August 17, 2022
Week 97
Emotional State: Plotting & Dangling Threads
Books
There is a lot going on in my world right now. Some of it good, some of it potentially tricky, and some of it I’m just going to ignore. I have a big decision coming up and I’m doing what all good procrastinators do and putting it off.
But it has nothing to do with books. In the book world, there is a lot of movement. I’ve gotten the first drafts of my covers for The Tidal Space Between and The Dark Space Between. I used different services for them (one cheap and one not so cheap), and it shows. That’s alright, though, because it’ll get there in the end.
I hope.
I love the concept for Book 2. It gave me that pit of my stomach excitement feeling, and it fits really well into my overall series. A few tweaks, some edits on the blurb, and it’ll be ready for its reveal.
The prequel, however, was not even close to a fantasy cover and so I’ve sent it back for more revisions. We’ll see if they do what I want them to do, but I’m not feeling optimistic about it. And with my deadline for publishing looming, it’s causing anxiety. Which I’m doing my best to ignore.
However, what I can’t ignore is the feedback I got on Book 2 from my worldbuilder. He loved Seraphina’s journey, but felt the external plot was lacking. There are points that will get resolved in future books, but that wasn’t the problem. It was that none of them get resolved in this one. And there are a lot of dangling threads.
To be fair, my beta reader said something similar, so he’s not entirely wrong, even though I desperately want him to be.
After doing my best not to overreact (I’m glad I have a good poker face), and a deeper conversation about how to make that happen without massive rewrites, I think I have a way forward. I’ll not know for sure until I get into it and start adding missing moments, dialogue, and other pivots to create that connection, though. I really don’t want to add new scenes in this. I may have to, which sucks, since I’ve had it line edited and copyedited already.
But first, I have to get the prequel set up for publishing and with my cover issues, format it, and finalize all the edits, I have to say I’m feeling the pressure. I know it’ll work out and I just have to put my head down and make it happen, but it just feels overwhelming.
Especially if you add it to the big life thing looming over my head. But we aren’t talking about that, no matter how much it preys on my mind.