Wanted: Testreaders for Work in Progress

[Yjar]

Grats on 230k+

That's pretty awesome.

[KatG]

Oh wait, I just realized -- 230,000 words -- don't want it at all. How much are you planning to cut? (Will contact you about ms. sending. Child not yet back in school.)

[Dawnstorm]

Thanks, guys. It's still sinking in.

Oh wait, I just realized -- 230,000 words -- don't want it at all. How much are you planning to cut? (Will contact you about ms. sending. Child not yet back in school.)

Well, it's 213.000 words. Not that it makes that much of a difference. It is quite a big book.

How much will I cut? Entire scenes will fall. Some will be reduced drastically. And the final word-flow edit should also get rid of about a word a sentence. As an example: I intend to re-write day one of the conference from the PoV of the guards - which makes for a less detailled and more summarised scene, since they're really on standby until something happens. That alone might get rid of about 15 k.

But:

I'll expand the setting, too, which may mean word-additions (a paragraph here; a word there...). Ever since the Aimless One acquired lore status, for example, I intend to provide a story about the mythical figure; Northern legend in Acurdinian translation is the plan.

The upshot of this? I don't edit for a word count; I edit for story, theme, setting and character. I cannot predict how many words this is going to be at that point. Cutting stage comes after I have a story that I'm totally happy with.

[KatG]

I couldn't help tweaking you on the length.

But yes, of course, it will be the story and not a word goal that directs the cutting, though I'm expecting a lot of pov's to be reduced in the first half.

The Shriners brought their little circus back to our neighborhood, and I couldn't help thinking of your novel. But I don't think they'll have anything in it quite as cool as in yours.

[Dawnstorm]

But yes, of course, it will be the story and not a word goal that directs the cutting, though I'm expecting a lot of pov's to be reduced in the first half.

For the conference, yes. For the rest of the novel, not so much. I don't want people to have the time and settle on a character. I've actually thought of increasing bit-player points-of-view slightly.

I do need to rebalance some of the povs, though. I've been too "regular" in the beginning, as I wasn't yet comfortable with the requirements of the story.

[Dawnstorm]

I have written an entry for this months flash fiction contest. First I didn't get around to editing it, and then, with the deadline close, I thought I'd skip editing and just post it as it is. I didn't get around to that either. Anyway, the story is a tie in to my current WiP, and it helped me realise a few things about conflict.

I've got a pretty good handle on the internal conflict of the Order of the Writ; I also knew that there was an internal conflict (though not as fierce as the one within the Order) in the Academy, and that it had to do with "Chaos Sorcery", but I was never really sure how exactly that looked.

After writing this story, I began thinking about its implications. A short summary:

One of my characters, the gambler Barnabas Reed, has one year of training as a mage (in a world of dying magic). While there, he skipped all that traditional magic stuff (boring) and went straight to the source. Sorcery. Since magic is dying, this should not be possible. There was a lot of discussion at the Academy - should they kick him out (sorcery is dangerous), or should they supervise him (sorcery might bring back their faction's power).

One of his teachers was Gorsht Helbi (another character in the novel). Although not interested in chaos sorcery himself, he supported the latter camp.

Now, casting magic is strenous, and Reed was sick for days after the feat. (Post-magic sickness is a fact at the time of the story, that any magic worker has to face - mage and sorceror alike.) In addition, he didn't like the controversy that sprang up around him. Before the Academy ever settled on anything, Reed just left, saying no to magic.

Now, all of this doesn't really feature enough in my novel - though it is a factor through to the resolution. What I need to do is:

- Give every Academy character a postion on "chaos sorcery".

- Have the interpretation of "the Aimless One" as "chaos sorcery" more prominent.

- Work out the Academically-theoretic relationship of Sorcery to:

- the healing powers of the Order
- the natural magic of the Rhonian indiginous population (the "witches")

This is a major breakthrough for me, as I've never found a positive handle on the interior conflict of the Academy. All the Academy characters should come out stronger, come the next edit.

It's also an important motivator to finally start editing. So:

Thank you, flash fiction contest, whose deadline I have missed. There is no wasted writing.