S. W. Raine

Project Spin-Off has turned into Rise of the Sky Pirate! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!

A lot has happened over the course of the last few months. My NaNoWriMo 2020 project has taken off, with a tentative release somewhere around The Techno Mage‘s first year anniversary.

The first round of revision has already happened in January, where I cut out all of the useless stuff as well as all the mistakes that I never deleted. My 81k novel slimmed down to around 73k and was sent to my Alpha Readers at the beginning of February.

I know what you’re thinking: “eight thousand words is a lot to cut out during a first draft!” And I agree. NaNoWriMo is more about quantity over quality. During the event, I don’t believe in the backspace button—I simply strike out what I no longer want. I usually tend to write “bare bones”, meaning that there isn’t much description. I just want to get the idea out of my head as quickly as possible.

Now that I’m doing the first round of edits, I’m fleshing it out—putting meat on the bones, so to speak. Along with adding in the detail, I’m making sure to remember what my Beta Readers and editor told me for The Techno Mage, such as eliminating most descriptive nouns for character reference, showing rather than telling, eliminating passive voice, and getting more into the characters’ heads. Whew, that’s a lot to fix!

Rise of the Sky Pirate is due to the editor in May. Hopefully I can squeeze in a round of Beta Readers before then, but I’m not stressing if I can’t make it happen. Some of my Alpha Readers acted as Beta Readers as well, so I have plenty to work with.

Currently, as an incentive to sign up for my monthly newsletter, you also get the three first chapters of The Techno Mage. I’m hoping to change that incentive to the three first chapters of Rise of the Sky Pirate by June. Don’t worry: if you’re already subscribed, you’re getting those three chapters, anyway!

And if you haven’t signed up for my monthly newsletter yet, what are you waiting for?! My newsletter subscribers are the first to know about everything, including big news and sales. Along with the three first chapters of The Techno Mage, you also get deleted scenes, bonus chapters, games, quizzes, and more. This month, my subscribers were supposed to get a bonus scene involving Eliakim and Greta. The scene soon became an entire chapter, and rather than rush through the edits, I decided to wait to do it properly. So you’re in luck, there’s still time to get the bonus chapter! Just sign up here:

https://swraine.com

Are you excited for the release of Rise of the Sky Pirate? Let me know!

Raine

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CURRENTLY READING

Fiction: By Sea and Sky by Antoine Bandele
Nonfiction: The Perfect Week Formula by Craig Ballantyne