Soultaming the Serpent [Update on old updates]
Recap of the derby process and progress, combining my original posts from the previous publication in one place
About the Derby
Soultaming the Serpent was published as a part of Inkfort Press's 2023 Publishing Derby.
The Publishing Derby is an annual event where authors are challenged to write a story, novella, or novel within two months, based on an assigned pre-made cover. Learn more about the Derby by visiting the Inkfort Press website.
Now… why did I decide to do this to myself? I got goaded. Seriously.
I saw a tiny bit of what the authors were going through for the derby last year and told myself, “they’re all crazy!” I mean, it sounded cool to finish a book so fast, but it wasn’t my thing.
And then the day before the covers went out I got to chatting. And then the covers came out and I fell in love. And then I signed up and bam! I started writing!
The start!
Soultaming the Serpent is a queer fantasy romance novella(??), meant to inspire you to follow your dreams no matter how old you are.
After not getting my top or second or even third pick for a cover, outlining was hard. My goal was to start writing the day (minute, second) I got the cover, but then I got stumped… and yes, I did rank this cover high, but I was still a little thrown because I was already in love with the ideas I came up with for my top four choices.
And then this one arrived and I realized something even worse… I read the title as soulmating the serpent!! There went my very distant and rough idea of a spicy fantasy romance.
And then I realized… it’s not that different, really, right? But instead of spicy, I was in a weird mood when outlining and well…
Looking at the cover told me the MC is going to be young, adventurous, and romantic. Instead… I created an older MC (she turns 60 in the beginning of this book), who has never left her village other than visiting the near forest, and is aromantic (though she does end up in a poly relationship).
The cover also told me purple. Flowers, forests, dragons, magic… and yes, while purple is a big theme in my book, that didn’t come into power until the second draft! My setting is desert, sand, desolate, lack of water.
So… how do both of these tie into the cover?
They do, I promise! You’ll have to read to find out.
Let’s get some dates!
1 Jun: Cover received
2 Jun: Outline finished and started writing
2-29 Jun: Drafting the first iteration - finished at 41,718 words
7-24 Jul: First set of major edits - finished at 44,893 words
1 Aug: Sent off to beta readers and serialized on RoyalRoad, Wattpad, and Substack.
24-26 Aug: Implementing beta read edits - finished at 52,813 words
27-28 Aug: Line edits and fixing plot holes - finished at 50,161 words
28 Aug: Formatted and created my code - the ARC is ready!
1 Sep: Pre-order links became live and sent out ARCs
25 Sep: The book itself was out and sales were coming in!
6 Oct: Following that was the FantasyFreeForAll promo
1 Nov: The name on the cover officially changed!
Before the book came out thought, links were up and ARCs were going off!
Some crises near the beginning
When I started writing, the only numbers I had in mind for words was over 10,000. That was the Derby rule. So, I started writing!
Now, when I write a first draft, I start with a very basic outline: I write a bullet list with one or two sentences for each thing I want to happen and then add a few points in between to make the story flow from one point to another.
I got all my points down, wrote 39k words, and then told myself - I can round that off and finally called it a complete draft!
Then… I got to my second draft. A week-long break and I had to check if my first draft was any good. Especially, I wanted to focus on my pacing, because I’ve never written a novella before. So, I found a few templates online, modified them to my needs, and dropped my story idea to check how my first draft fits into your regular plot structure.
Fortunately, my story fit quite well with only a few minor edits!
Unfortunately… I’ve never written a novella before and I had to figure out how to make someone fall deeply in love in a very short time span (seriously! I had to ask for so much help here!)
PS. No, this is not the MC! She is aromantic (experiencing little or no romantic attraction to anyone; not having romantic feelings) and she does not magically get “fixed” in this romantic fantasy. There is no need to “fix” anything here!
Anyway… a few notes here, a few edits there, 2 additional chapters planned to help with the love story grow, and a third of the way into edits, and now projections show that my story is now going to be reaching 50k.
And there comes the problem… according to what I’ve read and heard, a novella is under 40k. I could have deleted a few words to make me happy, but I keep adding instead to try and get that love connection working and so, I posted the question, got the answers, had a few interesting conversations and then… decided to start calling my baby novella a short novel!
Some editing updates at the end
Yes… I took a longer break than intended in Aug, but I am happy I did and I am proud of what I did.
Mostly, I am proud of myself of sitting through and listening to the entire thing, even though I was so sick of it by this point. Listening not only caught a lot of mistakes that editors didn’t catch but it also helped me catch 2 plot holes and come up with a brand new ending.
Speaking of editors: this is what Word Editor and PWA told me my scores were before I started line edits. Not too bad :D
(For anybody that doesn’t know this trick - turn off spell-checker when writing. Personally, it helps me write faster without focusing on those horrible red and blue underlines and it makes for some hilarious spelling mistakes when it gets time to edit. Though, in my defence, 581 of those spelling mistakes were Aurel’s name.)
Biggest changes between the beta version and the final?
The entire first chapter is different. I needed to get more into Jun’s mindset on crossing the boundary and less into her being a taste-tester and reminiscing the old days.
Changed up a lot in the dungeon scene, because that was one of the plot holes that really bothered me (only once I noticed it!).
Added more interactions with the sage.
Changed the ending a lot. Practically a re-write, though I did use the same language and elements from the original one, but I wasn’t a fan of my first (or second, or third!) ending.
Bragging rights!
And lastly, a tiny little brag because I am so proud of myself for figuring this out! I was able to turn my little scene break separators into an SVG (which broke) and then fixed it into a font that changes colours with the text depending on the reading mode! (Not on Amazon though, because… yeah… reasons.)
