I have been thinking about that...seems tough to do at the beginning. Just saw a blurb on rrl that someone was pushing on fb. The blurb had 8 instances of profanity. Seems a little excessive
Impatient to finish these first 5 chapters and revise them so I can share for review. Darn you typing, dynamic dialogue, and ....wait.....squirrel!!!......where was I? Oh, focus.
I am at about 16,000 and have hit a snag. Been spinning my wheels for a week. I have roughed out the first few chapters and felt that it was progressing well but I wanted to go back and revise some of my initial stuff. I have gotten stuck in wordsmithing a few pages over and over again, way to much instead of just letting go. Turns out revision can be a bit of a sticky point. I need to be ok with it being a first draft and not perfect before moving on. I don't want it to lose the color and character it initially had because I picked at it to much. Any hints, tricks, words of advice, or encouragement would be welcome. Thanks all and Happy Friday !!
Step away. Finish the plot line before going back to look at previous chapters. Its a given they are going to change, but doing it now is going to add a lot more work. I'm guilty of this myself, but I find just finishing the book helps the revision/edit/rewrites immensely. The most important thing for you to do is finish the book.
Great job with your progress! I always edit the last 5-10k words I've written on a book before starting writing for the day. I only edit for grammar and pacing. And fixing. I want to get the "voice" consistent by doing it this way so that when I start up again, it flows better. Wordsmithing a page or two will be like saying the same word over and over until it holds no meaning and you might hate your book, and never want to write again. I suggest reading back what you wrote only when you're sitting down to write, and only to fix or put a few new ideas in. James makes a great point. You're most likely going to have to go back and add or take out previously written stuff to make your book work right once you're all done, so that's when the fun happens. Also, if it helps you from OCDing out on it and pestering a page until you go cross-eyed, try doing that only on important part of the story. Like, an emotional part or a fight scene. Hope this helps.
Perfect guys, thanks...yes, I got to the point where I was picking on a couple of pages so much I got very frustrated and just stopped...great advice
Ehn, its a cover. I'm not artist myself, but I'd almost just go with a simple solid color background and do some typecasting to make the title stand out. I looked at it and didn't even remember what the title was, because my eyes were drawn away from it. As far as the title, I read it and am trying to figure out what the book is about. Gambit implies sacrifice, dark horse I'm assuming the knight, or if you go for the other meaning, a person of little note. I associate Gambit with sci fi, that might just be me. I also think chess so in a book that could be war with a focus on the strategy. That is just my first impression thoughts without looking at your synopsis or a blurb. Between the cover and the title, I just don't get a sense of what you are trying to sell me and I feel like I'd skip over it. (That honest enough?)
James that is exactly the feedback I appreciate. Not just because as you noted it is Ehn. But the breakdown you gave regarding why . I will think about it as I keep churning out chapters and doing some revising. I will post an updated blurb next
I apologize if I'm being too straight forward. It is a cover indeed, but it could use a little work to bring in more attention. In my opinion, three things about your cover really affected me. The bright blue was such a shift from the rest of the coloring on the page that it made me want to look away. Maybe try to use a single image that you can overlay with a more interesting font [more later]. The bottom image isn't on center and that irked me like a cat having a baby pull its tail. Again, I feel like a single, larger image would take care of this issue entirely. Lastly, the lettering seems too plain for what you want to convey. Find a font that fits more in the style of a Gamelit game of chance. I like the title, but I have to agree with James that it feels a bit generic and more Sci-fi than Gamelit. Gamelit is a sub-genre of sci-fi and fantasy, so I don't know how much that needs to change, but from reading your blurb, it might be too sci-fi to fill your need. I am curious though, what program did you use to work on it? I know a lot of free options if you're budget is a little tight. Can I recommend our digital savior of Canva if the need arises?
Thank you Gryphon, great feedback. So, funny story, I did use Canva because yes, my budget is beyond tight . The lack of centering is embarrassing. I will spend some more time learning how to better use the program. The feedback is helpful. I see where the cover has way to much of a sci-fi feel and the double image is too much.
Sorry but to me no not at all(at least to my tastes) the real landscape pictures and blue bars make it look like something a student did for class landscape photos do not a cover make usually especially not for a LitRPG which mostly exists in a virtual space if i were to see that somewhere I would think it was a sub par romance book On another not leave that dark color scheme in the dust a cover is about marketing so it should be bright and pop it should assault your eyes rather then make them glance away even a poorly drawn MS paint cover can draw my eyes if done right the image dosent need to be great (although it should be) Sorry this is a lot more harsh then the others but frankly I dont know how to state it while it dosent look horrible as an image as a cover it fails its job go to kindle and look at the top books then look at new books in the same genre find what makes you glance over a cover and what makes you want to click on it if you can replicate that you should have a good cover.
The feeling you get when you write a really good scene and dialogue, with plenty of tension; but realize that it's going to be half way through the book so hopefully readers will stick with it to get to the part
