books

Let’s talk about set(ting) baby!

Yes that title is there entirely for the pun.

With editing work on Oranje about to start I thought I would talk about the setting for the story and some of the themes that will be part of it. This post will summarise them and then I’ll elaborate on each one in its own entry but I hope these will help communicate a lot of the ideas behind the setting.

  • The when – The September series and subsequent stories set in the same universe will take place over a thousand years in the future where humanity has spread across the galaxy and there are hundreds of colonised worlds.
  • A decelarando universe – Best summed up by this article from Rocketpunk Manifesto, technological progress in the setting has slowed down so tech wise it is not too far from what might be seen over the next few centuries (or at least as much as we can predict).
  • Balkanised humanity – Once united humanity is now divided into nations that do not tend to go beyond the region of space they are in. September is one of those regions.
  • ‘Realistic’ technologies – Spacecraft are powered by nuclear reactors and use chemical engines to get around. Radiators are a necessity to get rid of heat, 3d printing is used in construction and also in medical areas as well. It’s aiming to be based about what we can predict now
  • Well, mostly realistic technologies – This is not aiming to be hard sci-fi, there are a few additional techs added for story reasons. Those being faster-than-light travel and communications and artificial gravity. These technologies are going to have sensible limitations on them, no appearing in high orbit to drop hugely accelerated bombs on a planet then disappearing in the blink of an eye.
  • Diverse humanity – We’re a diverse species and I intend to get some of that across in the setting for the book. Much of the population of worlds in September are from Africa and India originally and I’m trying to avoid mono-culture planets as much as possible as a) they’re not very realistic b) they’re not very interesting either.

So those are the goals I am aiming for with the setting and the background to the story. I want it to feel like it is part of an on-going history and world that exists and not just a background that has been created just for this story to exist in. It should be complex, diverse, difficult and layered.

It should be a setting based on humans for a story about people.

Next time, I talk more about why I’m setting it so far in the future.

Oranje Cover Reveal

I am pleased to reveal the awesome cover for book one in the September Series, Oranje.

Ebook (click to enlarge images)

Lusted_ORANJE_EbookEdition_Final

Paperback

Lusted_ORANJE_PrintEdition_Final

The synopsis on the back cover is liable to change before the book is released.

This was done by the awesome Jason Gurley (website, twitter, tumblr) who has recently done some amazing covers for Hugh Howey like this awesome one for Half Way Home.

He has been a joy to work with and I couldn’t have wished for a better cover.

The Second Draft is Done!

Phew. 113,782 words done from 21st April until 9th of July. Very happy with the pace I maintained.

It’s interesting comparing how I feel now compared to when I finished the first draft. That was elation and joy, I’d got to the end of a book. I knew it was rough and needed a lot of work but I’d made it and I already had a good idea of what I needed to change for the second draft.

This time round it was more a pause than a celebration. The second draft is a lot better than the first, the story works from start to finish and I’m a lot happier with it. But I know it needs a lot of editing and fine tuning. Coming to the end of it is more of a half way point in the process of finishing this book instead of an end itself.

Next I’m looking to find some proofreaders and an editor to go over the story to make sure it makes sense and works. Then I’ll get into the proper editing of it. I’ve got an almost 114,000 word book now I want to make it good.

Onwards I go.

The State of the Second Draft

As I’m past the half way point in the second draft I thought I would do a more in-depth post about how it’s all going.

First off I am feeling a lot happier with this draft than the first one. I keep a list of revisions I want to make for each one, adding to it as I go along, I don’t like to make changes as I go along. For the first draft the list of revisions notes was big, loads of book ones bullet points and at least a couple for each chapter. This time round there are a few tweaks I want to make to some chapters and alongside some other changes to how I describe some characters and locations.

The story feels like it flows a lot better, I think I’ve managed to arrange it in such a way that it has a good pace but allows for a few quieter moments to show more of different characters. It’s been easier to write as well, having done the first draft and revised outline I’ve known what I needed to do and it has felt right.

So overall I am happy with it. It’s not perfect, far from it, and is going to need a good editor and beta readers to finish it. The plan now is to finish the second draft and then make the few revisions I have in mind, which should take me until mid-July. Then I will hire an editor and put the call out for beta readers to do a story line pass before moving on to the line-by-line editing and improvement.

Still on schedule for a release before the end of the year. I have my own date I am aiming to release it for but whether I meet that depends on how much editing is required. I’m not going to rush the book out if it is not ready, but I’m also going to make sure I don’t over-edit it as well.

Onwards I go.

Why I Have Word Count Goals

As I work my way through the second draft I thought ‘d post about why I think having word count goals are a great thing.

I’ve recently upped mine form 1,000 to 1,400 words a day, with a weekly total of 10,000. This is more than 7 days of reaching the goal will do but there is always some extra time I can spend making sure I hit my goal.

I find the goals useful for two reasons. They give me something small to aim for each day and are great for checking my progress.

The first reason I am finding very helpful right now as the second draft looks like it will be around 120,000 words by the time I’ve finished it, which is a big book. Focusing on each day at a time makes sure I slowly chip away at that goal and get closer little by little. The second reason lets me plan in advance for when I may need to hire an editor, or if I need to change my plans if I slow down/speed up as time goes on.

I set my goals based on how I have been doing, when I started my first draft my daily goal was 500 words. As I made progress and started beating the goal regularly I raised it to 750, then 1,000 and now to 1,400 on the second draft. Because I have my outline done I always know what I am working towards so each day writing moves the story forward and brings the book that much closer to being finished.

I know this advice sometimes gets bandied around on its own, but I think it must be done when you have a plan. Setting a goal without one could result in striving to hit the word count for the word counts sake, not for the good of the work as a whole. For that is the thing, when you are working to the plan and setting goals based on what you can achieve they won’t feel like a challenge. The goals will feel like natural progress markers as you write.

A Series Intro

A video introducing a future series of videos!