Inkshares editors have indicated a need to be more consistent with descriptive language throughout my story. I wrote this today and it makes me feel good so I wanted to share it with a little bit of chest pounding because whether it’s good or bad isn’t as important as that feeling that reminds me of why I enjoy writing. This paragraph occurs in a chapter after the inciting incident in MINE but before the 1st act turn. Plot points are important.

“Is it something I said?” He looks at me with implacable eyes and I feel judgment. Resentment. Not by him. Some other little fiend judges me this day. I shrink into myself while the light spool draws tighter toward gray grayer grayest with rain and more rain draining the world to a dark nothing the way mixing too many colors becomes an oozing brackish mud absorbing everything. Like Mount Vesuvius erupting its smothering volcanic ash leaving a hollow where once, for a mere moment, we occupied a space. Or maybe it’s seasonal affective disorder. “The court order hasn’t been lifted, has it?”

Here’s a link to follow MINE. I always try to follow back. https://www.inkshares.com/books/murder-happens

Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit,

Good day and Happy New Year! (Is it already too late in the month to still say that?)

Just a quick update on the latest. As previously reported, I sent back to my editor, Sarah Nivala, the revised manuscript for Bane of All Things on Dec. 13. This, if you recall, was the revision based on my first Editorial Letter that I received from Sarah back in September.

Earlier this week, Sarah sent back Editorial Letter #2 with their assessment of where the manuscript now stands. In short, the end is in sight. But as Sarah notes in the Letter:

 “A question we ask ourselves quite frequently at Inkshares when addressing the quality and marketability of a novel is this: ‘What is it about this novel that necessitates its publication?’ What this really means is that we need to see what it is about a novel that makes it utterly unique. We don’t want to publish works that will fade among the crowd of their genre; we develop stories that offer readers a singular experience … what it is that will make critics and readers alike ravenously devour it?”

For a book, a movie or a TV show, it can be hard to predict or engineer success. All we can do is put out the strongest product we can. What does this mean in BoAT’s case? At this point, it’s about doing further work on the characters to make them more well-rounded and engaging for the reader, raise the stakes by digging deeper into the true nature and motivations of the Big Bad Guy, and offering more sweeping spectacle in terms of the sharing more backstory of this world.

If this sounds like I literally need to sit down for a fresh interview with each of my characters, as if I were producing an episode on each of them for the Biography Channel, you’re right. It is a good time of year, after all, to sit back for some relaxed and honest conversation. 

My intent is to turn this around by end of March.

Thank you again for your faith and support. It typically takes 18-24 months for a book to be released from the day a publisher first agrees to take it on. I am doing my level best to shorten that cycle considerably with BoAT. (FYI, the one-year anniversary of when Inkshares said yes is April 29).

Cheers

Leo

Hello,

Waiting for the book “Richly Drawn”? Time for a quick update! I’m delivering a new draft to Inkshares in January.

What does this mean for you? Well, it means there are still several months left before you get your copy of the book. Sorry about that! The publishing business may seem slow, but it is a very thorough and good process. My editor and I are hard at work making “Richly Drawn” as strong as it can be, and we hope you’ll enjoy the final result.

So while you wait, have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. I’ll come back to you as soon as I have more concrete news.

Thanks aplenty,

Wolf Kraft

Howdy.

Back in September, I delivered my last update on the production status of that epic fantasy novel, Bane of All Things (BoAT), which you helped me to crowdfund with Inkshares.

With that last update, I had just received my Editorial Letter – a comprehensive assessment of BoAT’s strengths and weaknesses to give me a handle on what edits and revisions I must make to ensure this story is the best version of itself that it can be prior to publication.

I had a three-month window in which to complete said revisions and return the manuscript to my Inkshares editor.

I am glad to say that the work has been completed ahead of schedule and I sent the revised manuscript back yesterday – on Friday the 13th, because, why not?

It’s become a meatier novel than I had originally planned, having grown from 129,000 to 150,000 words in total with this revision. That puts it in the 500-page ballpark. Pretty hefty, when compared to the average novel lengths for genres like romance, or suspense thriller or science fiction, but still modest in size when compared to the weighty works of Tier 1 fantasy authors like Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin or Patrick Rothfuss.

So, what’s next?

I wait (for perhaps a couple of months – they are busy folks over there and it is the holidays) for the revised manuscript to be reviewed and assessed. This will likely yield a second Editorial Letter for additional fine tuning.

Like I said before, getting a quality product out into the world is a slow process.

What I do hope will come within the next couple of months, based on the assessment of this latest version of BoAT, is clarity around an actual publication date – hopefully for the fall. Rest assured, as soon as I know, you will know.

In the meantime, thank you again for agreeing to support me on this journey. I wouldn’t be here without you. 

All the best to you and your family for the holiday season.

Cheers

Leo

Happy Giving Thanks Day!

Dean Fearce is grateful and appreciative for many things not the least of which are you, my friends, family and supporters, who have gotten behind this project and have waited patiently for its fruition. Being Thanksgiving, it felt appropriate to provide an update on the status of the book:

https://www.inkshares.com/books/murder-happens

The latest manuscript was submitted to Inkshares this past summer. It went through a read by the editor. It came back with interesting comments and observations. The bottom line was that the plot was not working. Recommendations on books to read were made. Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice was one. I tried to read it but failed. Tried to watch the film and failed. 

Moving on, I found a tattered copy of Gardner’s The Art of Fiction online. It’s on my bedside table held together with a rubber band. It was entertaining and informative with a side of anxious guilt that I hadn’t gotten a degree in literature and therefore knew not the high-browed references he made. But as I said it was informative. And entertaining. That was unexpected.

Read a few other books in that time that weren’t recommended by the editor. Breathless by Shane Lindemoen was good. It’s recommended reading. I originally backed the project on Inkshares but Shane chose to publish it elsewhere. He’s now started an independent publishing concern, which is intriguing.

Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Breathless-Shane-Lindemoen/dp/1949472620/

Bunches of authors like Mike Welch and Susan Hamilton, both met on Inkshares, are publishing themed short-stories. If you haven’t seen the Writing Bloc anthologies, you can find them on Facebook. The editor accepts submissions for projects well in advance of publication.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/383485668831888/

In regards to MINE, I took a break to absorb the feedback (it’s never easy to accept helpful criticism, but it’s always advisable) and do additional reading and watching to figure out how to plot the novel. I love good stories, so it’s not like work. Good news is I’ve arrived at a solution. Next steps are to read the manuscript through, then begin the re-write starting December 1st. Hopefully you will hear from me again next year with a loud and resounding cheer, something like Eureka!

Hugs and kisses,

Dean Fearce

Thanksgiving Day, 2019