My Journey – Writing and general musings (9th April)
I have decided that instead of posting blogs about certain topics, I would keep a regular blog about the writing journey. There will be sweat, tears, and hopefully no blood… well at least not outside of my manuscripts’ pages.
I will try to write on a regular basis, and hope that it brings you some shared insight, learning, and maybe even some entertainment.
So, what has been happening lately in my world? If you missed my last update, I mentioned that I was finishing Legends of Marithia 3, and also writing my new scifi book at the same time.
I had some thoughts on how to proceed with my two books, and how I am going with the possibly crazy idea of writing two books at the same time. Legends of Marithia 3 was going very well, but as I realised that it is going to need serious re-work from the ground up to be what I want it to be; I had to take a different tact.
To give you all some insight into what has been happening; I submitted the first 20 pages of Legends 3 to a critic that is incredibly well known in the industry. Kristen Lamb, the legend that she is! If you are a writer not following, reading, or learning from Kristen Lamb, you should be!
The result? I will need to do a lot of work to deliver the best book I can, but the underlaying story and much of my writing is actually quite good. What I am missing in it, are some general themes of feedback that I need to address. And they are some really great areas for me to work on.
Continual improvement is important, and feedback is something that I crave and take seriously when it is received. After all, what is paramount to me as a writer is to deliver the best possible book to you, my readers. Legends 3 *is* going to be the best book in the series, but I have forgotten something important that I learned from Legends 1, to Legends 2. That is to slow down, write more narrative, and let the reader enjoy the journey from less of a dizzying jump of POV.
This means a few things. I need to rewrite Legends of Marithia from the ground up, I will need to cut down on POV in the books, give readers more insight on the character driven story, and letting the plot and events in the book change the path that they take. That is a huge task, and one that I could use taking a break from the manuscript and coming back to. I have found that jumping from one world to the other, helped by the fact that they are different genres, is proving exhausting. Do not try this at home 
This brings me to my new stand-alone scifi novel, Mind Jacked. I have only just begun this book, and the feedback received on Legends 3 has actually mostly been covered in what I have been writing, with exception to some elements that I can rework to strengthen.
This means that I have learned a lot in my writing journey, but that I was trying to stick within a mould of the previous two novels, and polish off Legends of Marithia in a third book. It look as though I am going to need at least 4 books in the series LOL This means a lot more work for me, but a lot more reading material for my fans.
So, I am in a position of trying to choose one path, or the other. I can write two books at the same time, and not pay both of them my full attention, or write them one at a time and devote my full attention to each. Do I write and complete Mind Jacked first? Or rework and complete Legends of Marithia first? Both options look good, but being that Mind Jacked will most likely be a singular novel, and will allow me a break from Legends, to come back to it with fresh eyes; it seems the smarter choice.
Once I have Mind Jacked written, polished, sharpened, and ready for publication, then I can focus on a complete rewrite of Legends of Marithia 3. I have huge self-expectations for Mind Jacked, and it will be a novel that I will also pitch to publishers. So, you can get ready for one hell of a ride in Mind Jacked. Once that is done, then we can both take a new journey into Legends of Marithia 3, and I expect a stronger novel as a result. So much work needs to be done!
Peter
