Q&A with Tom Liberman discussion

I'll try to keep people posted on my progress on The Sword of Water here. I've mainly been thinking about it to this point although I've got 12,000 words written. Hopefully I'll start working hard on it soon. I feel like I've got most of the pieces in place in my mind. There is one thing I still want to straighten out a little but I think it isn't major.

I threw about 5,000 words at the Sword of Water today to get me up to 17,000 total. I like the way the plot is developing so far. Jon and Sorus are heading to the Central Mountain to find the Sword of Water trailed by the erstwhile Jerichi and Silenia. Meanwhile Eleniak has just contacted High Priest Amalagaz and the two will soon find common ground!

I have some fun things planned for poor little Silenia but I think she will survive although I'm not sure. She is the only main character I'm seriously considering killing.

I tossed out another 5K today. Up to 22K which is about 20% done with the rough draft. I had a really good couple of scenes with Jerichi and Silenia behaving like the eleven year olds they are. I think it will be a nice contrast for when they have to grow up fast. There are some nasty-nasty things about to happen to them.

I really feel pretty good about the novel so far but there are a couple obstacles I'm still mulling through. See you soon!

Progress continues apace. I wrote 25K last week and started off today with another 5K. It's all rough draft of course.

This seems to be my pattern. I think about writing the book for a long time and then really hammer out pages in a hurry.

Then comes the re-write of the nonsense that is the rough draft. Still, I doubt I can keep up this pace for too long. I'm at 42K right now which is approaching halfway.

Jon, Sorus, Jerichi, and Silenia are in the mountains while Taragaz waits below in ambush. I sense bloodshed soon.

Tom

It's been a good two weeks. I've written 50K words. That gets me to 62K total on the rough draft and about 38K left. I don't know if I can keep it up. It's tiring.

Jon and the gang are now in Serapis and the massive confrontation with High Priest Amalagaz is right around the corner. Decisions about who lives and who dies hang in the balance.

Tenebrous must decide who he will support; the power and fury of Eleniak the Golden Flame or the godless Unbeliever. It's getting exciting!

I finished the rough draft this afternoon. Now comes the next stage, rewriting everything. Usually that involves adding a lot of what's called voice, making the events line up properly, making sure that characters are not saying or doing contradictory things, and cleaning up lots and lots of typos.

Voice is when each character speaks in their own distinctive style. Usually I don't get a good feel for a character's voice until half-way or more through the rough draft. So, I have to go back and change the way characters speak in the rewrite.

This part usually takes a month or so. I wrote the rough draft really quickly this time, in about three weeks so I might need a break before moving on. I'll keep you, my loyal fans, up to date!

Tom

I finished the main edit last night. Now, I do a final check and then turn it over to my proofreader. This is a same-time process in that as I finish pages I can pass them along. It usually takes about a month or so depending on how much time my proofreader (good old mom) can spend on the project.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. My thematic elements really came together in the end. I hope everyone will enjoy it!

I'll let everyone know a week or so before release. I'll probably contact my cover artist in the next couple of weeks and I'll post pictures of that in progress.

Tom

I finished the final check during the week and the book is now in the hands of my final proofreader, mom. She's about a third of the way through but then I have to take her corrections and make them to my version. That doesn't take long.

I also commissioned the cover art from Jesus Garcia Lopez for a third straight time. He's already produced a sketch.

I anticipate a release sometime in mid-December.

Tom

The Sword of Water is complete and published at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords. For purchase and information links see the post in the Sword of Water forum.

Onto the Spear of the Hunt!

Tom