m declaring WAR!

Chaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggeeeeeeeee!

In December, I focused on the revisions for ARGENTUM through a December Writing Marathon that I had come up with. December was an extraordinarily busy month for several reasons, including a few additional projects that I did not expect to come up. Even though I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to, I was able to come up with way to simplify the story and proceed with the revisions more quickly.

I feel that ARGENTUM’s biggest challenge is “too much world.” At a convention last year, I ran into an author who expressed how much he enjoyed world building. I took an opportunity to read one of his books, to see how that passion reflected in his writing. Truth be told, I had trouble keeping track of who (and what) was in the setting. That didn’t mean that the story wasn’t written well, but for me there was so “much” detail that I got lost in the exploration of the world. To me, this first novel as an ALICE IN WONDERLAND meets THE FUGITIVE tale. In order to keep that pace, some of the characters and the subplots needed to be unraveled.

So how do I go about unraveling them? Reading the story out loud. Seriously. When I write, I hear the words in my head like I’m composing a piece of music. Reading my revisions out loud allow me to find errors faster than on the monitor, and the flow is a lot more comfortable and less stilted, too.

Besides getting the revisions done, I’m also going to be releasing a unique digital product through Flames Rising Press which is set in the Violet War. Before the “birth” of ARGENTUM and the Violet War setting, I wrote a short story entitled THE QUEEN OF CROWS. As milestones go, this particular story is a “big” one, for it was the spark behind this big, big world. Once we get a little closer to the release date, I’ll share with you more information about it.

Also, I want you to know I am looking into different structures for this website. Since my goals for this website has changed, I want the site to “fit” Violet War a little better — especially since I’ll be exploring more about the world with you this year.

As always, thank you for reading. I hope that you are doing well and that you have fallen in love with a great book.

Best,

- M

The first three chapters are typically part of the query letter package for an agent. Concerned that I was getting off-target with the revisions, I threw together the revisions and got some feedback. When I did, I discovered two things:

1) I have created a big. damn. world.

2) My story lost its focus.

I spent some time away from ARGENTUM so that I could put my mistake behind me. Then I deconstructed similar genres of novels to see a) how many characters were introduced and b) how often they were mentioned. Part of what I discovered, was that the characters I had introduced in the main chapters were exploring the setting but not the story.

From those lessons, I rebuilt a rough outline for ARGENTUM, one that is a lot more focused. Then I had a serious “think” about the chapter breaks (e.g. pieces of memory). Even though they may not individually be related to this specific plot, they are as a whole. So they definitely need to stay.

Now that I have a rough outline, I can see where the holes are, what characters I need to flesh out, what settings I need to explore and what “new” things I need to add.

I will say one thing, though…there’s enough story for me to keep going for dozens and dozens of books. Here’s hoping that becomes a possibility, eh?

So I decided to run a December Writing Marathon on my blog located at . My goal is to have the book completely revised by the end of March, if not sooner, so hopefully this will give me a huge jump start!