If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
New pics for Book 1
The biggest news--I've completed my last round of full-book edits for Book 3. That round of edits, which I will call style edits, proved to be a grind. I came out of the other end with an added chapter, and a few corrections to structural problems, though that wasn't the intent. I've got my K-9 helper really speeding things along; using the infinite monkey theorem, I just need enough time, and she will write my books for me!
I have structural corrections from early readers coming in, and I have just finished incorporating the first set of them. Thanks, Kathy, Beth, & Briana! Really appreciate the feedback. Anyone willing to help with Book 4 (which is a months away, given my work schedule), ping me.
Pictures are going more slowly than I hoped, but there's still sufficient time, and some of the art is HARD. I don't envy them the task I've set before them. On the bright side, I have pictures finished that I'd like to add to Book 1. As any readers know, I put several pictures in Book 2, and I received some reviews saying Book 1 would have been better with the same. There's actually LOTS I'd like to change about Book 1, but since I have an Audiobook in progress, I can't really dink with the text (for the time being). Adding pics? That's doable.
So for you, my friends, I have early views of said pics. Hopefully you'll recognize them. For those REALLY into details, the pictures of The Palace are drawn from the angle of Fort Clinton in Central Park of Manhattan. Let me know what you think. (Seriously, I keep looking at the pic of The Palace and think the sky needs clouds or something... tell me what's missing.)
There's a bit of a mistake with the Galad/Grundle pic--they drew it horizontal instead of vertical. They've redone it, but I don't like it as much. You can't see Grundle's war axe. :( On the other hand, Grundle is more clear. Not sure what I'll do about that yet. Opinions?
Calyx Twins
[Spoiler Alert - Book 3] I'm still cranking away on this little side-story. It took a back seat to my efforts to get edits done for Book 3. I had one person say 'yes' to an early view (a mother of twins, who wanted to be sure I did it right, but whom I also know does not have much time for reading), but didn't hear from anyone else, which I take as a 'no'. So it'll wait a bit longer.
Writing Updates
As mentioned, I finished my edits of Book 3, and while it still will have some updates from feedback of early readers, I will shorty send it off to an external editor.
o To-Do list for writing last week:
Email updates.Edit three chapters a day in Book 3 (target chp94 of 94, but likely will fall a little short this week)Not going to submit specs for remaining 3/6 pictures yet - need to follow the existing orders through.- Continue on Calyx Sister short story.
- Incorporate Book 3 feedback.
Add scene to Book 3, with Hughelas and Galad/Grundle pre-exile. (maybe it's in book 4?)Week 1 of Amazon Ad Challenge
o To-Do list for writing this week:
- Email updates
- Get started with external editor
- Submit next 3/3 pictures for Book 3
- Calyx Twins short story - given my track record, I will no longer say "next week", but I think there's a good chance it will be done next week. :)
- Incorporate Book 3 feedback as it comes in.
- Week 2 of Amazon Ad Challenge
Steven J Morris
If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
I promise I’ve made progress on Father of Stones (FoS). Here's a screenshot to prove it: click the photo to get to the live data showing progress But... I have put a little time elsewhere. I want to invite you to try this web-game I’ve been building out. It was meant to be a role-playing game around Thaumatropic Fractures, but ended up being focused on Thaumatropic Roots. https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com The game will ask you to use your email to associate...
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