Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Writing Update – March 16, 2017

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I’m buried under a foot of snow, I’m fighting a week long head cold, and the kids turned four and two last week. But enough about me, bring on the writing update!

Writing Update

The Medusa Coin IS DONE! I worked my proverbial tuchas off trying to button this bad boy up over the last four weeks. This one almost broke me, and probably led to the week long head cold. This is the first full-length novel I’ve put together since bringing the site live back in August. The first one I’ve written since the initial draft of Signs of Portents back in 2013.

I was worried to say the least.

After many revisions and quite a few late nights rejiggering different elements into place, I think I’m at a place to let this one go for a bit. I’ve sent it to my favorite first readers for their thoughts, hoping they will remember my fragile ego and go easy on me.

I’ve also opened up the opportunity for more beta readers on this one. If you are interested in reading a raw draft of The Medusa Coin, follow the link to learn more about what I’m looking for. My deadline is April 20th to have the draft read and notes sent back. I know it’s tight and hope to give more time for the next installment.

Speaking of which:

Pathways in the Dark

Book Four in the series is progressing. This one is another short story collection, taking place in the aftermath of The Medusa Coin. I finished the script level drafts of the six tales last month but it felt like something was missing.

There was and it came to me in the form of a little epilogue currently titled, The Gathering. What I loved most about Tales from Portents was the fact that when you finished The Consultant you knew where Soriya was headed and what followed with Signs of Portents. I wanted that feeling. That cliff jumping moment where the reader made it to the end of Pathways and screamed that they needed book five in their hands NOW.

The Gathering accomplishes this and I am so happy it came together. Time to sit down and start drafting the remaining five stories. (After the NyQuil wears off…)

Lots of promo stuff coming up for Signs and Tales starting April 1st so be on the lookout for some great opportunities to snag a copy on the cheap. I’ll be talking about them at length during the next update.

Thanks for reading.

Beta Readers Needed for The Medusa Coin

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Calling all beta readers! Calling all beta readers! The Medusa Coin is DONE.

beta readersQuite possibly the most difficult couple of months since launching the series but completely worth the time and aggravation. When I sat down with my initial outline everything appeared to be very straightforward with a clear path from beginning to end.

WRONG.

Quite a few additions and deletions have been made to this manuscript over the last two and a half months. At one point I thought the whole draft would need rewriting – not my best day. I’m glad to be out the other side of this one and happy to share it with a few select readers willing to offer their thoughts on the draft.

The importance of beta readers.

I’ve spoken to this before and I stand by my earlier statements on the subject. Beta readers are a crucial part of the editing process. Much as I love keeping all the secrets and holding back the surprises of a new novel until launch day, it doesn’t quite work if the final product doesn’t live up to the hype.

Suffice it say, I’d love to hear your thoughts on The Medusa Coin. This story has been with me for a LONG time and I have definitely felt the weight of my own expectations bearing down on me. I want this book to be top notch and you can help.

How to become a beta reader?

E-mail me at lou@loupaduano.com or through the oft-mentioned contact page. Or message me directly on social media. Let me know the best way to send you the file for your review.

What am I looking for exactly?

There are a number of areas actually but all feedback is welcome. Some specific areas of interest are:

  1. Pace – Does each chapter go at a good clip? Do you feel like you’re wading through a swamp or rushing through the rapids?
  2. Dialogue – Too much? Too little? Do you ever lose track of who is speaking?
  3. Story Logic – THE BIG ONE. Does the book make sense? Do connections come out of left field or is there enough information laid throughout to understand the chain of events that lead the main characters through the narrative?
  4. Flow – Not only chapter to chapter but paragraph to paragraph. Is a better transition needed?
  5. Perspective – Is there a random shift of perspective in the middle of the chapter that isn’t noted by a break? Do you ever feel like one character is lost in the mix at any time in the narrative?
  6. The villain – This was definitely an area I wanted to improve upon after Signs of Portents. Is the antagonist developed enough? Do they get enough time to shine?
  7. Repetition – Another area of concern from Signs. Character arcs are very important to me and background thoughts tend to string their main conflict along throughout the narrative. Does it ever become too repetitive in the story? Does it need to back off during certain scenes and allow the action to progress?
  8. Awkward sentences/descriptions – Are there points in the novel that tripped you up? Sentences you had to read several times over in order to understand an action occurring?

What am I not looking for?

  1. Grammar lessons. I suck at it, I know. It’s a fact of life. If you want to mark up the entire piece and save my wonderful editor the hassle later on, have at it. Telling me my grammar skills blow will not help and brings me to my final note –
  2. Vague assistance. Specifics are needed to improve the work. Telling me something doesn’t work in Chapter Forty-Three is great but I need to know what it is in detail. Not enough dialogue? A slow paragraph that didn’t add anything to the scene? Be as specific as you can, please!

Beta Readers Deadline – April 20th.

It’s not as far off as you think and it gives me ten days to work through everyone’s notes before I pass it off to my editor.

How to mark it up:

The easiest way to mark up the text is to highlight and make notes on your computer but typing up a separate document/e-mail with a list of your notes for me to go through when you are set also works.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

I greatly appreciate all of your help in this process. My goal is to make the best book possible and I can’t do that alone. Thanks to all of you in advance.

And thanks for reading!

Reading Platforms

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I am always on the lookout for a new way to consume media. Be it streaming on Netflix or buying movies on Vudu, there are thousands of new services cropping up to fill my every waking hour with an incredible amount of entertainment. Recently, I’ve noticed a few new (to me) reading platforms and wanted to share.

Reading Platforms

Hoopla Digital

Hoopla Digital – Hoopla, like Overdrive, works through the library system to offer you free content as long as your library is part of the network. Unlike Overdrive the content is much broader than books and delves into movies, music and comics as well.

Where Overdrive uses license agreements with your local library that require only a certain amount of copies be available to borrow at any one time, Hoopla goes in a different direction and one that I think is a benefit to the reader. They offer 10 borrows per month. Not by the day you sign up either. Calendar month. Nice and simple for someone like me that has way too many subscriptions.

The iPad interface is great. Easy to use. My one complaint is that it does not list new releases in a separate tab. Sometimes that can be a pain. Overall this is a great service that really needs to carry my books! See if your library is connected at Hoopla Digital today!

Free-eBooks.net

Free-eBooks.net was one I had never heard about until I was trying to spread the word about Resurrectionists back in January. I was surprised at the amount of content collected on the site. Tons of reading material and, as the name suggests, everything is free.

Depending on the book you can download the Kindle version or the ePub version so that it can easily be uploaded to your e-reader of choice. Always a nice feature.

Inkitt

This one is brand new to me. I received an e-mail about Inkitt last week and still have to delve into it more closely but they offer a number of books for free much like Free-eBooks.net. Depending on how well you, and the rest of the reading audience, enjoyed the book – please be sure to always rate it – Inkitt may provide the author a publishing deal.

(You might be hearing about this one more in the future…)

Only a certain number of free copies are available so browse early and often.

There is one more site I’d like to mention, not because it offers free books like the other reading platforms mentioned but because of an incredible service it provides for local bookstores.

Indiebound

reading platformsYou might have noticed this one lately, since I’ve been including it on the sales pages of my books. Indiebound is a search engine where you can plug in the book you’re on the hunt for as well as your zip code and the site will provide you with a list of independent bookstores where you can make your purchase.

This is HUGE for the little guy, trying to stay alive in an Amazon dominated world. I highly recommend using this service when searching for your next read.

Thanks for reading.

Reader Survey

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Millions of books are out there waiting to be read. I try to keep that in perspective when I add a new one to the world. The sheer enormity of the business and the hundreds of thousands of voices that might get lost in the mix weighs heavily on my mind. Curiosity being what it is I pondered the mysteries of the universe, or in this case the reading public, and came up with a little reader survey to help discover some answers.

To better serve you, dear reader, I’d like you to take a few moments to look over the questions below. With a better sense of your reading habits I hope to make my books, and all the content offered through this site or anywhere with my name attached, the most fulfilling experience possible to keep you coming back for more.

I have even opened up the comments on this post to make it easier to answer. But, as always, you can reach me through your favorite social media channels. There is also this handy-dandy contact me page I put together that gets lonely sometimes.

Reader Survey

  1. Where do you buy the majority of your books? (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, local bookstore, etc.)
  2. What format do you prefer when reading? (physical v. digital)
  3. How do you find out about new books? (random searches, newsletters, library, etc)
  4. Do you subscribe to any discounted books newsletters?
    1. If so, which ones? (Bookbub, Reading Deals, etc.)
  5. How much are you willing to spend on a new author? What is the make it or break it price point?
    1. Is 99-cents asking too much with so many free options out there now?
  6. How much is too much for a paperback book?
  7. Would you read a weekly serial on a website (or through a newsletter) or do you prefer the full story in your hands?
    1. Would you pay to read a weekly serial on the web (or through a newsletter)?

Thank you for taking the time to look through the reader survey. It is greatly appreciated. Everything done on my end is with the reader in mind and I want to create a fully satisfying experience that brings you back with each and every installment.

Until I decide to wipe the slate clean and kill every single character you love just for the hell of it. But I wouldn’t do that. Would I?

reader survey

Thanks for reading.

Switching Gears From Editing to Drafting

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After two months of nit-picking and questioning every word choice, every story beat, perspective shift and every other piece of The Medusa Coin, it is time to switch gears from editing to drafting. Editing is very much based in problem solving. Critically thinking through each and every facet of the narrative from the macro to the micro and back again.

Writing is so much more freaking fun, isn’t it?

Letting go of the old for the new.

switch gearsIt’s tough. Four months of work on The Medusa Coin, living with the story day and night, can be extremely difficult to walk away from for a new project. Hell, for a break in general. Every fiber of your being wants to look over the draft ONE MORE TIME. Does it make enough sense? Is it all there? Did something get lost in translation from thought to action to final edit?

Let someone else decide that for you. When the bell rings and the draft is there, as clean as it can get (no scimping on your end) then it is time to hand it off to another reader.

Put it out for your coveted beta readers to shred and give yourself time to discover new worlds or the next phase of your current epic.

 

Putting pen to paper again.

After finishing a full-length novel of 85,000 beautifully constructed words (one hopes) where the hell do you start for the next thing?

Sure, a vacation might sound nice at this point. Maybe you never want to look at your computer again after wrestling with your last project for months on end. A break is deserved but eventually it is time to get back to it.

It might be said quite often on my end, but it always holds true. Start small. 

Write small notes. If the next novel isn’t there is there something in its place? Some itch to explore or thread to pull from a random thought or dream? Diversions can lead to great story moments or a great story to tell when you stumble on a completely new endeavor.

Write a short story. Or a poem. Or something different than a behemoth of a book. Not only does it feel like less of a climb to completion but it also stretches different muscles and allows you to practice your craft on a different level. When you only have 10,000 words to tell your tale how does that impact your thinking? What ends up on the cutting room floor? What works better and what doesn’t?

Experimentation leads to growth.

That, more than most anything, is why Greystone is formatted the way it is for the first cycle. Full-length novels are staggered with short story collections between them. It allows me to try new things and test the waters with new avenues of telling stories.

And why I am so looking forward to Pathways in the Dark. The seven stories within are plotted, scripted and ready to rock and roll.

But sometimes experimentation means heading out of your comfort zone completely. I have another project I am working on in the background. If everything works out you’ll hear more about it in about six months. If not there is always next year, but I know it is going to come through eventually.

Start small. Experiment.

But you damn well better get your work done too.

Thanks for reading.

Reflections on the Editing Process – The Medusa Coin

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The editing process, for me, has never been my strong suit. I get itchy during it, like I’ve been sitting still for weeks or months without any movement. It becomes problem solving and while math has always been a fun diversion for me, it gives me a headache after awhile.

The Medusa Coin was no different, yet completely different than both Signs of Portents and Tales from Portents during the editing process. It showed me quite a bit about the way I work and how I work best when it comes to a larger manuscript.

Editing process lessons learned (hopefully)…

editing processBetter time management. The Medusa Coin is an 85,000 word BEHEMOTH. Unlike the short stories in Tales, this one required quite a bit of reading to get a handle on the problems within. Reading takes time and it seemed to be in short supply for me over the last two months. To better serve the editing process and future books I need to focus on the following:

  1. Lighter scheduling. While editing The Medusa Coin I had to finalize Tales from Portents, I scheduled my first promotion for Signs of Portents and I outlined Pathways in the Dark. Oh yeah, and worked on this blog. RIDICULOUS. Why would I do that? Because I am an idiot. Dividing up my sparse amount of work time between all of these projects made the first month of edits a nightmare. Won’t happen again.
  2. Speaking of sparse time available…(I miss you naps.) My plan going forward is to center the bulk of my editing around long weekends, holidays (THANK YOU, FEBRUARY BREAK!) and summer vacation. Having larger chunks of time made the first draft possible and it remains true for every other step in the process as well.
  3. Putting everything else on autopilot. Batching blogs. Setting up promos in advance. All of that should be done to keep the focus on the editing process. January fell apart on me because my head was everywhere else and The Medusa Coin ended up at the bottom of the priority list.
  4. Research ahead of time! A no-brainer yet I kept pushing it back. Made for way too much double work.

Editing process management

It took me an entire month of reading through the book, highlighting questions and problem areas before I realized I needed a better system. Since the end of January things have gone much smoother thanks to changes I made by tackling specific issues:

  1. By arc or character – Following a single thread throughout the book put a laser focus on one aspect of the book and allowed me to work it into the larger narrative more easily by finding natural connections throughout.
  2. By event or action sequence – After each individual arc was set, going through the major events or action pieces of the narrative was my next step. A little wider in scope but still narrow enough to make sure all of the right elements were in place – building the entire work up brick by brick.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I am making my final pass on The Medusa Coin this week. Final pass is a misnomer since I will be reading it about ten times after this, but it is the last major reworking of the text before sending it to my group of first readers. I’m incredibly nervous. This story has been with me a long time.

Fingers crossed it came through in the telling.

Thanks for reading.

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