I know I haven't written a post lately, but I've been very busy. Time I spend blogging is time I don't spend writing, and I've been doing a lot of writing lately. (Well, there's been some D+D playing in there as well, but that will wait for another blog).
Mike Shultz (my critique partner) and I have been hard at work on the manuscript of Shadow of the Knight. (My friend, Kemp Brinson, has also given a helpful hand with the first several chapters.)
I cannot stress enough how important it is go have a good critique partner, and Mike is a great one. So far we've...
1) Revamped a very rough chapter one. In Shadow of the Knight I am introducing a new major character, a new part of the world, a new culture, and a new magic system. This all appears in chapter one. It's a lot to get across to the reader without pulling a massive info-dump. After a lot of work, chapter one is in great shape.
2) Mike helped me re-arrange the chapter sequence to make the story flow better. This was done in two different points in the novel.
3) We found a way to tie two major plot elements together, instead of leaving them as separate story lines.
4) We took out a scene that very little tension and gave it a lot more zip. It also makes a lot more sense now.
I'm about 50% finished my edits based on Mike's critique. It will take me another week or so to finish it up. After that the novel goes to my beta-readers for another round of refining before a final proofread. I'd hoped for an early June release, but that probably won't happen. I'm looking at early July right now, and it seems like a solid bet.
Right now Shadow of the Knight is sitting at 142,000 words. Eternal Knight was 115,000 words and Child of the Knight weighed in at 117,000 words when they went to press. I don't think Shadow will lose much weight at this point.
As a final note, all three of my novels will be getting new covers. Here's a sneak peek at the rough draft of the Shadow of the Knight cover:
I'm extremely excited about the new covers. I'll reveal them all in the weeks before publication!
All my best,
Matt
