Printed version of "The Monster Below" Update 11 - Revisions Complete! · 5:56pm Apr 25th, 2018
Hi everyone
Remember when I wrote this?
Bathroomstahl and I have begun work on editing "The Monster Below" to get it ready for publication. As detailed in a previous blog, this is to clean the manuscript up by fixing any grammar and punctuation errors, tightening and condensing sections by removing redundant information, and generally bringing the quality of the writing up to date with what I've learned since the book was first posted.
Our editing will probably continue for another two to three months...
To refresh your memory, that was back in March of 2016. So... yeah. But hey, better late than never, because I am proud to announce that the revision of 'The Monster Below' is finally complete!
Here's a list of the biggest changes made to the story:
*General cleanup, with sentences being tightened, redundant information being removed, and shortening the story by about 40,000 words.
*The Guardians of Tradition's motivation has been changed from not wanting to see society changed to being worried about non-augmented ponies being left behind and essentially becoming second-class citizens.
*Luna tells Silverspeak that he must earn the right to become an alicorn, and that trying to force such a change will not work, as it has never worked before, instead of saying 'hey, your genes won't let it happen, LOL.'
Now, while this milestone is a big moment, the story still isn't quite ready to be published just yet, but I have good news on that front: after doing some investigating, I've learned that the self-publishing company Lulu offers an option for writers to give direct links of their works to buyers. Similar to unlisted videos on Youtube, this means that a book remains private, with only a select group being given access, and the general public not being able to find it.
Because of the simplicity of giving interested buyers the link, and not having to deal with relaying printed books to friends who then mail it out for privacy reasons, this is the route I will take in making 'The Monster Below' available to those who want to buy a physical copy.
The next step in this process is to decide what size the book is going to be, formatting it (this will take far less time than the revisions), and printing a test copy for myself. Once I'm sure everything is correct, I will then post a blog announcing that the book is ready to be purchased.
We still have a ways to go, but the finish line is finally in sight!
Now I just have to work up the nerve to start revising 'Nightfall'...
It gets closer and closer!
Thank you for the Update and your hard work!
Nice! So will you end up printing trilogy as separate entities, or do you still plan on finishing the whole series first and release it all as a singular book?
As another idea; why not have at the end say Medicomp will be working on horns to help those affected?
Do you know what the cover will look like yet?
Pls pls pls do a hardcover with dust jacket!
Awesome! I've gotten a few books off of Lulu and generally been happy with the service. They aren't quite as nice as, say, getting a proper print run done as they do print the books on demand. However, the prices are reasonable and they rarely take long to print + ship. This is how I got Through the Well of Pirene, The Alicorn Mystery Series and Three Nights in Manehatten.
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You're welcome! It's a relief to finally be getting *this* close to finishing it!
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They'll all be separate. If I were to print them in one book, it'd probably be several inches thick, depending on the size.
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Huh... that's a good idea. I'll put that in.
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No, but it'll be simple, so no fancy graphics or pictures.
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I'll look into it and see how much it costs.