Stormrider: A Local War Story Update

I know, I know. I’m really bad about posting, but here’s an update on Stormrider: A Local War Story. I follow a 4-step editing process (see below). Stormrider is still in Step 1, about one-third done. This is a story that means a lot to me, and I want to get it right. My author’s group loves the story, but they also said they want more time with the characters, more and deeper conversations and interactions, and much deeper world-building. They also told me the pace is too fast, like being on a roller coaster without time to recover. They want the dips, to catch their breath, and spend more down time with Alec. All that is taking more time than I’d originally hoped it would. However, it’s making for a truly amazing story that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. I hope readers will feel the same way.

I’m also debating trying a traditional publisher with this one. My favorite publisher is DAW Books, and I may give them a try. That would occur after Step 3 in my process.

Step 1: Copy Edit 1: This is where I’m currently working. This edit focuses on significant changes, additions, and deletions. When I write a first draft, I immerse myself in the creative process. That’s great for storytelling, but messy when it comes to scenes, plots and subplots, characterization, settings, and story logic. The first copy edit corrects most of this.

Step 2: Copy Edit 2: I go through the book again, this time with the text fresher in my mind. Here, I mostly make tweaks to the edits from Step 1. Big changes are rare. This step also goes much faster.

Step 3: Line Edit 1: This is the least fun part of the edit process. I turn on “Show Formatting” and go through the story line by line. This step ensures that all the formatting is correct, and helps to catch unwanted spaces, bad commas and other punctuation, poor grammar, and spelling errors that Word doesn’t catch, like rind when I meant ring.

Step 4: Line Edit 2: In this step, I upload my manuscript to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, add the cover, and order a physical author’s copy. Then, I do another line edit. I don’t know what it is, but I catch errors in a physical copy that I never see on a computer screen, typically 50-100 errors. When this step is done, the book is ready to publish.

I’m working as fast as I can, and will provide another update when I finish Step 1. Have an Awesome Day!