Making Headway

It feels good to be making progress again, as a writer. With the craziness of the book launch, signings, and then the holidays, I really fell behind on my editing. But, last week, I edited the first six chapters of The Tyrant King. Yay!

Chapter seven is where it starts getting really hairy. I mean, so far we've had two characters die, but now the attacks start hitting home. My main characters are going to face some direct peril, which is always good in a story, but I'm terribly curious to see how my beta readers react.

I'm doing something a little different this time. I have three beta readers who get the story chapter by chapter and give me feedback. I'd planned to stop at chapter three, but the process has been working for me--and providing accountability if I fall behind--so I'm going to stick with it. I love that my beta readers are patient with me. And it really helps that they are loving the story.

One reader, in particular, is troubled by how many small details I had to leave out of The Peasant Queen. What is the main character wearing? What are the details of the room? I'm better at putting those things in now without slowing the pace of the story. I don't have to stop the action to explain how the room looks now, or what the character is wearing--though I don't always have the descriptions right at the front of a scene.

But, this process is all about getting better, right? This is what we do. And some of it we simply have to learn through trial and error.

On to chapter seven!