Renegades by Sara Mason

Title: Renegades

Author Name: Sara Mason

Editing & Rewriting

S.A. Mason

After you’re done with your first draft, take some time to celebrate what a huge accomplishment that is! After you take some time off to be able to look at your manuscript with fresh eyes, it’s time to edit. 

This sums up my editing process:

After a few days or weeks off, I read through the entire manuscript without stopping to fix every typo. I look at the bigger things like pacing, scene order, and plot holes. Printing out a hard copy is helpful for this stage. I’ll flag pages with post-its as I go then I’ll go back to make changes. Once the larger issues are fixed, I go back and focus on the little things like typos, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

I like to read through the manuscript several times, focusing on different aspects each time. For example, I would first read through the draft focusing on dialogue. It’s important to make sure each of the characters has a distinct voice. If you remove the speech tags (he said, she asked, etc.), you should be able to still tell who is speaking. If the characters are all sounding the same, I would go back and edit. Next, I would focus on physical descriptions. And I would just keep going through the manuscript until I looked at everything.

For me, the most important part of this process—and the most annoying—is rewriting. If you’re anything like me, while writing the first draft, there were multiple scenes that you thought were absolute crap, but you kept pushing through and writing to keep the story and finish the draft. Those scenes are the ones that need rewriting. It’s a necessary evil, but it has to be done.

At this point, don’t worry about the manuscript being perfect. After you edit it, you should be sending it to beta readers and your editor, so there will still be time to make changes!

Author Bio:

Sara Atherton Mason was raised in Somerville, Massachusetts, with an amazing immediate and extended family. She attended Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, graduating with highest honors in Chemistry. She then graduated from the Florida State University College of Law with high honors. She lives in the Florida with her toy poodle, Melvin, and clerks for a United States District Court Judge. She enjoys coffee, wine, sports, and science fiction television shows. 

Author Links -

http://www.saraathertonmason.com/

http://www.saraathertonmason.com/blog.html

https://www.facebook.com/SaraAthertonMason

https://twitter.com/saramason1287

http://www.pinterest.com/saramason1287/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7370794.S_A_Mason

Book Genre: Science fiction

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: October 31, 2013

Buy Link(s):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GBN8ECG/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0QS7SHS9DVYTEJB1J36P&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/renegades-sara-mason/1117273819?ean=9781493620654

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/renegades-8

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/372915

Book Description:

Elora Pertin spent her life trying to please her father, an esteemed General for the Empire. 

When he convinced her to leave her quiet life as a scientist to advance a secret project for the Emperor, she had no idea what she was getting into. The seemingly innocent projects she engineered were actually being used to develop a genocidal weapon. After uncovering the Emperor’s plot, Elora had no choice but to act. 

Elora finds herself fighting for her life against the Empire she once served, abandoning everything with only a handful of friends and an unlikely ally—the Emperor’s deadliest assassin. Will he prove himself true as her protector, a loyal servant of the Empire, or a romantic distraction? With the law and assassins searching the star system for them, Elora and her team are determined to accomplish their mission . . . or die trying.

Excerpt One:

Back in her room, Elora tried to come up with another plan. If her father couldn’t—or wouldn’t—help, she had to find someone else. Just finishing and going home was not an option. She tried to focus on the weapon, but was preoccupied with thoughts of her father. What was he involved with? How could he involve her in the development of an illegal weapon? He had been her rock and best friend since her mom died when she was so young. If she couldn’t trust her dad, whom could she trust?

She had just closed her eyes to practice the meditative techniques she learned on Naruta when she was suddenly pulled out of bed to her feet. She felt the strong arms of a man on either side of her head. Instinctively, she tried to jerk his arms away because she was sure he was about to break her neck. Her head was pulled so far to one side she could feel the muscles in her neck tearing apart. Then he stopped.

Elora could barely see the mirror in her peripheral. The man’s black monochromatic attire made him hard to see in the dark room, but she could make him out against her body. He was tall with shaggy dark hair, slightly curly on the ends. He had a strong jaw, and as she moved up his face, she saw he was looking at her in the mirror. His eyes were dark—almost as black as his clothes. Just as suddenly as he pulled her out of bed, he released her.

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The Phoenix Blade by Andrew Hess

The Phoenix Blade

by Andrew Hess

About The Author:

Andrew Hess (1983-present) was born in Lindenhurst, NY where he spent most of his life. After living in the New Paltz/Poughkeepsie, NY area for five years (2003-2008) he returned home to Long Island to pursue his dream of writing. Andrew published his first book, The Chamber of Souls (2011), where he blended free verse poetry and short story into one book.

Blog | The Real Phoenix 13 | Book Page FB | Twitter | Linkedin

Genre: Action/Drama

Publisher: CreateSpace

Release Date: April 24, 2013

Amazon

Book Description:

Follow the journey of Andrew Lancaster and his friends as they are thrown in the middle of the biggest government conspiracy to hit the United States. Andrew is contacted by a man known only as the Benefactor.; claiming to be a government official that has been monitoring Lancaster and his friends. He is told they have enough evidence to arrest them for treason, but would like to hire them instead for a top secret government project. As a bonus the Benefactor says he will reveal something Lancaster has wanted to know for the last six years. Who killed his mother.

Excerpt:

“I keep thinking how so much has changed in the last ten years.” “Here we go again.” “I mean it. When we were kids everything was different. The world was more peaceful. Everyone got along and helped each other. But now everyone’s fueled by greed, corruption, and they get some sick pleasure from hurting others.” “I know what you mean, but there’s not much we can do about it. Too many people think they have to do whatever’s necessary to get ahead in life.” “I still wish we could change it.” “Yeah, it’d be great to get rid of all those people.” Mike reached for the remote to turn the movie back on. “Too bad it’ll never happen.” I knew he was right. Our idea was ludicrous. But at that moment, my cell started ringing. “Talk to me,” I answered. “Yes hi, I’m looking for Mr. Andrew Lancaster,” a stern confident voice said. “Who’s calling?” “Someone who has the power to change your future.” “If this is some telemarketer, you can hang up now. I’m not interested. “I assure you this isn’t a sales pitch and I’m not a telemarketer.” “Then what do you want?” “It’s come to my attention that you and a few friends have been talking about eliminating certain types of people.” “What are you talking about?” “Don’t play dumb Mr. Lancaster. You and your friends have been monitored for some time now. We know everything.” “Who are you?” “I’m someone from the government that would like to give you an ultimatum. We have e-mails and recorded conversations between you and your friends talking about killing people that are as you said evil.” “Look, Mr. we were only joking around.” Mike heard the panic in my voice. My face turned pale white. “What’s going on,” he whispered. I placed the call on speaker and placed a finger to my lips. “Be that as it may. You’ve been under our watchful eye for several months. Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way.” “And that would be?” “The hard way is we send our agents to your house and arrest you for conspiracy and possible treason.” “Are you fucking serious,” Mike shouted. I quickly covered his mouth with my hand. “Who is that? Who’s with you?” I didn’t reply. I could hear him rifling through papers. “Ah yes, that is most likely Mr. Santangelo.” “How does he know my…” “What’s the easy way,” I asked. The man cleared his throat. “Simple, we hire you to go through with it.” I laughed it off immediately. “Yeah right, and next you’re going to tell me that I’m the next in line to be King of England.” “I don’t know about that, but I’m very serious. We have a list of targets and evidence that proves their illegal activities. We would like to give you the chance to make the world a better place.” “If you have evidence against them, why not put them in jail where they belong?” “Because they have ways of getting around our judicial system. We all know it’s fallible.” “But why me?” “Who better to lead a team than someone who has never received justice for his own mother’s death?” “But it was ruled an accident.” “That’s what you were led to believe. I have proof she was murdered and know who’s responsible.”

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