Progress Report April 2012
The deadline looms ... I'm working long hours to get the second book in the Shadowfell series, working title Raven Flight, up to a satisfactory standard by the end of April. I've kept a record of progress for this book, which I started in November 2011 during NaNoWriMo, so I know exactly how many words I've written per day since Nov 1 and the reasons why some times were more productive than others. February was given over to dealing with the structural edit for Flame of Sevenwaters, my adult novel due for publication in November, so Raven Flight was set aside for that month. I also had a week off to travel to New Zealand. I ended up cutting at least half of what I wrote during NaNoWriMo.
As of today's 2300 words, Raven Flight stands at just under 12 chapters and 91050 words. It's not finished yet - I have at least two chapters to go. And, of course,those final chapters require a lot of concentration, since everything must fall into place perfectly.
I won't be submitting this as a first draft. My working method means that the earlier parts of the manuscript have already been revised a few times. But it's highly unusual for me to be so close to the deadline with the thing not finished, so I am likely to be even more antisocial than usual until I have a complete and reasonably polished manuscript to send to my editors. Did I mention I still have the copy edit of Flame of Sevenwaters to check?
Am I happy with this story? Yes. I love the two young women at the centre of this particular book, their strengths and weaknesses, their prickly friendship. The world they live in, an imaginary version of ancient Scotland, is not unlike any place in today's world where a repressive government denies its citizens their basic liberties, and where ordinary people must find the courage to stand up and be counted, no matter what it costs them.
Apologies to Goodreads fans - until recently my posts to my Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/juliet.marillier)
and website news page (http://www.julietmarillier.com) were automatically transferred across to this author page, but that hasn't been happening recently. Anyway, this is the most recent and I'll keep copying them across.
As of today's 2300 words, Raven Flight stands at just under 12 chapters and 91050 words. It's not finished yet - I have at least two chapters to go. And, of course,those final chapters require a lot of concentration, since everything must fall into place perfectly.
I won't be submitting this as a first draft. My working method means that the earlier parts of the manuscript have already been revised a few times. But it's highly unusual for me to be so close to the deadline with the thing not finished, so I am likely to be even more antisocial than usual until I have a complete and reasonably polished manuscript to send to my editors. Did I mention I still have the copy edit of Flame of Sevenwaters to check?
Am I happy with this story? Yes. I love the two young women at the centre of this particular book, their strengths and weaknesses, their prickly friendship. The world they live in, an imaginary version of ancient Scotland, is not unlike any place in today's world where a repressive government denies its citizens their basic liberties, and where ordinary people must find the courage to stand up and be counted, no matter what it costs them.
Apologies to Goodreads fans - until recently my posts to my Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/juliet.marillier)
and website news page (http://www.julietmarillier.com) were automatically transferred across to this author page, but that hasn't been happening recently. Anyway, this is the most recent and I'll keep copying them across.
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biblioceraptor
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Apr 02, 2012 12:26AM
*is ridiculously excited*
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I did not know that you had continued with the nanowrimo thing though remember you talking about it last year! Can't wait to see this new book. April is a lucky month (my bday), so you'll make great progress. ;)
So excited to read all of the books you've mentioned! It's going to be a fantastic year for Julier Marillier books! :D
dear juliet ,thanks a lot for the updates !
i can't wait for 'flame of sevenwaters' , i'm sure it'll be a great book , as always :) .
do you have any idea when 'flame of sevenwaters' is going to be published in portugal ?
i simply love your books , juliet ! keep doing what you do and making us all enjoy them . 'sevenwaters' is one of my favourite series of all-time : it makes me dream about amazing worlds , but also makes me think about my daily life and helps me overcome my difficulties everyday .
do you have any idea when 'flame of sevenwaters' is going to be published in portugal ?
thank you again for everything .
hugs ,
mary swan
i have just noticed that there is another post ...sorry for commenting the other one . :s
u can do it!! i'm cheering for you! go go go! =D
Thank you for letting these stories pour through you. I can't wait to read the next one! I hope you can find balance and joy while in these late stages of the book!
j.mar. you are one of my favorite authors ever! i am so excited about the next book i can hardly contain myself! i feel like i've been waiting for a decade for it!!
Thanks all and apologies for the double-up on this post - I think it transferred across from Facebook automatically as well as my doing a cut and paste. As of today I am up to 101,297 words on the new book which means I need to wrap it up in another 6000 words or less ... :)
Mariana wrote: "dear juliet ,thanks a lot for the updates !
i can't wait for 'flame of sevenwaters' , i'm sure it'll be a great book , as always :) .
do you have any idea when 'flame of sevenwaters' is going to ..."
Hi - see my comment on the other post!
Skyemberr wrote: "I did not know that you had continued with the nanowrimo thing though remember you talking about it last year! Can't wait to see this new book. April is a lucky month (my bday), so you'll make grea..."Skye, I wrote 30,000 words for NaNoWriMo before I quit around Nov 20th. Of those, I later cut approx 15,000. It's interesting to note that I've been more productive than that under my own steam over the last couple of months. :)
Juliet
I am up to 101,905 words (to match Shadowfell, the novel should come in at approx 107,000.)
Finished a couple of days ago, at a bit over 116,000 words - I am now revising and hoping to reduce that word count a bit before I submit the manuscript. On re-reading it seems pretty good - of course, that does not always mean completely satisfied editors!
