Reading Aloud

This has proven to be a huge benefit in the progress of the book. I had read the book aloud, but I did it in chunks and not from beginning to end. Not to mention I was the one readin,g so my mind was passing over a lot of mistakes. Over the weekend my wife started reading the book to me. It has been awesome. I am excited at the improvements that I have already made in the first 155 pages. Each time I go through the book, it gets a little better and a little better. I have even updated the first five chapters again, and I posted the latest yesterday. Please add any comments as you read the book. Or if you have questions, feel free to ask.

This is a Raw Document

One more thing. This document has not been professionally edited. It is in a pretty raw form. You will find some errors. I have tried to clean it up as much as possible, but sometimes my mind puts things in that aren't there or takes things out that should be there.

I just made some corrections to the Preface and the first chapter so if you have started, continue. If not, the read may be a little smoother. The latest doc is attached.

Demographic

First of all I want to thank those that have already visited the blog and for some of the encouraging emails I have recieved. Some have asked about the demographic before they start reading so that they are in the right mode. I would say that the majority demographic is ages 12-18. The main characters are teenagers. I think and hope that adults will enjoy it too. If you like action and humor then hopefully this will keep any age reading.

Making Some Changes

So when you are writing a book or anything for that matter you often come across things you don't like or that you fear will pose a problem with your readers. The tough thing is that in the moment sometimes the brain does not offer up any alternatives. I worried about a couple of things in Mermentau: the names being too difficult and if referring to the group of teens as children seemed out of place. I can see that both of these topics are coming up in those that have read the story. For those of you that have only read the teaser offered to your right, this hasn't even entered the manuscript yet.

I have made or am making some changes to improve those two points of the story. The names will mostly remain the same, but the spelling and ease of reading will improve. I will also eliminate like names to help keep things straight. The deeper meaning of the names was too difficult to part with at this time so hopefully the simplified spelling will make them easier to pass over. Also, they will rarely be referred to as "the children" accept by one character and she explains why.

This is why critique is so powerful. When more than one person says the same thing, it probably means there is a problem.