Tag: Icarus Child

Updates, Writing

Done! (For now…)

Becca Lusher

My rewrite edit of Sisters of Icarus is done! At 100,000 words it’s grown by 20K, but right now I don’t care. It is done, and hopefully most of the bits my betas didn’t like have now been removed.

I’ve also found out that a bunch of my family are coming to visit this weekend (and next week), so I guess work on The Crying Child will have to wait. While the schedule-keeping bit of me is disappointed, the rest of me is doing a happy dance. I get to play with my nieces and nephews and also avoid writing the less-than-happy book! (Though I’m working on getting more happy into it.) It’s also carnival week next week in my little town, which mostly means face painting, crab fishing, cake stalls and sunshine – yay! 

Summer is on! I hope you’re getting a chance to enjoy it in your part of the world. And if you’re in an upside down spot, then I hope your winter is passing kindly. (If it’s not, sorry to hear that, but I’m not giving the sun back yet ;)

In the meantime, I have books to read and review, plot ideas to form and butterflies to count – if only they will actually appear in the garden! (Seriously, where have all the butterflies gone this year? Last year I couldn’t move for them. Guess my contribution to the Big Butterfly Count is going to be pretty pathetic.) Happy, sunny days!

Aekhartain, Updates, Writing

Progress Report: Blame it on Fox

Becca Lusher

This always happens; I should have expected it. The first time I wrote Icarus Child a certain pair of characters, Cana and Fox, overtook everything and expanded the story way beyond my original plans. I didn’t mind too much because I came to love the pair of them, so I was excited to write about them again in Sisters of Icarus.

As it turned out, while it was nice to write about the again, it wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped. Part of this was because this book is pretty dark and I tried to remember only the nice bits. Another part was because I was trying to force my characters to fit the old plot and keep to a rough word count. I managed it, just about, but some of the spark had gone – and Fox’s biggest fan didn’t like it.

I kind of agreed, which was why I put the book aside and launched a rebellion with Caligo/Nawaquí instead. (Well, why wouldn’t you?)

Needless to say I wasn’t looking forward to going back to this tale and trying to sort out the mess I’d left it in. I knew it would take some work and I foresaw headaches ahead.

Well, so far it’s grown by 15K, including three whole new chapters – which isn’t ideal – but I’m actually quite enjoying it. Because Fox is back, my Fox, the proper Fox, not the angry, resentful, not particularly enjoyable character who showed up for the rewrite. Oh, he’s still angry in places (he always has been and he has his reasons), but he’s also more fun. And because he’s more light-hearted and cheeky, so is Cana.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a sad book in which unhappy things happen, often to nice people, and there’s the whole evil island lurking over everything. But now, thanks to Fox and my vastly inflated word count, there are a few happier moments to lighten the atmosphere and a much more enjoyable romance to keep things ticking along.

I hope. It’s working for me, anyway.

Then again, I haven’t actually finished it yet. There are still five chapters to go and a certain plot that needs to be reworked, but overall I’m happier with this version. I just hope my betas will be happy too and I’ll be able to win Fox’s biggest fan back into his club. I’ll need something positive to keep me going for The Crying Child, which is just as happy as its title suggests…

Before I go, one last reminder:

The Rebel Returns is increasing in price from tomorrow.
Rising from $.99/£.99 to 2.99.
Get it cheap while you can!

Updates

July Update

Becca Lusher

Hello, everyone! I hope your July is treating you well in your corner of the world. Currently my July is beautifully warm and I’ve been spending lots of time sitting in the sunshine coming through the window, catching sneaky peaks at the Tour de France, while running around on important family errands and squeezing in rewrites of Sisters of Icarus where I can.

I’ve just hit 50% on that, which leaves me nicely on target to get through it by the end of the month. Hopefully it’ll go quicker now that I’ve rewritten a particularly troublesome chapter. There are a few more ahead, though, so I’m not feeling too confident just yet. Still, it’ll be nice to write something from scratch next month.

Speaking of new things, I’m toying with the idea of releasing a collection of short stories to accompany the Dark Rebellion duology. I’ve got ideas for at least three – all connected with the books – but I’d like to include a few more, perhaps about Caligo’s childhood before his troubles began. If there’s anything you’d like to know more about in the books (or that happens outside of the books), I’m definitely open to ideas. Request for more Noctis will always be considered, especially since we recently lost Hector, the chief inspiration for his doggy days.

And finally in other Dark Rebellion news, The Rebel Returns is still on offer at $.99/£.99, but only until next Friday, July 17th. Get it cheap while you can!