Hi all!

Apologies for not posting for such a long time. I am currently up to my neck in (hopefully) the final round of editing Waterguard. I’ll be out looking for a publisher / agent very soon. I’m about 1/2 way through and hope to have it finished by the end of the summer.

Unfortunately, it’s taken far longer than I had anticipated. I had hoped to have got it done and out the way by now, with the next book in the series (tentatively titled Thanatos) in first draft. Guess it was not to be.

Part of the reason for this is that I am a) writing out one character, b) writing in a new one, c) fixing a few plot points so it meshes nicely with the prequels and sequel and d) rewriting in third person / present tense.

The last one is the biggie. However, it seems it is achieving its purpose in making it more immediate and engaging.

I have a team of 13 fabulous beta readers helping me. They’re doing sterling service pointing out the flaws and holes… but so far it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience. Here are just some of the things they are saying:

 

Gripping

Fast flowing

I can’t wait for the next instalment

Enjoying it immensely

Forgot I was reading an unpublished work

Couple of errors spotted…

 

The most difficult issue raised so far has been that I seem to have lost the narrator’s voice in a couple of chapters. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but they start to speak in the voice of the protagonist – which is perhaps not surprising given that the last draft was first-person and the narrator was the protagonist. Hopefully now fixed.

My next issue coming up is that I have three chapters where the perspective changes from following the protagonist to following the secondary protagonist. I’m not even sure if this is a problem. Feel free to comment, I’m interested in your views!

 

Just in case anyone has missed it, I’m featuring in Derwent Valley LitFest’s Meet the Author live series on Thursday at 1800. All for free on Facebook. I might even read a bit of Waterguard.

Find out about the festival here: Derwent Valley LitFest

Details of the live Facebook event, here: Lee’s & Derwent Valley LitFest’s Live Event

The event ticket is here: Eventbrite ticket for Lee

Join in and ask a question, or find out if I can even work the technology.

 

It’s been a very quick update. Sorry!

I may have some very exciting news, but that’s going to have to wait, pending confirmation.  I believe that is called a teaser!

 

As Douglas said: Have fun, win awards.

Lee