Wings Of Fate: New and Revised Chapters

[merlinscribe]

Follow the links below to see the new chapters (and a revised Chapter One). As always, the spoiler-averse should be aware--it may spoil both previous books and the current one.

The chapters are first draft, unedited, and still pretty rough. merlinscribe_library is a read only journal: comments should go here.

Chapter One (Revised)
Chapter Two
Chapter Three

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for the new chapters! Not sure if it makes waiting for the book any easier, but I'm happy to have them.

I noted a discrepancy. In the first chapter you refer to the Endarkened offspring as Begotten, which made me think perhaps you'd decided to alter what they are called. Then in the second chapter you return to calling them Born. Just letting you know in case it matters.

I also note that, especially given the length of your books and the amount of detail, you're very adept at keeping everything straight. Some authors give minor characters entirely new names from book to book, lose track of who's in what scene, and/or make numerous spelling, verb tense and grammar errors. I'm forgiving of these in books that appear to be more or less self-published, as I know that when proofreading it can be very easy to see what you expect to see and not what's really on the page, but I've been appalled by the number of discrepancies and errors that get past editors and proofreaders in books that are put out by actual publishing houses. I've been a voracious reader since I was 8 years old, and I don't remember this occurring with such regularity (if at all) until about 10 years ago. The only other real discrepancy of yours that I've noted (or remembered) is an alteration in the spelling of Vieliessar (the 'e' was added in the current trilogy).

[merlinscribe]

This is exactly the sort of thing I need to hear about! Thank you! I and my 35-page-long stylesheet thank you. My copyeditor-to-be *ought* to thank you, but probably won't.

Many of the glitches you talk about are the legacy of the immense downsizing that has gone on in publishing following the decision in Thor Power Tools v. The Internal Revenue Service. There are far fewer people in the Production departments these days: copyeditors are freelance rather than "in-house" and are not necessarily assigned all the books in a series. In the event they are, pressure to turn around the manuscript quickly (because of very low pay) ensures that they won't check their queries against previous books in the series--even if the publisher in question DID send them.

Once the msp is back in-house, allegedly the author gets to review it, but in reality (once again because of the downsizing), the book is usually put directly into production from the copyeditor's copy, and everyone hopes they can just add in the author's comments on the copyset version. This rarely happens.

[(Anonymous)]

If you're willing to send me chapters as you complete them, I volunteer to be your advance proofreader/copyeditor at no charge to you. I'm retired, so I can give you a very quick turnaround. I've done a lot of writing, editing and proofreading in my previous careers (wrote training manuals during my 20 years in management and then spent 18 years as a self-employed medical transcriptionist, which required correcting grammar and verb tense, paragraphing, accurate punctuation, etc.), so I believe I have sufficient background to do you justice. I love words and putting them together in meaningful and interesting ways. I enjoy writing, and I even enjoy editing, which I've occasionally done for others. Plus, I know the world you've created from many readings of all the books.

If you're not interested, no problem.

[merlinscribe]

Dear Anon: Please ping me at MERLINSCRIBE -AT- GMAIL -DOT- COM and we'll discuss. Thank you for the offer--as a sometime editor myself, I know what a huge amount of work it is.

[sanders1800]

Thank you for these chapter they were a great read, It was a great surprise to wake up and see it. Can not wait for the book to be release.

[merlinscribe]

I can't wait to see if Vieliessar finally makes the cover...

New Book

[(Anonymous)]

I am so happy to see that the books in in progress. I can't wait to be able to read the entire thing. I'm desperate to find out how it ends.

I've read and reread the books in this world several times. Thanks for writing them.

New Book

[(Anonymous)]

Any word on a rease date for the book?

Re: New Book

[(Anonymous)]

I was talking to a friend about these series and hopped on to see if there had been any updates myself! Glad to see that I am not the only one still anxiously awaiting this.

[mrjeys21]

When will this book be ready? I'm very much looking forward to reading it! Thanks!