The Second Half of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10 Is Progressing Well

Don't worry, there are no spoilers here:

Now that Alice's story is finished for Broadcast 10 and I'm well started into the other half of the book following other characters, I can say that this is unlike any other Spinward Fringe book.

Preview chapters will be coming, and I know a lot of you will skip them, that's fine, but people who do get a look will see some exciting stuff - even a few things that have never been mentioned to me, but I know a lot of you have wanted to see since the prologue in Broadcast 4 came out.

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Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10 is easily going to be one of the most diverse books in the series, mostly because there are two locations and stories that are absolutely different and far, far away from each other. In the words of one of my test readers; "You know, most publishers would release these as two separate books."

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There are too many stories to tell in the Spinward Fringe universe, however, so telling two major stories in one book is par for the course in this series. It takes longer, and much more effort, but it truly is more fun intertwining the pair so they can play off each other.

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I'm already fairly pleased with the book, and can't wait to get it to you.

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...but not before January 28th....

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(Sorry, couldn't help it!)

Expendable Few Facts

As I come to the last writing on the final draft of the Expendable Few, there are finally a number of certainties surrounding the book, its release, and how it fits into the Spinward Fringe series. Here's a list!

Facts about Expendable Few:

Expendable Few is currently 31 chapters +1 Epilogue. That's after cutting / substituting 9 chapters and taking 5 cracks at the epilogue.

Instead of writing a short novella, the Expendable Few has grown to the size of the average science fiction novel (about 85,000-100,000 words).

It'll be released on Smashwords first, and available for whatever people are willing to pay ($0.00 to $?.??)

A print version will be available within a month of the EBook's release.

30 days after the release on Smashwords, Expendable Few will appear on Amazon.com. Pricing will partially be dictated by Amazon. Within a few weeks of the book's appearance on Amazon it will pop up on Barnes and Noble, the iBookstore, Kobo and other retailers. It is important to mention that Smashwords will provide versions of the book for all readers, so no matter what you're using you can get the book on day one there.

Work on Broadcast 7 is starting back up as I work on the extra chapters in Expendable Few, no more material will be cut from EF, unless the editors require it.

I expect to have a release date for this book by Feb 14, hopefully MUCH earlier.

Our ebook formatting partner has been contacted, and they will be giving us a submission deadline today.

This book is experimental in every way, and unlike anything I've written in the genres of horror, fantasy, or science fiction, while drawing from all three genres.

It will read short - meaning that it is fast paced, and you'll be finished before you realize it.

All the central plotlines that begin in this book end in this book.

The book eventually connects to the Spinward Fringe series.

Framework Update - Because So Many People Are Asking

Five emails, a Facebook message, three private Twitter messages, several replies scattered across blog posts and now the pizza guy. That's how many (and how) people asked me when Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework will be finished since yesterday evening. At least the pizza guy didn't ask me to sign my receipt then run off with it this time. That was a good laugh.

Don't get me wrong, it's great that interest in the series has gone up, and I'm glad people want to know how this story ends (until it starts again in Broadcast 8). I just thought I'd answer the burning question in one place so I could refer everyone to this post.

Here's how long I expect things to take and why:

I'm hoping to finish writing my last draft of Broadcast 7: Framework by the end of March.

After a week or three of looking it over and making sure everything is as I'd like. I'll be collaborating with a second and third pair of eyes who will make sure I'm saying what I mean and really mean what I say. Also, they'll smack me upside the head if I've done something completely unrealistic or stupid. Tweaks will be made, the telling of the tale will be tightened.

When that's finished I'll be sending it off to a company that takes care of line editing for indie authors as well as larger publishing houses. I've seen their work and trust the author who recommended them. I also read what they did to his manuscript - top work.  It'll take about a month to get the work back from them, and another week or two for me and a couple other people to look over the final manuscript. Why add another six or more weeks to the wait? Editing has been the achilles heel of the series because I haven't been able to afford professional line editors until recently. Also, I've been impatient and rushed in the past. I'm told I have to stop that.

The final manuscript will go to a formatting house, where they'll make magically perfect versions of the book ready for Kindle, and all the EPub readers on the planet. That'll take one to two weeks.

So, that's how long it'll take and why - if everything goes as predicted. There's always a chance that the book will be longer than expected and I'll need a couple extra weeks, or a group of ninja assassins will seek out and kill everyone I'm planning to work with. The good news is that I haven't been working on any other writing project, I've barely been thinking about anything else, to be honest. The dishes and laundry are piling up!

I love writing this series, and in all honesty I'd write this book if there was no one waiting for it. I am doing my last draft very differently as well. It is taking longer, but the results are much more to my liking. I've learned my lesson from rushing previous Broadcasts and will continue to pay the price (literally and figuratively), for the foreseeable future when I take another pass on Broadcasts 0-6 then pay for an editing team to give them a final polish. That comes after Broadcast 7 is on the digital shelves.

I thank you for your patience, am really happy you've enjoyed the ride so far, and hope you stick around.

Addendum: I'm reminded by another author (who has a lot more experience than I), that most books aren't released for between 6-18 months after they've been written. To be honest, that makes me feel much better about the time frame I'm working on. Thanks Kim!

RL

[Anyone have any paper plates?]

Concentration

Today was spent on writing over 4,800 words and editing over 10,000. What I realized while working was how much I have left to do before I can hand the book over to my editor and the beta readers.

Broadcast 6 tells a broader story than Broadcast 5, and I'd have it no other way. What I'm doing now, during this preliminary editing phase, is writing in sections and cutting away others so every moment lives up to its full potential. Characters have to develop properly, the story has to be plausible and entertaining. The dialog must pop and flow. The book must feel whole. I'm adding entire chapters, and I've removed an entire perspective that was distracting and drew attention away from the important journeys taken by characters in this book.

Yes, that's a lot of work, but I'm really enjoying it and, more importantly, it must be done. This isn't a post about how this book will take longer than expected, however. No, we're finished with that. The final release date has been set, the link to it is at the end of this post.

In this post I'm telling you that I'm dropping off the radar while I concentrate on getting this done.

Some time while I was editing I realized how often I tabbed out to another program. Whether I was checking forum posts, Twitter or Facebook, they were all needless distractions, and my work flow will go much more smoothly without them. I'll get all this done on time, and I"ll be more focused so producing work I'm happy with earlier on will be easier.

So if you're wondering why my Twitter feed is dead, or my Facebook wall is bare over the next week or two, know that I'm doing something more important: putting my finishing touches on Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments, getting it off to my editor and beta readers. Immediately following the completion of this book, I'll be getting to work on Broadcast 7.

The only thing I'll be watching other than my word processor, is the counter on the front page of this site.

RL

See you on the other side!

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments - Best Update So Far!

Three drafts now, and I finally have something I feel good about. Now it's time to go back to the beginning, write a couple of chapters in and rewrite a few things that need heavy tuning. While this sounds like a lot of work, it's really only a week's worth.

This is a middle book, sitting between the first and last part of a trilogy. After working on this for about 10 months, I can say, middle books are bloody hard. They have to be interesting in their own right, but connect nicely with the first and third. I think I like the way Tolkien did it a lot more, write one long volume and cut it into three pieces. In the future I think that's what I'll end up doing if I ever do another trilogy again.

Anyway, back to the good news. The story is laid out, characters have challenges that they overcome or don't, a villain makes an appearance, and the whole crew goes through various trauma. Now that sounds like a Spinward Fringe book to me, and I know I'm going to really enjoy this last bit of writing.

When that writing is all finished, I'll be editing the book myself twice - once on screen, then on paper - making my changes and then handing it over to my editor. She'll work her magic and tell me if I actually have a good book, and where there might be problems. The necessary tuning will take place and normally I'd send it off to the distributors. Not this time, however.

No, this time I have a secret weapon! Three fantastic, qualified proof readers have accepted my request to work on this book after the normal steps have been taken. They live in three different countries, don't know each other, and have no idea who the other person is. It's a blind beta read so I can get three different opinions from three very different people. Their primary job will be to help with the polish of the book, but since they're all long time readers, their opinions about the story and character movement will have a great deal of weight too. No one will know who these Beta Readers are until they appear in the acknowledgments at the front of Broadcast 6. Even then, they may decide to use code names, prolonging the mystery.

Once they've finished and I've used their notes to improve the grammar and remove typos it'll go to the distributors. This one will appear on Smashwords first and it'll be the first Smashwords Spinward Fringe release with a full table of contents.

How long will all this take, you ask? Well, if I haven't written a great big turd, it shouldn't take longer than 4 weeks. I like what I have here though, even though the style is quite different from what you may expect, so I don't foresee a pile of problems.

I expect this book to weigh in at about 100,000 words, and it'll be priced at about a third of a new release eBook.

RL

[Thoughts? Rants? Manifestos? Go ahead and post them below!]