Scrivener and revising

On 27/10/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

I am currently working at adding at least one new subplot to The Cauldron Bound. I am having a great time, and the story will be *much* better. But I am once again wondering how on earth I revised before Scrivener.

I am a linear writer. I begin at the opening and then I write all the scenes I am aware of. This leaves me with a first draft that is more or less stable.

When I began to revise ( which took a couple of years), I wrote new scenes on paper and typed them in. Then I had a period where I basically used the first draft as an outline. Which went faster, ironically, than writing new scenes on paper and typing them in. ( Though I am not certain if the drafts were better.)

Scrivener?

Is so much more flexible. If I discover a plot hole I just have to add a new text and write the new scene. Need to add a chapter? Just add click on add folder, and it is there.

For example, when I write new scenes, from a new POV, I prefer to create a seperate folder, write the scenes and then slot them into the proper places. Which is the closest I come to writing out of order. Scrivener lets me do that. It is so easy to add new scenes. And I am planning to add a lot of them. ( At least 10, probably closer to 15.)

Something to remember: The first draft of the Wild Hunt? Was 22 000 words. The second was 27 000. The third draft, based on Kari’s feedback was 39 000 words.

This draft? As of yesterday, it is at almost 21 700 words. And I am far from done yet. I am aiming to add another 5-7000 words. I have a feeling that after Kari’s feedback, not to mention *editorial* feedback, it will be at least as long as the Wild Hunt. And to think that this was a simple and straightforward novella. To be fair, the plot is still rather straightforward.

A late night lightbulb moment:

On 21/10/201421/10/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

Last night I had a lightbulb moment that went something like this.

Brain: So why did the Crone show up outside the cave?

Me: *groans and tries to go back to sleep*
Brain: Why did that warrior decide to help them?

Me: …. Oh damn it. You want this simple novella to become a freaking novel, don’t you?

So that’s how estimated wordcount of The Cauldron Bound, my straightforward novella, grew to almost twice its current length (21 000 + 2 new POVs= 35-40 000 words). Bear in mind that this is an estimated wordcount for the pre-beta draft. My beta readers will point out a lot of things that will lead to a longer draft. As will the editor. So I have a strong feeling that the final wordcount will be at least 40 000 words.

But first I need to write the synopsis and figure out all the new plot threads and how they affect the existing ones. ( I can already tell that the story will be much better.) So I will be a bit busy for the next month or two.

Fudge recipe

On 20/10/201420/10/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

So last week I made dairy free marshmallow fudge. It was tasty but too sweet for me. So I cobbled together another recipe from several different recipes that is more adapted to swedish palates.

2 dl milk

3 dl sugar ( I used extra fine grained)

60 g butter

1 (150 g) bag of chocolate chips ( preferably dark)

150 g mini marshmallows. ( One bag.)

Flavorings ( mint, walnuts, vanilla)

Mix milk, sugar and butter in a saucepan. Let it boil on mid high heat, with constant stirring, until the candy termometer show 234 F. Pull it away from the heat and mix in the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate have melted. Dump in the minimarshmallows and stir until the marshmallows have melted and there are no white traces left.

Add whatever flavoring you want, stir until it is evenly mixed in.

Cover a form w baking parchment, before pouring the batter into the form. Smooth out the batter and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. Or outside if you have a balcony.

Lessons learned:

After I finished the second batch, I knew I made a couple of mistakes the first time.

A) The stove was too warm. This meant that the mixture didn’t get to boil long enough.

B) I used the wrong kind of sugar. I used the sugar that dad had is the all purpose sugar that *everyone* has ( different brands but the same sugar) , which I suspect wasn’t fine grained enough for Fudge making.

That said, I made mistakes the second time too. For starters, I bought the wrong chocolate chips. And I forgot the flavorings. Oops.

Other than that, the fudge was very tasty!

Fudge!

On 17/10/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

I had one of those aha moments this moments this morning. I have been talking about making fudge for months, but I haven’t done it. Until I realised that it was much smarter to make fudge at Dad’s since he has a dishwasher. So I trudged off to buy the needed ingredients and a digital termometer. And then I went home and made fudge!

I used this recipe, and the result was excellent. However, the next time I think I will use less sugar since my body is telling me that it was too much. Also, when I looked at swedish recipes for fudge ( without marshmallows), the standard is 3 dl, not 3 cups…

But it was tasty!

And later this month I will get Catie’s dairy free fudge. And recipes. 🙂

My writing process

On 14/10/201413/10/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

The revision is going a bit slow, but I am making progress. Which is the important part. Anyway, I have been thinking about what I do during the various drafts, and thought I would list them here.

First draft:
Get the story down. This draft is riddled with plot holes, telling and awkward writing.

Second draft:
Fix the plot holes and the telling.

Send the draft to a Beta reader or two, so that they can point out the weak spots that I missed.

Third draft:

Fixing the awkward writing, adding descriptions, etc. Basically remove the telling. It isn’t uncommon for me to add 5-10 000 words in this stage.

Send draft to editor or another beta reader. ( Depending on length of the story.)

Fourth draft:

Fix all the things that beta reader or editor noticed.

Send to copy editor

Fifth draft:

Polish, polish, polish.

Where to buy Exile

On 13/10/201413/10/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

Since Exile is available at more places than Kobo now, I thought I would list some of the places you can buy Exile. Sadly, Amazon isn’t one of them since Overdrive seems to not distribute to Amazon. Or BN. ( Though BN might simply be very, very slow.)

And yes. I am gnashing my teeth over the fact that one of the biggest e-book distributors doesn’t distribute to the biggest store.

Note: This list is incomplete, since Overdrive distributes to a lot of stores.

International:

Kobo ( all the stores.)

UK:

Germany:

US:

I am not certain if it is available in Ibooks. It should be, but since I don’t have Itunes, I cannot check.

Adobe DE, Scribd and other reading related things.

On 10/10/201418/01/2016 By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations, Writing

On Monday The Digital reader reported that Adobe DE 4 is spying on Users. And since ADE is the most common program to read DRM’d epubs with, it freaked a lot of readers out. I’ll admit that I am one of them. And despite the fact that the previous versions don’t send data, I switched to Bluefire. The drawback with Bluefire is that it doesn’t detect e-readers so I cannot use it for library books. For purchased books, though, it works just fine. And since I strip the DRM of all books I buy, I just need a program to open the DRM’d book.

Also this week, Harlequin announced that they signed up with Scribd. I.. have mixed feelings about Scribd but I decided to sign up again. The fact that I used a coupon which means the first 3 months are free helps. A lot. But I think I will use Scribd to sample new to me authors. Read Book 1 in a series and if I like the book I’ll buy it.

Earlier this month ( or maybe late September) Ellora’s Cave sued Dear Author. Which made every romance reader and author say WTF?! ( And a lot of non-romance people too.) But what makes me happy, though, is that the fundraiser for the legal fund founded in 4 days. Seriously. I still smile whenever I think of that.

Rambles ahead

On 09/10/2014 By MikaelaIn Books, Writing

This will be a slightly rambling post, since I am tired and has a slight headache. Sorry.

If you follow me on Twitter, you already know that I finished Frosthold a week ago and I am currently revising The Cauldron Bound. The revisions are going really good. I have added almost 2000 words so far, and I am roughly at the 40% mark. So I am really happy. The goal is to finish the revision by November 1st. Then it is off to Kari for Betareading, while I begin to type in Frosthold.

Hm… I just realised that I need to become better at spreading the revising out. So maybe I will write the Brownie Liason prequel instead. Or maybe not.

In other news, I am on a Romantic Suspense glom. I am happy, though, since I have broken my reading slump. Well.. I guess for most people reading 1-2 books per week are a normal pace. For me that equals a reading slump, since I can easily read 1-2 books per day. If I have time.

I think part of the reading slump was because I am burned out a bit on my normal fare of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. I am still reading and enjoying my autobuy authors, though.

Speaking of autobuy authors: There is a lot of good books out Oct 25th. My brain is saying whee, but my wallet is whimpering. Speaking of good books. Well, great books, actually. You have supported Chrysoula Tzavelas Kickstarter for Wolf interval, haven’t you?
If not, check out the trailer she created!

Review: Wolf Interval by Chrysoula Tzavelas

On 01/10/201418/01/2016 By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations

When Chrysoula idly said ” One for Catie, a One for.. who?” in the war room, I leaped on the chance to read an ARC. And I am glad I did.

This book mostly took place in the Senyaza version of Seattle, except not. It was fascinating to get to explore other aspects of the Senyaza universe, and to realise that not even Demons and Angels are perfect, that they can make mistake.

I really liked AT. She was scarred after having grown up in her Father’s less than tender care. It was touching to see how she wanted to have friends, yet she didn’t dare to. Yejan and Brynn both had secrets. Their secrets was gradually revealed during the book. I loved how the secrets affected the book. . And then there was Amber… who was more than a bit creepy. I also liked how their relationships changed through book, and how they represented different aspects of the Senyaza universe.

Together with the help of Yejan’s friends Cat and Jen, this slightly motley crew searched for the Horn of the Wild Hunt.The plot was well crafted, and filled with unexpected twists that made sense when they happened. I kept reading, wanting to know what happened next, if they would find the Horn, if AT’s life would be better at the end,

When I reached the end, I was slightly disappointed. Not because of the book was bad, far from it, , but because I wanted to read more about the adventures of AT, Yejan, Brynn, Amber, Cat and Jen. In fact, I’ll be extremely disappointed if this is the only book about them, because I loved the theme about wanting to be normal, and the lengths you go to fit in.

If you don’t buy this book, I will be very disappointed because you definitely should. In fact, you can go and support the kickstarter that launched yesterday!

Cover Reveal: The Cauldron Bound

On 01/10/201429/09/2014 By MikaelaIn news

Last week I gave the subscribers to my newsletter a sneak peek at the cover for The Cauldron Bound. Today I am revealing it to the rest of the world. Isn’t it pretty?! Just like with Exile I designed the cover myself. Mainly because if you search for ancient warriors on Depositphotos, there are a very limited number of stock photos that shows ancient warriors. I thought about it and decided I did not want to pay for a cover this time around. In the end, this was the stockphoto that best fit the story, even if it isn’t 100 percent accurate.