Novel Update: Questions answered

Here’s what I’ve been up to…

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone had a good week. I realised that it’s been a while since I have given an update on my novel.

For anyone who doesn’t know, I finished writing a novel over the summer. The premise is that there is a planet where magical powers exist but have been outlawed. Sheba, the crowned princess, is one of the unlucky few to develop these powers. For this, Sheba, along with her other noble friends, is thrown out of the prosperous, gated city in a violent coup. The novel follows Sheba and her friends' quest to avoid death and restore her throne.

I’m really proud of this work. I’m proud that I came up with it and that I finished it. In terms of updates, there isn’t much to say. I can’t stress how slow the literary world moves.

Right now, I’m working on editing the novel. I have already done the first, basic round of proofreading but now I’m trying to take it a step further. I have a complete body of work but I want to keep editing to make the best novel I can produce so I’m reading widely in order to inspire new ways of improving what I already have.

Some books that have been inspiring this process are: Amongst Women by John McGahren, Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor and Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Specifically, I want to re-examine my subplot so that it is a full story in itself rather than being short passages that get sprinkled throughout the text. I’m also thinking about length. Right now, the book sits at just around 270ish (book) pages but it is likely that will increase. 

I have also gotten some good feedback from one of my friends who is currently studying a MA in creative writing at Oxford (oooh) so shout out to him.

I know that this may not be what you were expecting to hear but, like I said, the writing world moves slowly. And, to be honest, I love this grind.

As always, let me know what you think and subscribe.

With Love,

Maxine Riike Brigue