Back to “The First Light” and Other Indie Author Musings

Man, it’s tough to get back into writing a novel after a ninety-day hiatus! I opened up my files, dug through the first 35K words, and finally discovered for myself something I’ve heard several times. An author really must put down the work, walk away from it for a while and then go back. I’ve never understood before why that’s important, but now it’s painfully clear.

Upon re-reading my first draft, I realized it was rather thin at times. Sometimes I made things happen too quickly; other times I didn’t get deep enough into the mind of a character. Armed with that knowledge, I’m hoping the first draft of the second half of the novel will flow much better.

On the bright side, plot lines are clear. I didn’t see any plot holes or points where the “path of least resistance” was ignored. Also, the dreaded “second-act malaise” hasn’t occurred either. I’m sure you’ve heard of the second act or middle third of a novel labeled as the place where great novels go to die.

I also have a backlog of short stories that I need to polish and release as my second short story collection “Stasis and other Dystopian Tales.” I’d originally released “Stasis” as a single short. However, I’ve discovered that I have a knack for dystopian themes, and had too many stories in my head that needed to get out. “A Pound of Flesh,” “Media,” and “Preppers” are all in various draft/editing stages.

I also have a comical horror story, “Little Red Revolution,” currently in the editing process, along with “A Generous Man” and “Night Flights.” These two aren’t humorous, though they do fit in thematically with the first.  After a lot of thought, I decided that the entire collection shouldn’t have to be comical to work well together.

So I have a lot of work to do over the next few months. How go your efforts?  Keep reading and keep writing!