#anyways it’s very nice to have round 1 editing underway!!!

[sexynetra]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Hi :) I am back from my whirlwind roller coaster of a weekend and I have returned with edited Crygi! I am hoping to have the fic up by this weekend but I make no promises.

~~~~~~

“Did I wake you?”

“Mm, maybe. But I needed to get up anyway. It’s opening ceremony day,” Crystal hummed and Gigi felt the butterflies stir in her stomach.

“I don’t ever get nervous. I don’t know why I’m feeling nervous all of a sudden,” Gigi sighed, setting her phone on her headboard so she could sit up properly.

Crystal stared at her for a moment. “It’s opening ceremony day,” she repeated, a bit slower. “You’re nervous ‘cause it's opening ceremony day. Isn’t it, like, a huge party basically? You watch a bunch of performances and some government propaganda and a bunch of, like, boring tradition stuff, and then you walk out with a billion other Americans dressed exactly the same as you and wave and smile and then it's all over and you go party for real.”

“Okay, first of all, the only reason I’m okay being told what to wear is because it’s by Ralph Lauren. And even then, I’m itching to alter it so it’s more flattering—”

[virtuosinovel]

Expat Island

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November. But not because it’s Guy Fawkes day. Because I will finally be publishing by debut novel on Amazon! Coincidence? Uh, have you read the blog?

I have made a few changes since I posted the book here on Tumblr, chapter by chapter, oh so long ago. The story itself has not changed much, if at all, so if you were a fan of the original plot, themes, and characters, fear not. But as I went through the final round of edits, collected feedback from beta readers, and worked with my marketing and social media consultant (my wife, who does that sort of thing for a living), I made some tweaks that should enhance the overall readability, marketability, and hopefully enjoyability of the book.

The first big change was the title and sub-title. The original branding was “Virtuosi: The Evolution of Revolution” and I really liked it. But I decided to change it to “Expat Island: A Virtuosi Novel” for a couple of reasons.

I love the idea of a group called Virtuosi. A group made up of extraordinary members, uniquely skilled in their areas of expertise, banding together to create something new and worthwhile. I envision it as a mash-up of “A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” and a benevolent version of the Illuminati. The group is still an integral part of the book and as you can see by the subtitle, I have not abandoned it completely. But even I mispronounce it half the time, pronouncing it with an “ah-see” at the end instead of the correct “oh-see.” It’s not a good sign when the title doesn’t roll off the tongue, especially when that tongue belongs to the author himself.

Using Virtuosi as the name of the series instead of the book accomplishes a couple of things.  First,  it sets the foundation for several more books under the same branding. That might sound obvious, but notice that I am not calling this “Virtuosi Book 1.” By using the term “a Virtuosi novel” I give myself some future flexibility. The later books could be sequels in the sense that they continue this story line (the second one, already in progress, will do that).  Additional books could also be prequels, side stories, or a host of other things and still be considered a “Virtuosi novel.”  As long as the group members play key roles in the story, it is fair game. Second, using the term as the series instead of the title downplays the whole pronunciation problem and puts familiar words as the larger, more prominent title.

I also really like the turn of phrase “Evolution of Revolution” and I am keeping that in the back of my mind for a future project. When the phrase popped into my head a few years ago, I thought it was so cool someone else MUST have already used it. I looked on Amazon and a few other places. I found Evolution Revolution (fiction) and the Evolution of a Revolution (non-fiction), but nobody using that exact phrase the way I wanted to use it, meaning a new and improved way to revolt. I’m actually glad the blog version has that subtitle. That pretty much proves I used it/thought of it before anyone else and acts as my somewhat informal copyright while I figure out how to use it.

The new title, “Expat Island” is solid too, and even  more marketable. Since my last post, I have purchased an e-book cover that I am very excited about and it has, surprise, an island on it. The setting of the book is a newly formed island nation. Islands are great visuals. Everybody loves islands. They are great settings for everything from slasher flicks like “I Know What You Did Last Summer 2” to uplifting, sun-in-the-sky stories like “Cool Runnings.” You can’t go wrong with the term “island” in your title.

And the term Expat always drums up images of Americans traveling or moving abroad and all the mystery and worldliness that entails. Baccarat. Fast cars. Exotic peoples and landscapes. Adventure and intrigue. Virtuosi are, in fact, expats who now run an island. I am not forcing any irrelevant word here. It is also not lost on me that both words in the new title start with a vowel, are two syllables, and seem to fit nicely together on a book cover.

Speaking of the setting of the book, the island has been rebranded from Christmas Island (a real island territory of Australia) to Cydonia (the same island renamed by the characters in the book). Cydonia was an ancient Greek city-state. Cydonia is also the area on the surface of Mars that is home to the famous “Face on Mars,” which proves there was intelligent life there at some point in the past, at least according to some. So there’s old world wisdom, mythology and mysticism, and tin-foil hats all embodied in a single word. When I discovered all of this, changing the name of the island from the  original name was a no-brainer. Truth be told, I never loved the real-life name of the island anyway. It’s a Christianity-related name and the fictional island in the book has no prevalent organized religion, rather they are dabblers and truth seekers. Also, Cydonia is way easier to say and read dozens of times throughout the book than Christmas Island.

I made a few other tiny tweaks, like renaming a character and cleaning up some confusing dialogue, and here we are, almost ready to roll. Break the ceremonial bottle of champagne over the bow of the Expat Island ship. Our journey is underway! Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for more information as we approach launch day, and thanks to all who have been reading along so far.