The last two weeks I’ve spent going through the throws of self-doubt, but hey… that’s writing… and pitching… and just plain nerves.
I’ve been flipping back and forth between working on the Curse of Crows and revising/rewriting the last manuscript I pitched Breath of Meige.
Meige still begins with fantastic characters, but Ari’s voice lacks the drive it needs. She always did, partly because she played that inactive narrator role like The Great Gatsby. I’ve been fiddling around with rewriting her voice, making it more punchy than dark. From experience, I’ve struggled reading dark novels after covid hit, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.
I’ve also played with the idea of dripping a portion of Ari’s story into the Crows sequel. She’s quirky and fun, but I’ve struggled uniting so many storylines and characters for obvious reasons… It’s just too much! Not only do I have character’s story’s hanging over from the first Crows that needs resolving, but, being that we’re introduced to court, so many new voices emerge! It’s too much. I even created little posty notes of chapters and who’s voice they’re in to layout the chapter ordering, only to look at it and think “Geez, that’s confusing… I’d hate reading this.”
But I figured it out now! I’ve segmented the book into parts, and limited the various voices into those sections. It works out beautifully. So even though Part 2 might introduce a new voice narration, it sticks within that voice (or two voices) for a few chapters to keep the reader grounded until that storyline concludes (partially) and shifts into the next Part (with another set of voices).
I’m rather proud. I put that sequel manuscript aside because I had a hard time seeing a way forward. Now that I see it set in place, I can proceed. Granted, my Crows sequel is still a mess of drafts, drafts written two years ago, drafts written last week, overly long chapters, chapters written before bronzification with the old names… BUT some of the new material is freakin’ fun.
And, if I’m being honest… I’m SO GLAD TO BE WORKING ON SOMETHING ELSE!!!
