I’ve been just plowing through the 1st pass edits on the series ever since I started doing it this way from book 11. I just finished the 1st pass on book 19, and I’m about to start book 20. After I finish book 21, I’ll have to go back to start from book 11 again to do all the second passes, and then I’ll do all the finish work on them after that. (print versions, new covers, new synopses, etc…)
Book 21 was the final book in the series, but I’ve often thought about what I could do beyond that, if I actually wanted to write a 22nd book. I did have one idea kinda floating around in my head, but I’m not sure how well it would work. Once I get the whole series republished, I might start work on a 22nd book, just to see how it plays out. Book 21 was originally written to be the final book in the series, but I love my characters, and I love writing them, so book 21 may not be the end for them. I did write one other non-series book, and that went ok. I’ll still have to re-edit that one into 2nd edition as well when I’m done with the series, but when I think about writing books that aren’t a part of the series, it’s like…I don’t know. The Unseen Things series all just sort of poured out of me organically. It was all so easy that it felt like it was something I was meant to do. I did try to write a horror/revenge/paranormal kind of a standalone story a few years ago, but I sort of hit a dead end because I just wasn’t feeling it.
The Unseen Things series started out as me sitting around bored one day and deciding that I wanted to try writing a book again, which was something I’d failed at many times before. I came up with a random idea off the top of my head that was considerably different from what the series actually ended up being, and I just started writing. I did the whole series organically, except for maybe two ideas that I’d had along the way, but I didn’t even plan those out. I just knew what I wanted to do in general terms. One of those ideas became the whole main plot for the final book in the series, so I had to wait until I reached that book to use it.
Exactly two years after I’d started, I finished the 21st and final book in the series. It was an emotional thing for me, and it was difficult for me to say goodbye to the characters that I’d put so much of myself into writing.
The whole 2nd edition project came about because my skills as a writer, and as an editor, both vastly improved from the time I wrote the first book. I wanted the series to reflect my endgame writing and editing skills, plus it gave me a chance to beef up various aspects of the story. Many of the earlier books I ended up adding 17-22K words. Now that I’m in the final books of the series, my writing skills by this point had improved so much, that I’ve barely had to add anything. Mostly at this point it’s just fixing little things like commas, phrasing, etc…
I still have a long road ahead of me and a lot of work to do, but in the end this series is the one major accomplishment in my life that I can be truly proud of, so I want it to be just as good as it can possibly be. The first six books have been republished already, but the rest I’ll be publishing all at once when I get everything done. Then, from that point on, it’ll be all about promotion.
I’d love to see the series turned into either a TV show or a series of movies someday, but I need to finish up the 2nd editions and get them all republished before I could even think about something like that.
Anyway, I’m just sort of taking it easy today. I blew through the first editing pass of the 19th book in like two days, just because it needed so little work, so it’ll do me good to take a day off to catch up on my rest before I tear into book 20.
That’s it for now. Until next time… 🙂
Cookin’ along…
I’ve been just plowing through the 1st pass edits on the series ever since I started doing it this way from book 11. I just finished the 1st pass on book 19, and I’m about to start book 20. After I finish book 21, I’ll have to go back to start from book 11 again to do all the second passes, and then I’ll do all the finish work on them after that. (print versions, new covers, new synopses, etc…)
Book 21 was the final book in the series, but I’ve often thought about what I could do beyond that, if I actually wanted to write a 22nd book. I did have one idea kinda floating around in my head, but I’m not sure how well it would work. Once I get the whole series republished, I might start work on a 22nd book, just to see how it plays out. Book 21 was originally written to be the final book in the series, but I love my characters, and I love writing them, so book 21 may not be the end for them. I did write one other non-series book, and that went ok. I’ll still have to re-edit that one into 2nd edition as well when I’m done with the series, but when I think about writing books that aren’t a part of the series, it’s like…I don’t know. The Unseen Things series all just sort of poured out of me organically. It was all so easy that it felt like it was something I was meant to do. I did try to write a horror/revenge/paranormal kind of a standalone story a few years ago, but I sort of hit a dead end because I just wasn’t feeling it.
The Unseen Things series started out as me sitting around bored one day and deciding that I wanted to try writing a book again, which was something I’d failed at many times before. I came up with a random idea off the top of my head that was considerably different from what the series actually ended up being, and I just started writing. I did the whole series organically, except for maybe two ideas that I’d had along the way, but I didn’t even plan those out. I just knew what I wanted to do in general terms. One of those ideas became the whole main plot for the final book in the series, so I had to wait until I reached that book to use it.
Exactly two years after I’d started, I finished the 21st and final book in the series. It was an emotional thing for me, and it was difficult for me to say goodbye to the characters that I’d put so much of myself into writing.
The whole 2nd edition project came about because my skills as a writer, and as an editor, both vastly improved from the time I wrote the first book. I wanted the series to reflect my endgame writing and editing skills, plus it gave me a chance to beef up various aspects of the story. Many of the earlier books I ended up adding 17-22K words. Now that I’m in the final books of the series, my writing skills by this point had improved so much, that I’ve barely had to add anything. Mostly at this point it’s just fixing little things like commas, phrasing, etc…
I still have a long road ahead of me and a lot of work to do, but in the end this series is the one major accomplishment in my life that I can be truly proud of, so I want it to be just as good as it can possibly be. The first six books have been republished already, but the rest I’ll be publishing all at once when I get everything done. Then, from that point on, it’ll be all about promotion.
I’d love to see the series turned into either a TV show or a series of movies someday, but I need to finish up the 2nd editions and get them all republished before I could even think about something like that.
Anyway, I’m just sort of taking it easy today. I blew through the first editing pass of the 19th book in like two days, just because it needed so little work, so it’ll do me good to take a day off to catch up on my rest before I tear into book 20.
That’s it for now. Until next time… 🙂
By Duane • Uncategorized