interview

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Text that says "time to revise" on the background of a camera lens reflecting colorful lights

First Draft DONE! Hello, Revisions.

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A Third Kind of Madness Events Novel Updates

122,939 words over eight months of writing.

I can now happily announce the the first draft of A Third Kind of Madness is finished! *throws confetti*

If you’re unfamiliar with the writing process, you may not know what this means. Next up comes revision, including several rounds of editing from me. I’ll make as many passes over the manuscript as I feel is necessary in order to make the tightest version I can craft on my own.

Somewhere in that process, I’ll get a few trusted beta readers to look it over and give me feedback. Does everything flow well? Does it make sense? Any questions or concerns about plot, characters, details? I’ve already had my #1 alpha reader reading through as I’ve written the chapters; he’s pretty good about catching egregious errors or letting me know if something got lost, but I’ll want fresher eyes for the revision process.

Once I get through that, it’ll go off to a professional editor, who will watch for spelling, syntax, and grammar issues. They’ll also keep an eye on my style and pacing. Basically, they’ll help me polish up my story so that it’s fine tuned. It’s definitely one of the most important parts of the process!

Once the editor and I have gone back and forth about changes and I’ve implemented all the ones I want to keep – which is usually most of them – then I do another pass, looking for anything I might have missed. If you’re thinking “wow, you’ve read this story a lot of times by now,” you’d be right. And I’ll read it many more times, or at least scan it, as it moves through the steps of layout and design, then when I get the proofs.

…good thing I really like the stories that I write!

A few fun stats.

a chart with tallies by month of my progress on A Third Kind of Madness.
Word count by months for ATKOM: columns are month, days that I wrote in that month, words by month, average words per day.

You might note that the total doesn’t quite match the end word count. That’s because I had actually started writing this story in a different form a while ago, then abandoned it to work on Cast a Shadow of Doubt. I revisited what I’d written after I finished CASOD and gave it a complete overhaul, with changes to some of the concepts and characters. It’s vastly different from where it began!

I don’t write every day. That shows in my daily averages, and that’s okay. I’ve talked before about how even when I’m not physically typing in my manuscript, I’m always writing. A lot of that is mental or supportive work: thinking through scenes, doing research, even doing things like making mood boards or character sketches. I also do things like write blog posts and content for my Ko-ki supporters, and post/interact on social media. Oh, and do live readings and interviews.

Speaking of – my interview at Sue L. Bavey’s Sue’s Musings went up this week! I talk about why I decided to self publish, the genres and media that I enjoy, my advice for aspiring writers and more. You can read it here: https://suelbavey.wordpress.com/2023/07/13/indie-spotlight-christiane-knight/

On July 22nd I’ll be a guest on Melinda Kucsera‘s Fantasy, Lore, & More podcast. She’s one of the 300 authors in SPFBO and decided to take some time to interview other entrants in the contest, like me! In the meantime, you can enjoy the 24 other interviews she’s conducted so far – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxjkyxsLI1YL8-K_qvcew7YqirEssHd- is the link! I’ll make sure to post the interview directly when it’s up, as well. I’m looking forward to this a lot!

That’s all the big news I’ve got for now. As of today I’m still a viable contestant in SPFBO, so keep your fingers crossed for me. There are SO MANY great books that In Sleep You Know is up against, which honestly is excellent…except for my TBR pile, which is growing exponentially.

What a terrible problem to have!

So. Much. Talking.

Cast A Shadow Of Doubt Events

I’m still enjoying a post-launch high! On Sunday I had my official Launch Party live on my Facebook page, which–despite some technical difficulties, thanks FB– went well and was a LOT of fun. The technical difficulties included Facebook glitching and deciding that I was spamming my own broadcast, which led to me being kicked off and having to restart it… so there will be a delay before I have the video stitched together to repost elsewhere.

In the meantime, you can check out the two parts via Facebook: here’s part one and here’s part two.

I am SO excited about this!

The next interview that I’ve got coming up is one that I’m really looking forward to — I’ll be on Subculture Talk, the live interview show hosted by DJ Pat 626 of Subculture Shock. Pat and I go waaaayyyy back! Before they were the host of SubShock, back on FM radio in Charlottesville VA, I hosted that show. So we know each other very well and we are both extremely silly with a similar sense of humor. It should prove to be a great time!

From their event page:

“On February 17th, PAT 626 sits Christiane Knight down in the virtual studio to talk about her previous book, In Sleep You Know, her new book, Cast a Shadow of Doubt, Radio Xiane, and the past, present, and future of the goth scene. There will probably also be a lot of sickening moments where they compliment each other. They do that.

Subculture Talk airs Thursday nights on twitch.tv/djpat626 at 9pm EST, followed by The Afterparty, a 2-hour mixshow, at 10pm! The chat is open for you questions and comments!”

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1098977697570944/

After Subculture Talk, I don’t have anything on the schedule until Baltimore Faerie Faire in April. [details are in the sidebar 🔜]
I’ll make sure to keep you updated as things change, however! Or you can sign up for the mailing list, and you’ll always be the first to know where I’ll be and when.

I’ll leave this blog post with a pic of the official proof copy of Cast a Shadow of Doubt! I will have the copies in my hands for signed copy orders in just a few days — yours will look like this without that ugly ribbon across the design. I can’t wait to get them into your hands!

LOOK at that cover!

Interviews, Revisions, and a Street Team

Events Writing

Interviews are a LOT of fun to do, let me tell you! I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Wendi Van Camp of No Wasted Ink. I talk about how I became a writer, my writing style and inspirations, and some of the background behind the world of the Eleriannan and In Sleep You Know.
Please click through to read the interview, then stick around to read the rest of the interviews, plus poetry and more!
https://nowastedink.com/2021/09/23/author-interview-christiane-knight/

As I continue to worn on Cast A Shadow Of Doubt, I have decided that now is the time to open up my street team, the Fae Council! What’s a street team? It’s a group of friends and fans who agree to help spread the word about me and my books, in exchange for special access, ARC opportunities, swag, giveaways, and more.

It’s a pretty casual affair that gives you lots of opportunities to get rewarded for telling other people how much you love my writing… aka a win-win! There’s a Facebook group and a private Discord channel, so sign up now!
https://www.christianeknight.com/street-team/

Speaking of writing, I’m actually finished the first draft of CASOD and I’m well into the revision/editing stage! Things start to move faster once I’m in this part of the process, so expect to start seeing excerpt shares and teasers soon. Yay!

I can tell you that if you love Lucee and Vali, you will really love this story. There are new characters and creatures and of course lots of music, food… and bad guys. There are always new bad guys, right?
I post mini-updates a lot on Twitter, for those who like chatty platforms.
Link is at the top of the website 🔝

ps – I’m going to start planning my event schedule for 2022! As it stands now, Cast A Shadow Of Doubt is scheduled for launch in early 2022, and I’ll be looking to make appearances after that. Do you have suggestions? Anywhere you’d LOVE to hear me read, or get a chance to talk about my books or writing in general? Drop suggestions in the comments! 💜

Author Reads Replay!

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Here’s the replay of my interview and live reading on the FAE Productions YouTube stream! Fairy Princess Lolly was a fantastic host and thoughtful interviewer, and the questions from the audience were great! I read a chapter from In Sleep You Know, so if you want to hear some of the novel read aloud, this is the place to hear that.

ONE WEEK UNTIL BOOK LAUNCH! Also, you’ve got a little over a week to enter the Goodreads giveaway – enter via the widget in the sidebar!