Axtara – Magic and Mayhem Moves Into Editing

Same post in its original form on the main site!

With a headline like that, who really needs me to flesh out the rest of this post?

I’m kidding, of course. But yes, this is a substantial news post. After blitzing 13,000 words in two days—including one where I was up until 3 AM writing—the draft of Axtara – Magic and Mayhem is now complete.

Yup. Start to finish. Which means after a short break, it’s time for the pre-Alpha. Because if I want this out by Christmas, I’ve basically got this month and next month plus maybe a week or two of December to go through pre-Alpha, Alpha read, Beta Read, and Copy-Edit. Plus get the cover done. Plus format for paperback as well and, well … yeah. I think I’ll be busy in the coming weeks. I’m going to do my best to get this all out and complete by Christmas, folks. Thankfully, it’s not Starforge length, so that should reduce the workload by quite a bit.

But speaking of the “workload,” what are the final metrics? Especially say, in comparison to Axtara – Banking and Finance? Well, here are some comparisons between the draft for Magic and Mayhem and the first Axtara book. For your curiousity:

• Wordcount: Banking and Finance weighed in at 123,627 words, a bit long for a YA book. Magic and Mayhem‘s draft is sitting at 193,102 words. Significantly longer, and one of the reasons why I’ll be looking to trim during the pre-Alpha.
• Chapter Count: Banking and Finance had twenty-one chapters, Magic and Mayhem has twenty-five, though I am looking at breaking one or two of those apart in pre-Alpha, making it closer to twenty-seven.
• Like Banking and Finance, Magic and Mayhem is still a cozy fantasy. There are stakes still, sure, but they’re still (mostly) wrapped up in Axtara’s bank or Axtara herself.
• More Princess Mia: Banking and Finance had only eleven chapters in which the princess—and Axtara’s best friend—makes an appearance. Magic and Mayhem has sixteen chapters with Axtara and Mia, so if you enjoyed Axtara’s best friend, you’re definitely going to see more of her!
• Counting Axtara’s parents, Banking and Finance had exactly three dragons in it, including Axtara. Magic and Mayhem has three and a half, none of which are Axtara’s parents. Puzzle on that one for a while!

Anyway, starting today, I’ll be bumping Magic and Mayhem into the “editing” subsection of Current Projects page and setting up for the pre-Alpha.

Now, those of you who have been Alpha Readers in the past? This does mean that the Alpha Call for Magic and Mayhem will be coming soon. I figure the Pre-Alpha will take maybe a week (a little longer if I make some heavy cuts or rewrites), which should give those of you that were previous Alpha Readers a good idea of how long you have before the call should go out.

As usual, I’ll be sending messages via e-mail to all prior Alpha Readers, and the posting a public Alpha Reader call after that.

And well, that also means we’ll start seeing small previews soon. Chapter excerpts, previews, and even cover art. More Axtara is coming, folks! For now, I think this is a pretty decent update on the state of things, so I’ll call it here and get back to setting things up for the coming weeks.

See you Monday, people!