Hi all,
Those of you following me on Facebook might have a good idea of how hard I work at my writing. You might also know what kind of word counts I keep. I only posted a few things here, sorry, this blog often takes a back seat to FB and my author blog... but I wanted to post how I got to where I am right now with this last book in the Soul Born Saga,
FLESH ENDED, exclusively here.
I began writing Flesh Ended back in 2010, almost immediately after finishing the early drafts of book two. Then in 2011, I added some more words to the WIP... I was at around 60K and I knew I was not even half way done. When I started working on it again in 2012, determined to finish and polish it to perfection, I had to literally re-write almost everything. See, I had changed a major plot point, so I had to adjust.
Back in May I started posting my word counts. I was just under 120K when May started and by the end of that month nearing 150k. In June, I pressed forward and topped
180K, finally completing the novel in the first week of July. When I went back to look at my notes I had written about 40K words in June alone. It was an amazing accomplishment. See, this was not NaNoWriMo* word counts on my pages... it was studied and structured and well thought out writing.
*(nanowrimo is a month of the year when authors are encouraged to write 50k words)(it can get sloppy)
After finishing the book, and re-reading it once, I sent it off to my editor in Portland. She gave the book back to me in Sept. I scheduled two months to edit it and guess what, that is how long it took. All of Sept and Oct I worked editing Flesh Ended and for the past two weeks I have been re-reading it again. That last pass to make sure my I did not make typos while editing. It happens a lot. You need to be vigilant with that stuff... It kills me
BLOOD DIVIDED has a few typos and dropped words.... kills me.
So it's hard to say how long the book took to write. But for the most part, I wrote it from Feb-July this year. Reaching 181K words was a new record for me and proved that I could write a longer novel if I wanted to. My normal word count goal was 100-110K. Now that feels small.
I remember feeling a little intimidated when it came time to edit that monster. 181K words... how long with that take to edit? I knew editing 100K felt like forever and was, at times, back breaking work. But I went into it calmly and tried not to think too much. I took breaks and managed pretty well.
Final word count for Flesh Ended is around 172K. I trimmed it almost down 10K. I think that is a pretty good streamlining. I would not have minded compacting it a little more even. Also, in the process I wrote a new ending. The mood hit me, and well, I wanted to reflect how I was feeling in the book. Conclude it properly, and still leave a few openings just in case. I am not saying there will be a book 4. There will not. I will say this. I do promise at least one more short story in the Soul Born Saga universe. I also will release a timeline some day. Will there ever be another book? If so, it would begin a new series. And when you read Flesh Ended you might wonder... hmm, who would the series follow next?
In conclusion, I wanted to mention where the book stands right now. At the moment it is in the hands of two of my trusted fans/friends. They are proofreading it. When they are done, I will make a few more small fixes and then ship it off to the publisher in Dec. I am not sure what Dark Quest Books' schedule looks like, but I can safely say it will not be printed until at least mid 2013. I will keep you all updated.
As for the cover art. I have to save up some money for Dan Dos Santos. He
IS waiting for me... ready to paint another home run cover.
Kevin James Breaux
www.kevinbreaux.com
Kevin James Breaux is an award-winning author and artist. He has written nine books and is the owner of Castle Broskull a vintage toy customization company. It's rad!
