WIP Wednesday: Let it Be

Finished my new chapters for Mara's story last week. A part of my brain wants to print them out, edit them, paste them into the manuscript and start revising the whole novel. It's killing me to be so close to being finished (*snarfle* finished? that's a laugh), so close to querying, to publication...

Whoa, Nellie. I'm getting carried away here, letting the cart go sliding downhill while the horse watches on unphased, munching grass. I haven't even sent Mara's story out to betas. It doesn't even have a suitable working title. What am I thinking?

It's easy to think that a finished first or second draft is almost "done". But it's probably not. You do your novel a disservice by querying before it's been read, critted, revised, and critted some more. EVANGELINE has been the project that I've made the most mistakes with-- mistakes I've learned from. I queried too early, didn't get enough feedback, and honestly, I'm not sure I even understood some of that feedback until I started a new project, one free of the old mistakes.

I was supposed to return to EVANGELINE while Mara's story was stewing, but I still feel like I'm too close to it. So instead, I've dusted off an old story, and I'm rewriting it, trying to use what I've learned from Mara's story. I'm able to change it in ways that I haven't been able to with EVANGELINE. And I'm enjoying reuniting with the characters. Maybe next month I'll find some insights on how to make Evie's story better, but for now, we need some time apart.

The weird thing about this new novel I'm working on now is that its urban fantasy. Not YA. So it's a change, since I haven't worked on this project since November of 2008. But a good change. Maybe ironing out the flaws of this old manuscript will help me think of how to make EVANGELINE work.

My current wip used to be 140,000 words and a huge mess that I'd saddled with the wildly inappropriate "The Uneven Parallel Plane". Oddly enough, it began life as a 10,000 word short story, so I thought the title glib at the time. Luckily, there's a great scene that ends right at 80K words that makes a natural ending, so I've decided to chop it up into two books. And I've decided to chop the title. Right now, since the story involves the concept of parallel worlds that mortals can't see, I'm calling it "Parallel". Also, the MC is a college gymnast. Get it? ;)

But I'm open to suggestion.



It's got tons more action than Mara's story or EVANGELINE, so I'll be looking through it for a snippet to use for the upcoming Fight Scene Blogfest. See Crimson Ink for more details or if you'd like to participate! Here's a quick blurb about PARALLEL for your blurb-reading enjoyment:

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What do you do when you discover you’re really a golden dragon being chased by dimension-hopping demons intent on destroying the world? Probably exactly what Renata Long does-- Freak out.

Faced with the knowledge that billions will perish if she doesn’t go into hiding, all Renata can think about at first are the people who died when demons attacked the bus she and her college gymnastics team were on. The last thing she wants is to put the lives of the only three surviving members of her team in jeopardy. Of course, the only reason those teammates even survived the attack is due to the demon blood running through their veins. They are Oldkin, just like Renata’s foster-mother, Olga, whose magic saves them from harm and awakens their blood.

But the evil demon general Hakroth will stop at nothing to use Renata in order to find an object protected by the dragons, an object that limits demonic power on earth. If he succeeds nobody-- mortal, immortal, or dragon-- will be safe. Freaking out is no longer an option.

PARALLEL (working title) is an 80,000 word urban fantasy that will appeal to readers who enjoyed Patricia Briggs’ Moon Called.