Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a writing update, so you’re in luck! If you wanted to know more about my novel and where it’s currently at, then you’re going to love this post. And if you’re just interested in seeing a sneak peak of the book, then welcome! I hope you enjoy! (but please don’t tell me if you don’t)

It should be no surprise that when my reading motivation fell, so did my motivation to write. With the first draft done, I am currently in the thick of editing and so far, it’s going pretty well! This first round of editing includes a lot of rewriting, adding chapters, deleting chapters, and re-arranging things to make the story flow better.

I actually went and downloaded a free trial of Scrivener because I’ve seen so many authors recommend it! I spent a while transferring everything over and labeling the chapters so I know who’s who, as well as creating Character cards and getting down history, locations, etc all in one place. In addition to trying to improve the organization of the book, and making it easier to write, I have a temporary name for it too! I probably won’t reveal it, because while it’s pretty cheesy, I like it so far. I’ve been calling this “The Lost Queen” – but the real title is a little cooler and hopefully sticks with this story!

For writing, I’ve currently edited thirteen chapters, or about 23,676 words, and there are many more chapters to add and edit, but I’m slowly making progress! I still can’t believe I’ve edited, written, and rewritten almost 24,000 words. The total draft right now is at almost 81,000 words, 80,897 to be exact, and I’ve added over 5,000 words to the draft within the past two days.

One of the biggest things I’m working on is making sure I include more background scenes like magic, history, and building the relationships. In the original draft, the relationships were rushed and I failed to include information about the magic system and the history/culture of the world. I’m still missing a lot of information, so I’m going to have to go back and make sure that everything is built in and explained properly, because it’s all important later in the book!

I’m excited to see how writing on Scrivener changes things, especially since now I have the characters description, personality, background and everything else all available in one place. It’s been hard trying to remember what color each characters hair is or how tall they are, so having all that information in one place makes it so much easier to navigate. No more guessing games hopefully!

For fun, I’m going to include a scene I wrote last night, after messing around in Scrivener for a while. Since this is a revised draft (and still a work in progress), this may change or be taken out completely. I hope you enjoy this sneak peak and feel free to let me know your thoughts!

The archives were kept underground, in temperature controlled rooms with no windows and no access to the outside. The walls were lined with shelves that reached from the cool tiled floor to the stone ceilings, and filled with books, tomes, parchments, and scrolls. Alina marveled at all the history kept here; all the stories and documents the library must hold. As she followed the librarian, a scroll caught her eye, peaking out from a nearby shelf. The words were muddled, mushed together into nonsense Alina couldn’t make out. It was old, much older than some of the other writing on the same shelf; it must be an outdated language, Alina concluded. Something that seemed to happen gradually as she could still make out parts of the words, so similar to the ones she knew now, but not enough to read what had been hastily written down.

As she passed by the rows of books, admiring the abundance of Oichi’s history and its records, they finally stopped near the back, in front of a single shelf with only a few leather bound books and a couple scrolls on it. “These are our oldest, and most prized records.” The librarian wheezed, holding up a cracked, worn, leather bound manuscript. “As you might know, most written record from before the Great First War was destroyed, burned down during the fights or purposefully destroyed to avoid it ending up in the hands of our enemies.” She hadn’t known that. It made her upset to think that most of the writing, records, stories, everything from before the Great First War had been destroyed. What a tragic loss.

“This is Grevyena’s personal journal. Donated here after her death for safe keeping. It has record of her time training to be a General in the Ironblood army. How she united the clans during the war. Her tactics and strategy to defeat the Demoni. And most importantly, the creation of Armoniel, her sword named after the Great Demoni she defeated herself.” He handed her the journal, careful to place it in her hands before letting go. Grevyena’s personal journal. Five thousand years had passed since the Great First War, and Alina was holding that history in her hands.

“Thank you, but I didn’t ask for her journal. I just want to know more abut my father’s sword.”

“Amitiel.”

“Bless you.” She replied without thinking. The man cracked a grin. “The sword’s name.” He replied. “It’s name is Amitiel. You can find it upstairs, under the section weaponry.”

“Oh. Thank you.” The man turned and made his way back the way they came. Before he rounded the corner, leaving Alina alone, he made eye contact with her and gave a soft smile.

“If you need me, my name is Jaö. I hope you find what you’re looking for, Princess.”

“Thank you, Jaö.” He didn’t reply and quickly rounded the corner, out of sight. Alina inspected the journal, unsure why he thought she needed it, but she tucked it under her arm anyways. If the old man thought she needed Grevyena’s journal, she would take it. Alina wouldn’t turn down help, even if she couldn’t see why she needed it just yet.

Ah Jaö – he’s a favorite of mine. Such a know-it-all and yet, so kind about it. This is the first time we meet Jaö, a somewhat important character, who helps one of our heroes, Alina, learn more about how her great-great-great-however-many-great-grandmother defeated the Demoni, or demons, and restored peace to the land. And, of course, our hero doesn’t know that history loves to repeat itself, but thank goodness for Jaö – the unknown hero secretly trying to save everyone.

I love writing Alina’s scenes – she’s so headstrong and underestimates everything, leading to lost of chaos and fun moments I get to put her through. Fleshing out her story has been tough, as I have four other characters who also need attention, but hers is the one I’m having the most fun with right now, so I’m letting myself enjoy the moment before I have to work on the other character’s stories.

Do you enjoy writing updates? Let me know in the comments!