I’m so happy to welcome author Kai Strand back to the blog, this time to celebrate her middle grade fantasy DAY OF RECKONING (Concord Chronicles Book 1). Be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post and check out my 5-star Goodreads review.
To Revise or Not To Revise – Is Not Even a Question by Kai Strand
Hi Katie! Thanks for inviting me here today. I thought I’d talk about revision. It’s, quite possibly, my least favorite part of writing a book. So, why would I want to talk about it? It’s also, quite possibly, the most important step to writing a book.
Day of Reckoning was the very first book I wrote. Therefore, the first draft was absolutely abysmal. There were more info dumps in it than in my local landfill. My prose was so purple, I could have handed it a scepter and put a crown on it.
Needless to say, I had a lot of work to do. And it took me years to edit this puppy. And even after I worked on it for years, I still had more collaboration with content editors, like yourself, and a line editor to go through.
In my humble opinion, a book is never really finished, but nor is the first draft ever publishable. All these years later, I write a much cleaner first draft, but I could never publish one! It just doesn’t take me a decade to revise anymore. I love how a story, or a character expands with the help of critique partners. Or how a setting becomes more stable or even more important as I get to know my story better with each revision pass.
I have a lot of advice I could share with new authors, but this point is one I hope to make abundantly clear. Revise the heck out of your story. And then when you’re done, revise some more, but stop when all you are doing is tweaking one word here and one word there.
Do you have a favorite revision technique? I’d love for you to share!
DAY OF RECKONING
by Kai Strand
* Series: Concord Chronicles (Book 1)
* Paperback: 289 pages
* Publisher: Independently published
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1690603372
* ISBN-13: 978-1690603375
Not only does twelve-year-old Terra learn she’s a Nature’s Spirit destined to serve the peaceful underground city of Concord, but she also finds she is named in a prophecy as the only one who can thwart the leader of the death tribe.
The Trepidus are the death janitors of the Underworld. They’re responsible for the termination and cleanup of Concord’s beings. When their leader, Blanco, learns Terra is the one who can derail his day of reckoning, he does everything he can to get rid of her. Including, dispatch a “Bringer” to complete the ultimate of death janitor duties.
Not only does Terra want to stay alive, but she hopes to complete her training and discover her Spirit talents too. So, Frank, a Spirit of Security, is assigned to protect her. Together, they undertake a secret investigation of how to defeat Blanco. But with the future of Concord and Terra’s very own life at stake, will they find the answer in time?
DAY OF RECKONING can be purchased at the following sites:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks | Kobo
For those who aren’t familiar with the author, here’s a bit of background on her.
Award-winning Kai Strand, author of the action-packed Super Villain Academy series, is often found exploring hiking trails and snapping pictures of waterfalls in her Oregon hometown.latest reads as well as what they would like to see in future stories.
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Katie, thanks so much for being a part of Kai’s tour and sharing her thoughts on revisions with your readers.
Always happy to have Kai on the blog.
Hey Katie! Thank you for participating in my tour and for letting me share my book with your readers. I always love to visit with you.
You’re very welcome! You know how much I love this book and I hope it finds many new readers.
Revising is an essential part of writing. Only NaNoWriMo novices would ever consider their manuscripts done on November 30 😉
On the other hand, I have found that my first instincts (pre-many revisions) were sometimes closer to good storytelling than the subsequent attempts to address beta readers’ points. But I found this through, what else, REVISING. 🙂
Excellent point, Mirka. I’ve learned the same lesson. My first instinct is usually the truest for the story. Thanks for stopping by!
I love revising. I think it’s perhaps my favorite part of writing, but I think as Mirka touched on, that you have to be careful to weigh other people’s opinions against your own vision. It’s taken me along time to realize that. But revising is certainly the most essential thing we do as writers!
Absolutely, Jennie. Your vision must come first and it’s up to you, as the author, to hold onto it. It can get tricky.
I love this: “I love how a story, or a character expands with the help of critique partners.”
Thanks! And thanks for stopping in.