Skip to main content

The Game On Chronicles: The Early Chapters

I decided to chronicle my process for working on publishing my third book.

As much as I wanted to take a break after publishing Shots on Net, I was feeling, well, empty. I had been spending so much time writing, editing, deleting, rewriting, etc., that I didn't know what to do with myself when I wasn't writing anymore. Even though I swore I needed a break from writing, I needed to get right back on track with the next story.

I had started a manuscript back in 2011 for a story I called Game On. I remember the premise for it, but I can't tell you where I left off. So I decided to start reading through it, reacquaint myself with the characters and the plot, and then figure out where to go from there. When I left off years ago, the story had twenty-six chapters, which is pretty long for my novels.

As soon as I started to reread it, I got pulled right back into that world. On Monday, I read through and edited the first six chapters. Yesterday, I went through chapters seven through nine. There is a bit of rewriting that needed to be done because the story is over two years old. There have been a lot of changes in the NHL since then! The lockout last season, the realignment.... There are lots of little details that now have to get updated in this old story.

The beginning of a story is always very tricky. I want to make sure I give the reader a good feel for the characters without giving too much away too soon. To me, characters are like real people—and you don't learn everything there is about a person when you first meet them. That only happens over time.

And, of course, there has to be enough action at the beginning to suck the reader in. If the beginning isn't good, then there's no incentive to keep reading.

What do you think makes a good beginning?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Remember Me?

*Knock, knock* Anybody out there? Or, better yet, anybody remember me? It's Jay! I haven't completely disappeared, or fallen off the face of the earth. I took a break from posting stories here on Blogger in order to try my hand at writing novels. So many of you, my lovely devoted readers, have left me comments saying that my writing's just as good--sometimes better!--than the books you've read. I especially received a lot of encouragement from fellow Blogger Melanie Ting , who has successfully e-published her first story! So I'm trying my hand at writing full-length novels, and I have lots of new material that I'm e-publishing through Amazon through 2013. First up, I'm publishing Play the Man , a reworked version of A Sharp Contrast. I changed the characters and updated the story, and I'm really happy with the finished product. Here's a peek at the cover:    I love it! What do you think? The story will go live on Amazon later tonight (

If April Showers Bring May Flowers, Do May Flowers Bring June Bugs?

Y'all. May was a crazy month. I had so much fun in Niagara Falls and Gettysburg, attending those two author events (Romancing the Falls and Rockin' Romance Readers, respectively). Mama J came with me, and we had a blast hanging out with  Lisa B. Kamps  again, meeting Christine and Victoria of Sweet & Sassy Reads , and loading up our shelves with books by new-to-us authors! Oh yeah, and I had a book come out, too. :) So even though May was awesome, I'm a little bit glad it's over. I'm still celebrating my latest release, but I'm also getting to work on what's to come. Things I'm up to: Proofing the paperback copy of  Dump and Chase  before announcing that paperbacks are for sale! Working on getting the paperback for  "Christmas Crosscheck"  up and hopefully available for pre-order (I hear it's kind of complicated; for those in the know, Amazon changed their paperback process and I hear some people aren't able to have pre

Classy, Crafty, and Super Sassy

After releasing two books in the span of two months, I've been doing a bunch of different things. Some of it is working on what I've been calling my "Top Secret Project." I think it's gonna be a trilogy, taking place on a new team. I'm trying to get the entire trilogy ready for a quick release schedule. If I can manage it, I'll have it out by the end of the year, but no guarantees! I've also been enjoying my summer! Last year, I felt like I had wasted my summer. I didn't want that to happen this year. So I instituted Pool Day, which was every Wednesday at the community pool (weather permitting, of course). I went to see one of my favorite bands, Jimmy Eat World. I went to the zoo with my friend and her little one. I've already been to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival once, and I'm sure I will be going again. What else? I've tackled a huge project that's been sitting on my shelf for far too long. What's that