Struggling to Rewrite a Combat Scene

Welcome everyone!

**WARNING, LIGHT SPOILERS FOR BOOK 3**

For the second time in Book 3, I'm struggling to rewrite a fight scene. The first time, was at the beginning of the book. It turned out really well, and I'm happy with it now. We'll see what future beta readers say, though.

Anyway, with this second scene, I'm struggling ever harder. In this one, I introduce a new monster-type. It's not something major, just something you would expect to find in this setting. None-the-less, I am not happy with the ending of it.

I'm wondering if I should just cut it altogether. The purpose of the scene is to introduce the creature, but I wonder if it even needs an introduction. Book 3 is the longest yet in the series, and it might be in the interests of brevity to cut it.

I'm not sure what I'll do at this point. Wish me luck!

Peace,

-Troy

Goals for the Weekend 2020-06-26

Welcome everyone!

This weekend, it's more revision work. Next weekend, I won't get anything done. I'll be celebrating Independence Day with my family, so I definitely need to redouble my efforts now. Here's what I hope to accomplish:

• Get two Book 3 chapters revised
• Get one Book 2 audio recording edited

If I can do all that, I'll have a productive weekend. I hope you do too.

Peace,

-Troy

Not Half Way But Close

Welcome everyone!

Just a short update today. I've finished revising chapters 9 and 10. I'm almost half way! I think by the end of the weekend, I'll be there. That's still a lot of work left to do, but I'm feeling really motivated. Thanks for checking in with me. Hope your week is going well! :)

Peace,

-Troy

The Setting is Bigger Than You Think

Welcome everyone!

One thing I've been thinking about lately is expanding the map you see at the front of my book. For reference, it currently looks like this:

If you notice, there are mountains to the north, west, and south, but not the east. That's because there's a whole 'nother half of the valley in that direction. I didn't have the artist draw the complete valley because all the action in the series takes place in what you see above.

However, as I begin to think about the last two books and how I will end the series, I've been wondering if I need to expand the map. There are places further east where it might be interesting to have the characters go.

I've already told you about some of those places like The Golden Fells. Anyway, as time for books 4 and 5 get closer, I'll make that decision. I might just do a few more posts about the eastern part of the valley in the future just to see how I feel about it. Let me know if that would be interesting for you!

In the meantime, take care of each other.

Peace,

-Troy

5 to 9

Welcome everyone!

I hit the revisions hard this weekend. I finished corrections to chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8! Now I'm working on chapter 9.

Getting so much done is both exhilarating and tiring. It's exhilarating because I'm getting closer to my goal. It's tiring because of just how much there yet to go. So much in fact, that even my kitty seems pooped:

Today, I have have non-writing work to do, so I probably won't get anything done on my book. Tomorrow is a new day, though, and I'll be back at it then.

Peace,

-Troy

Goals for the Weekend 2020-06-19

Welcome everyone!

This weekend, I hope to press ahead with revisions for Book Three in the Hunter's Rose series. Here are my goals:

• Get at least two chapters revised
• Sketch out at least two illustrations for Book 3
• Finish current chapter of my audio book

Peace,

-Troy

Vids I like #7 - Basics of Dialogue

Welcome everyone!

Writing strong dialogue is something all writers want to achieve but struggle to create. I've found several videos that have helped me get better at my craft. I'm going to share one with you today:

If you're thinking about writing, I hope this video is helpful to you too.

Peace,

-Troy

Chapter 4 is Revised!

Welcome everyone!

I have finished my corrections on Chapter 4. It's a shorter chapter, but it marks a major change in the main character's life. I don't know if I'm happy with the end of the chapter yet. I'll need a few more beta readers to tell me what they think. We'll see what happens.

On that note, let me just be clear: these revisions are not for the final draft. This will be the third draft of the book, and I anticipate having to do three or four more drafts before it's finished. I'm not even to hiring an editor yet. This is all just feedback from one of my primary beta readers.

So on to Chapter 5!

Peace,

-Troy

First Artwork for Book 3 is Finished!

Welcome everyone!

I am excited to announce that the first artwork for book three in the Hunter's Rose series is completed and now in my possession!

Since I am still revising much of my work, it wouldn't have made sense to get the landscape pictures like the one from The Huntsman and the Vampire below:

If I couldn't do a piece of artwork like that, it only made sense to get the roses done. So they are! All five roses for Book 3 are now finished, and they look AMAZING! Unfortunately, I can't share them with you yet. I'm saving them for the promotional period prior to launch. When I do, though, I'm sure you'll love them as much as me.

Just as a refresher, here are the roses from the first two books:

Peace,

-Troy

Chapter 3 is Revised!

Welcome everyone!

Well, I got Chapter 3 of Book 3 revised yesterday. I added a significant amount to it, which is not something I normally do. I try to keep my books on the shorter side, since that's what I prefer to read. However, there was no helping it in the third chapter.

WARNING, MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD:
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So, in Chapter 3 there is a meeting amongst several of the high ranking huntsmen. It sets up the rest of the book. Each is given a specific role to fill due to the circumstances that ended The Huntsman and the Vampire.

In order to set that up properly and to lay the groundwork for character growth in Tristan, I really had to make sure all the details were correct. It took a long time to cross-reference all the information. It also required reassigning several chunks of dialogue and even a name change for one of the characters! There was a lot to do.

All in all, I'm happy with how it's turned out. Now on to chapter 4.

Peace,

-Troy

Sales Data for March/April 2020

Welcome everyone!

Today I have some great news to share with you. I'm going to cover sales data from earlier this year then discuss how things went in my first year. So these are the raw numbers for both The Huntsman and the She-Wolf (THATSW) and The Huntsman and the Vampire (THATV):

Mar/Apr - THATSW eBook: 0
Mar/Apr - THATV eBook: 0

Mar/Apr - THATSW Audio: 1
Mar/Apr - THATV Audio: 0

Mar/Apr - THATSW Online Paperback: 1
Mar/Apr - THATV Online Paperback: 3

Mar/Apr - THATSW Online Hardback: 1
Mar/Apr - THATV Online Hardback: 1

Mar/Apr - THATSW In-Person Paperback: 33
Mar/Apr - THATV In-Person Paperback: 2

Mar/Apr - THATSW In-Person Hardback: 1
Mar/Apr - THATV In-Person Hardback: 5

Mar/Apr - THATSW Kindle Unlimited Pages: 697
Mar/Apr - THATV Kindle Unlimited Pages: 832

Total Books: 50
Total Pages: 1529

Clearly in-person sales have been better for me than online sales. And just as clearly, ALL those in-person sales came in March. With the lockdown in April due to Coronavirus, I haven't been able to pitch my book in person. Still, 50 copies in two months is fantastic. If you convert the KU pages read, that's another 7 copies sold.

BUT here's the really great news: When I started this project, I made a goal to sell 300 books total in my first year, and 500 books total by my second. When the launch anniversary for The Huntsman and the She-Wolf came around, I had sold 329 COPIES!!! If you include Kindle Unlimited pages, that would be another 40 copies on top of that. So I easily surpassed that goal.

Looking to the year ahead, I currently stand at 402 actual copies sold, plus an additional 45 if you convert Kindle Unlimited. So, I am not very far from achieving my goal at all.

I owe everyone a HUGE thank you for all the support you've given me. With out the fans, friends, and family helping me out, I never would have gotten close to reaching my aspirations. THANK YOU SO MUCH, AND I LOVE YOU ALL!

Be safe and healthy out there. Take care of each other.

Peace,

-Troy

Working on Chapter 3 Revisions

Welcome everyone!

My weekend went well. I got most of my work done, but Chapter 3 is requiring more attention than I first suspected it would.

For one thing, I introduce or re-introduce a good number of characters in this chapter. I'll avoid spoilers for now, but needless to say there's a lot going on.

Not only that, the characters are all doing different things. I have to justify each of their tasks and make sure each character's actions and reactions all line up with their motivations and long-term plot-arcs. It's quite difficult, as a result.

I'm about sixty percent through the chapter now. If I gut it out, perhaps I'll finish today or tomorrow. I'll be sure to let you know. Also, sales numbers for March and April are almost ready. I'll post about it this week of all goes well.

Peace,

-Troy

Goals for the Weekend 2020-06-05

Welcome everyone!

The week turned out so much more busy than I expected. So that means I have more to do this weekend. Here are my goals:

• Continue Editing, hopefully get Chapter 3 Done
• Finish current chapter of Book 2 audio book
• Get some home improvement projects done around the house

If I can do all that, I'll have a successful weekend. I hope you do too.

Peace,

-Troy

One Difference Between Book 2 and Book 3

Welcome everyone!

I've finished editing chapters 1 and 2 in Book 3 now. Hooray! I'm on to chapter 3. The editing is going well, but it's difficult. For one thing, Book 3 three is the most personal in the series. This book is truly the story I want to tell. I'm not obsessing over proper structure, dialogue tags, adverbs, or any of that stuff. This is me just expressing my setting and characters. As a result, changing anything is tough because I love every word so much!

Second, editing is more difficult because Book 2 flowed so easily. The amount of time it took me to actually write Book 2 was less than half of Book 1. I never got stuck, never got discouraged. It just came out of me, and it fits the strictures of storytelling perfectly. Of all the books in the series, I think The Huntsman and the Vampire will be the best as far as nailing proper writing techniques go. Not only that, it required very little editing. Mainly just proofreading. So, as I go through Book 3, it is a bit discouraging to see so much work that needs to be done.

Mild Spoilers Ahead!
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Let me give you an example. In Chapter 2 of Book 3, there is a battle. I remember writing this scene. I was just starting out and I was rusty from taking off from writing to deal with publishing. The battle wasn't all that vivid or dynamic. In fact, I would say the action was quite confused.

Fixing that took me all of Friday and most of the weekend. And here's the thing, I'm going to have to give it another pass. It's still night right.

By contrast, every battle that you read in THATV is pretty much exactly how I wrote it originally. In fact, I can't think of a single major occurrence in any of those battles that wasn't in the first draft.

Book 3 will be different. It's going to take a while to get it into shape. That's fine. I like revising. I know what I have to do. Now, I just have to do it. And in the end, the book will be better as a result of the tough choices and sacrifices I make now.

Peace,

-Troy