The Hope of Memory [Update 29] Rom Tar Fourth Draft

Wanted to make a quick post to start the New Year, and provide an update.

Rom Tar

I finished the fourth draft of Rom Tar last month, after three months of hemming and hawing and making various edits from the copious "Things to Remember" list that I maintain as I edit and re-read the series.  I use this list to make sure details and events stay consistent across books.  Like when I re-read The Distant recently, there were some details I totally forgot about, and wanted to mention again in Rom Tar.  So I have my "Things to Remember" list for that.

I also spent a lot of the last two months fleshing out a huge timeline for events before and after The Hope of Memory, so that the additional history presented in Rom Tar makes sense, and to pave the way for future expansions of the story, if/when I decide to do that (looking more likely every day).

The fifth draft of Rom Tar will be my "audio" draft.  This is where I read the entire book out loud and correct wording and dialogue that sounds wrong.  I started doing this with Wilders and it's very helpful to identify those trouble spots.

I didn't participate in NaNoWriMo as I alluded to back in October.  It was more important to finish the fourth draft of Rom Tar.

A New Novel

However... I have started writing a new novel that has been brewing for the last year.  Enough of the outline and notes have been written, so I finally stopped putting it off and set finger to keyboard.  It will be a shorter novel, perhaps half of one of The Hope of Memory.  And I'm not writing this one longhand, I'm typing it up.

The book is called Hop Limit and it's about the afterlife.  I would like to try and publish this one professionally... might be a little easier to do so with this one versus The Hope of Memory.

The Hope of Memory [Update 28] World Notes

First off, all versions of The Distant and Wilders are available again.  All issues have been fixed.  Yay me.

Secondly, I'm still working on Rom Tar, of course, though it's slow going.  I have tons of notes on details that I wanted to add into the book, but I'm having trouble working some of them in without it sounding forced.  Others I've decided to not bother with (not important enough).  Hopefully I can get them all taken care of by the end of the month and move on to the next draft.  At that point the content will be set in stone.

World Notes

Thirdly, I've spent a lot of time during the last few months writing what I call "world notes."  Basically the additional history and background that I hadn't outlined prior to writing the trilogy.

Most of this content will not be in the trilogy, but it's important that it's all there so I know where everything has come from.  I'm also outlining what happens after the trilogy is over... that way I can work clues in now.  So that way if I ever decide to continue the story (not out of the realm of possibility), it will make sense in the context of everything else and not feel out of place or tacked on.

NaNoWriMo

And fourthly, I'm considering doing this for the first time.  If you don't know what that is, check here: http://nanowrimo.org/

I generally like getting a first draft done as soon as possible, and I'd really like to get a jump start on the next novel I have planned.  But I also want to get Rom Tar finished so I can move on for sure and not have some other thing hanging over my head.

So I'm still undecided.

The Hope of Memory [Update 27] Status Report

I haven't posted in a while... not that anyone has noticed.  This is more for my own records and transparency than anything else.  But I've been working a lot on Rom Tar, don't worry.

However, as I was re-reading The Distant to ensure Rom Tar was consistent with it, I realized that some parts are simply bad.  Like cringe-worthy, and it was pretty upsetting, considering I went over that book so many damn times.  I thought it was good, but apparently my writing and editing skills have actually progressed a lot in the last 3 years.  And perhaps that's part of the perils of self-editing, I don't know.

As such, I've removed The Distant and Wilders from purchase temporarily while I work through a "second edition" of The Distant.  So you can't buy them right now.  The Distant will get a second edition update.  Very little of the storyline will change - one minor scene will be cut, otherwise it's a lot of cosmetic and wording issues.  Wilders will be largely unchanged, aside from a few inserted details and some Kindle formatting issues.

I figure if I'm going to make an update, I might as well do it now to both, since I hardly sell any copies at all.

If you've bought the Kindle versions of those books, you'll get any updates automatically when I publish them.  If you got a trade paperback, then perhaps one day that old edition will be a collector's item.  If you provide me with proof you have a First Edition copy I will send you the Second Edition for free.

They should be available again very, very soon.  I'm working hard to get them done.  Kinda embarrassed I let The Distant sit out there for so long with these issues, but we all make mistakes, I guess.

EDIT: Both ebooks are back online.  :D  Trades unfortunately will be another two weeks, due to the proofing process.