More Updates and Revisions

So, I finished the Doyen Scrolls page (although I’ll update it with additional info and subjects later, and also a timeline and links to make navigation through the page easier). Initially, I was just going to have a long, boring-ass explanation of the background, what a Gift was, why free will is important, things like that … but I was boring myself, so instead of doing it in my “serious” voice, I let my characters explain it for me by taking excerpts from their stories. It’s a page that is going to be a work-in-progress, and eventually taken over by the demon-slayer.com site (but that won’t be for another six months or so while I develop that).

I also finished the printable lists, which isn’t much to be happy about, because it was easy.

I have yet to finish the “behind the scenes” stuff, and probably won’t until the weekend, which makes me a loser. But! I have everything mailed out, e-mailed out, etc — so this weekend I’ll be haunting a few local bookstores, and by Jan 2nd I can stick my head in the sand if I need to.

I’ve also begun revisions for DEMON MOON. These are revisions that I suggested to my editor, instead of the other way around. There aren’t any massive changes — I’m changing the pacing a little bit through the second quarter of the novel, and cutting out most of one scene and adding in another scene that will hopefully a) bring the external demon conflict in much sooner, b) make the BIG relationship conflict apparent sooner, and c) add a sense of urgency that it didn’t have enough of in the original version. The original wasn’t BAD, I think … it just could be better.

But I have a really important restriction to abide by: I can’t add any pages. Right now, I’m going through and cutting and tightening as much as absolutely possible, so that I can make sure the shifts in the scenes and the added scene will be a wash, word-count-wise.

The reason? I was already at 156K. That sound you hear is Berkley’s production department screaming.

So I’m being ruthless. I actually did a BWAHAHAHAHA! laugh today in the middle of Starbucks when I found a whole paragraph to cut. Then I’ll write the new scene, make the other small changes, and go through and be ruthless again. I think it’ll come out just right.

And I love revisiting these guys. I have a hard time working on two projects at once (I could never write two books at once) and I’m just coming off the new proposal and falling hard for those characters — and it is difficult to stop in the middle and switch voices — but Colin and Savi are so freaking fun, and I know them so well, it’s not that hard. And I have to admit I had a little, “Oh my god, I’ve missed you guys!” moment when I put their pictures back up on my desktop — and sticking their soundtrack back in my car was good, too. Which maybe sounds stupid, but perhaps not so much when I think about how I lived and breathed their characters for six intense months. And I’m glad I’ll be working on something so comfortable and familiar when DEMON ANGEL comes out, because I don’t have to worry about the pressure of my debut release (whether it does well or tanks) getting in the way of the writing, or distracting me away from characters that I’m just getting to know.

And my agent sent me an e-mail today that she loved the proposal. So things are good going into next week — as good as they could possibly be, I think.

Okay, maybe a gazillion dollar contract would be better … but that’s for my GREED post, later this week.