Fifth Draft for Book 2 Complete

I finally incorporated all of the edits and recommendations from my first beta-reader into the manuscript's draft. The overall word count for Book 2, has remained consistent at around 118,000 words, going from the fourth to the fifth draft of the text.

Sometimes it seems like edits take longer that anticipated. One of the hazards of being a part-time novelist with a full time job - plus family activities to attend. Hopefully, the wait will be worth it in the end.

Status Update - Book 2 - Restoring the Epic to Fantasy

My middle daughter - who is also my first beta-reader for my novels - finished reading through Book 2 yesterday. Unfortunately I'm a little behind in reviewing and incorporating her suggested edits. Hopefully I get caught up this weekend.

Significantly, however, her first question when I arrived home from work yesterday evening was, "When will you have Book 3 ready for me to read?"

Book 2 has definitely struck the tone and balance I had intended for it. There's still more polishing to do, of course. But whereas Book 1 was an introduction to many of the characters and to the series, Book 2 is where it becomes Epic Fantasy.

Status Update - Book 2 - The Beta-Reader Process Progresses

Sometimes it seems as if progress comes too slowly when writing or editing. The important thing, of course, is that progress comes.

I have incorporated the recommended additions from my first beta reader for Book 2, from Chapter 6 - out of a total of eight chapters. So I'm roughly two thirds of the way through the first beta reader review process.

Little by little, I can see the finished elements for Book 2 falling into place.

Status Update - Book 2 and the Beta Reader Review Process

I have finished incorporating the suggestions and edits for Chapters 1 through 4, from my first round of beta-reader review, for Book 2 in the Stormfall Chronicles. I'd estimate that the book is currently a third of the way through the first beta-reader review cycle. The overall word count has actually dropped by a few hundred words between the beginning of the beta-reader process and today.

For those who might be wondering, the second book is expected to have a total of eight chapters - but the two longest chapters still lie ahead. It's a grueling process at times, but its also essential to producing a quality finished product.

Second Book Review on Amazon

This past week, my initial novel received its second review on Amazon. I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to thank blogger Jenna "Meadow" for taking the time to review this book.
https://www.thebookofmeadow.com/all-the-books/storms-herald

For an indie author in particular, customer reviews are the lifeblood of our books success or failure. The quantity and accumulated ratings associated with these reviews are what drive - not only the algorithms which Amazon uses to dictate which books to showcase - but also determine which books are accepted by various promotional web-services. While these elements are less important to traditionally published books, which will have a publishing house with its own publicists and connections to brick-and-mortar book sellers, they are absolutely vital to the indie author.

Obviously, as an author, we all prefer higher ratings over lower ratings. Nonetheless, honest reviewer input can be invaluable towards improving our craft and product. In response to one of the questions posed by Jenna's review, I can only reply that Baxter's story arc becomes a little more prominent and fleshed out in the second installment in the series.

Thanks again to Jenna for taking the time to write down her impressions and publish them. :-)

Fourth Draft for Book 2 Complete

I have just completed my fourth draft of the second book in the Stormfall series. As has been noted before, the editing process - getting the chapters, story and characters "right" - has taken longer than I had at first anticipated. Editing is always a painstaking, arduous process. It is an unavoidable part of writing.

Going from the third to the fourth draft of the text, the word count has continued to rise: from 109,000 words at the completion of the third draft, to 118,000 words today. This has come from a combination of scenes which still needed to be added, as well as from embellishing the details and descriptions provided under many of the existing scenes.

While the fourth draft has taken longer to develop and edit than I might have hoped, on the positive side, I had already begun to provide copies of the earlier chapters in the book to my middle daughter to begin the beta-reader process. As of today, she has completed her review and recommended edits for the first two chapters - allowing me to get a jump-start on completing the fifth draft of the book. This will be the first draft to take advantage of input from my beta readers. My expectation is that I will need another two rounds of edits before the book is ready for release. As I may have mentioned before, writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint.