Getting Back To Editing!

I'm not sure how many of you remember that when I started my 3 book challenge this year, it was with the intention of editing Broken Truce while writing The Vow.

It turned out that I couldn't do it; Broken Truce is written in the first person present tense, and The Vow in the third person past tense. Going back and forth between the two was driving me NUTS!!!

Now I'm half way through Severance, and I'm trying again! So far it seems to be going well, I've just passed the 30.000 word mark in the first edit. For those of you who haven't studied my writing habits (why haven't you?!?!?) I always write my first draft by hand, and use my first edit to copy the manuscript over on to the computer...

O.O

Yes. 100.000 words. BY. HAND!!!  ;-P

I'm not sure why but I'm more comfortable with a pen and paper, filling up a blank page with my untidy scrawl elegant copperplate, than typing away on the computer. There is something about staring at a blank computer screen that sucks the ideas clean out of my head!

But I digress...

I really got stuck in to Broken Truce last night and managed to do a fair bit of editing.  As I was writing I couldn't help thinking about how readers would react to certain parts of the story. I'm so excited with wondering what people who read Broken City are going to make of Broken Truce!!!

There is this one scene that I've just edited and I know it's going to cause SUCH an uproar when people read it (I hope so anyway!!!) I have a friend, Claire, who I met through Broken City (she read it, friended me and the rest, as they say, is history!!!). She's my first fan girl, and a without her I might never have decided to turn Broken City in to a series. She's been HUGELY supportive and has taken on the role of head cheer leader!

I'm digressing again, aren't I???

Anyway: I just know that at various points in the book I'm going to be receiving an irate email from her, demanding to know what the heck I think I'm doing!

I cannot TELL you how encouraging that is!!! The idea that someone enjoys your book as much as you do, that they care about the characters, that they want to TALK about them!!! It's incredible! It's what keeps me going through the good, the bad, and the down right ugly!!!

Broken Truce has taken me by surprise, I think it's quite different from the first book in the series; not so hopeful, a bit darker and you see the City from more peoples points of view. Deeta has grown up a lot, and she's wiser than before.

I've had soooo much fun with the characters in this book. Yes, Deeta and Tom remain the focus of the story, but they share the limelight with Tom's brothers, most especially Jayden. (For those of you who don't remember who Jayden is: he's the twin that Nova tipped orange juice over in Broken City.) You really get to know Jayden in this book, his faults as well as his strengths, he's very much a fish out of water. I really enjoyed writing him, he has such an attitude on him, but at the same time you can't help liking him (I hope!)

I had a blast with some of the secondary characters this time round as well, the first story is quite insular, focused the the group of people that Deeta loves and cares about most. Broken Truce introduces you to a lot of new characters, some good and some bad.

These side characters were some of my favourites to write; Ian, a scout from the Brownly tribe, Julian, Max, Ned and Linus, I can't really tell you who these are without being too spoilerish, but they were sooooo much fun! Wren, Falcon, Raven and Peregrine, siblings from a tribe known as The Birds, and so much more!

I'm hoping to knuckle down and have the manuscript ready to go live in January...

Contrebutions to the cause in the form of brownies and fluffy pillows are very much appreciated! ;-P


DeeDee.