WIP#01 Salandrine
- Wordcount: 21.400
- Status: editing first draft
These past weeks I’ve made a lot of changes. I had to scrap and rewrite some scenes, but I made it to the midpoint! Guys, I’m finally halfway of editing!
Book title change
As you might have already noticed, I changed the book title from Dragon Blessed to Salandrine. Finally! It took me a while to make the decision, although I’ve known for some time now that it had to be done. Dragon Blessed is an awesome book title, but sadly enough it’s already in use by another author.
Story length
Turns out my writing has been growing in more than just skill!
With the start of 2017, I had decided to focus my writing on short stories and flash fiction so I could learn to finally finish something instead of struggle year after year with an ever changing novel. So here I was, trying to keep things short (again), and now realizing this will not be a short story, not a novelette, but a novella.
Plot changes
Anyways, the past two weeks I’ve made some big changes. I noticed the first half of ACT 2 was getting pretty boring and melodramatic, with little really happening, so I had to raise the stakes. This lead to me scrapping mistress Nazari, which was going to be a complex and interesting character but leaves me with more room for the two other supporting characters Amal and Na’il.
Instead of lots of wallowing in her own pity, Salandrine now is more active in trying to fix her problems (while still wallowing in private), her goals are clearer, gets into a surprise fight, and is (unknowingly) introduced to the antagonist (it’s just a glimpse though).
Because of the changes in plot I had to revisit my outline for the rest of the book and fix the rest of the plot. I’ve been able to add in some cool new things, like my “solar-wyverns” and the “wyvern-rider” tribe, of which the latter I need to develop their culture. There’s some names I need to fix for ethnicities, do some more character building for the dragon god, and some more. Lots of fun things to do.
Cover art
Having a good and professionally looking book cover is very important in order for a book to sell. I’m far from done writing Salandrine, but I decided to start looking into what it take to get a book cover and found a couple of book cover artists/illustrators. I wanted to know what my options were, and boy am I learning along the way!
I’m looking forward to sharing Salandrine’s cover with you when it’s done!
Kickstarter
The process of writing a novel, from first concepts to publishing (and marketing afterward) is long and hard, and since I’m going to self-publish: expensive. This is why I’m considering making a Kickstarter campaign.
Goals
For the upcoming week(s) I’ll continue editing the first draft of Salandrine, which I hope to have finished at the end of the month. Eight more chapters to go and an estimated word count of 17.000 to add/rewrite (I scrapped almost everything of my previous draft)!
If I decide to go through with this, I also hope to have my Kickstarter campaign ready by then.