Author: Tim Frankovich Page 12 of 15

If you buy a new copy of Until All Curses Are Lifted now, you might notice that the cover is slightly different. What? Why?

After discussion with my beta readers and some friends, I have decided to give these books a series title. I didn’t think it was necessary with the first book, but everyone seems to agree now that it is. Therefore, Until All Curses Are Lifted is officially the first book in the Heart of Fire series.

One of the advantages of independent publishing is that I can make changes to the cover or the interior of the book any time I want. In this case, I added the series title at the bottom and added a couple of review comments on the front and back.

What does this mean to you? Well, if you’re a completist, you should run to Amazon and buy a new copy. I won’t discourage you. But what about all those copies with the original cover? Who knows? Maybe they’ll be worth something someday. Set them aside. Carefully.

Of course, this means the cover of Until All Bonds Are Broken will have that same series title. Which also means: it’s getting close. Very close. Stay tuned.

As always, if you want special previews and advance knowledge, join the mailing list!

There are many things I’d like to share right now regarding my writing, but I can’t.

The cover is looking fantastic and is almost ready, but I can’t share it yet.

I got some great feedback from my primary beta readers, and I’m making a few minor changes to the manuscript. But of course, I can’t share what they said, either.

Spoilers are hard.

As many of you are stuck at home right now, might I humbly recommend buying books? It’s a great time to catch up on all that reading you’ve been meaning to do for so long.

This awesome animation was created by the talented Morgan Wright. Check out her website for more animations and her books as well!

Sometimes we writers use words too much. Wait. That’s not what I meant.

Sometimes we use the SAME words too much. All writers do. We have our pet words or phrases we use all the time. Sometimes, we’re aware of it and work hard to avoid it. Sometimes we’re blind to it until a reader points it out.

The most pernicious of these words are filler words like “that,” or being verbs like “was” and “had.”

As part of my revision process, I’ve been doing searches on those particular words and doing what I can to cut them down. Sometimes, especially with a word like “that,” I can just delete it. Sometimes, I need to re-write entire sentences or even paragraphs.

So far in the last week or so, I’ve eliminated 174 uses of “that,” 345 uses of “was,” and 77 uses of “had.” (Just getting started on “had.”)

This may seem crazy to non-writers or editors. Why bother with all of this? Why not just get the story out?

The end result is much stronger writing, which benefits readers, whether you realize it or not. Poor writing, while it may not be immediately noticeable to the average reader, works on you over time. An entire book of it? It will diminish your enjoyment of the story itself, leaving you a little unsatisfied, even if you’re not entirely sure why.

So be patient, dear readers, as I go through this mind-numbing process. (Because it is. I’m sick of these words.) It’s important.

And then after this, I need to work on adverbs. Wheee.

With a final three-word sentence a few minutes ago, I finished the first draft of my novel. Currently 137,093 words long (somewhere close to 500 pages), it’s an epic fantasy like I always dreamed I would write. Unlike all the experiments I attempted in my early life, this one is actually original, not attempting to copy anyone or anything.
It’s the story of a young man, cursed from birth for the sins of his father, faced with a legacy of magic and power that could free him from the curse… or kill him. And there are others who want him dead for other reasons. At the same time, a young woman, training to be her land’s greatest mage, discovers a secret that could unravel the very fabric of the world. (And that’s the first time I’ve tried to explain the book, so I know that needs work.)
Current working title: Until the Curses Are Lifted
It’s really my second novel. The first one, a YA fantasy written just over a year ago, was much shorter and less ambitious (almost half as long). I was unable to find an agent for it in its present form. I hope to return to it at some point and make it better.
For now, the real work begins on this novel. Revisions. In at least two chapters, I skipped over some extensive descriptions because I had a block and needed to get back into writing. I need to go back and fill those in. I also have two full pages of notes detailing revisions that I know need to be made. And that’s before I even go back and re-read it!
The most significant work is something I have to do before anyone else can look at it. This book has two point-of-view characters, protagonists, each in their own adventure that eventually connect. I wrote it scene-by-scene. Now I need to go back and re-arrange every scene to cut back-and-forth between them. Along the way, I’m sure I’ll see some other revisions that are needed.
I have one beta reader who needs to look at it next week. I’d like to get more revisions done before I hand it off to any others just yet.
How long will this take? Weeks or months, who knows?
And then begins the process of querying, pitching, and otherwise searching for a literary agent. It’s a lengthy process. This time, I think I’ll be entering it with more confidence than before.
For now, I think I’ll celebrate a little bit. It’s kind of a big deal.

This is the big question looming over me.
Since mid-January, I have written almost nothing on my novel. And I don’t really know why. Scrivener is always open on my computer. I have time. I know exactly what happens next. I’m at the climax, after all. But I’m not writing.
Part of it might come from doubts and fears, I’m sure. I’m realizing that I have a couple of problems in the story that need some serious revision. And that makes me worry that the whole thing is worthless. (It’s not.)
That leads to the second issue: revision work. I know that there will be literally months of revision work on this and it’s intimidating. Since NaNoWriMo, the web/Twitter world related to writing has been all about revisions and the more I read and think about it, the more intimidated I am. Part of me is worried about how much work I’ll have to do AFTER I finish my first draft.
So why is that stopping me?
I don’t know.
I have some kind of mental block here that I’m struggling to overcome. Today, I wrote a character’s full background story, so that’s something. And I wrote this blog post. But I haven’t written a word on the novel itself.
I know this needs to change. Maybe by posting this here, I’ll motivate and/or embarrass myself into finishing.

As 2017 began, I was deep into revising and editing one book. As 2017 ends, I am nearing the end of writing another book. A lot happened this year.
Last year, I wrote a YA fantasy novel. In January, I was revising and getting feedback from beta readers. Once I was satisfied with it, I began the querying process. In late February, I began sending out queries to dozens of literary agents.
By mid-April, it was beginning to be obvious that I did not have an instant bestseller. I lost track of how many rejections I got. Suffice to say, if an agent responded at all, it was with a rejection. Dozens of them. After some negotiation and interplay with a couple of agents on Twitter and via email, I finally, finally got a rejection that actually told me something. Multiple reasons could be found, but the primary one was that the market was still a little flooded with that particular sub-genre. For now, the best thing to do was to set it aside until a more opportune time.
That led to the next book. I had envisioned the YA novel as the first in a series, and I have rough outlines of at least two more novels. But to work on those when the first one isn’t going anywhere would be somewhat pointless. Instead, I began looking for my next unrelated novel.
I have numerous story ideas piled up here and there. Some of them are sketched out in notebooks, some on documents on my computer. Which one would be best, however?
After careful consideration, I settled on a concept that I’ve had written down (and mostly forgotten) since 1991. A friend and I brainstormed it one crazy college night. Needless to say, it needed some work. I started serious world-building in May.
With the start of summer, I began writing the new novel. The writing was slow and difficult most of the time. Bit by bit, it took shape.
Then Hurricane Harvey came along and derailed everything in everyone’s life.
By mid-October, I had hit 50,000 words, and I really needed motivation. Fortunately, NaNoWriMo came along. As I’ve written previously here, I wrote 50,012 words in November.
Since then, holidays and other factors have slowed me down again. I was hoping to be done by Christmas. Or New Year’s Day. Neither of those are happening. As of right now, the novel currently stands at over 120,000 words.
How much is left? If you had asked me in September, I would have said, the novel will be around 110,000 words. If you had asked me a month ago, I would have said it will be 130,000 or so. Now? I’m not sure. I’m entering the climax of the story, but there’s a lot left to tell. I’m thinking closer to 140,000.
I can finish this in January. I know it. Will I finish it in that time frame? I’m not 100% sure, but I’m confident that it will be done within the next few weeks.
Then I start revising. Then beta readers. Then more revising. And probably more revising. And then… then we’ll see if this novel can generate more interest than the last one in the publishing industry.
Welcome, 2018. This year, things will be… different.