This week, I learned to have even more empathy for my alpha readers. In fact, I have concerns about their reaction to the state of Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon, and I haven’t even heard from them yet! I tried a new approach to sketching the plot for Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed. Did it help? Or will I not start writing it because I have to disentangle myself from an unsuccessful experiment? Let’s take a quick look at the key performance indicators first.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
Yep! Writing is officially underway for Bait and Bleed!
Last week, I was working on book 11, which was Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver. Now, I’m officially working on the 13th book, Bait and Bleed. And guess what? I actually wrote the first chapter!
I decided to try to enhance the method I used to plot Flanking Maneuver, which started by laying out the main plot lines in Scrivener. The next step would have been to go right to Plottr and its helpful outline tools. This time, though, I wanted to see how much my instincts for plot had developed. I attempted, in Scrivener, to lay out all the key plot and emotional moments instead of using Plottr’s aids (or crutches, depending on how judgmental I am against myself!). Then I attempted to map them back to the Plottr structure for the 7 plot point method.
It sounds complicated, but actually, it was easier! The effort to write out those key moments helped me understand more clearly what my subconscious wanted to do with the plot (or, put another way, to discover the pre-existing plot — take your pick of interpretations!). When it came time to lay out the plot and sequence it for what I hope is maximum effect, it only took an hour or so. That’s compared to days before!
At least for Bait and Bleed, the investment of an evening to lay out the moments in detail paid off. It took what had been a two week process for Flanking Maneuver to a week process. Plus, it felt more fluid! I don’t know if that’ll hold true for the next series. Bait and Bleed is the last book in a trilogy, so my brain already had a lot of time to brood about it. But I liked the results, so I’ll try that process for the next series.
It looks like a lot of work, but really, it only took three or four hours. And it saved days!
I Owe My Alpha Readers an Apology
As I mentioned last week, I solicited bids for Special Recon’s alpha readers. I accepted two quotes and shipped the manuscript to them. Ordinarily, before that step, I would have put the work through one more read-aloud draft. But I learned from The Sword of Sirius that reading all three books together helped me catch continuity issues. So, before I sent out the alpha version of Special Recon, I had decided to use the second draft.
A few days after I sent the manuscripts, it dawned on me. In my brain, I had combined a ProWritingAid pass with the read-aloud pass for The Sword of Sirius, and I didn’t need to do that. I could have put Special Recon though a ProWritingAid pass before sending it to the alpha readers.
So, as an experiment, I took two days and put Special Recon though a ProWritingAid grammar pass. For the record: I did not allow ProWritingAid to make any changes automatically. I reviewed each change. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it found an average of fifteen grammatical errors per chapter.
If you’re Stephanie F or Jonah H from Fiverr, I’m sorry to make you read through those errors. Some of those errors were pretty stupid, too. I promise that future manuscripts will be at least the third version, with one of those versions being a ProWritingAid pass.
I suppose I could justify the experience by saying it’s an alpha read. But I know better. Investing just two more days would have made the experience more rewarding for all involved. Well, live and learn — even though it’s really embarrassing. I hope I didn’t make things too frustrating for them!
A Funny Thing on the Way to the Advertising Forum
Last week, I talked a little bit about a perceived need to update my Amazon blurb. I thought the current version was costing me sales. I’ve put the new blurb through five or six iterations, and it’s still not where I want it. There’s some through-thread that’s not working. Or something. It’s a blurb; I can never be sure.
Then I checked the stats on my Amazon ad. Suddenly, it’s performing, and performing well. As it, it’s converting a little under 10% of the clicks to sales. Now, that doesn’t sound like a lot, but for me, it’s pretty good. It had been at 1%, so 10% is definitely an improvement. In fact, right now, it’s performing better than any of my previous Amazon ads.
What changed? Anecdotally, other writers said the week around Thanksgiving was a challenge for them. Honestly? I don’t know. My bet is that until I start moving significant numbers of ebooks, I’ll experience wild swings in click-to-purchase percentages, which will average out over the month.
I’ve put plans to change the blurb on hold, at least until I can get a draft I like. But this experience just reinvigorates my desire to figure out ads and Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) programs and anything else that’ll generate more sales and reviews. The people who read my books are giving them solid ratings. I just need to figure out how to get the books in front of more people like those!
Progress against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I performed against last week’s goals:
- Sketch the plot’s through line. This was for Bait and Bleed. Done!
- Finish plotting Trent Raven’s arc. Done!
- Begin Jadwiga Janczak’s arc. Done! I also finished doing the same thing for Atticus Porter. And the main theme/emotional beats. The outline’s done!
- Begin building any new sets needed for Bait and Bleed. Done!
- Adjust the blurb for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning on Amazon. Suspended, at least for now.
- Consider bidding the cover of Special Recon. Deferred. I ran out of time. I’ll need to write the back cover blurbs first.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 50
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Write Jadwiga Janczak’s Hook.
- Write Trent Raven’s Hook.
- Write the first helper plot chapter (The Little Frigate That Could).
- Begin Atticus Porter’s Plot Turn 1.
- Begin writing the back cover blurbs for Dreams of Deucalion.
What Do You Think?
If you sketch your plots in advance, do you have an approach that you’ve found helps you bring as much of the plot to light as possible? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
