The Next Novel–Hepen the Watcher–Is “Done”
September 8th, 2011Hepen the Watcher is the novel I’ve been working on over the summer. It’s the sequel to The Dread Hammer, and Draft 2 is now done.
Here are the statistics:
Started: May 1
1st draft done: July 19
2nd draft done: September 7
Length: 81,000 words
I note the dates because a year ago I would have laughed at the idea of me writing an almost publication-ready novel in a little over four months. This is a new way of writing for me–see my prior post here–and I like it a lot.
For Hepen the Watcher, the first draft included the entire story from beginning to end, but with unpolished text, some incomplete sections, and notes or to-do’s embedded in the manuscript.
Draft 2 is a much cleaner affair, and ready for beta readers to look at. I’m dangerous when I get a nearly finished manuscript in my hands, and left to my own devices it would be a quick re-read away from publication–but I’ll attempt to be grown up and get some feedback on it first.
But it does feel nice to be done.
Posted on: Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Categories: My Books, Writing.
Tags: Hepen the Watcher, The Dread Hammer
September 10th, 2011 at 11:15 am
Nice. You would appear to be fulfilling not only your plans (get HtW done on an accelerated schedule) but also your meta-plans (grow your writing methodology). Your satisfaction is well-deserved.
P.S. I’d volunteer for that “beta reader” position, but haven’t read tDH yet, and that’s probably a mandatory prerequisite; my Kindle plans fell through (mandatory fiscal diversion), and the dead-trees version hasn’t (yet) hit either my favorite local used bookstore or shown up as Featured Selection in (spouse’s) Sci-Fi Book Club.
September 10th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Sadly, The Dread Hammer print version will likely not show up in those places anytime soon. There are so few print versions out in the world right now that the odd of finding it used are miniscule, and being indie published it’s not even on the Sci-Fi Book Club’s radar.
September 18th, 2011 at 4:35 am
Best of luck with your revisions. I just finished Dread Hammer (on the recommendation of Cosma Shalizi’s blog) and am looking forward to revisiting that world.
September 18th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Thanks so much! I got a thumbs up from the first beta reader, which is a great relief, and bodes well.