So Oranje is out, an accomplishment I’m very proud of and I’m happy with how it turned out. I think it’s a good book and I hope others do as well. However, I don’t think it’s perfect.
As I’ve begun to work on the first draft of Choices, I’ve been thinking about what I want to aim to do better this time.
- Get the description right – This was worked on a lot once an editor got involved with Oranje, but for Choices I’m going to do a better job from the start, so that when it gets to the editing stage it get to the next level. Description is so important to books, how the characters and setting are described makes the story feel real. It helps anchor it and allow a readers imagination to run wild.
- A little less conversation… – There is quite a bit of dialog in Oranje. It got cut down in editing by improving the description and getting rid of a little of repetition, but I need to improve it for Choices. I’m aiming for faster flowing more natural feeling dialog, that keeps up the pace of the story and doesn’t get bogged down.
- ….a little more action – This will partly come from the story of Choices, there are going to be a lot more space battles, but that’s only one type of action there can be in a book. Arguments between friends, heated debates, political manoeuvrings, back handed dealing, betrayal. All of those are kinds of action and I need to work on how I portray all of them.
That is what I’m aiming for. Will I get all of them right? Of course I won’t, but if you aim for perfection and don’t quite get there, you’re still in a better place than where you started. Let’s see how I do.