I got to the end of THE DRAGON MISTRESS again this week (for the second time). There are a few outstanding items, such as the incorporation of some notes, as well as describing the appearances of people and places (colouring in, as I call it). A copy edit will then follow, to ensure I've not condradicted myself in places, and then a final spellcheck before the manuscript is sent off to agents. I can see this happening around the beginning of November. I originally thought I'd have the book done by the beginning of January, but I tend to overestimtate the time it takes to get things done.

I've seen that Angry Robot are once again having an Open Door period, from November to the end of December 2017. I'm planning to take advantage of this, but will actually be submitting THE CURSED MAN to it, rather than DM. It has always been my intention for the books to be sold to a publisher as a pair (since they're set in the same world, during the same period), with THE CURSED MAN being the lead novel*.

I had an idea for a new book recently, another fantasy novel. This would be a bit more epic in nature and would be set in a new world. Once again, it would be a standalone novel. My goal this time around would be to create a great antagonist (the goals of THE CURSED MAN and THE DRAGON MISTRESS were to write a redemption story, largely free of conflict, and one with a strong female lead). I've yet to write a single word and am just letting the plot bubble away in my head for a bit. Once I've got the main thread all sorted out, I'll start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys, in this case).

(* - to date, THE CURSED MAN has had two full manuscript requests, so I'm just waiting to see what happens with those. Fingers crossed for good news.)

alysha  writing