Second round of revisions have begun

I am working through a second round of revisions. I am 32/308 pages. It’s mostly cleaning up little details left over from shifting things around (Aila rode a dragon for the first time three different places for example).

It’s going fairly quickly. I am hoping to complete it this month and maybe send it to my few alpha readers a little early.

I am beyond excited.

I have also set up my account on Instagram that will be dedicated to my writing with little snippets and images. If you want to follow there you can. @michelle.r.bowen

Here’s a little snippet for funzies:

Zuriel ran his hands through his hair and let out a huff. “So, what? We go back? Find others? What do we do?” He dropped his hands.

Halvar took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. “I don’t know. There is probably someone still around here, but there is no telling what they’ll make of us.” He looked at Zuriel. “We might not be welcome here.”

“Of course we’re not welcome here. If I was welcome here, I wouldn’t have been hidden away on a different planet and lied to my whole life.” Growing exasperated he waved his hand at the death around them. “There is nothing welcoming about this place. Is it worth fixing?”

If you give up, he wins.

A fire spread through her core; an anger. This was her home; she had no other. Nydia was a refuge, a safe place to recover, but this, Vale, was home. It was where she was born, where she and Leora had laughed and played as children. Where her parents died and her beloved sister were buried.

“Yes.” The strength of her voice surprised her. She looked at Zuriel who met her gaze without flinching. “It’s worth fixing.”

He held her gaze for a long moment, then he nodded. “Then let’s fix it.”

Thanks for reading!

Blessings,

Michelle R Bowen

First Round of Revisions Complete

After about three months, I have finished my first rounds of revisions. Yay!

I was a little surprised as I thought I was going to need to rewrite a few of the scenes near the end, and they do need a bit of polish, but big picture, they work. The pacing isn’t horrible. The sequence of events makes sense as far as I can tell.

I am currently rereading the draft with the latest revisions to see how I feel about them, how they work. There was a plot line in the second part (yes, I realized it’s in two parts) that I was iffy about so I want to confirm that it does work with the way I restructured it.

I expect this to take a couple weeks. In the mean time I am selecting a couple Alpha readers just because it is a rather complex story and I have been very close to it for a very long time and I just want to get an outside opinion or two about whether or not it actually works.

I am making progress designing graphics to use on my website and dedicated social media pages and I hope to launch that soonish. I might use the time the draft is with alpha readers to get that done and ready to go.

Either that or I’ll start drafting book 2. I have a few scenes scribbled out for it already, but the ideas are still rather vague. I want to have an outline, however skeletal done for book 2 before I finalize book 1 as I left a few strands in there that I need to pick up in book 2 or it’s just going to be messy. But, given how the ending happened, I think I will have plenty of room to weave them in.

Lots of progress. Thank you all so much for reading these little updates. I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to see that there are people subscribed and regularly liking these updates. I appreciate you so much.

In celebration, here’s a little excerpt that I enjoyed on the reread:

“No.” Cyrus said before any greetings could be exchanged, his hard gaze locked on Halvar who was much less jovial now than he had been at breakfast, and somehow, even more pale.

“Rafael said-”

“You look half dead, go sit somewhere.” He shook his head and turned away from the naim as if dismissing him. Halvar glared at him but made no move to leave.

“Morning.” Fintan said and clasped Aaron’s arm in greeting. “We thought figuring out what you can do with sorcerer magic would be best done first thing before you spend yourself too much.” He threw a glance at Cyrus who nodded and moved away to a group of naims who seemed to be waiting for him. Fintan grinned and leaned toward Aaron. “That man did not want to give you up this morning.” He chuckled and stood back. “Come on, we have a set up over here.”

Aaron and Halvar followed the sorcerer to another corner of the yard where two other sorcerers stood.

“This is Hadrian, a fire sorcerer, and this is Conleth,” Fintan ruffled the hair of the nearest sorcerer who scowled at him for the gesture as he shoved away. “Our little water sorcerer.”

“I’d like to see you handle water the way I do.” The sorcerer shot back as he ran his hands through his hair.

“Settle down, Connie,” he said and moved on before the sorcerer could retort. “Halvar, there’s a bench there. Cyrus might have had a touch of a point.” He scrunched his face. “You look like a ghost.”

“I’m fine.” He huffed and settled in on the bench.

Thanks for reading!

-Michelle R Bowen

Actual progress!

So, this week has been a little interesting. As I was reading through and revising scenes, deciding which to cut and which to rewrite, a came up to part of the story where I did a time jump and discovered that without the extra plots crowding the story, the weakness of the pacing was painfully obvious.

That was a little discouraging because it meant I had to go back and write the part of the story that I skipped over.

Well, I managed it much faster than I expected after mapping out all the POVs and timeline I saw that the amount of time didn’t even make sense.

In short, I bridged the part of the story to the rest of it in a way that I believe fixes the pacing error. It will require some additional changes in later scenes since I erased a few weeks of timeline. But for now, I am confident that I am still on track to have this ready for a few Alpha readers by August.

As of now I am working around page 191 of 311, which is, again, not perfectly accurate because I am polishing some scenes I wrote in a separate doc before pasting it into the draft. But, I am basically two-thirds of the way through the draft revisions. Yay!

Since I am getting close to starting the work that will end with a published book, I am considering my marketing strategy and I will be sharing here first when I get more dedicated socials in place. (Newsletter, dedicated Instragram, etc.)

Thanks so much for reading!

Here’s a little snippet:

When they’d moved far enough from the others, Aaron sat down and when Pyre tugged at his mind, he followed.

Opening his eyes, he found himself standing on their island beside Pyre and Corban.

“Like this?” Corban asked.

Aaron flinched back. “Oh, that’s weird.”

The naim laughed. “I’m using him as an avatar. I can’t exactly picture myself speaking, I don’t have a voice, but I remember his.”

A wave of sorrow rushed through him, and he regretted his anger at the dragon for simply existing as he was made to exist.

“I’m sorry, Pyre. It wasn’t fair to be angry with you.”

“You are under an incredible strain. I feel your struggle.” The naim shrugged. “This could be useful. I hadn’t considered it before. Perhaps because Corban was more accustomed to telepathic communication. Its still new to you.”

“I’ll say.”

“Cyrus is a brutal trainer.” Corban growled.

Aaron chuckled at that. “Yeah, well, this whole situation I’m in is brutal.” All the humor left his being as the reality settled back in, no longer displaced by amplified emotions. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“You’ve only just begun, Zuriel. None of us really know what you are truly capable of.” Corban grinned at him. “I’d like to find out.”

Making good progress

I made it through the section I had to alter and put back into the story. I am now on page 154 of 311. Just about half way through (depending on how much rewriting happens in the next section).

I have another section that probably wont need too much rewriting before I get to the messy bit that I know isn’t settled just yet, especially with the plot lines and POVs I cut. Hopefully I can get this pass done by June or July and get another pass in before my August goal of getting either some alpha readers or a developmental editor.

Here’s a snippet:

“Okay,” he took the wooden sword from each of them. “Now run.”

Pushing past the initial distaste at the idea, Aaron ran with Halvar close behind him.

As much sense as it makes to have me train with you, I would like to remind Cyrus that I am not actually the Dueling.

Aaron laughed. Oh, poor you.

I should have stayed in better shape.

Round is a shape.

Halvar surged forward and shoved him. “I am not round.”

Aaron laughed harder, grateful to be lost in the moment, joking around with his best friend. It made the strangeness of everything fade.

Thanks for reading!

A lot of rewriting

There is a portion of the story that I am working in that I had changed from the original overhaul to this version and the first full draft of the overhauled version of the story. I can now see that it was a mistake, the original version of these events worked better so I am having to gut this part of the story, pull the old version and rework it so it can go into the new draft.

I have manged 10 pages of this so far. Not sure how many words, but I am now on 132 out of 310 pages.

This part is still probably going to need a major pass, but it is coming together.

A little snippet:

Keeping the block behind them, he followed Aila as she picked her way through the graveyard and into the trees. Behind them, he could hear the repeated strikes of ice and lightning along with the hiss of fire as it collided with the shards of ice.

Pyre pushed into his mind, anxiety and anger poured through the link.

Not helping. Aaron sent to the dragon as a spear of ice struck a tree ahead of them to the left. He flinched as debris sprinkled them.

“We left the clearing.” Aaron panted and glanced behind them. The sorcerers were still in pursuit and were beginning to spread out. If one of them got around the block…

“Can’t you do the stair thing?” Aila called back.

“If I do the stair thing there is nothing keeping them from hitting us. I can’t do two blocks at once.”

Aila made no reply as they continued to rush through the trees, the sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves could barely be heard under the noise of the sorcerer’s attacks.

“I got it.” Aila said before stopping abruptly and turning to face him.

“What are you-” He protested as he nearly crashed into her, his hands landed on her arms as she shifted to the Tera lifepoint. Before he could process what was happening, the ground lurched beneath them, sending them quickly up to the canopy.

Thanks for reading!

Making Progress

Since this is my first time actually editing instead of scraping and rewriting, I do feel a little out of my depth, but it so exciting to be in a new stage of writing after so much work.

I have settled into doing a slow read through, making edits, notes and rewriting as I go. This is maybe not terribly efficient, but at least for the first half of the story, this feels like the best method as I have already done a basic rewrite of that part of the story. I am confident I have the events right, they just need a little fine tuning.

The later part of the story where I cut out a few POVs and plot lines may require a shift in process since it will need more extensive reworking to bring it back into alignment with the first part of the story.

Over all, I am having lots of fun and making progress. As of now I am working on page 44 of 308, but I know that last number will be shifting as I move forward.

A little Snippet:

“Feel better?”

Aaron opened his eyes and looked at Ray who leaned against the side of the doorway watching him expectantly. With his unnervingly blue eyes.

A chill ran down his spine, and he pushed off the door and started for the stairs. “Yep. Never better.” Just losing my mind.

He almost hoped he was losing his mind because the other option that was forming in the back of his mind was worse somehow.

Thanks for reading!

It’s done!

I did it!

I almost can’t believe it.

117,664 words.

Just shy of 1 year of writing and book one of The Shadow of Vale exists as a full rough draft.

My plan is to let it rest for maybe a few days and then do a read through taking notes and seeing what works and what doesn’t. After that I will try to do some hard edits, see how much rewriting I will need to do. If it’s not too bad, and the edits aren’t super extensive (They probably will be, honestly), then I’ll start next steps for getting outside eyes on it.

Thank you so much for reading and coming along with me. Hopefully you’ll hear from me again soon. For now, here’s a “goodbye” snippet (This is not from the end of the book.):

“Maybe when all this is over you can see them again.”

Zuriel sighed, his head fell back into the pillows. “I’m not even sure that would be better. What would I tell them? I’m the savior of a magical realm and I will outlive all of you by a few centuries?”

Aila lifted herself from his side to see his face. “Maybe just goodbye. It might give you all peace.”

Zuriel reached out and gently ran his fingers through the hair by her face, a gesture he seemed to enjoy doing as much as she enjoyed him doing it. “Do you think it would?” He searched her eyes.

Aila considered the question a moment. She’d lost so many and while she knew the fate of all those she loved, she had not been given the chance to say goodbye to any of them. Not even Kyra who had been so close. Her body had still been warm when they buried her.

“Yes.” Her voice came out weaker than she’d hoped. “Yes. I think it would help.”

He nodded and slipped his hand into her hair, pulling her close for a gentle kiss. It felt like a balm on the wounds the question had opened.

Zuriel pulled back, kissing her cheek and then her forehead before settling her back against his chest. “I think you’re right.”

In the last stretch.

This week was a bit rough. I was taken out for a few days by a migraine. But I do have the draft over 114k, nearly 115k and I am in the last sequence of events. Very soon I will be wrapping up this draft and I am so excited about it. It has been rough with these scenes stuck in my head and not being cognizant enough to sit and write them. Plus, looking at a screen isn’t the most comfortable thing with a migraine.

Maybe next week will be the announcement that it’s done….

Here’s a snippet as unspoilery as I can put:

“They’re coming.”

The voice sent Harkin scrambling to find a place to hide.

Blasted transporters. Harkin thought as he rounded back down the way he’d come. Not far into the hall was a storage closet and Harkin slipped inside.

“You think they’ll head to the throne room?”

“No. If they know anything, they’ll know Azazel never used it. They’ll be heading to the executive rooms.”

The voices were growing quiet as the men moved farther away. Harkin slipped out of the closet and carefully made his way to where he thought the men were going.

“Hold here. Vic, set it.”

Harkin slowly risked a glance around the corner as he approached. He bit off a curse as the group vanished as soon as his eyes lay on them. He drew back and wracked his brain for the best path through the air vents. They’d hidden themselves with some sort of illusion which put him at a disadvantage. They’d be able to see him, but he couldn’t find them. And the only reason to be setting up illusions was to let others close enough to strike.

“You will not be getting him that easily.” He muttered to himself before making his way as quickly and quietly as he could to the nearest accessible air vent.

Almost done

Hello!

Last week I missed my update for a few reasons, the chief of which was it was the weekend of my daughter’s birthday and we were celebrating.

But I also didn’t have much to update because I spent most of that week stuck in a particular scene in The Shadow of Vale and puttering around in my two contemporary romance stories while I tried to figure it out.

Well, I have figured it out. Yesterday I had one of those writing sessions where the characters were saying and doing things that were not in the outline and were actually brilliant arguments for why the order I had the events planned to occur in was wrong.

I have since paused to pray and figure it out and this morning I think I know how to finish this book and what the next book is going to look like (and it will probably be the last for this story).

I haven’t worked everything out entirely, but I am excited for how it is looking now. Granted, I am well aware that I say this all the time. What can I say? I’m a pretty happy, optimistic writer.

So with this clearer vision in my mind, I am hoping that by the one year mark (March 12th) I will be done with this draft and able to let it rest a bit before tearing it apart again (but not rewriting it, I think I am finally past that part of my process) and then editing.

I did have a secret goal of maybe aiming to publish by Oct of this year, but that feels a little too optimistic even for me. haha!

As of now, the draft is sitting just over 107k and with the events coming I think it will land around 140k, which was my first gut instinct of a word count goal.

Here is a little snippet:

“I can’t go to battle and face Samael. I can’t save Vale. I can’t make him pay for what he’s taken from me; from all of us. But I can do this. I can stand by you. I can love you.”

Happy New Year!

Hello again!

I have had a very strange, but fruitful past few weeks. I spent a month serving on Jury Duty which was a rather wild experience. Very pleased I got to do it, though it felt like I had two jobs for a month and my babies are very excited that I am not gone most of the week now.

I took some time to focus on my faith and drawing near to God and that has done wonders for my creativity. I believe this is a gift He gave me and I aim to honor Him with it, so it makes sense to me that I am having a much easier time getting the ending of The Shadow of Vale together.

The draft is now over 100k and I am in the build up to the ending. There are two points that I think work as stopping points for the story, I am leaning toward one more than the other, but I will see how it feels when I get there.

I found a point of tension that helps build to the end of the first book and lay the foundation for the next book and I am quite pleased with how it’s working out. A little surprised I didn’t see it before, it’s been laid into the story almost from the beginning. Almost like I meant to use it haha!

Here is a little snippet:

“Playing with this much water actually sounds really fun.” She grinned and reached out to link the life point. She was immediately aware of the water and gave it a tug as she released Zuriel’s hand and sprinted toward the cliffs.

“Aila? Aila!”

Aila jumped off the edge and savored the brief feeling of weightlessness before gravity fully took hold and she dropped toward the water that rose to catch her. With a laugh she took a few steps to slow herself before turning around to face Zuriel who stood on the edge looking worried. She pressed her hand to her mouth at the sight of Pyre fidgeting behind him as if he had been preparing to dive after her.