Book blurb for The Serpent Sword

It's been a long time since I wrote a post about my writing and I haven't actually been doing much in the last couple of months. However, that is not to say that I haven't been making progress on my novels. I completed the second draft of THE CROSS AND THE CURSE back in September and sent it off to some beta readers. Some have already come back with some very positive comments. It needs another round of edits, and when I hear back from all of the test readers and my agent, I'll give it another once over.

In the meantime, I have started plotting book 3, and even written the first chapter. I've also had a great idea for a novella set in the same time and place, perhaps as a prequel to THE SERPENT SWORD.

I have put both of those projects on hold though, while I have focused on getting THE SERPENT SWORD ready for publication. That means I have been sending it out to other authors for endorsements (I'll post their responses in a future blog post), adding details like Acknowledgements and a map to the novel, working on layout and typesetting and a cover (again, another future blog will cover some of the things I've learnt, and the software tools I've used). I hope to reveal the cover very soon - I am very proud of it.

But first, one of the things I need to do is finalise the book blurb (you know, that text on the back of the book, and probably on the Amazon page, Goodreads, etc?). It needs to be pithy and engaging, enticing people to want to read (and buy!) the book, so it is quite important, but not something I have much experience of.

So, here it is. Please comment below with your thoughts. I'm reasonably happy with it, but welcome the chance to get some feedback before I put it on the back cover of the book, and associated websites.

BRITAIN 633 A.D.

Beobrand embarks on a quest to avenge his brother in war-torn Northumbria. When his journey leads him to witness barbaric acts at the hands of warriors he considered his friends, Beobrand questions the path he has chosen and vows to bring the men to justice.

Relentless in pursuit of his enemies, Beobrand faces challenges that change him irrevocably. Just as a great sword is forged by beating together rods of iron, so Beobrand’s adversities transform him from a farm boy to a man who stands strong in the clamour and gore of the shieldwall.

As he closes in on his kin’s slayer and the bodies begin to pile up, can Beobrand mete out vengeance without losing his honour or his soul?

Set against the backdrop of the clash between peoples and religions of seventh century Britain, The Serpent Sword is the first novel of the Bernicia Chronicles.

UPDATED BLURB  

Thanks to Steven A. McKay, Beth Mann and E.M. Powell for their input and suggestions.

BRITAIN 633 A.D.

Certain that his brother’s death is murder, young farmhand Beobrand embarks on a quest for revenge in war-torn Northumbria. When he witnesses barbaric acts at the hands of warriors he considers his friends, Beobrand questions his chosen path and vows to bring the men to justice. 

Relentless in pursuit of his enemies, Beobrand faces challenges that change him irrevocably. Just as a great sword is forged by beating together rods of iron, so his adversities transform him from a farm boy to a man who stands strong in the clamour and gore of the shieldwall.

As he closes in on his kin’s slayer and the bodies begin to pile up, can Beobrand mete out the vengeance he craves without sacrificing his own honour … or even his soul? 

The Serpent Sword is the first novel of the Bernicia Chronicles.

Let me know what you think. Watch this space - there'll be more news soon. 

Second draft complete and a word of warning

I haven't posted anything for quite some time (a month in fact) and there are a few reasons for that. The main one is that I have been taking a break from writing. I finished my first draft at Easter in line with my original plan that I posted back in January. Following on from that, I then went through the draft and added missing content, included some extra historical detail, rewrote sections and generally honed and polished the manuscript.
At that stage, as I was beginning to slow down following the intense period of writing the first draft, I realised I had been neglecting the rest of my life to some degree. Top of the list of those things I needed to focus on and spend more time with were my wife and daughters, who had patiently allowed me to tap away furiously on my laptop through the long winter months.
So, with the days growing longer and warmer, and the draft reviewed, I have been spending some quality time with those closest to me. And jolly nice it is too! We've been on holiday to Cornwall, had BBQs in the garden and generally chilled out and recovered from what has been one of the longest, wettest and dullest winters I can remember.
It has only been in the last few weeks that I can see quite how immersed I was in the writing process. A word of caution to all other first-time novelists out there: it is easy to forget the important things around you when you are conjuring up a world of fiction in your head, so be careful to ensure you spend time with your partner and kids if you have them.
My day job has also been intensely busy, meaning that for lots of the time I would have often been too tired to think of writing anyway.
So, where am I now with the book?
Well, as I said, I have finished the second draft. I have also printed it out to have a look at what 95,000 words looks like. If you are interested, here is a picture of the manuscript on my desk at home.

Seeing it like that did make it seem more real than just words on a screen. I had written that much? Wow! It is kind of a surreal feeling.
In my original plan, I had said I would send it out to some test readers and then engage a professional editor. I have actually ended up doing both at the same time.
I have sent the first 15,000 words of the manuscript of The Serpent Sword to an editor for an initial assessment and I have also sent a handful of copies of the draft in .mobi format (Kindle's proprietary format) for close friends and family to read and provide feedback on.
I intend to send out more copies for test readers following receiving and implementing comments from the editor in a few months.
I have made the decision that I will try to get an agent and a traditional publishing deal. If after a few months I find that impossible, I will self-publish on the Kindle Store, Smashwords, etc.
Things are moving on. I have not forgotten the blog, but I post on Twitter and Facebook more regularly with small updates, so please follow me and like the Facebook page (buttons on the top right of the page).
I have the ideas for the sequel bubbling on in the back of my head and I'll start jotting some of those down soon. I hope you stick around for the ride, and with any luck, you'll actually be able to read the finished version of The Serpent Sword in the not too distant future.

Progress report and plan

I'm nearly 65,000 words in to the first draft. It's been a productive first week of 2013 but I still have a long way to go. I'd naively thought that the book would be about 70,000 words long (the minimum length of a novel), but I now realise that it will be longer than that. Probably somewhere around 100,000 words or a bit more. Of course, that all depends on how the story develops, and how many words it takes to write it!
Here is my tentative plan for the next few months:

1. Complete the first draft by Easter.
2. Put the draft on ice for a few weeks so that I can look at it with fresh eyes.
3. Read through the draft and mark up areas that need extra work. I'm anticipating that there will be a few bits that are lacking detail (historic and otherwise), and a bit of restructuring will be required. I already know of a few sections where I have changed my mind and need to rewrite what happens to better serve the story.
4. Add extra content and do the rewrites.
5. Once the second draft is ready (not really sure how long that will take - part of me thinks it will take a long time - probably a few months), I plan to send the draft manuscript off to a few friends and family as test readers. With the draft I'll send a questionnaire for the test readers to fill in. The questionnaire will aim to pinpoint where readers were bored, or confused, which characters they liked or disliked, that sort of thing.
6. Hopefully the test readers will return the questionnaires and I'll act on their comments by honing the manuscript into a third draft.
7. At that stage, I'll find a professional editor to edit the manuscript.
8. Do all the rewrites the editor asks for (or argue with the editor!).
9. The final manuscript will then be ready. I'd like to think that could be sometime towards the end of 2013, or perhaps more realistically early 2014.
10. Publish. I'll probably self-publish as an ebook, but that is a decision I'll need to take then. If I do self-publish, I'll need to work on other things like a website, formatting, a cover design etc. But that will be for another post in the future.

So, as you can see there are lots of things to occupy my time for the next year, but first thing's first - I'd better get that draft finished.