Richard Raley's Blog, page 15
January 24, 2022
Tease: Guess the Speaker Edition #4
“I’ve tried so many times to kill myself, Eva. It’s really really hard.”
January 23, 2022
So Tired, So Sore
But...the ending of EVERCHANGING DILEMMA is done and into the computer. We are totally in editing with no new material needed and a ton of that editing has already been done. Everything is moving along. Obviously got all those drafts to catch up on for the last 10k now, but we're doing some damage.
Also, with the bed-desky-thingy I'm pretty hopeful about my ability to make progress writing new material going forward with WAR TO END ALL WARS and the Vicky novel, even if my back getting better and being able to use a chair for longer than an hour would be preferable!
It's late, brain is mush, my bed is calling!
January 21, 2022
Encanto Hot Take
Surface Pressure > We Don't Talk About Bruno
Mini Editing Update: So I was able to get a lot of work done on my back yesterday (that's what she said!) with the bed desk thingy I bought, so much work I'm officially brain dead tonight for the first time in forever (just all the Disney songs up in this post). Feels good.
I have like...7 pages left to type in? Although, AGAIN, typing in handwritten pages like this is a bit like a second rewrite in itself since I'm changing half of it and adding and mixing all over the place. But very close to done. It's a whole chunk of new material to end this puppy too. Should end up over 70k words. A weird scenario, since now 90% of the novel is in its 4th draft, but 10% of the novel is in its 1st draft, so...some extra work to do there. I have actually started my "Kindle" edit on the first 90% and I'm like 20% through? Disney songs AND math, just what everyone hopes to read about at 9PM!
Point is: progress continues and thank you bed desk thingy!
January 20, 2022
Ceinwyn
No, no, Richard you had her start grinning a couple pages ago, you can't do it again.
ARGH!!!
Boo On Titles Update
Rewrite type-athon: 4/17 (doing about 2 a day at the moment, really hurting!!!)
Search Edit: done
Formatting: on hold until type-athon finished
Kindle Edit: 17%
Beta Read: Coming Soon
Interesting fact: there have been over 6,500 revisions so far in the editing process.
18 month post surgery doctor appointments next week and I finally start rehab on the back a couple weeks from now, so those might get in the way a little bit.
Random Note: I finally uploaded a newer version of DREAD FORTRESS that I edited last year. Probably about 3k words cut from the release draft and typo changes and the like, just stuff I would have done if I wasn't so sick with a flu while publishing that. I think its a better read now. Strangely enough I actually found myself cutting more from the Eva sections to keep her pace up instead of the Tyson bits, though his freak-outs were curtailed in places! Amazon is weird about what editions they let people download but there might be a toggle for you to check to get the newest version somewhere. If anyone knows then speak in the comments!
Outside of that...went ahead and set up a new pricing structure for the books going forward. $3.99 for all side novels in the MancyVerse going forward. FM1 to FM3 keep their $3.99, but FM4+ will be at least $4.99 if not more based on how long the books are, FM6 is $5.99 as an example although fuck me I hope that's the biggest novel I ever write! It was a chunky boy! Of course if you have Amazon Unlimited I get paid by page read anyone, so this doesn't effect you at all!
I'll also be updating all the "novels by" sections and things when I do release EVERCHANGING DILEMMA most likely since they're a mess and I'm horrible at everything but the writing and editing!
January 18, 2022
"Page" One, Fourth Draft
Going back to how works change draft to draft for those interested in the process, here is what our first "page" has become by my fourth draft:
In the illustrious one-hundred year history of the Institution of Elements, Learning Academy and Nature Camp, there were few greater failures than Isabel Soto.
Failure to stop her.
And, yes, failure to save her.
Not one single failure either.
Many failures rolled up into one human being.
Failures of such weight and magnitude that they could not be excused as a simple mistake. Nor could they be easily brushed aside or ignored. Nevertheless, they had tried that too, placing her in the same lockbox where all the other misshapen and ill-fitting broken toys from the many prominent societies of elemental civilization resided.
It had a copacetic name that place: the Cleansing Sphere of Reform.
But Isabel Soto escaped.
And her misery congealed, still and dirty as gutter water, unreformed and unrepentant. It multiplied and festered, malignant. Isabel Soto walked a twisted, gnarled path with blood splattered over every curve and dead end. Her life and choices grew darker and more desperate until…what could be done to rectify that cemetery of wrongs? To heal those soul deep wounds?
And what hope was there for ethos, pathos, or logos to bridge a divide created by such frighteningly overpowering magic?
Evelyn Strange, Head of the Infirmary, didn’t have the answer. All she could do for now was to maintain her always strained composure and carry on in her most unusual task. Even that was difficult. Frustrating too. Extra frustrating for a woman well familiar with the emotion. Her mind was sharp and her skills, both mundane and elemental, were honed and yet…it all eluded her.
She was not one to leave such answers to others. One could easily claim her whole life was about finding answers, specifically to questions teenagers constantly asked of the world about how they could possibly make their lives more difficult by inflicting injuries upon themselves and their peers. When Evelyn answered those questions, the kids stayed safe. They healed. They grew. They learned. They…turned into slightly less idiotic adults.
An improvement, if a small one!
Evelyn had hardened her heart year after year for her whole life preparing to answer those many questions, equally standing at the ready for the next emergency crisis of blood and bone or a lazy malaise of runny noses and sour stomachs. Few situations at the Institution surprised her at this point—seven years keeping King Henry Price in check will do that for a person—yet seeing one of her kids in such a sad, deplorable state still somehow touched the empathy she’d tried so hard to bury deep.
Empathy mixed with rage.
Rage built along the same dual line as those twin failures.
Rage at what this child had done to her fellow mancers.
Rage at Evelyn herself, for not pushing harder when they might have prevented all that murder and mayhem.
Evelyn knew all the symptoms and signs, had seenthe signs of that great enemy many times in the nearly two decades she’d served as Head of the Infirmary.
Anima Madness. And all its recognized stages. Dormant. Progressive. Dominant-Subverting. Converted.
She had recorded them dutifully into her student medical database, forwarding all information to Administration just as the school bylaws ordered, but nothing more. Keep them healthy and happy, Evelyn dear, that’s the job I place at your feet! the Lady had said upon Evelyn accepting her position those many years ago.
Happy? Me?
A cackle sounded. Point made, point well made! Can you at least restrain your natural inclinations and not make them feel too guilty while you stitch them back together? For me? And so I don’t have to deal with phone calls from angry parents?
Evelyn had…mostly. For whole days. Maybe a week here or there.
Okay, so she hadn’t strangled anyone yet…that qualified as restraint, didn’t it?
Funnily enough, I did restrain a few of them, but they brought it on themselves with all that whining!
Anima Madness might not have been in her purview, but it was inescapable. Question without an answer though it might be, worse than Isabel Soto’s dilemma. She’d petitioned for classes on the signs and symptoms, for educational pamphlets, for a club where the students could freely talk about how Anima Personalization affected their lives. We have therapists for just this reason, Evelyn dear, and we wouldn’t want to unduly scare the children, would we?
Her hands balled up into fists at her side. Evelyn knew she was…grouchy. On her best days. Curmudgeonly on her worst. Winter War especially, when they let her kids hurt each other just for tradition and entertainment, so parents could beam over victories and crow during the Old Mancy party circuits. But this newborn rage waling inside of her…
Evelyn felt reversed.
Inverted.
Not with days and weeks of peace either, but merely spare hours at best.
The why frustrated as much as the rest, but she knew exactly when it happened.
That battlefield.
Eureka.
A victory, they all crowed, as loud as those parents after Winter War.
January 17, 2022
Rewrite Done
3rd draft done.
Typing all that in and then formatting are next up but I'm going to be stuck in bed for a few days after that burst of writing, can barely sit on the edge of bed long enough to type this good news.
We're getting there!
Closer!
January 13, 2022
Words I Overused Writing This Book
I make a list of all the words that start annoying me during my edits and go through to remove/spice things up in the 4th draft, in addition to a list of passive/clunky words/phrases I always keep an eye on.
Here's that list for EVERCHANGING DILEMMA.
deadpanknowassuredteaseevenevergrumblegrowlcacklegulpwatch checkingbloodsurelypukeMake of it what you will...
When Your Planned Long Term FM Save Goes WAY Too Well
Usually you do Scotland and it ends in misery, try Norway this time, at least you'll have fun with Haaland for a decade on the National Team and Bodo/Glimt has some fun prospects, so you really have something to work...wait, what?!?!?!?!?
January 11, 2022
Right On Time
We are now in the I HATE MY WRITING AND WHY DO I DO THIS stage of the edit. I also can't even look at another piece of fiction or narrative based entertainment without wanting to tear it apart...
This happens every go around and is part of the process, but my spine troubles turning what should have been a one month job into two months and counting is not helping. But we ARE making progress, just...slow-like...
I've outlined the ending rewrite and have 800 words into it.
3rd draft is 135/160, with 100 pages entered into the computer.
After that is all done we have formatting, 4th draft, and the beta read.
So...end of February or beginning of March?
Assuming the back doesn't blow out again, obviously! Pain's better, just an endurance issue at the moment.
Most difficult edit EVAR!!!
Update: 160/160, 105 typed in, and working on the rewrite
