Last week I finished up the redraft of Southern Discomfort. My original plan was that I would run the manuscript through Draft2Digital‘s formatting system, use the PDF that creates to make an Amazon POD hard copy, then go through that this summer for a final proofing. Then, assuming my cover designer gets the cover done in time, I release the novel in September.
(As I can’t think of any appropriate photos for this post, I’m using images from TYG’s garden).
I am now debating whether I need more time. Not massive time, like putting it out in the spring, but one or two months.
I’ve been reading segments of the book to the writing group and as always, getting good feedback. In the section I read last week, the responses were that they really liked it (yay!) but one or two said the conversation between Maria and Joan runs on almost too long. Which is something they said about an earlier chapter in which Agent Cohen talks with Liz Mitchell about the murder that kicks everything off.
As I’ve mentioned before, Southern Discomfort isn’t a high-tension urban fantasy even though it often looks like one. It’s as much or more an intrusion fantasy, and the focus is as much on the residents of Pharisee dealing with what’s happening than it is on the fight against Gwalchmai. I have no doubts that’s the way the book needs to go. Like I said last week, I don’t quarrel with my instinct.
If, however, I’m slowing down the narrative too much, with too many talky scenes, that’s not so good. Given they’ve made that point about a couple of scenes, should I go over the book, or at least the first half (or first third or first quarter) with that in mind?
It’s not a radical change, less so than a couple I already made in this rewrite. And I’ve had no problems cutting scenes in this draft. All the same, it would take a lot of thought to approach the book from that mindset and to decide how much, if any, to tighten the scenes. I’d need more time to break from editing and clear my head before I look at the book again.
Could I get that done and still launch in September, at least late September? Possibly. If I push my deadline back to October, that wouldn’t hurt anything, other than my itch to get the book across the finish line.
The first step to deciding will be looking at it tomorrow or Thursday: do I agree the scenes need trimming? Which? Can I start now or do I need that break? In which case I’ll take the hours I would have spent on Southern Discomfort this month and devote them to extra work on Savage Adventures or Let No Man Put Asunder.
I’ll let you know how it goes
#SFWApro.
