Finishing up the first edit of my second novel. No title I am comfortable with yet. It is a sequel to my first. My editor, whom I hired from Reedsy, has made many comments. Some of them are positive, most of them are not. It took a while to get used to this but most of the time I see his point.
The major error consists of my assumption that the readers of the second book will have read the first one. Second, he consistently asks for more descriptive passages. These issues are related. I intentionally tried to avoid that in the first draft but again, the point is made. I will probably have to draw a map of the world of Conor and Gray as well. What I have discovered that my desire to create a protagonist who is not omniscient and thus not above wondering what the hell is going on and write a book in the third person are conflicting at times. The editor is reminding me readers do expect a wider picture than I have been giving them. Changes are being made, and they feel like they are part of a creative process so that is good. It doesn’t feel as repetitive as I feared. Still fashioning story.
Writing a short story about Conor and Gray as lawmen investigating a murder. It is part of their back story and I am enjoying it. A bit formulaic, murder mysteries, but who am I to argue with that formula? The story continues to grow in length and complexity, but its writing itself in a sense. My job I think is to make the well-known process interesting.
Apologies for the late email. Got caught up in a family get together. Won’t happen again. Hell, it probably will.
Here’s some of my prose:
The soldiers left him alone, but it was a big army and sometimes recruits new to training tried insults, jokes and attempts to really hit him. Not all of them had heard of his blinding speed and immense strength so occasionally, Conor would look at the commanding officer. If the man gave a nod, he would beat the man senseless in seconds. If not, Conor simply held up his hands and walked away.