An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 97.
This week in one word: revised.
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Previously on WWW…
Next week, my review of Neuromancer by William Gibson is scheduled to go live on Monday. I should also finish reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak so will write my review of that, although it may not go live until the following week.
Otherwise, my top two priorities for the coming seven days are the recap of The Spike Volume 1 and The Spike Volume 2 revisions. I’m hoping to finish both so I can start my time off from the day job the following week by doing something different. Maybe outlining Volume 3…
It’s such a relief to be beginning a week off from the day job.
Before I tell you what I’ll be working on during my hols, I need to fill you in on what I did this week, because some of what I thought I might do I’ve already completed…
On Monday, I posted my review of Neuromancer by William Gibson. It’s got some great ideas and blazed a trail with the cyberpunk style, but the writing style is so difficult to read.
My review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is written and scheduled to go live Monday 12th. See more in my weekly_inspiration, below.
This stage of revisions to The Spike Volume 2 are DONE!
The remaining changes to part 3 and part 2 didn’t take as long as I expected, which left me with the epilogue, which I planned to rewrite completely and expected to take a decent chunk of time.
I started the rewrite on Friday evening, thinking I’d do a little bit and finish it off on Saturday (today). I don’t usually have much mental energy left at the end of the work week, but the beginning of my holiday must have refreshed me because I worked on it for 3 hours and 20 minutes straight and finished it in that one sitting.
I kept all the best bits from the previous draft but rearranged it slightly and added some new bits, and it’s a definite improvement.
I can’t say The Spike Volume 2 draft 3 is complete yet though, because…
I need to write a second draft of the recap of The Spike Volume 1 that will be at the start of Volume 2.
The first draft came to 2,375 words, which is too long, so I need to cut it down. Some of that will come from rewording what I’ve written to be more concise; some will be from removing parts that are not absolutely necessary. It might take a couple of passes to whittle it down sufficiently.
Other than editing the recap, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do next week.
The Spike Volume 2 is in a metaphorical drawer for a few weeks so I can readthrough it with fresh eyes.
Cover designs should probably be the highest priority now, but there are plenty of other tasks on my list that need to be done soonish. In no particular order:
- Edit short stories 0.5 and 0.6
- Compile all six short stories into Volume 0
- Write a back-page blurb for Volume 0
- Update the series bible with 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6
- Create location maps to ensure consistency
- Write the publication blogpost series
- Outline Volume 3
There are more to be done further down the line, such as a website redesign, but they’re dependant on other things being completed first.
The beauty of being at this point during my hols is that I can do what I feel like, when I feel like it, even more so than usual. Hopefully that will encourage me to do more, rather than slacking off due to the lack of internal pressure, but I do need some rest too.
There’s a chance that, if I start outlining Volume 3, I’ll get really absorbed in it. Outlining is one of my favourite parts of the whole process and I’ve got some exciting ideas for it. In fact, the difficult bit might be deciding what to leave out.
I would like to keep my creativity vs consumption streak going – this was week 12 of hitting at least 50/50, increasing from 52% to 53% – but with the far larger volume of free time I’ll have, that would be a lot of work. I’m not going to pressure myself.
Keep an eye out for my review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak on Monday. My top priority for next week will be cover designs, but other than those, it’ll probably be as much a surprise to me as it is to you what else I choose to work on.
Reading this week: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick
Watching this week: Peaky Blinders season 5 (rewatch) and Colin from Accounts season 3
Playing this week: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
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In addition to the three short stories available to read for free here, there are three more yet to be published that make up The Spike Volume 0. One of the new three is ready to go; the other two require some final editing. I may submit the new three to journals or short story collections, but all will be published by Arrowmaker Books some time before Volume 2 is published.
I’m working on a new cover design for a second edition of The Spike Volume 1.
I’m also working on covers for the two individual parts, 1.1_Application_Infiltration and 1.2_Laying_Down_The_Law, which are going to be published separately for the first time. Both have a similar style and layout.
Draft 3 of The Spike Volume 2 is nearly complete!
The last part to finish is a recap of Volume 1.
Volume 2 is my biggest and most complex project to date, containing three separate books from the perspectives of seven characters.
The current aim is to have Volume 2 ready for editing by the end of 2026.
Early brainstorming has been done for The Spike Volume 3. I know how it must begin; I have an ending that I think will be great; and I have a long list of ideas (that keeps growing) to get from one to the other that needs to be whittled down and put in an order. Outlining may begin soon.
I have shelved Project Lawless Fang for the time being. It’s unrelated to The Spike series (at least for now).
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I finished reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and it’s one of the best of the 25 books I’ve read so far this year.
In WW2 Germany, Death tells the tale of a young girl moving in with foster parents and shielding a Jew. It had the potential to be a depressing slog, but the writing style is really interesting, with lots of short paragraphs and sentences of impressionistic description that I really enjoyed. It’s not the sort of style that would suit The Spike if used throughout, but the occasional poetic passage might find its way in.
My full review is scheduled to go live on Monday.
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
