A blog update, finally! So where’s the book?

*Blows off the dust on his blog and briefly coughs for a few seconds.*

Wow. Holy sh—the last post was December 26th? Wow. For this disgrace, I offer my sincerest of apologies. I suppose I should get right to it.

The Silver Ninja: A Bitter Winter had a release date of May of 2017. What happened?

Ah yes, interesting story that one.

Allow me to start from the beginning with ten handy bullet points:

1. I completed the first draft in January 2016. I distributed copies to my beta readers and an editor.
The beta bombed so hard I went back to the Stone age. Too many backstories, unlikeable characters, weak plot.

2. I re-wrote the book a second time. This time I only gave it to the editor and select readers.
Another failure. It was so bad, I don’t even remember what I wrote. Plot lacked structure, too many go nowhere scenes, too many POV switches, boring characters.(Obviously, I started sweating a little about my writing skills. One rejection was bearable; two makes you question your life choices.)

3. Editor suggested to write an outline. I hate writing outlines. The outline took me 6 months to complete. Even though it was satisfactory, something didn’t feel right about it.

4. Took a break. Read some books. Watched The Wire. Practiced some writing. Decided I needed to re-think my entire approach to writing the book.

5. The Wire taught me the value of brevity and leaving things unsaid, something I had always struggled with. When you want the reader to picture every detail exactly as you imagined it , they end up not picturing it at all. I forced myself to write less, especially with dialogue, which is much harder than it sounds. Cut too much and your reader will get lost. Did I mention I hate writing outlines? I did and unfortunately, I had to write one. So I went with the hybrid technique, write scenes and the outline in tandem.

6. The outline came together but the writing lacked style. I read portions of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and decided to push my style a bit harder and experiment.

7. The 10 chapters I had already written needed to be re-written to match the new style. Basically, this is rewrite #3 since Jan ’16. Rewriting these chapters took approximately two to three months. (All this while juggling a full-time job and family obligations.)

8. During the outlining phase I got stuck on Chapters 15 and 16 (Hmm, wonder why that is). I spent at least a month, maybe two, not writing. I hoped an epiphany would hit me while I slept or while I was on the toilet.

9. The Eureka moment came (not on the toilet). I solved the problems with Chapter 15 and 16 which allowed the rest of the outline to fall into place.

10. I currently have written 27 chapters of Rewrite #3 and have received positive responses on the new draft. I can write a chapter every two-three days, so I’m hoping the rough draft will be done in August, early September.

That’s the gist of what happened but there is a bit more to this story.

Remember earlier when I said I was starting to sweat? That was a lie. I wasn’t starting, I was panicking.

Those rejected drafts that I had submitted to my beta readers and editors? Yeah, I actually proud of what I had given them and thought the book would be ready to publish after they read it. Being told the drafts were terrible was like being repeatedly stabbed in the gut. I collapsed to my knees and bled out pride and dreams.

No matter how thick your skin. When you think you’ve made something amazing and you’re told (more than once) that it’s not, it hurts. This turning point is when most writers crumble or stand back up.

I stood up because I’m a stubborn son of a bitch.

I would be lying if I said it was my own steely resolve which convinced me to re-open that cursed Word/Scrivener document. What convinced me to keep going was the letters from fans around the world (yes, I know, I was surprised too) who begged me not to rewrite the first book which they loved.

Can you believe that? Someone loved the book so much, they begged me not to rewrite it.

Even the harshest one star reviews mentioned that they saw promise and potential with the book. The writing just needed more work.

So I decided with this rewrite, which will be the final one, to embrace failure. That even after all the rewrites, all the outlining, all the time I spent discussing the book with the editor and my girlfriend, the book will still fail or worse.

As long as I write something that I’m proud of, I really don’t care if it doesn’t become a best seller. I want it to do well and to have legs, but I have no control over that. The only thing I can do is write to the best of my ability and be happy with the end result.

There is no release date for The Silver Ninja: A Bitter Winter just yet. I’m aiming for this year but I won’t feel confident announcing any tentative date until I am knee deep in the editing process. For those of you who enjoy pain or are curious as to what the original books were like, they are available to read for free on Wattpad.

I personally don’t recommend jumping into them, but I won’t stop you either.

The Silver Ninja Book 1 – 2012 Edition

The Silver Ninja: Indoctrination Book 2 – 2014 Edition

For those of you who are still following this blog, thank you for your infinite patience. I promise the book will be released soon™.

Wilmar Luna

Wilmar Luna

Couldn't be a superhero in real life so he decided to write his own. When he's not creating empowered female characters he can be found watching films, reading books, and playing lots of video games. Buy his books here: https://www.thesilverninja.com/purchase/