Slow and Steady – By a Hare – Afterword

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Please pardon my typos […more…]

Afterword

Whelp, it’s done!

First, I’d like to express my undying gratitude for those who read and commented. You folks kept me going. Your comments, thoughts, and feedback about the serial were a joy and brought me back to the keyboard, again and again.

Second, I’d like to thank Shanta, a wonderfully kind and awesome reader who sent me all my typos. (Oh my gosh, there were so many typos). So, if you read the installments a week or so after they were posted, Shanta is the reason there were less goofs in the prose.

Now, for the debrief, if you like this kinda info.

  • Start date: April 1, 2020
  • Finish date: July 25, 2020
  • Total words: 71,877

How do I think the story turned out?

You know what? It’s not too shabby for a first draft. All pieces are there: open, middle, end as well as character arcs with internal, external and romantic conflicts (and all of those had climaxes and resolutions).

So, success! But…

Yep. All the buts. (hehe)

The Opening. The first few chapters will need to be rewritten. The cool feature about hosting the serial on my blog is that I could track views. I was losing readers by Chapter Three. There could be many reasons for that, but I am grateful for the data and will be revising the start of the story.

Dropped Threads. Oh my buttery fingers, there are dropped threads everywhere! I couldn’t bring Rogers, the Kletka, Kin’s mom, or Jacobe (Joia’s brother) back into the story in the way that I’d wished. I even feel that Luna (unconscious or not) needed more time on the page.

Descriptions. The manuscript is bereft of descriptions, and I mean descriptions of everything. I don’t have a physical description of Rez or her friends; Just passable ones for Kin. The setting might as well be a bed sheet. However, for a first draft, this doesn’t surprise me because I am a dialogue-heavy writer. I always focus on what characters will say before I add movement/place to my scenes.

World Building. I got a better sense of Warren’s, the settlement, and the Akupara as the story unfolded. I will need to revise for smoother introduction of the world and revise the parts that didn’t quite work. (Anyone remember Kin’s super sensitive feet? Yeah, I have no idea what I’d planned to do with that either…)

Inconsistencies. Oh, the nagging continuity issues of the story! Kin flops from formal to colloquial. Tech works/doesn’t work as needed for that moment in the story. Kin had his armor on, no power to his external helmet mic, and I think I only mentioned once that his voice was muffled shouting. Sigh. So yes, I need to rethink all of that.

Writing Style. I’d call my writing style for this serial ‘conversational.’ For Rez, I wanted the reader to feel like she was speaking with you. I’m not sure how effectively this came across in third person deep POV (point of view), where at times I gave direct access to her internal monologue. Therefore, I have passages and single lines that read as first person. It’s probably just a mess, and I am not quite sure how to address it yet, if at all.

Grammar and Prose. I really try to not dwell too much on grammar and prose during a first draft. My goal is to get the story written so that I have something to edit. For this story, toward the end, I feel that my prose got looser. Meaning, I was able to write faster by not spending time debating word choice, trimming unconcise language, or (my biggest weakness) eliminating/reducing repetitive words. Oh my. Do you know how many times I used gaze/gazed and look/looks/looked? Those will have to be addressed.

So, what’s next?

Honestly. I don’t know. My family is continuing to practice social distancing, and school will be online in the fall. Which means, the way my life was in March will be the New Normal for the next several months.

However, I had a blast writing about Rez and Kin, and I really got attached to their friends and family, too. I am already mentally plotting stories for them.

This means I have options.

The goal of the serial was to keep me writing, and I am so glad to say that it was a success. Because of that success, I feel like I should continue working on Culler, The Ladyships Book Three rather than prep Slow & Steady for publication or write another story about the Akupara. My plan is to give Culler an earnest try before revisiting Slow & Steady. I imagine Dius fans are happy to hear this. Pyx, Jo, and Emys fans, not so much.

Lastly, I want to thank family, friends, and my author buddies for all your support! Love you guys all so much!

Thank you so much for reading, everyone!

All the best,

Bex

July 25, 2020

Update 3/13/2022

By a Hare is being published! Want more info?

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20 thoughts on “Slow and Steady – By a Hare – Afterword”

  1. Thanks for the serial. Glad it ticked the boxes for you as it ticked mine too. Looking forward to see the difference between a first draft and the published book after Culler of course 😊. All the best with school online.

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  2. Thank u so much! I enjoyed the serial greatly and really hope to read more of this family/friends/enemy’s group. I’ve become very invested in their lives and would love to read Slow and Steady rewritten/finalized as a book plus more of Jo, Baby Bunny, Pyx, and Emys. I’m my opinion there’s a full series of great books started with this serial. Good luck with this upcoming school year. My son is in K-12 and if u want something better I suggest giving it a try, we finished out the school year while everyone else was having problems with the regular school district and best yet was he had teachers, teaching not me. Warm hugs, stay healthy,
    Sincerely Jolene Thomas.

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    1. My pleasure, Jolene! I also enjoyed the family, friends, and enemies of these characters, and I would love for a chance to revisit them. Also, I think you may have forgotten to add the name of the school alternative that you used. I’m curious to know what it was. And finally, thank yo so much for reading! I greatly appreciated your comments throughout the serial!

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      1. “K-12” is the actual name of the school. I posted this in 2 places and hope u are able to get it in time. Good luck, best wishes.

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  3. Thank you for this! I really enjoyed the world and hope you choose to play here again. I am so glad someone from Ruby a Dixon’s group mentioned you were doing a serial, it was my introduction to you as a writer.

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  4. Definitely am looking forward to Culler, so I hope the inspiration strikes you hard on that story and you are able to finish it.

    For me, the first couple of chapters had lots of different threads with no singular focus to the story. I had no idea where it was going or what the primary story line was. After that, it smoothed out considerably and was easier to follow and lots of fun to read. Thanks for entertaining us with it.

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    1. Thank you for the feedback, JenM. I greatly appreciate it. Yep. My beginnings are rough and I definitely need to rewrite the first few chapter in the next draft. I am glad that you enjoyed it more toward the end. Thank you so much for reading!

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  5. The name of the main school is called “K-12”. They have satellite schools in most states and they are great. I hope you are able to find something that works for u and your family. I wish I all the best of luck and thank u so much again, please stay safe and healthy.

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  6. I really loved the characters and can’t wait to read Slow & Steady again when the book is eventually published. I also hope Jo, Luna and Pyx inspire you to write their own stories too as a new book series would be fabulous (pun intended). As for the missing Jacobe, perhaps he could help Emys with her pesky eggs?

    Are you considering a series for Rein too? It was utterly superb! I just finished reading it yesterday and am already missing your gorgeous characters and beautifully rendered world.

    Thank you for including us in your writing process, it was fascating.

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    1. Thank you, Christa! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the characters from Slow & Steady. And I adore your fabulous pun! I hope to revisit Jo, Luna, and Pyx, but I am not sure when that will be. As for Jacobe, when the time comes, I have plans in the works for him.

      Regarding Rein… I am so pleased that you enjoyed that story as well! Yes, I do plan to expand that world, but like everything else, I just don’t know when.

      Again, thank you so much for the feedback and for reading!

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  8. Loved it – thank you so much for creating this and sharing it with all of us! I will definitely reread “Slow and Steady” when (not if!) you are able to refine it to your liking. And I would LOVE to read more about Pyx, Emys, Jo, Luna, and Jacobe.

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    1. My pleasure, Vanessa! I am so glad that you enjoyed Rez and Kin’s story. I also like the way you dropped ‘when (not if!’ in there as well! 🙂 And thank you so much for reading! I greatly appreciate it!

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  9. I loved this story so much! Thank you for writing and posting it! A few of my thoughts, and not sure how much this helps since I’m no writer:
    A. It was a little bit hard to follow in the beginning with no backstory or knowledge of the world you’d created. It got clearer as the story progressed but some people are not patient enough for that, which may be why you lost readers.
    B. I had wondered about Jacobe. It did seem like it was dropped in there and then promptly forgotten. But this could easily be used as a nugget for further development in a story for one of the secondary characters.
    C. I noticed the switch from formal to informal with Kin. It was slightly abrupt but not necessarily a bad thing. I liked both versions of him and they each fit his role at that point in the story. Maybe a smoother transition between the two as his feelings for Rez develop and he gets more comfortable with her?
    D. I assumed the thing with his feet was just because he had naturally sensitive feet and the boots were worthless camouflage. Totally worked in the story.
    E. I honestly didnt even notice any repetitive used of words. The storyline had me way too involved to even pick up on that, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
    F. Pyx reminds me a lot of Therion and that is absolutely FABULOUS. I hope he gets his own story.
    Anyway I so friggin loved this and I hope you do continue it into a series. I really liked all the secondary characters and look forward to following them, even Emys. But I’m also excited you’re focusing on Dius because I have been OBSESSED with the Ladyship series and dying to read his installment. Keep on writing because you are amazing and one of my favorites!

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    1. I am so glad that you enjoyed the serial, Diana. And thank you SO FREAKING MUCH for feedback. All of your comments were incredibly helpful. Seriously, I love it! And thank you for sharing your excitement for Dius. I am looking forward to getting into his story.

      Thank you so much for reading!

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  10. I have to admit I didn’t even read all of first chapter in Slow and Steady: By A Hare a couple of months ago. One I was waiting for one of your Treasured By An Alien books to be released, reading your other series, and a backlog of “to reads”. Not only that, I use my kindle text to voice during physical activities and I have technical brain issue when trying to get text to voice to read websites. I remember thinking I will wait for the book because the first draft was little confusing.
    Last night I started reading Slow and Steady – The Velveteen Tortoise and laughed all the way through all three chapters. I knew a lot was missing because this time I actually read your whole no editing comment. I agree with your own feedback. Well except since I read Slow and Steady – The Velveteen Tortoise first, the beginning of By A Hare didn’t feel like it was missing as much background. Despite Luna’s mental ramblings, there was a lot more background and things clicked as I read By A Hare.
    Roger I and II and the reason the women were putting up with him and the other men is still fuzzy. I inferred somethings but doesn’t mean I guessed correctly. I don’t remember reading about any other human women, just some children. I could see having both story line interspersed in one book but that might be due to the missing descriptions you mentioned. I really hope you are continuing the series. I would really like to see how Jo and Jocobe, if he is okay, find a HEA too. Oops and Emys too. Sorry for any typos or missing words. I’m using a phone to type.

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    1. Thank you so much for the feedback, Cindy! It does help to have my suspicions confirmed–that the opening of By a Hare needs to be revised. Also, thank you for noting the weak subplots involving Rogers I & II and the other human women in the settlement. I do plan to flesh those out in the upcoming rewrites.

      Also, I am thrilled that you’re joining me as I write The Velveteen Tortoise! I am so glad that you found the humor appealing. I really am having a blast writing about Luna and Pyx.

      Again, thank you so much for reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it!💜

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