Michael Selden's Blog, page 8
February 7, 2017
The BOSWORTH Manuscript is back from editing, and the edi...
The BOSWORTH Manuscript is back from editing, and the editorial suggestions have all been reviewed and adopted. The final script is just shy of 71 thousand words—it shed a couple thousand words in editing.
I’ll be reading through it one more time by myself, “listening” for awkward phrasing or cadence before I send it to the designer. Jamie will select a font for the print edition and layout the interior, making sure the words wrap well in my selected book size. I’ll be using an 8-inch by 5-inch format, perfect bound, with a gloss color cover. Meanwhile, I’ll put together the front matter and back matter pages—these are things like the title page, the copyright warnings, acknowledgements, and so forth.
Once that’s done, I’ll work with a second editor, acting as a proof reader, to look for residual errors in both typos and the print layout. As we do that Jamie will use the image I provide to make the cover design.
Should be out in March
Cover image by Paola Sbriccoli The image uses a combination of drawings and adapts and extends (through drawing) the photo of a beagle by Claude Valroff, openly shared for use and adaptation on Wikipedia. The photo was of a female dog, but I don’t think Bo (the dog in the book) minds so much. Bo was named after one of my mother’s dogs.
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February 4, 2017
BOSWORTH On Schedule for Release in March—around the beginning of Spring
Bosworth is a Coming of Age Paranormal Drama.
The last group of chapters is with the editor, John Hudspith. I anticipate working through all of his suggestions this coming week—the first full week of February—and then I’ll take a last pass at the document before sending it to Jamie at Belle Etoile for design. Paola (the person who drew the cover image for The Boy Who Ran) is drawing the cover for this book, too. And Chip is lined up to do proofreading. He did the proof reading / final editing of The Balance, which had remarkably few remaining errors for a book its size.
Writing Bosworth has been a real pleasure, and I hope readers will like it, too.
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January 9, 2017
I AM Corrections submitted
I discovered 3 typos that all of us—author, editor, and proofreader missed during the book production process for I AM. These were corrected for the Kindle edition and submitted to Amazon Jan 9, around 5:30pm Mountain Time. I’ll keep an eye out for more errata, but for now—if you have a Kindle Edition it should update automatically when the updated manuscript (interior) is published.
—always looking to improve
M
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January 6, 2017
Errata for I AM
I contacted Jamie, the interior designer, to inquire about fixing the there errors I found while reading I AM.
Known Errata List:
Page 98, last paragraph, 5th line from bottom
Page 138, 5th line from bottom:
Page 198, middle of page:
While the book went through more one editorial rounds, errors always cling to the final versions, an I’m sure if I looked hard enough I’d find more. The good news is that the 12 thousand Kindle edition copies out there should be updated whenever these small errors are fixed.
On my web site, I ask for inputs should people find errors.
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January 2, 2017
Bosworth Manuscript Continues to Mature
The first feedback from one of my Alpha readers of Bosworth arrive—a Beta reader would have been given a more mature manuscript). I’m still thinking how best to accommodate her feedback as I wait for more. I’ve already added about 30 pages to the version I sent out to test readers. Based on the initial feedback, and my own methodology, I’m thinking to add (or at least expand on the qualities of) characters, and to further develop some scenes. As of now the manuscript is around 64K words—and still growing rapidly. I’m not exactly sure where it will wind up in the end, but it might get close to the number of words in the final revision of The Balance. The Balance grew to 150K words at one time, although the final cut was down around 109K words.
I’ve mentioned before—in an earlier post—I write in layers: One of these might be called the basic plot layer, which defines the meat of the story. Another layer might be called the character definition elements, where the characters are more thoroughly drawn out. Other layers add different kinds of detail to the story, some are sensory and some have to do with characters or backstory. I’m convinced this method helps me put the whole story together more quickly while not sacrificing quality. I often find myself going back and changing or adding elements to the plot, too, as my characters evolve and the need to expand on certain scenes arises. It’s a pretty exhausting methodology, but I’m convinced I wind up with better books this way, and I intend continue to use it, and to improve on the process, as well. I won’t be rushed.
Despite all this, I’m confident that I can make my self-imposed target timeframe for release—sometime in the spring.
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November 13, 2016
Coming Soon: BOSWORTH, A Coming of Age, Paranormal, Thriller
Bo the Beagle. Original image by Claude Valroff. Downloaded from Wikipedia.
The fictional town of Bosworth is located in Orange County New York. Many people commute to nearby communities, or even the 2-hour trip to the City. It’s a small community of seven thousand people, near to the recreational areas along the Delaware River. The population in Bosworth increases dramatically during the summer months. Every fall people unconsciously hold their collective breaths.
Jim and his mom recently moved into town, after Jim’s father was killed in an automobile accident. He struggles to deal with the loss of his dad, and is still recovering from his own injuries. A long-time imaginary childhood companion, Bo the beagle, returned during his long stay in the hospital—a fact his mother accepts but wants to change. Bosworth is an old town filled with Victorian era homes, but there’s more in store for him than just old houses and imaginary friends. A dark, hidden fear has been with the town for longer than most can remember. They don’t speak about it, but Jim and his friends will learn that they can’t avoid it.
Bosworth is currently undergoing post alpha-read edits, and is expected to come out sometime early next year.
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November 8, 2016
THE BALANCE Kindle Edition Giveaway
From November 11 though November 15 the kindle edition of THE BALANCE will be priced as “free” on AMAZON.
THE BALANCE is the first installment of a 3-part story set in The Land—the only surviving area of Earth after a global thermonuclear war. Prior to the destruction, almost 200 years before, two factions attempted to prepare for the war.
One faction, The Council of God, stored quantities of food and seeds. They wanted to leave behind modern technology, whic they blamed for the war and to form a faith-based culture.
The Order created living time capsules to protect the advancements that humans had achieved, along with scientists and educators, so that humans wouldn’t have to start all over again.
These two factions emerged after the destruction and were forced to create an agreement to co-exist—called The Balance—but eventually the Council drove the Order into exile.
Th story of The Balance begins in New Bright Sea Harbor, where Phoebe, a genetically engineered daughter of an important lost Order member, struggles to hide who she is. Abandoned by the Order, she lives with her adopted father, Daniel. She’s managed to reach the age of seventeen. The exiled members of the Order realize she’s still alive and they want to protect her before the Council discovers her existence. They see Phoebe as a potential path to re-establishing the agreement and returning to the Land.
The second part of the story, subtitled “The Wastelands and the Wilderness”, is planned for release in late 2017 or early 2018.
Pick up a copy on Amazon between Nov 11 and Nov 15
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October 22, 2016
I AM Discussion Blog
I’m creating this post to set up a discussion of the book IAM, and I will answer questions that are not inappropriate.
WARNING THIS TOPIC WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK “I AM”
I AM is a realistic science fiction book—realistic meaning that the hard science in the book is valid, even if there are purely speculative elements. For example: The laws of physics are obeyed, however, there may be certain forces or characters that do not necessarily conform.
I AM shares a major theme of human evolution with the book “2001 A Space Odyssey” by Arthur Clarke.
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October 18, 2016
Leading Versus Dictating, in writing . . . and movies
Often times, I’ve read or seen fiction that takes all of the guesswork out of a story or theme, or a character. These are the books written in such a way as to force you to feel only one set of emotions, or to completely characterize a novel or movie.
If I were an actor, I’d hate to play a part where the writer has dictated exactly how I need to interpret a character, and in much the same way feel the reader is a contributor to a story—the character is drawn out, I have my own vision of what a character feels, but I do not want to impose only one way to feel under every situation. This is he difference between leading a reader,or a viewer, along a path and dictating every step.
I feel that the telling of a story should allow the reader a little wiggle room as to precisely what a character is feeling and thinking. Without this you aren’t left with the ability to make some of your own choices. In the same way, I tend to replace what is written inn books I read with my own dialog or interpretation, while staying within the bounds of the character’s core being. This leaves some readers wondering why the book isn’t written the way they’d like—telling them absolutely everything—but I think it gives more credi to the reader, as I like to be given credit when I read. I am a part of the story’s interpretation, just as the writer is, or the actor is.
Meanwhile, a book or film THEME is something only the author creates. However, these themes are often overlooked.
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October 15, 2016
In Italy—Researching DISOBEDIENCE and Revising BOSWORTH
Once again I am in Italy—Rome and heading for Matera on Monday.
I traveled on Oct. 11and return to the US in mid-November.
I’m currently prepping a Beta version of BOSWORTH—a Coming of Age paranormal / psychological thriller. I’d planned to put a draft out to my beta readers already, but am having jet lag issues.
Rome is one of the locations where the main charcetr in DISOBEDIENCE lived—that is a supernatural thriller I plan for 2018 or 2019. Previously I was here researching the period from 1880 to 1920, although this trip will reprise some of that I’m also setting up another research trip to Provence, France for next year, where the character lived from 1920 till the beginning of WW-2.
I did an e-book giveaway for I AM in September, which resulted in almost 12000 downloads, and I plan a giveaway for another book in November.
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