Day 209

Spoiler Alert! May contain planning-stage plot/character details or other spoilers!

01 Jun 2017

Major change of plan alert! After mentioning the possibility of doing the traditional publication route (query agents, agents sell manuscript to publisher, fresh round of editing…), my editor pointed out that my writing is pretty good at a line level, and the best approach in such a case would be another round of developmental editing to tighten up the story, and a little help with query letter drafting. Which, to me, says that’s the right thing to do either way; if the story needs more work to be up to traditional standards, then it needs more work, period. Which is a horrible thought, on the one hand, as I’m potentially sinking in another close to CAN$2k in the process with the remote hope that I can make it back, but… this far in, I really don’t want to back down. So, new plan. The budget for line editing is going into another round of developmental on the same timeline (due Monday, back in three weeks-ish). That gives me a few weeks to try to make some money through other avenues without as much marketing pressure, although I should really get a multi-chapter epub and audiobook preview polished up and start offering that as a newsletter incentive, along with a comprehensive brand, website and platform refresh. Theoretically, the following rewrite should be faster and tighter (here’s hoping!) if I’ve done a good job on this one, and I’m crossing my fingers that drafting the query letters will also be a relatively quick job. The plan from there is to get the queries out as quick as possible to, at a minimum, the agents I think are the strongest bets, mainly those that represent authors with similar genres, recent breakouts and the like, and then take a step back for a few months, focus on building up the freelancing and keep pushing the social marketing channels to higher visibility. I’m thinking I’ll set an intention to publish by the end of the year - or rather, the Christmas season, so December, unless I have a deal in hand or a close approximation of one by that point, so I’ll have to get back on the line edit, proofread and any additional design materials by, oh, beginning of October at the latest… but that gives 2-3 months for a miracle to happen, lol. And a couple months to make enough to cover additional costs, which is also important. At this point, even if I could get an agent on board that quickly, and hear back from a publisher, it’s debatable whether I could get a strong enough offer to make it worthwhile. I figure, if the advance isn’t enough to cover the costs I’ve already invested and make it possible to finish off this book and write the next, I’m better off doing it myself. Not to mention, a small advance seems to indicate the publisher’s lack of intention to back the book in a way that will help it be successful in the first place! And a restrictive contract that gives open-ended right of refusal on additional works, restricts my ability to freelance and write other books to be self-published, or grabs too many additional rights (regions, film etc.) won’t be worth it, so despite having polished the book to a point where I think it’s become much more competitive, I’m still not sure if I’d be better off pushing forward and self publishing either way… but a few months’ break to get the freelancing side of my career growing again seems like a good thing, as does another round of effort to polish the story up even more. So, here we are again, lol. Keep grinding along…

Thoughts on writing the climax & story arc/theme:

Because the Tower is about disconnection and obedience and Cole’s never disconnected, she’s able to break free. The resolution has to tie back to connection and obedience; Freedom is about shallow, disordered connection and no rules. You can survive without connection, but you can’t overcome. Cadence has to help with the Climax somehow. And Ange and Ash? Ravel? Cole thinks she can support connection for others without being a part of it? Denial gives death an opening? Then seeks out/admits connection on her terms?? Needs some sort of critique, opposition or response to the Tower by the end. What’s the story arc resolution? What questions are answered?

Thursday

Start Time: 12:30 pm

Location: Abbotsford; home; couch

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