Saturday, February 11, 2017

Well, I'm Done: Cipher

I haven't published any novels for a while, and there's a reason for that: for the past three-and-a-half years, I've been working on a single book -- and, since it's the first of a trilogy, it's taken me much longer than my two-year average.  (The plus side of this is that the second book will only take a year or so.)

I talked in a previous post about the necessity of other professionals to help with your novel, and so I'd like to demonstrate that I do this myself.  Here, then, is a timeline of the last year:

February: finish rough draft, send to two critiquers.  After receiving their critiques and considering for several weeks, I begin to rewrite the whole book, making massive changes.

September: finally finish the rewrite.  Send back to my original two critiquers and to three new critiquers.  (This was overkill; two would've been plenty.)  A receiving their critiques and considering for several weeks, I begin to add interludes, to a total of about 11,000 words.  I also do a complete copy-edit.

January: finish changes and send to first proofreader, whom I also ask for critique.  After she's finished with it, I copy-edit the book again myself, including the most effective editing technique I've ever found -- reading it aloud.  After that, I send it to my second proofreader.  I also, during this time, send portions of the book to a gun expert to make sure my facts are straight. 

February: send the book to my third and final proofreader.  After I get it back, I again read aloud the beginning of the book to make sure I like how everything sounds.  I will probably read the whole thing aloud again before the book is published.

So there you go -- eight other people who've read the complete manuscript.  And the book is much better for it.