Jennifer M. Zeiger's Blog, page 10

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Due to a wedding in the family last weekend in Colorado, half of my formatting for Zap Dragon has been accomplished in the car while traveling cross-country. That’s as fun as it sounds. I never noticed all the little bumps in the road until I was trying to fine-tune the placement of illustrations!

Anyway, you’d think by book five I’d have this formatting thing down. But as with every other book, there’s always something new I learn. Since I’ve learned so much about formatting from others who posted about their experiences, I like to share when I run across something new.

Most of the formatting for Zap Dragon has been exactly like Discarded Dragons. So if you’re interested in a far more in-depth discussion, hop over to the posts from 2021. Let’s Talk Details Part I and Part II

Like in 2021, I’m still working in Word to set up my manuscript and I’m again using full bleed images. For those of you who don’t know what that is, full bleed simply means the illustrations will print all the way to the edge of the pages. The difference this time is that my illustrator asked if she could do hand-drawn images instead of artwork done on her tablet. I agreed.

Smudging at the edge of the image

I knew this would add some work for me simply because I like to use cream-colored pages in my books. Since the illustrator works on white pages, I have to delete her background. What I didn’t anticipate was how much of the small details would still come through. This is good when Esther’s illustrations are super detailed. I don’t lose any of her drawings. It’s not so good when there are small smudges or dots on the paper. When I inserted the images into the manuscript, those small imperfections made the wrap boundaries around the images…well…weird. The wrap boundary is the margin the text follows around the illustrations. I set the boundary on all my illustrations to a “tight wrap” so that the text flows around the image. (The exception to this is with full-page images. They’re placed on their own pages and separated from the text by page breaks.)

As you can see in the pictures, despite setting the formatting to a tight wrap, I had some really odd spacing.

Weird SpacingWrap Boundary

Thankfully the fix for this is simple. By right-clicking on the picture, I can select “Wrap Text” and then “Edit Wrap Boundary.” An outline with those little red dots appears around the image. That’s the wrap boundary. It’s then a straightforward task to drag those dots to the desired boundary that I want the text to follow.

That’s it. If you’re using hand-drawn images, just be aware you might have to edit the text wrap boundary on all the images you pair with the text.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. The last round of editing before setting up a physical proof is currently happening on Zap Dragon. As you can tell from today’s post, the formatting is also almost finished. The finalized cover won’t be far behind, so a proof should be in the works soon. As soon as that’s finished, I’ll be back to editing HMII.

Keep Showing Up

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words.

Watch your words, they become your actions.

Watch your actions, they become your habits.

Watch your habits, they become your character.

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”

I’m not sure where I originally heard this and when I looked it up, it looks like even the internet doesn’t agree on the origin. So, if someone knows who actually said this quote, let me know and I’ll credit the person.

Anyway, I had this hanging on my wall all through college. I needed the reminder during finals or when I was struggling through an essay that my attitude really mattered in those moments.

Recently the quote came up in conversation and realized I needed the reminder.

It’s still as useful now as when I was striving for my degree! I’m in the middle of editing Hidden Mythics II and I’ve hit that point where I’m muddling through the middle. The struggle’s real!  Doubts start creeping in. Can I shape the book into a cohesive whole? Am I a decent writer, because this requires a lot of fixing?! Why is this being so mind-numbing?

Such doubts, I think, are normal. But as the quote above reminds me, I don’t have to dwell on those doubts. It’s a daily choice, especially right now. But I’ve been here before and the process is worth it. I’ll keep showing up each morning

Watch your thoughts…

It all flows from there.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. I received the first round of edits from the professional editor this week for Zap Dragon. I’m cranking through those and will return to HM II edits as soon as I send Zap back for its second round of professional edits. That’ll hopefully be within a week Progress is happening! OH! And I also received all of the illustrations for Zap. So formatting will follow soon.

Why Zap Dragon

I often pencil in post ideas into my calendar. Then, when I have some time between writing books, I’ll check the calendar and get another post done.

This usually works great, but sometimes I look at my calendar and have to scratch my head in confusion, trying to figure out what I meant by the few words I wrote. That would be the case for this post. All I wrote for myself was “Why Zap Dragon.” Hmmm.

Well, guess I’ll run with it.

Honestly, I love the world from Discarded Dragons. There’s just something incredibly fun about it, which makes writing stories in the world easier.

And reviews have echoed that sentiment. One even said their only complaint about the book was that it was too short. He wanted more after he reached each ending. I’ll take it! That’s great feedback.

And somewhere along the line, my brain stumbled on the question, “What if a dragon has a defect that electrocutes people?”

The story ran from there.

I sometimes get the question at conventions about which book is my favorite. Not including Quaking Soul because it’s completely different, I can honestly say Discarded Dragons. Once Zap Dragon comes out, however, that choice will be really hard.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. I’ve started the Alpha edit on HMII. My biggest goal right now is to cut about 15% off the manuscript. So far, I’m at .5%… So it’s started and has a looong way to go

Hidden Mythics II Update #2 – Still in Need of a Title

Some books name themselves. Zap Dragon and Discarded Dragons certainly did and it was incredibly nice to have a title early on. Other books, however, remain elusive. If I’m being totally honest, I still don’t love the title Mystery of the Golden Shells but I had to make a decision and this was the best I had at that point.

Just like with book covers, the title is important. Readers make assumptions and connections whether they want to or not. Walk into a bookstore sometime and just look over the covers on the recently released shelves, the ones where the genres are mixed. Before picking any of them up, you can probably guess what genre 90% of them are by the cover art and titles alone. That’s super intentional.

I learned with The Adventure just how important cover art is. (Note to Self, Go Lime Green). When the book gets set on the shelf, it all but disappears. I thought I’d learned the lesson with Quaking Soul, and it does pop with the golden aspen leaf on the cover, but I still needed to learn the title and genre part. I’ve tested this. If I ask someone what genre they think Quaking Soul is before they pick it up, I get everything from Romance to Women’s Fiction to Fantasy to Historical Fiction to Question Mark “I have no idea.”

Although the cover’s beautiful, it lacks both the artwork that subtly hints at magic or myth and the title to clinch the deal. I picked Quaking Soul because the main character is a tree nymph of a quaking aspen grove. She is in essence the soul of the aspen grove. It makes sense once read – I think – but does not help in selling the book to readers who like the urban fantasy genre.

Moving forward, I’d like to avoid that mistake with the sequel. Unfortunately, I’m hitting a brick wall on a proper title. Something will come to me…eventually.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. The professional edit on Zap Dragon is underway and going smoothly! It’ll probably be done the beginning of June

Hidden Mythics II Update #1

Back when I was posting updates about the progress on Quaking Soul, I referred to the manuscript as a monster that needed to be tamed. In hindsight, it wasn’t as huge of a monster as I believed. At least, not in comparison to its sequel. The sequel has some massive teeth!

The current manuscript weighs in at about 170K words. This is huge! Most novels are somewhere between 80-100K. Fantasy tends to have more leeway but most books are still somewhere around 125K or less. The outliers like the Wheel of Time books or Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive books are closer to 300-400K but those are epic fantasy and they cater to a specific audience.

Soooo, I’ve learned the truth behind the advice that, when you add more Points of View in a book, you automatically add more words. Quaking Soul is completely from Na’rina’s view point. I’ve come to realize I love remaining in one character’s head because I can sink into his or her way of thinking and the writing remains consistent.

The sequel is from three different Points of View. This seemed like a great idea. The world’s expanding and having more viewpoints allowed me to show things Na’rina would never see. But it also adds the complication of keeping things consistent between the different characters. Every single book teaches me something. This one’s teaching me a lot!

I have no idea how much I’ll be able to shave off the word count and still be able to have my characters fleshed out like I want, but the pruning knife is coming out and I’m preparing to sharpen it! It’s almost time to do battle! (In other words, I’ll be receiving feedback from my Alpha readers soon .)

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. I finished the Zap Dragon beta edit yesterday and it is now in the professional editor’s hands! This next stage is slated to take a month.

Zap Dragon Update #1

Every time I produce an adventure, it seems I try to shorten the time frame from writing to publication. This hasn’t been intentional but this year’s no different. You see, I made it into GalaxyCon in Raleigh, NC at the end of July. This has been my best convention to date and so I’m hoping to have Zap Dragon in hand by then. Eeek! No pressure.

Thankfully, Zap Dragon has come together very nicely up to this point. (Hopefully, it continues that way! )

My wonderful beta readers returned their feedback this week. Some even got me feedback early, so the beta edit started earlier than planned. When does that ever happen!? It’s awesome. Anyway, as always, it’s a little nerve-wracking to get the feedback but I trust these people and every single one of them brings me helpful, honest critiques. The general excitement from them over the story has been very encouraging.

While the beta readers were doing their thing, the illustrator started working on the illustrations. She’s got about 10 of them done with 16 more to go and I’m super excited to share some of them soon because they’re turning out fantastically! If you’re familiar with the artwork in Discarded Dragons, then you’ve seen Esther’s work. She has such an artist’s eye and I love it. Plus, Zap Dragon is a spinoff from one of the endings in Discarded Dragons, so the artwork will help tie the two books together nicely. (I’m not sure I’ve mentioned that before, that Zap is a continuation from Discarded. I’ve received a lot of feedback asking for more in the Discarded world, so here it is…I’m even tentatively stewing on the idea of a third adventure in the same world in the future.)

Anyway, in an effort to make the July deadline, I also contacted Justin to start on the cover early. I’ve never done this before because editing often changes the page count, which changes the spine width and the cover dimensions. Always before I’ve tried to have these details figured out by the time we start on the cover but Justin assured me he can adjust as needed, so we’ve started. And as always, I’m impressed with what Justin comes up with from my oft-vague ideas. He’s sent me some preliminary sketches so far and I’m a-little-girl-in-a-candy-shop excited!

So if all the details align as hoped, Zap Dragon will be published on July 25th this year. Fingers, paws, or claws crossed, we’ll see how it goes. =)

Blessings,

Jennifer

Mystery of the Golden Shells Kindle Pre-Order

This one’s been a long time coming! I’ve been hoping to have the Kindle version of Golden Shells out within a month of the paperback publication…eight months later I finally get it done. Ugh. Such is life sometimes.

Anyway, I’m happy to announce that the pre-order for Mystery of the Golden Shells Kindle is now available. It’ll go live on April 25th. So if you prefer reading using an electronic version, this is for you.

Despite it being an electronic copy, the adventure is still interactive. There are hyperlinks to jump to each decision you make and then, once you find one ending, you can jump back to the beginning to start again. Or, there is a hyperlinked Table of Contents to help you return to your last decision if you’re like me and want to see the other options off my last choice. Either way, Golden Shells has 10 possible endings to explore.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. We’re still in the holding pattern for Zap Dragon and Hidden Mythics II while readers give me feedback. Updates to follow soon

Words and Broken Bits

An old post recently drew my attention. It was posted way back in 2013 after I started the blog in the fall of 2012. It was titled Face the Fear with Your Confident Face in Place. Back then, I was terrified of putting my writing out into the blogosphere just as I shied away from city driving. To an extent, I still face that fear, but there is now a flip side to that coin. I am now even more aware of the magic and power in words. They contain a unique ability to impact our minds, hearts, and actions.

And words on the page have even more power behind them than things spoken as there are no filters between the words and our thoughts. It’s like magic, telepathy, we read them and instantly they’re inside our heads, floating around and rubbing shoulders with all our other thoughts. To one degree or another, they’re bound to leave a bit of themselves behind.

As a writer, this truth is humbling. Not only am I risking others’ feedback – kind or unkind – but I’m going to leave an impact on every single one of my readers. It might not be a huge impact, but it’s still rubbing shoulders with their other thoughts. My hope then is that, with every book I write, the thoughts I foster inside others’ heads are more loving. Even if it’s with tears or hard truths.

Here’s a confession. I don’t feel up to such a task. I’m a little broken, a little scared, and desperately hoping for perfection in my work when perfection is an illusion. As I face this reality, I’m reminded of Roosevelt’s quote “The Man in the Arena.” It talks about being in the arena with dust and sweat and blood on your face but knowing in the end that, even if you failed, you failed while daring greatly. Instead of perfection, I’ll strive and pray that what I put out into the world brings a measure of hope and joy. And if there’s dust on my face, that just means I’m in the arena and daring greatly instead of living in fear.

All these deep thoughts…and I mostly write adventure books. Simple stories.

But as I step back from editing the most recent one, Zap Dragon, I’m reminded the broken bits aren’t always bad. The dragon in the story has its issues just like I do. But sometimes our broken pieces help us understand those around us and sometimes that brokenness is the very thing that helps others.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. Hidden Mythics II is still with my Alpha readers and Zap Dragon with Beta readers. It’s a holding pattern for now while fresh eyes get a look at each manuscript.

Socks, Sandals, and Pine Straw

During and just after college, I worked in a sporting goods shop in a small mountain town in Colorado. In hindsight, the experience from this shop has been a huge benefit. I’m a strong introvert by nature, so the ability to talk with people without stumbling all over myself is priceless.

But that’s not the topic for today. Today is about socks, sandals, and pine straw.

Back to the shop, the hardest thing for us to order happened to be clothing. All of the company reps suggested certain styles that their sales data told them sold well. We’d order those items, hang them up, and they’d sit, and sit, and sit.

When we finally asked a rep about it, she admitted Colorado, and the mountain towns in particular, were a hard nut to crack. It seemed the people living in those locations weren’t concerned about fashion in any way, shape, or form. When she said this, I looked down at my socks and sandals and realized she was right, it wasn’t fashion people were shopping for, it was a measure of function.

Socks and sandals were a part of my everyday life and I wasn’t the only one in that town who often wore them. This wasn’t because I wanted to make a statement and show off my awesome socks, but because where I lived the temperature could start at 32 degrees when I left for work and reach 80 by the time I came home. Considering that I rode my bike to and from work, it wasn’t reasonable to carry an extra pair of shoes, but a pair of socks that kept my toes warm in the morning and that I could strip off by midday was easy. I also learned the socks and sandals thing for hiking.

I’d climb a peak in my hiking boots and then, for the journey down, I’d switch to socks and sandals so that my toes wouldn’t hit the front of my boots and bruise. I have small feet, you see, and it’s hard to find boots that fit right. But with sandals, I didn’t have to worry about this. Plus, the socks helped prevent blistering around the straps and under my soles.

This sort of logic drove our sales at the shop and it made total sense to me.

Then we moved. One day my husband and I walked into a creperie that boasted a sign above their register. It said, “If you look down and you’ve got socks and sandals on, we’re closed.”

Say what?

I knew it wasn’t a fashionable thing to do, but I’d never run into someone who felt so strongly that they’d make a statement like that.

But then, the creperie was in a location that didn’t have huge temperature swings or large mountains to hike either.

Not long after that, the sandal ended up on the other foot – pun intended. A truck was driving around the neighborhood full of pine straw. They were going door to door to see if people wanted it added to their garden beds like wood chips.

Now keep in mind, in Colorado, pine needles matte the ground like an added layer of grass. In fact, it often replaces grass in people’s front yards because it’s a lot of work to rake it up and get rid of it.

In my mind, I’m thinking, “Who in the world would pay for this stuff?! These people are crazy.”

Come to find out, it makes total sense. The bugs here, particularly the palmetto bugs or roaches, love wood. Add a little rain and they’ll happily make themselves at home in your garden, which is right next to your house, and then a little down the road, your house looks like a great home for the bugs too.

But pine straw’s acidic and doesn’t hold moisture like wood chips do. It’s an easy way to spruce up your garden without inviting in the yucky bugs. In fact, it goes a step further and helps keep the bug population down in the first place.

How many times, I wonder, have I judged another person’s choices without understanding his or her reasons?

This is part of the reason I write. I want to understand people. Through reading, we get to glimpse other people’s worlds, their struggles and joys and weird quirks that aren’t as strange as someone looking in from the outside might think, without having to move to another state to experience it. Maybe it helps us to have compassion and a little understanding for the man who sits down beside us with his bright white socks peeking out the toes of his Chacos or the woman buying bales of pine straw instead of wood chips to put under her azaleas.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. HMII is currently with Alpha readers for the month and Zap Dragon is with Beta readers. It’ll be a few weeks before I receive feedback but we’re on track for both books to be published this year. =)

P.S.S. I’ve been informed that for some readers, the comment box is a ghost. Err. Not sure what WordPress is doing but I’ll see if I can figure it out.

All It Takes

I never know what might spark a story idea. I posted this drawing by Megan with Little Druid Stories this last week because it caught my eye at SwanCon. That probably was because I’ve already found myself fascinated by the fungus and toadstools that grow in my backyard.

Growing up in Colorado, we’d see mushrooms from time to time but they didn’t grow a lot because it’s just not wet enough. Around here in South Carolina, they sprout out of the grass and trees and even the sides of some buildings.

And I find myself sitting on the back porch sometimes staring at them, running down the rabbit hole of what kind of creatures might live under such a glorious toadstool. Does it just use it to ward off the rain like the owl? Does it actually make its home under the dome, hiding in the light of day so us big-footed humans don’t notice it? Can the creature, whatever it is, help new toadstools grow when the old ones are knocked over?

That’s all it takes for an adventure to start in my head. Welcome to the life of a writer.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. HM II is in the hands of Alpha readers as of today! And the personal edit for Zap Dragon will be finished within the week. Then it’ll get handed off to my amazing Beta readers. The illustrator has also started on the illustrations and I’m in the process of getting the cover artist/designer started as well. Exciting times! I’ll share as things progress.