As of today, at least, the plan is to finish re-reading my L.A. Stories (why? because I started the series in 2012 and I need to refresh my memory, and I also need to do a proper timeline on all the characters because with eleven volumes, plus some characters I am pulling in from "Million Dollar Death," they are well past my ability to retain all In Brain) and then write No. 12.
I know who I'm writing about and what, roughly, is going to happen, but have not commenced beyond some basic notes, because the advance work noted above is not really optional. Also there are important scenes involving animals, one of which I haven't wanted to tackle just yet because of this summer's pet event chez nous. I still haz a sad.
I have several other writing projects, and assignments I've given myself:
- make a simple edit to "Million Dollar Death" and order a new proof copy
- edit/rewrite "Home Sweet Home" to remove a certain unnecessary plot device
- write up some new scenes for my two unrelated novels-in-progress
- rewrite and republish the L.A. Stories to date.
That last one is a doozy! But as I'm re-reading, it seems all the more necessary. The first story in this series is not as good as the later ones. I still like the characters and the plot, but I did kind of the bare minimum in converting it from screenplay to novella, and I want to do better. Fortunately, the few people who have a copy will get a free update once I load the new text. And also I want to fill in the narrative a bit on all the stories, to make them more readable to those who are not used to the teleplay format.
And THEN I have an even doozier assignment, which is to reformat and republish the L.A. stories in paperback. I like my general layout and my cover photo, but I want to step down the trim size, and that means some comprehensive text reformatting. Also need to add an up-to-date copyright page to each paperback volume.
Why do all this work when hardly anyone is buying the things? Well, because hardly anyone is buying the things. :-) Novellas have gotten really big in the romance world, and I don't want mine overlooked just because I wanted to present them in a particular way. If that particular way isn't comfortable for readers, then I need to make them more comfortable.
I still think this series would be great adapted for TV, but it's not going to get picked up until people are talking about it. And for that to happen, people need to read it.
The basic idea is to finish my re-read, and the timeline, this month. Then I'll do the novel edits next month since November is National Novel Writing Month.
Then the L.A. Stories Renovation will begin.
*update: I did finish the re-read; I did finish the timeline; I did do the edits. I have not actually achieved republication. So I'm hoping to get that done in December.
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