book 1 Archives - M. C. Lee Books

Writing Update: New Series

Well, to tell the truth, I’ve actually been working on TWO new series. One is adult paranormal cozy mystery (still clean, because I don’t write steamy), and it will eventually come out under a name variant. No worries; I’ll announce it. The second series wasn’t supposed to be started until after I finished the mystery trilogy, even though it’s under my usual name. I didn’t even know *what I was writing next for young adult, so it made sense to work on the other one first.

I did have a few ideas I was kicking around, but they were very different ideas, and nothing was producing plot or characters in my brain. So I kept thinking while I wrote the mysteries. I had plenty of time, right?

Then my daughter read me something off… Twitter? Facebook? Somewhere on the internet that she reads things. It was a “what if mythology is wrong” kind of thing, but I’m afraid don’t remember exactly what it said. I laughed, as one does, and quipped back about how it could be right if such-and-such.

Then I stared at her. I could write such-and-such. It would unite MOST of the ideas I’d been kicking around, which was even better than picking one or two of them. There was enough available material with lots of variety. I could have a TON of fun subverting expectations. I could mash together real-life science and history with very unreal other stuff and have a whole new (fake) history that would (incorrectly) explain so much.

So I decided to go ahead and write it.

The series is contemporary fantasy with a dash of science fiction and a great big splash of mythology, so it’s different from my first epic fantasy series but still feels close enough to be “mine.” (One of the reasons the mysteries are coming out under a pen name is because they are so different. The other is that they’re aimed at adults rather than teens.)

Anyway, that was back in early April. I did some quick concept ramblings and character picking, then I started doing research. Due to the very different sources that I’m mashing together, I had to do a lot of research. Plus, even when it probably doesn’t matter, I like being accurate. I’m nerdy like that.

Good news, though. The way I’m setting it up allows for a very long series, if I want to keep writing it and readers want to keep reading it. 😉

Then I had to do some character studies. Sure, I could just learn about my characters as I went along, like I did with my first series, but that’s a lot slower. It took me eight years to finish my first series, and four of those were just finishing the first book. I don’t want this one to take that long to get started, so I’m working more deliberately. Experience has to be good for something, after all.

Then I started plotting the major beats. That created the need for more research. Sigh.

Finally got through that (for now?), and started working on the more detailed outline. That turned up some major problems. I hate when that happens. So I worked on motivations for the past couple of weeks before returning to the outline.

As of now, I have all of book 1 outlined on my max outlining level, and one chapter for book 2, as well as over half of book 2 on the one-sentence-per-chapter level. (Book 2 volunteered…) I also got the entire prequel novella drafted, so progress is being made.

My tentative plan is to write the new series and submit it to my critique group, leaving the already-outlined mystery stories for when I’m blocked or need a break. Eventually, I’ll get them both finished.

Will it work?

I don’t know. I guess we’ll see. 🙂

Marty C. Lee

Paperbacks

My first book, Wind of Choice, finally came out in paperback as well as ebook. It’s been a surprising experience, so I thought I’d talk about it.

The first surprise was how much more REAL the paperback felt than the ebook. It has the same cover and the same contents. I have a copy of the ebook on my phone. People have bought the ebook, but the paperback is so new it hasn’t sold anything. So why did holding the proof copy make me feel like I might finally be a “real” author? I still haven’t figured out the answer to that one.

Second, while there wasn’t much wrong with the proof, it surprised me how strongly I reacted to imperfections. Oh, it needs a higher quality picture there. Oh, what happened to the border line on the map. Tsk, tsk, the Author page should all fit on one page. Now, mind you, my publisher had checked all these things before the proof was released, and I didn’t mind them in the ebook (why not??), but somehow, it looked different on paper. Thank you, all you people who told me I should really read the proof! So I got my publisher to make the changes (honestly, they were little ones) so it would be as perfect as possible.

Third, I was surprised at the reactions of those around me. “Oh, you published a book.” “Well, the ebook came out months ago.” “Yeah, but… I don’t read ebooks and I can hold this in my hands. This is real.” So I guess Surprise #1 shouldn’t have been a shock, since other people apparently feel the same way. Of course, I didn’t know they would!

Go ahead and explain it to me in the comments? Why does a paper copy make a difference?

Happy reading,
M. C. Lee

Great News!

It’s been a long time getting here, but I’m pleased to announce the publication of my first book! You can find more information on Goodreads, Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, Google Play, and more. You can find links for the ebook at many of the stores here.

The ebook is available for libraries on OverDrive, if you’d like to encourage one to stock it. 🙂

Print copies will be available in a couple of months. If you want a signed copy, contact me in person for now. (Later, I’ll figure out another way to get signed copies on a broader basis.) You can also buy an unsigned copy directly through me, if you like. (Same price for you, more profit for me.)

Should you buy the ebook or wait for the print version? And how soon? That depends– do you want an ebook or a paperback? Buy the one you want (ebooks give better royalties, so don’t let the cheaper price bother you). If you love reading YA fantasy, buy it as soon as you’d like. If you’re just trying to help me, please wait 2-3 months until fantasy readers have created appropriate other-people-liked-this connections. If you really want the marketing lecture, let me know. 😉 Another way to help me, if that’s your goal, is to ask your library to order it, and then check it out.

I dream of having an audio version someday, but my publisher says that will have to wait. I’ll let you know when it happens. 🙂

So what’s the bad news? Well, the ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) are no longer available, although you can still sign up on my list for an ARC to the next book. And the print copies aren’t quite ready. I think the balance is definitely on the side of the good news.

And if you like the book, please give it a nice review and refer it to a friend. 😀

Happy reading!
M. C. Lee

Writing Process, Book 1 (Part 4)

After the writing conference and my failed experiment with an editor, I typed up all my notes. In the process, I remembered a comment from one of the panelists that, somewhat derisively, suggested hiring an editing STUDENT if the author simply couldn’t hire a real editor for $30/hr+. It sounded like a good idea to me. I contacted an editing teacher at a local college and asked if he had any students who might be interested in a job with (lower) pay plus portfolio experience. I got an answer within a couple of weeks, and soon had an editor hired. (If anybody wants to hear about my experience negotiating the contract, let me know. No, it wasn’t scary or awful.)

She took a few weeks to read my book, then sent me some comments, some related to the ending and some not. Her first suggestion for the ending was also unworkable, but she seemed to have some misunderstandings, too. I took several deep breaths and wrote back, explaining what I had intended. Then I waited anxiously to see if I was stuck in another dead end.

Fortunately, her next email was a lot better. She was able to point out where I had gone wrong with what I intended and suggest how I could fix it.

In brief, I’d put stuff off-screen that should have been on, spent too little time on certain important things, and neglected a confrontation with the antagonist that would signal “climax” to the reader.

So I rewrote the ending *cough* times, and sent the most-changed chapter to a few old beta readers. They said it was SO MUCH better, but had a few minor suggestions that led to still more tweaks.

About then, I read a book that said many of the same things I had just learned. I probably still wouldn’t have found my exact solution anytime soon, so I don’t regret hiring my editor. The book did help me with some of the smaller tweaks as I rewrote, including upping the emotional impact. In case you want to read that writing book, I sorted through my list of 100 “read” writing books for you. You’re welcome.

Now I’m sending my book out to beta readers for hopefully the last time, to see if the ending holds up under new eyes…

In the meantime, I’m sending book 2 through my critique group and starting book 3.

My next “writing process” post will probably start covering book 2, unless something shocking comes out of my last beta reads on book 1.

Crossing my fingers…

Update: Apparently I still have a few issues. Deep breath. I can do this. I can, I can, I can.

Wish me luck,
M. C. Lee

Writing Process, Book 1 (Part 3)

As I made changes in my book, my critiquers and beta readers started to give better and better reviews. Not perfect, sure, but better. Even the people who started off telling me that I can’t do four POVs (points-of-view) came back at the end and said, “But I loved all your characters so much!”

I was feeling pretty good until people finished the book and complained about the ending being much too slow. At first, I thought it was just an isolated opinion until almost everybody started saying it. (And those that didn’t, also did not say they liked the ending.)

I asked for suggestions for fixing it, based on where they saw the problem. Almost all of them advised chopping off the last three chapters “because the story is obviously over by then (see climax HERE), and your wrap-up is taking too long.”

Well, that was not going to work. Contrary to popular opinion, the “climax” was only the crisis, the real climax wasn’t until the next-to-last chapter, and the story wasn’t over until the last chapter. Obviously, something was indeed wrong, but it wasn’t where the story ended. If I hacked off the last three chapters, the theme would be ruined, the main story question would remain unanswered, and the promise would be unfulfilled. Nope, can’t do that.

Back to story structure research.

Ah, there’s something. Sometimes an ending will fall flat because it hasn’t been supported and set up properly in the middle. Okay, let’s hypothesize that I identified the problem. Time to revise again. (I bet you predicted that.)

So I rewrote half the book in “minor” but very important ways, and tweaked the ending while I was at it. Then I ran it past betas again. Nope, still broken.

I rewrote it several more times. Still broken.

It’s possible I considered screaming.

Deep breaths…

Around this time, I was going to a writing conference and was notified that there were editorial consulting slots available. That seemed like a great idea, so I signed up. I spent that day of the conference reminding myself to calm down because the consultation was a job interview and *I* was hiring. Talking to an editor shouldn’t be so nerve-racking, but if you ever find yourself in the same position, feeling the same way, remember that you’re not the only one.

I brought a simplified synopsis (minus subplots that didn’t affect the problematic ending) and a writing sample with me, and sat down to talk about my ending. The non-scary editor flipped through my papers and then talked to me. My hopes sank pretty quickly as I discovered that her suggestions were also unworkable. Some of them revealed that she didn’t even understand the story. Okay, yes, I know she hadn’t read the whole thing, but I did give her the synopsis, including a lot of detail on the ending.

She suggested I hire the editing company to actually read the book and make detailed edits. I looked up her prices, and let’s just say, that wasn’t an option. Besides, I wasn’t impressed with her off-the-cuff answers and wasn’t convinced her in-depth answers would be any better. Perhaps that’s unfair, but we all make decisions based on what information we have.

So I went home, torn between screaming and crying. I might have considered giving up, since obviously, I was no good at this writing thing.

And that seems like a nice, dramatic place to stop for now. 😉

Don’t worry; it gets better.
M. C. Lee

Writing Process, Book 1 (Part 2)

Last time, I described how I started writing my first book, up until the point where I split the chapters for point-of-view (POV) and thought I had fixed that problem.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, it turns out there are at least two more levels of POV to consider. One is consistency. Three years later, I think my revisions might have caught all the times I accidentally slipped POV for a sentence or two. I hope. Sigh. It is harder than you think.

The final(?) level of POV is also called “character voice.” This is what makes it easy for the reader to identify when character A is speaking/thinking instead of character B, even without the author saying so. Of course, the author should still say so, but if one character speaks like a cowboy and thinks like a cowboy and moves like a cowboy, while another character speaks, thinks, and moves like a scientist, the story will be more realistic and authentic as well as easier to read. I’m still working on this level.

Okay, back to the story.

I now had 33 chapters of “POV-corrected” story. I’m ready to go, right? This is about the time that I heard about plot beats and story structure. I thought a story was structured however it was made, wasn’t it? And I had beats. Look, I could prove it.

So I took several different story structuring methods that mostly made sense to my warped brain and smooshed them together into my own little chart. Then I reverse-outlined every chapter of my book and marked every beat. I also marked whose POV was in each chapter.

Yep, that led to a round of revisions, too.

Then I learned about chapter goals for characters (I already knew about chapter goals for authors) and chapter twists/questions/cliffhangers/pageturners (whatever you want to call them). So I added those to my little reverse-outline chart, too.

That was a sad day. That was the point that it became very, very obvious why my story slowed down in the middle. I had four– FOUR!– chapters that had the same– boring!– chapter goal. Oh, sure, there was good stuff in the chapters. There was important stuff. There was funny stuff. There was… too much stuff without enough actually happening. Sadness.

It took me a week or three to go through those four chapters and slice them into little bits. This part stays, and all these parts go, and this part stays… It might have been around here that my “deleted scenes” file became my best friend. I told myself, “It’s okay to cut it because it’s going in the deleted scenes. If I end up needing it back, it’s a simple cut-and-paste.” In the process, the book dropped to thirty chapters.

Then, of course, I had to redo my reverse-outline.

I’d been taking my half-chapters to critique group all this time, and I’d gotten a few beta readers, too, but now seemed like a good time to get some more. So I did, which is a story all by itself, but I’ll spare you.

Early feedback complained about certain chapters having no conflict, no interest. “Boring!” So I took a deep breath and started revising. Again. Some of them ended up with (relatively) minor revisions, some with major facelifts and all-new scenes.

I was reading through a chapter myself and noticed that I actually said, “and over the next week they became friends.” Yes, just like that. Um… their friendship is actually a plot point for a character’s motivation. Did I really just brush over it like that? Face palm. Talk about unbelievable! What kind of author am I, anyway? (Don’t answer that.)

So I gutted the chapter and wrote an all-new middle where they actually had reasons to become friends. Just to make the rewrite more painful, this is a chapter I had ALREADY completely rewritten three times, in three different POVs, trying to get it right.

And on that painful note, I’ll end this segment. See you next time!
M. C. Lee

Writing Process, Book 1 (Part 1)

I’ve been thinking a lot about how my writing process has changed. If I record the development of my writing, maybe it will help someone else the way it helps me to read about other writers. Here we go!

I didn’t grow up convinced I was an author. Sure, I dabbled in stories and poetry, but they were either for school assignments or my own personal pleasure.

Then I had kids. Children change your life in so many ways. My middle child changed my writing life when she found some old paragraphs from a non-existent story and asked for the rest of it. I had to tell her that’s all there was.

That was purely unacceptable, so she quizzed me for at least an hour about my characters, world, and possible plot. When she thought I had enough for a story, she ordered me to write it. I protested I didn’t remember all my answers. She wrote them all down. Nope, no excuses.

So I “plotted” all six chapters of the short story I had in mind, and I started writing. From the beginning. One very slow paragraph at a time, starting in July 2013. Most of the time, I wrote strictly in order, following the simple notes I called a plot. On rare occasions, I’d skip around a bit to avoid difficult parts, then circle back to fill in the blanks.

At this point in my writing life, I had no intention of EVER going professional. In fact, I didn’t even tell my friends I was writing. This story was for my daughter, that’s all. Okay, fine, my husband and other children could read it, too.

As I wrote, I had to keep bumping plot notes from one chapter to the next as the middle of the story expanded. Pretty soon, I had eight chapters, and I wasn’t even finished. Then twelve, fifteen, twenty! It was now March of 2015, and I had myself a complete novel clocking in at 104,000 words.

Somewhere in the middle of 2014, I finally told a few select friends about my book. Then in late 2015, months after I finished, I decided that I ought to join a writer’s group and get some real critique. Just to make the book as good as possible for my daughter, you understand. I still wasn’t going pro.

So I found a group and shared my first half-chapter (word count limits), feeling like I was baring my soul. Sharing a creative baby is scary! It didn’t help that the guy who was critiqued right before me was told to kill his chapter and go back to the drawing board…

I shared anyway, shaking in my chair, and sure, I got LOTS of comments to fix things, but the readers also said they liked the story. I took their suggestions home and revised almost every day until the next meeting. Then I took in the next half-chapter, with similar results.

After several months, I started noticing trends in the comments. One frequent comment was “head-hopping.” It seemed I didn’t really understand point of view (POV). Oh. Okay. Hello, library, let’s do research. (I love the library.)

After a lot of reading and discussing and thinking, I decided I needed to split my chapters and stick firmly to only one POV per chapter, with the POV character named first.

One very long and tiring revision later (read “weeks”), I had thirty-three chapters that I thought were now single-POV. So now the big revision was over, and I could just work on the minor edits. Right?

I bet you experienced writers out there are now shaking your heads…

I’ll stop there and pick up next time.
M. C. Lee