Publishing and Editing

August 25, 2008 at 7:07 am (down to business, editing, the writing process)
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I wanted to take the time to thank all the readers who have been loyally following the book, sending us emails, and posting to our blogs to give us feedback and encouragement. KL, KMRicker, and I are so glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed reading School for Adventurers. =)

To give us more contact with our readers, KL and I have created our basic but lovely RSS feed. We’ve also created a new facebook group called Eastridge Academy: School for Adventurers. Shameless plug: Join our group, if you’re so inclined…and tell your friends too!

For the past month, aside from earnestly trying to stay ahead of the Book 2 updates, KL and I have been working on publishing Book 1. We’ve decided to go the self-publishing route and have been putting the agents of various self-publishing companies to work to impress us with their features, options, and marketing packages.

It’s certainly a learning process, as I’ve never had the experience of self-publishing a book before. There were a lot of factors to think about: what size we wanted our book to be, what we wanted our retail and wholesale prices to be, what our royalties might be, as well as what types of marketing and advertising strategies we needed. I don’t think I’ve ever really given a thought to the sizes and shapes of books before, but after a month of research, I can proudly say that I am able to identify different genres by their book dimensions alone.

KL and I decided to go with BookSurge in the end, mainly because publishing through them makes our book that much more affordable (I didn’t realize that 350-page, *paperback* fantasy novels can get to be as much as $21.00, yikes!). Also, it feels like BookSurge might give us more control of how our book looks, which is important particularly because KMRicker has conceded to give KL and I a pretty book cover if we’re very good. Anyway, if everything goes well, we’ll be able to have a paper copy to sell in a couple months’ time.

In the meantime, KL and I are editing and improving our first book before we send a final draft off to print. We’re tightening the narrative and throwing in new scenes. We’re also typing out more descriptions about the world and characters in an attempt to really round out the SFA universe. By the time Book 1 is given to the publisher, it’ll probably look different than what is on the website now. Hopefully, all the grammatical and continuity errors will be hammered out, our plot pace will be more fluid, and, yes, there will be more scenes of Fell. =)

Anyway, keep reading and telling us what you think!

Best,

“Jae Elle Whye”, or JLY

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Editing is Key

May 6, 2008 at 4:35 am (editing)
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You know you’ve been gone too long, when your co-author says, “You’re blog hasn’t been updated. People will think you’re dead.”

Well, I’m not, and after a couple months’ hiatus, I think it’s about time to get back on track, and start updating this blog as I said I would at the beginning.

In reading KL’s blog post about “making [our work] pretty”, I was reminded of all the moments we’ve been editing and have run into things that need to be fixed. It’s very important as a writer to go over your work and look for subtle nuances of meaning.

Author Checklist:

1. Make sure you’re using the right words. When editing, KL and I take turns trying to brainstorm words that are appropriate for the scene and the character.

For Example:

KL: Well, ‘Rai thought as he flopped…’… ‘Flopped’ is too girly. What should he do?

JLY: ‘Posed manfully’? ‘Boyfully’? ‘Full of boy’? ‘Skipped’? ‘Traipsed’?

KL: You’re not even trying.

JLY: ‘Dove’? ‘Conquered’? ‘Vanquished’?

KL: …No.

2. Make sure your characters stay in character. Sometimes when we’re caught up in things, if we don’t think about it, our characters will start to sound the same. Or, not at all like themselves. In this scene, Rakam speaks the way KL and I normally do.

For Example:

“Who doesn’t like me?” Rai feebly joked, hoping to get a laugh out of Wisteria.

“I can tell you who doesn’t not like you.” Rakam said. “Wisteria, that’s who.”

3. Make sure you make sense. I have a tendency to write late at night, and sometimes it shows. This gem is one of KL and my favorites. It’s good to have a co-author or beta reader to call you out on things.

For Example:

“So, it seems like everyone’s paired off for the Winter Ball by now.” Rakam said.

Wisteria stiffened. She and Rakam had come to some unspoken agreement that as long as he was trailing her, they didn’t speak. Well, it was actually more than an unspoken agreement. Wisteria had made it into a rather outspoken statement on multiple occasions. Still, Rakam insisted on talking to her.

JLY: I don’t know if I was trying to be funny, or if I was just tired.

KL: It works on so many levels. It’s an unspoken agreement not to speak. But then it’s not actually unspoken. And, Rakam doesn’t even agree.

JLY: …So, actually, it’s a very spoken disagreement

So, these are just some basic rules for writing and editing. I’ll post more when I think of them. I think writing, above all, is a process, and while it’s easy to get discouraged when the right words don’t come or when you can’t get into character, it’s important to be able to step back and put things in perspective. Above all, enjoy your writing, and don’t be afraid to laugh.

Take Care,

JLY

PS. You can be an author too!

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