Welcome to my newest ad-hoc blog – my novel updates! A chance for me to document my progress on my ongoing novel edits. For those of who you have recently followed me (hi!), you can check out my novel page for more information on my WIP!
In previous monthly blogs, I’ve included a small section about my novel “Assassins 1”, whenever there was an update to warrant words being dedicated to it. I still haven’t chosen a title for it, but I have tentatively called the series The Akrion Cycle. For a story that has been ongoing for almost 2 and a half years, this is quite a monumental milestone in my process! I’ve finally nailed down the overall theme of my stories, especially the wider arc – Assassins is trilogy one of 3 trilogies that I’m planning for this world, and I needed a name which touches on aspects of all three trilogies not just the first one!
In terms of the first story in this series, “Assassins 1”, I’m in the middle of yet another editing round of section 1. Nailing characterisation is really important to me – before I can go through and overhaul the remaining ¾ of the book (some of which is still the origjanl draft from my nanowrimo 2018!) I need to understand who my characters are. In the last set of drafts, I’ve added a new MC, a new POV and aged everyone up by about 10 years. It’s shifted the tone of the story quite significantly, for the better but means another round of edits to the key opening sequence.
Beginnings are always tough, and I think series beginnings are even tougher. You’re not just setting up the book but the larger arcs that will go across the trilogy, or even further beyond that. A lot of my edits this month have been around shaping what I’m revealing in the key sequences, why, and how this impacts the characters during the rest of the story.
The goal for the next few months is to nail this section. I’m almost there, and hoping that I can finish that editing round before the start of June. Given the current state of the manuscript, it’ll be a bit of a push, but then I’m always up for a bit of a challenge!
Alex.J.Cobalt is a fantasy writer from the UK. When she’s not working away at her fantasy novel series, she posts free flash fictions on her website, along with regular blogs about writing.
Featured Image by Freddy Castro on Unsplash
More of my writing blogs:
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The other day I finally got around to watching Hannah Gadsby’s most excellent one hour Netflix special Nanette. I’d already watched her following show, Douglas, (which if you haven’t watched … More Stories (and your stories) are important - The World of “What If”
What if there were dragons? What if there weren’t dragons? I was having a rather in depth conversation the other day regarding worldbuilding. In the short space of one hour, … More The World of “What If”
