Literally weeks after writing my previous post about this, I ended up tweaking the For an Omega series AGAIN. In fact, I even renamed it again. *facepalm* However, I renamed it because – as I’ll discuss in a minute – I began writing the other books in the series and there was one thing that jumped out at me: all the books centred around the made-up Omega Rescue Taskforce. Since that seemed the most logical of options for a series title – and can be shortened to ORT, as in the book – it’s also social media friendly and distinctive.
Now, I think I know why I’ve been having so much trouble with this series. For a start, Book 1 was 200k and went through 3 different plots before it got to where it ended up. But 200k is more than any publisher will publish in one sitting, and I couldn’t really divide it.
This year, I promised myself that I’d get it under 100k – the requirement for one of the publishers I wanted to submit to – and then write the next book in the series, so that if the publisher accepted Book 1, I could be prepared and say that Book 2 was already finished. What actually ended up happening was that I wrote ALL the other books in the series – the next THREE, in just two months. Which was great…until it wasn’t.
Not only have I been working on trying to fix Book 1 – and then writing Books 2-4 – for months, but when I read back my under-100k rewrites, I hated it. It didn’t flow, it didn’t feel right, and I couldn’t just abandon it, knowing that it wasn’t good. It’s been “completed” for a couple of years now, but I’m so disappointed with it, because it doesn’t work as a story under 100k.
And so I decided to start rewriting it. Not just re-writing it in terms of moving things around, as I’d done before, but a COMPLETE, write again from scratch project. I’ve kept the names, relationships and most basic aspects of the plot the same, but I’m also shaking things up a little. During my multiple re-reads, I realised that one of my favourite characters was actually a lot more wishy-washy and rug-ish than I liked or had ever intended. So my plan this time around is to toughen him up a bit, make him a bit stronger and more feisty, like in the original plan.
I also realised that one of the big plot points was completely unnecessary. It added to the drama and tension, but it served no real purpose except to delay the inevitable, which created this big gap that didn’t feel right. The throuple of this book didn’t even really get together AS a throuple until around 60%, which felt like it took too long.
I had initially planned to go back to my very first plot concept, but as I started writing, something occurred to me – when I wrote Books 2, 3 and 4 for this series, I almost NEVER stuck to the plot that I’d had in mind when I started. In fact, I would write new notes every day, but as I was writing, the plot would veer in a totally new direction that made those notes obsolete. I ended up writing ALL THREE books as I was writing, rather than having any solid notes except a brief conversation or a bullet note of plot points I planned that eventually ended up in the book, even if not in the way I’d initially planned.
And I think that’s what’s wrong with Book 1 and why it’s not been working. I had a plot concept and I followed it, the first time around. During my re-writes, I’ve been so focused on keeping that plot in tact that I never stopped to think whether it still worked or not. Not until I thought I’d finished, was reading the final product and realised that it felt flat. It felt boring in places, sometimes just 1-2 chapters where it dragged, but if it’s boring for me then it might be boring for readers.
I’ve gone back-and-forth a million times about whether this character should be good or bad; whether this character should have known about the mate bond before, for a year, for two years, or if it should be new. I’ve written all of these options, and my indecisiveness hasn’t come from not knowing how to write it, but from the fact that when I DO write it, it never feels right. I’ve written characters into the plot, written them out, put them back in, changed names and relationships, deleted a dozen chapters worth of scenes, cut the book in half and it’s still not been working to my satisfaction. And until I’M happy, then no one else is getting to read it, so I can’t submit it. Although, I will admit that I’m glad I DIDN’T submit it anywhere, yet, because it would be hard to explain the massive rewrites I want to do, if it was already submitted to someone who liked the original plan, even if I wasn’t 100% convinced yet.
So, in the first week of April, I decided to write the book from scratch and let the story unfold however it needed to. There is only 1, maybe 2, scenes that I have to keep from the original finished book, because it directly impacts the future books that are completed already, but that should be easy enough to work in, even if I only do that AFTER the story had written itself.
And that’s what I’m going to let happen. I began writing the new plot on the last day of March, and got 3 chapters done by the end of the day. I’ve enjoyed looking at these characters from a new angle, and I really hope this is the winning plot. I’m aiming to have it completed by the end of April – so although I’ve posted a spotlight for this (with the new, up-to-date plot) I’m going to hold onto this post so that I can add an update for when I’m finished writing.
STAY TUNED!
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UPDATE:
Well, the results are in…I completely changed the first half of Lucky AND read/edited Books 2-4 only to discover that while they were all good plots, didn’t need much editing and were pretty solid (colour me surprised!) it needed a FIFTH book! I realised that Book 4 didn’t quite give off the “end of series” vibes I wanted, where I sort of tie up all those series loose ends. So, I started writing Book 5 and two days later got back my edits for The Death of Rowan Copry – which left me 10 DAYS to write an entire novel!
As for Lucky…YES! It worked. I have a winning plot, that feels complete and well rounded, that takes elements of the original but is mostly revamped, to be honest. I was able to keep the major plot points, just move things around, rewrite how they came about and such, to the point where I have a completed novel that is (almost) under 100k and that I don’t feel I need to change too much. I have one or two changes to make, but I’ve been busy writing Book 5, so they will have to wait until I’m finished with that, until after I’ve done my edits for The Death of Rowan Copry. THEN I can start typing up the edits I’ve made for this series, for books 1-4, then read and edit Book 5 and…FINALLY…about 6 months after first planning to submit Book 1, I can get this series ready for submission and move onto something else.
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UPDATE : PART 2
So, the day after writing my update, I fell and hit my head, so I had to take some time off. Which meant I had to push back my deadline to finish The Death of Rowan Copry by a week, which actually proved to be better all-round for me because I wasn’t quite finished Book 5: Vaughn yet. (My plan had been to abandon it for 3-4 days, to do TDORC edits as priority, then come back, but this means I don’t have to rush the process)
I actually accidentally discovered a new editing technique, as well. Well, not so much editing but writing.
I knew when I started writing Vaughn that I was on a tight schedule. I have a million things left on my To Do list that all feel important, but I had to stick with this series while it was all fresh and flowing freely. So, this meant longer working hours. I started staying up until 2-3 am again (which I haven’t been doing for a while, to get a healthier sleep schedule), but I’m usually tired by that time so I’m less productive.
However…that doesn’t mean nothing gets done. Instead of trying to WRITE, I’ve been plotting instead. Which is entirely different and normally just involves me writing all my thoughts for what’s to come later in the story. This time, however, I focused on writing the NEXT part of the story, just in DIALOGUE ONLY. This is a new technique for me, because it meant I actually got a lot done and it provided the framework for the next day’s work, essentially giving me a head start on the next day.
It’s so easy to look at a plan for what’s coming next and know what you want to say, but it’s harder to fill in the blanks of who is doing what, what the details and environment are. All the nitty gritty stuff is harder to focus on when you’re tired and all you want to do is sleep, so I decided to take my chapter idea and just begin writing what I want them to say. I was able to fill around 2-3 pages with just one conversation, depending on the situation. Then, in the morning, I had a blueprint to start from, by going back and filling in the blanks. I definitely found that I adapted the dialogue as I did that, to suit whatever was happening or to cut out the small details, if I decided to rely on gestured instead of words, but it saved me A LOT of time, which is vital when you’re on a tight deadline and every minute counts.
So, I’m happy to say that …
Vampires, Crime and Angels...Eclectic Me 