Leaves of Fall Release Day - First Draft vs. Final Draft guest post & a giveaway

I'm happy to welcome the awesome Patricia Lynne to my blog today to celebrate the release of her newest YA book, Leaves of Fall.

First Draft versus Final Draft

The first draft of Leaves of Fall was written way back in 2011 or 2012. I don't remember the inspiration behind the story or why I set it aside. It never left my mind, though. When I opened it again in 2018, I knew there was a lot of work that needed to be done. Here are a few of the changes it went through to get to the story you can read today.

1: Names
The first draft I went a little weird with names. I had parents naming their kids weird things. Rudyard was Highway and his little brother was Rug. At the time, my thinking had been parents were naming their kids exact location they were born. For example, Rug was born on a rug. Weird, I know. I scraped that idea and went with parents naming their kids after places from their past. So Highway became Rudyard and Rug was Canyon after the Grand Canyon.

Trees also got name changes. At first, I just named them all random tree names, but beta readers and editors found it jarring. When they heard the name, they thought of that tree and not the tree character.

Not all names changed. Armory, Mini, Pine, and Oak's names stayed the same. Birch, Silver, Alaska, Dahoon, and River all had different names. I changed Birch's the last because I was fond of the first name: Maple. I considered changing him to a Maple tree, but I wanted the unique appearance of birch trees for his character.

2: Dahoon and Pine
Dahoon and Pine weren't in the first draft at all. Very few trees were. Most of the interactions Armory and Birch had were with other people. Some of those interactions made no sense, though, so they were cut. I'm very glad for this because I adore Dahoon and Pine. They're so laid back and easy going.

3: Miracle
One huge difference between the first and final draft was a character called Miracle. Armory meets her after she is kidnapped. Miracle is a small child and she goes with Armory and Birch on the journey to get Armory home. I tried putting her in as I rewrote, but found it stopped the story and I realized she had to go.

4: Communities and Nomads
I waffled between what to call the groups of humans that lived in this post-apocalyptic world. Communities started as tribes, but that was cliche, so I switched to families. My editor suggested communities at one point and since I found using families a bit confusing at times I went with that. Nomads were outlaws at first, but I switched to nomads since that was the lifestyle they adopted. They just aren't lawful about it.

Blurb:

Armory was born into a post-apocalyptic world torn apart by war between man and nature. Trees are the enemy. But when she’s kidnapped by nomads and taken far from her home, a tree nymph is the one who comes to her rescue.

Birch promises he can get Armory home. He says not all trees wanted a war. Armory has no choice to trust him if she wants to see her family again.

Together, they trek across the ruins of America, meeting both human and trees who want nothing more than the fighting to stop. But the hatred between the two may be too deep to heal. Armory isn’t sure her friendship with Birch will be enough to convince the human race to take a chance on peace. Birch has a plan, though. He’s just not sure he’ll survive.

Snag on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, or Smashwords for $2.99. (or 99cents if the pre-order price hasn't changed yet. ^_~)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

Patricia Lynne is the author of Young Adult Paranormal, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi books. She actually never set out to become a writer, and in fact, she was more interested in art and band in high school and college On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head and began learning all she could about writing. That was the start of it, and she hasn't regretted a moment. When she's not writing, she's watching Doctor Who or reading about serial killers. She's an avid knitter. One can never have too much yarn. She writes New Adult Urban Fantasy and Sci-Fi Romance under the name Patricia Josephine.

Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo, and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow.

Find Patricia around the web.
Website - http://www.patricialynne.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/plynne_writes
Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/plynnewrites/
Patreon -  https://www.patreon.com/patricialynne07
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/635444.Patricia_Lynne
Amazon Author Page - https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01EM6YLAW
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/patricialynne

Word Witch Wednesday - a bunch of tips for making writing life easier

It's been a while since I've done a writing update. I've been busy working on the first draft of Of Gods and Sorrow, the sequel to Of Blood and Sorrow. It feels fantastic to get back into the world and to be writing a novel again. When I write novellas, I keep everything tight and concise. I don't allow myself to wander. With novels, I feel less constrained.

Writing tip #1: When working on your first draft, don't be afraid to ramble on. Don't let your inner editor chain you down. Anything you don't want can be cut later. You might find you like some of those longer descriptions and extended scenes.

My writing has slowed recently. I've found I can't stare at the screen as long or I'll get headaches. When my critique partners and betas send me their manuscripts, I wondered why they always have their documents zoomed in at like 120% or 150%. I stubbornly put them back to 100% every time. My stubborn self was wrong. Now as I'm writing, I zoom in to 120%, and I get less eye strain and no more headaches.

Writing tip #2: Zooming in with documents does help ease eye strain. It's also important to take regular breaks from the computer and rest your eyes doing something else. Keeping well hydrated will help as well. And those bathroom breaks resulting from that can count as resting your eyes!

Putting your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard does get you writing. Yet it doesn't help you get up when you need to later. My body get stiff if I'm lost in my worlds for too long. I'm not as young as I once was.

Writing tip #3: Stretch. I'm not going to tell you to go out and exercise, but stretching your muscles will not only take away your stiffness, it will help the blood get flowing to your beautifully creative mind. I take about 30 to 40 minutes every day just before lunch to stretch and use my little hand weights. It wakes up my body and my afternoon writing session benefits from it.

Writing tip #4: That time as I'm stretching is the only time during my writing work day that I allow myself to turn on the TV or a podcast. Eliminating distractions like that while I'm writing allows me to better concentrate. Plus, it makes for a good motivator to do the stretching if I have a show recorded I want to watch. (Con Man aired on SyFy Channel this past Saturday night. I'm watching that this week as I stretch! Mmm, Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion.)

My writing life changes with each story and every new year. I'm excited to see where it will take me next.

Do you have any writing life tips to share? I'd love to hear them.

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An IWSG reminder:

Be sure when you leave a comment, your profile leads back to your blog. If it links to Google+, make sure you have your blog listed in your ‘About’ section. We encountered a lot of comments that we could not return because that person’s gravatar was not linked to a blog. And since some people comment with a name but it’s their blog name on the IWSG list, that makes it extra challenging. If you’d like your link title modified or changed on the IWSG list, we have set up a IWSG Google Document where you can request that change.

Plus the Show Your Writer Insecurity Contest is October 4, so get those photos ready!

Don't forget we're always excited to celebrate good news with our IWSG members. Email me at christinerains [dot] writer @ gmail [dot] com with your news, and I'll include in the next newsletter.

Monday Writing Update

The first draft of Totem #7 is done.

The first draft of #8 is almost done.

I have no idea where the story is going to take me in #9.

But then it will be done. I'm eager to move on to a new world.

And now I want to change all my covers to something like this!

I'm pushing to finish #8. I'll see you next Wednesday for the IWSG. Have a great week!