Nerdology 101: From Chaos to Completion
Hey, nerdy people! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. This week, I wanted to offer my thoughts on developmental editing for The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory, the 4th book in my interconnected series of standalones based in The Islands of Rune universe. It’s a kinky romantasy, just like the other books in its series, and follows Callian (son of Josie who was the FMC in books 1 and 2, brother Lilly who was the FMC of book 3).
What’s new in this book?
Callian is new, in and of himself! This is the first time I’m writing a book with a male as the main character rather than as a love interest.
This book is also a tad longer than others in the series, which I see as an established trend in this series. The first book, The Islands of Rune, was short. It only totaled at around 50k words. With the second, Journey to Rallem, the word count went up to 72k. Then, with the third, The Fate of Angels and Demons, it was around 95k. The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory is at 101k after developmental editing (AKA, this isn’t a final word count. It may shrink or grow still). The increasing lengths aren’t just for show though! They’re a side effect of my improved skill level. As I’ve grown, I’ve come to consider things I didn’t previously due to a mixture of feedback from my audience, editors, mentors, and more. Even with the parts that end up on the chopping room floor, the improvements in character development, world building, and more tend to take up a little more space. Writing is a craft one is never done learning. One of the things I love most about this series is that from book to book, each one displays a tangible growth. For reference, though, it’s not uncommon at all for a fantasy or romantasy to be over 100k, especially not on the 4th book in the series. I’m far from surpassing the reasonable word count in my genre zone.
Different spice. This book is MM. All of my books have had LGBTQIA+ characters in them, but the central romance has always centered on a woman because I am a woman, but also because a large part of why I write is that I want to write sexually empowered women. I love my femdom/FLR/switch dynamics. Now, with Callian, I break that trend a little. Since I’m writing a main character with a different gender and experiences of my own for the first time, I worked overtime to make sure I was representing gay and even bi+ men well, maintaining the series spice level without leaning into hypersexualization, and writing with the amount of awareness and respect I should be.
What’s developmental editing?
Developmental editing focuses on macro issues. It’s the big, gaping plotholes, glaring world building questions, inconsistencies in character development, stucture, pacing, and other issues that are large and super noticable. Developmental is the first round of editing an editor does with an author. After the writer gets it “as good as I can on my own”, this is the first thing that happens. After all, as good as I can on my own typically leaves some pretty big stuff still because we’ve probably read the manuscript 20 times already. We need fresh eyes that don’t know what we do and are reading the book for the first time!
Okay, so I know what the book is and I know what developmental editing is, what kinds of things did you do in developmental editing for this book?
A LOT! I feel pretty confident that The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory recieved the most profound rounds of developmental I’ve ever done. My editor gave me a ton of great feedback. As is standard with developmental edits, I got a manuscript full of comments and highlights. I also got an edit letter, which summarizes some of the major/reoccuring issues for me, and I got a chapter by chapter breakdown of the manuscript. Ultimately, I think there’s 2 major elements we worked on that were particularly exciting for me.
Romance - As a romantasy, the romance is an important element of this book. Callian and Max were a lot different from my other characters. Josie and her multiple love interests were bonded through grief, trauma, pain, and a lack of impulse control. Lilly and Michael were bonded through darkness, resentment, and a longing for freedom so deep that they were willing to destroy the world for it. Callian and Max, however, are both sweeter, lighter (emotionally, they’re still very kinky, lol) natured characters. Even in Lilly’s book, Callian is kind of just a sweet guy that wants to be in love but can’t seem to find his person/people. He’s not weak by any means, but he’s not shrouded in darkness and suffering like his mother and sister. At times, this led to a lack of tension in the romance or a lack of definition in the partnership between him and Max since they were just so unique compared to others I’ve written. To me, this is a good thing because I want every relationship in this series to be distinctive and unique to the characters in it. The work I put in here during developmental contributes to that a lot.
Bloodlines - For those familiar with my writing, I use a magic system based on Nordic runes. Using their meanings, I source magic types. Some character, though, also have bloodlines that grant them additional abilities. Priest/Priestess - Lilly, Josie, Rath, Linola. Demons - Michael, Malachi, Myrkr, Alexandria, Julius, Max. Angels - Callian, Jameson, Rettferd, Mary, Anne. The roles of priests, priestesses, and demons had been well defined in previous books (though enough recap is provided about their roles to follow along in this book), but this is the first time angels are taking center-stage. I didn’t need readers to know more than a few basics about their role in this universe until now. That aspect became more important in Callian’s story because of his own angelic heritage, but also because of the events that unfold over the course of the story. So, we (my editor and I) worked a lot on conveying more about angels, their relationship to other bloodlines, their history, and their present day role in the world now that it’s become such an important aspect of the story. I think it’s something readers will really enjoy, particularly ones that have read previous books in the universe, because it adds another layer to the world they already know.
Naturally, we worked on a ton of other stuff too. These are just the two parts of it I ended up being most excited about.
Cool, cool. So, what happens now?
Line editing, the next phase in the editing process, happens now. It’s the phase where we move our attention to sentence level factors like readability, word choice, etc.. While I wait for my editor to piece together her line editing feedback for me to implement, I’ll work on Harem of the Heavens (HOTH, for short), another WIP that is NOT part of The Islands of Rune universe, but rather the start of a new series and universe all its own. I finished developmental editing for it just before I started it for The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory since the draft of it was finished first. My editor has been line editing HOTH while I implemented her developmental feedback for this. It creates a nice back and forth that keeps us from getting bored with either story and ensures reasonable timelines for the readers waiting on either book. As with any manuscript, after line editing for The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory, I’ll have copyediting, proofing, and then we can start talking about covers, art, design, and releases. Since I’m self-publishing this series, you can expect that I’ll follow the pattern I have with all my others and aim for an April release. I’m still deciding what to do with HOTH, though. The general conscensus I’ve recieved from my editor, people I’ve talked to about it, and others, is that it’s going to be HUGE. I think that sentiment is rooted in the sense that I think the premise the series is going to be built on has a damn near perfect balance of repeatable formula from the structure and unpredictability from the characters (I will not be elaborating on this statement).
How can I support you in the meantime?
If you haven’t read The Fate of Angels and Demons, order it, read it, and review it.
If you have read The Fate of Angels and Demons, read Journey to Rallem and The Islands of Rune (series backlog) and review them.
Follow my social media and ENGAGE.
Recommend my books to people you think will enjoy them.
Post pics of you with my book on social media.
Read this blog weekly and share it with others.
Ask your local library if they are carrying my books.
Ask your local bookstore if they are carrying my books.
Mention your favorite bookish influencers in a comment under my posts to help them find out about it.
Remember that all of these things will help any author you want to support. I want you to blow me up, but it’d make me happy to see other indies blow up alongside me.
That’s about all I have for you today. Check back next Friday for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy weeek!
