This week’s post finishes the last chapter of Book 1, Chapter 20, with Scene 6 (1.20.6).
It has been a long process to get this book finished, and posted here every week.
I am grateful to all of you who read along – and for those of you who wanted to read it as a whole, here it is.
After I figure out what I’m doing next to get this actually published, I will post.
There is a round of necessary whole-book edits, but I don’t expect them to be major (pray for me!).
It is my intent to provide electronic Advance Reader Copies (eARC) for those who request them, but I have to master some formatting first. Today I wrestled with the whole in one huge file for the copyright office – enough for one day.
I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks for the continued amazing support – and the friendships I made in the process. It has enriched me in so many ways.
PLEASE comment!
PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents
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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 20, Scene 6 [Kary]
Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.
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Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2015.
liebjabberings 
Ken Follett – that I posted about somewhere else on your page – said he took 10 yrs. – of writing other things, like crime novels I think, that I’d never heard of him about – before he wrote his first “epic” book, guess you’d call it, so maybe that’s what he considered his “learning how to write”
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One of the books I’ve learned from is Writing the Blockbuster Novel, by agent/editor Albert Zuckerman who represented Ken Follett, and there is a huge amount of information about Follett’s writing, and the longer novels, and planning for a blockbuster.
The principal Follett novel examined is The Man from St. Petersburg, but I think Zuckerman also talks about Follett wanting to write The Pillars of the Earth (about the building of the medieval cathedrals), and Zuckerman telling him he had to do other stuff first because he didn’t have enough of a name to carry such a fat novel yet (this is all from memory – I probably don’t remember exactly right). Including the time it took to write (IIRC).
If you’re interested in that kind of stuff, I recommend Zuckerman’s book. Follett cooperated, and wrote the introduction, and provided early drafts for comparison.
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yes, The Pillars of the Earth is what I’m reading – maybe not the first, though I think have heard of others – will look up the St. Pete book, see where it falls – but, yes, in preface to that one he talked about his agent – interesting, guess never knew of an agent to write a book himself – did you see anything in his book about the difference between a “tapestry” and a “series of linked melodramas” – hm, maybe that’s what you have – anyway not just about the building of the cathedrals; I prefer to think of it as more about the “builders” of them or as Christina Baker Kline says about her book Orphan Trains – the history of the poor and dispossessed, rather than the rich, though of course it does include them but not focused on them
not, per se, that I’m interested in it but just making the comparison in takes time to learn how to write those type books
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The agent’s book is non-fiction; I don’t think he writes novels.
MANY people love reading novels – but could never write one. Different skill sets.
Follett put the work in; I will read it some day. My dad tried it, said he didn’t like it, and that prejudiced me. I love Follett’s other books, Eye of the Needle, and The Key to Rebecca. Those are shorter.
I’ve stolen his tapestry idea (not original with him) several times as a metaphor for complex writing. Some writing is like checked gingham, some like tapestries. Both fine in their place, but one cannot be substituted for the other, and only one really works in a palace.
You have to be able to handle so many strands for the complicated ones. I really don’t know how I decided I wanted to try.
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Congratulations, Alicia, so must be so proud! Wasn’t this book some 20 in the making? You’re the second writer I know to finish a major work this week. Finishing is so in vogue right now; all the cool kids are doing it. Hopefully I’ll have my own turn in a month or so.
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Hey, thanks!
It must be spring. Almost 15 years; but a lot of it was spent learning HOW to write. I HOPE the rest – two more – come out a lot faster.
It felt odd but very good – as it must for runners crossing a finish line, and then not knowing exactly what to do with themselves. You focus on the light at the end of the tunnel – and then there IS no tunnel any more. Weird. I’m sure it gets more familiar when you produce more, but the first one is different. It has to be.
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Huge congrats, Alicia! So exciting to reach an important milepost.
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P.S. I’d love an eARC once you have one available. I plan to purchase a copy from Amazon, once it’s there, so that I can be a verified purchaser. But I’d love to read it sooner. 😉
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Let me get through Holy Week – the choir sings four nights in a row, starting tomorrow (today – it’s already after midnight) – I sent my sister a .docx file I sent the copyright office, but I plan to produce a .zip file with .mobi, .pdf, and .epub eARCs in it just as soon as I possibly can.
Cross you fingers there won’t be that much editing (famous last words); I did a LOT of editing as I went, but there’s always stuff.
I will consult all my published peeps about lots of things once I’ve created a few choices – covers and such. Those who have a bit of time and inclination, of course – don’t want to be a pest.
G’night – I keep staying up too late!
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make sure to post about your formatting here and if we can help with any editing – and I’d like one of the copies, please – will go back to the book
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Thanks for the offer. As soon as I have the thing ready, I’ll send you your preferred format.
I think, after my pushing things through Autocrit and correcting the things that are flagged, most horrors are taken care of.
I do have a style – it I weren’t elliptical, the thing would be 25% longer. I leave a lot up to the reader – so far no one has thrown tomatoes. So some things may not fit ‘rules’ that I don’t choose to follow.
PLEASE report typos and plot holes – I had a good scare earlier, thinking I had fouled something up (I hadn’t – I was just moving through a file too quickly, missed a scene end marker). I’ll check everyone’s previous comments, and my notes, before the final couple of editing passes.
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