Toodlin' on the WIP

Current Chapters, Titles, and Timelines

Happy 4th of July to those who celebrate! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Since last week I revealed some of the lore, I wanted to give an update as to where I am with the whole thing.

As always, if you haven’t picked up a copy of my book “Reasons Found In Promises” consider doing so either on Amazon or through my website. The latter is cheaper :)

Chapters and Word Counts

I’m just about 90k words in with 38 chapters already planned out but not all of them filled. I think I will likely end up around the 40-45 mark once I’m done. A big part of the romance arc is already complete. It’s mostly the surrounding details, worldbuilding, and external plot that I need to finish shaping.

Right now, the ending word count is kind of a mystery to me if I’m being honest. I’m projecting that once the final chapters are filled in, I will be around 110k, but the thing is the current draft has a lot of lore-as-dialogue, which I want to take out and rearrange in certain places to be more environmental. So that might inflate the word count more. Though honestly, I will be happy if it remains on the shorter end.

I think “Reasons Found In Promises” deserves its length, and I will stand by that, but it is a bit intimidating. Especially for those who might not trust my storytelling quite yet.

Current Fun Facts

The book has a weird similarity to “SoulTrapped” in the fact that it has a switching POV, except it’s one chapter one POV, first person. The first chapter is with Arkhan, the second is Sally, and we alternate from there.

This wasn’t necessarily intentional at first. I thought I was going to be a lot looser with the POVs closer to my first fanfics here. But I got to chapter like 27 and realised I’ve followed a neat pattern and therefore decided to keep it for the rest.

I think it weirdly works out, as it keeps the pace of the story up without spending too long with one character.

Which yes, this book is going back to first person that I’ve written in a lot in the past. Arkhan’s POV tends to be wordier, more self-analytical, and observational. He is constantly assessing himself and his own behaviour against the expectations that rest on his shoulders as Setep Jiwa. Sally, on the other hand, is a bit of an anxious mess on the inside. Although I keep it to a minimum to make sure the prose isn’t annoying, there are several instances of her thoughts racing, or even interrupting themselves like an overlaying monologue.

My current favourite quote from the manuscript is “We are good coffee.”

Plans

The current plan is to finish the draft, hopefully by the end of the month, which is later than I was hoping, but there is not much to do about that. I will then be doing my usual developmental and preliminary line edits to make it readable.

From there it’s going to be the alpha/beta reading stage, which for “Reasons Found In Promises” I actually got help from a wonderful Romance Writers discord that I am a part of, (as well as my hubby and BFF) and that will likely be my go-to this time as well. The reason I will likely NOT be putting up the first pass here is because, unlike the beta reading for “SoulTrapped” I’m expecting there to be large structural changes, so I would like to keep the lovely people here for beta/ARCs reads that are closer to the release date.

While the book is off to be read by other people to get feedback, which I’m calculating will take about a month or two, I’m actually hoping I can parallel the start of writing the next book in the Cryptfolk Romance Trilogy. The working title of that is “Reasons Found In Memories” and it will be following Reginald and Cassie. (If you know, you know)

I will also be figuring out cover art during this time. I may commission the same artist or I have another one I’ve been talking to whose style I think might work better. Hopefully, by the time the feedback round is done, I will also have a cover and will be able to follow up with a reveal, sample chapters, and more as we get closer to the release date.

My goal is to have that be sometime this fall. Which, unfortunately, means I’m likely not putting out 2 originals like I initially planned. But, I think it actually sort of works out as this WIP can be put out before December this time, and then the Cryptfolk Romance 2 book will be scheduled for sometime in the spring. With any luck, I should be able to get into a concrete cadence for releases from there!

Titles

My current struggles have been around the title again…. I’m just not loving “Resonance Record” right now. As hubby says, “It’s not romantical enough” and I kind of agree. Current candidates in no particular order are:

• Soul Resonance (Most on the nose, but kinda generic?)

• Resonance Record (Current)

• Colours of Resonance (courtesy of hubby)

• Resonant Heart (My current favorite)

• Sweet Resonance (Most Thematic)

You guys have any preference?

If none of these, let me know in the comments!

Closing Thoughts

That is it for today, I’m unsure exactly of what I’m doing next week. Perhaps showing some deleted scenes? Or Character bios? Part of me is thinking of doing the monster bingo and mood board which was fun!