That dream was that I would have April off the Dream of Asarlai trilogy and would use this time to research some stuff for the new, all-improved Battle for Odana.
Then I spoke to my publisher on Friday.
In good news, it looks like I’ve got a title for book three – The Rogue Gadda. We are, however, still title-less for book two, and kinda want one as soon as possible. So, back to the drawing board again on that.
In not bad news but have more work to do news, the feedback on book two was – love what’s there, good read, BUT we need to see more of the characters from book one, and Ione’s brother feels as though he’s just been plonked there to cause tension. ‘That’s cause he has just been plonked there to cause tension,’ says I. ‘But he still has to be real,’ says publisher.
So I need to get Maggie and Lucas into the story more, Lucas in particular, and that means re-thinking and re-writing whole slabs of the book. Deadline for new version? End of April. So, Battle for Odana, you’re going to have to keep waiting.
On the plus side, because I’d finished the draft of book three, I’ll have plenty of time for this re-write. And I should have the proofs of book one done by the end of this week. And last night, an idea came to me, and it’s starting to play it’s way through my mind.
The wonderful Donna Maree Hanson has already read and given me some feedback on book three – you gotta love it when someone picks up your manuscript and can’t stop reading it and has it done in 24 hours. She’s going to give me a more detailed crit, but has done up an overview that I do need to consider in terms of what I’ve done in book two. I think that actually, what I though was a clever, clever idea for my antagonist won’t work at all, so I’ll have to change aspects of the end of book two.
It’s good to dig a hole for your characters that they struggle to get out of. But sometimes the hole is too deep, or in the wrong place, and then you need to go back and put them on a new path.