The End... well almost!

I’m excited to tell you that just a few days ago, after finally settling down somewhere long enough to get some work done, I have at long last finished writing my next romantic adventure novel entitled ‘Island in the Sun’.

I’ve now sent it off to my lovely editor for its first round of edits.

If you are not familiar with the publishing process and are wondering what this means exactly, my editor will read through the manuscript at this stage and then get back to me with a full assessment on whether, in her opinion, the story works, if the plot hangs together, and if the characters feel three dimensional and real to her.

She might suggest I rewrite particular scenes and she will look out for plot holes and gaffs and bloopers and the over-use of particular words and for continuity in the storyline. Then, I’ll either take on board what she has said, or not. I’m not obliged to accept her suggestions, but as she has been my editor for many years, I usually find she is absolutely spot on in her observations!

After I’ve read her assessment several times and mulled over her suggestions for improvement, I will work on the novel again.

The final stage of editing is when the the manuscript is checked over line by line to look out for errors and to correct layout and grammar and spelling.

My editor is very good at what she does and, once she has worked her magic, the manuscript will come winging its way back to me looking and reading like a proper novel.

Then and only then is it ready to be seen by you – the reader!

While I’m waiting for the assessment edit I’ll be keeping very busy indeed writing ‘the synopsis’ and ‘the blurb’ for Island In The Sun, which I know I will find very difficult to do.

The synopsis is used as a marketing tool to explain what happens in the book using just one or two pages of writing, while the blurb is the essence of the book in just one or two paragraphs, and is often seen on the back cover of the physical book and used as the book description for Amazon etc. So the words have to be chosen carefully!

I also have a travel feature to write for LLm (Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine) as part of my regular ‘Janice Horton’s – Dream, Explore, Discover… Travel’ which will be published on 11^th December 2016.

This time, I will be writing about Kuala Lumpur, (known otherwise as KL and the gateway to South East Asia). KL is a city that I’m now fortunate to know very well indeed, having been there several times throughout 2016.

I also intend to catch up to date with my lack of blog posts here regarding my travel itinerary. My last travel post was about our amazing trip to Vancouver Canada (which you can read about HERE).

So, my next blog post, will be about how we flew away from Canada (via Houston Texas and Tokyo Japan) to arrive (after twenty five hours in the air) at Kuala Lumpur, where we met up with our middle son James and his lovely wife Sujeong.

A quick stop over in Tokyo before we board our fight for KL

James and Sujeong and our grandson Aaron live in South Korea. We were meeting up with them in KL to help them celebrate their second wedding anniversary. Although, our beautiful grandson wasn’t with them on this occasion, as this was a grown up affair and what a wonderful and fun few days we had, sightseeing and shopping and eating and drinking – and so I warn you now that there will be lots of photos in my next post!

Helping James and Sujeong to celebrate their wedding anniversary in style.

Until next time,

Love, Janice xx

The End... or is it?

 

 

This is the end, Hold your breath, And count to ten
(Lyrics to Skyfall by Adele)

Today I wrote The End of my romantic suspense novella ‘Voodoo Wedding’ which is the sequel to ‘How Do You Voodoo?’ - Yay!

But of course, it’s not The End really because despite editing as I write, I do know the manuscript needs a bit of a polish and I still need to smooth over a few tiny plot holes. Then I’ll transfer the manuscript to my Kindle for reading it as a reader rather than a writer and I’ll go back and polish it some more. Next week, I’ll send it off to my trusted Editor for a story critique and I’ll take on board her thoughts, and if I agree (she’s very wise and clever so I usually do – and she has an uncanny knack of telling what I suspected all along) I’ll work on it some more. Then it will be edited again for grammar, spelling mistakes, silly typos, layout inconsistencies, etc - and then, finally, it will be The End!

I thought you might enjoy these quotes on writing The End:

Frank Herbert

 “There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”

 

J.R.R. Tolkien

“Bilbo – have you thought of an ending?

Frodo – Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant."

 

Rose Tremain

“In the planning stage of a book, I don’t plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.”

 

 

John Geddes

“My novels are like life – I never know where they are going until the end.”

 

And my personal favourite:

 It’s by Winston Churchill

“Now is not the end. It’s not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

 

So writers – tell me - how do YOU come to The End…?

and how far off The End are you when you get there…?

 Readers – do YOU look for a happy ending every time…?

Have ya’ say and haste ya comments!