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Don't underestimate yourself, New Jersey. I see you as an ornery man who likes to try and reform stupid people, so I won't be disappointed :-) I see Janet as a person who recharges her mental energy by being alone (or with family), so I don't plan on hanging around for more than an evening. Maybe two. I'm a big girl, so I can amuse myself and maybe use the time to get extra sleep and write a bit. I see Norm and figure he's a pensioner with a young-man's soul who started writing because it makes him laugh. I'd imagine that he likes to laugh a lot.

I see K as a being a guy who likes to bend the rules. At least he did before he was 18 and could be prosecuted :-)

So who plays the organ at the pizza place? Do they have a concert in the evening?

I agree that  Acts is the strongest. You've convinced me of that. I liken it to Anne McCaffery's Dragonsinger and Dragonsong. The story starts much earlier (with Dragonriders of Pern) but the Dragonsinger thread is independent and stands alone.

And Acts is too long to be in one book. If I don't eliminate anything, the story is about 150,000 words. While I can thin it and pare stuff down, it is a monster. For an attempt at trying to get a publisher, I need to have a story about 75K to 90K. If I break the story into 2 parts, I've got enough extra wordage to elaborate and add missing material. (Book 1 - Andalaya's duel, more Alina evilness, and more info about the Guildhouse.)  (Book 2 - A strong hook to the necromancer thread, more bad guy evilness instead of being invisible, and a HFN ending that leaves Anver/Kat in a good place.)

And to bow to NJC, I'm going to write a prologue where Kha leaves Anver the note. I may not mention Anver by name...he has no place in Mandates and won't be mentioned again. However, I'm going to be rewriting Mandates next because Norm is reviewing it and I'm going to finish the last couple chapters for him.

(I got bowed to? You made my day, Norm. Did I ever tell you my goal and why I want to be a writer? 1) to write 2) to perch at the top of the geek heirarchy with a frigging tiara on my head.  Queen Amy!  Whoopee!)

https://www.google.com/search?q=geek+hi … BSsQsAQIKw

NJC,

It was funny seeing that comment you made about #MSWL. Transgender teenage vampires? Was that it? Hilarious. They do make requests like that sometimes. I'll make sure that I mention it when another one comes up.

It suits the current political environment and time of social change, but someone having a finished manuscript using characters based on this subject seems a bit surreal to me. I still follow #MSWL on Twitter, though. I'm finding that I'm making opinions of who I would like to work with. Kind of a dream list, actually. And I'm seeing what I like (and what I don't) on Twitter when I follow certain authors. It is a useful and painless form of research. I'm getting used to tweeting, as well.

As to what I've been doing with my time (now that the ear infection is better and I can hear high-pitched sounds again…lemme tell you, answering the phone at work was a TREAT), is make a synopsis and summary of Dictates and Acts. I've described every chapter in 5 or 6 lines and I'm using it to go through and see what needs to be added in. Where the holes are.

Ex: I need to go into Andalaya's duel with Alina. I need to make Alina a bigger presence and more of a threat during the beginning of the story. The Guildhouse needs to be described better in the beginning. Acts will end at the duel (or around the place) with Kat and Anver being HFN (happy for now).  The second Anver book will deal with the necromancer and the other Masters will play a bigger part as I muddle the cast list. A student will die in the beginning to create a mystery. Kha will start to mention the risk of current necromancy in Book 2, rather than keeping the reader from focusing on Alina's villainy in Book 1.

Hmmm. Ashes of Academia? Age of Academia? Dunno. But I'm quite pleased with my work, even though (technically) I haven't done anything. Writing out each chapter description gave me a nice distance to see what I need to patch.

NJC,

A NPC is a non-player character. A red shirt, or a character who is made up by the game master to convey information on the plot. Or in K's POV, chum in the water.

flaming bits of destroyed plot scattering in the breeze?  Oh, the pot calling the kettle...

Will check it out as able. Feel free to remind me. What was just a cough and flu is now a raging ear infection. Called off sick yesterday for the first time in five years.

Evolution is tough but worth it. Persevere!

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

you missed the 'GENETICALLY' superior reference. Put him in a cat's body, and he shouldn't be able to manifest any powers. Was the kitten able to fly once Super K was released? No? Then there is no flying cat.

Epic. You just described your alter-ego as epic. That is a word no one should ever use on themselves. Such terminology instigates eye-rolling and projectile vomiting.

kittens, kittens everywhere....

Then one of them is actually K -A-J-o, whose consciousness is installed in a cat, yet his genetically granted superpowers somehow manage to cross over and the cat can fly.

Aaaaiiiiieeee!  I can't win!

It's true that I'm a better writer than I was a year ago. And that I see things more clearly. And I'm going through to eliminate 'was' and 'were' verbs. I'm cleaning up the punctuation and all those extra spaces. I'm tightening the action so that it moves quicker.

But, oi. This is a ton of work. I was giving a discouraged writer some advice about revising, and I realized that the words applied to me. If I ignore my own advice, I'm a hypocrite. And it fills the time while I figure out the next chapter's flow and action. But hell in a hand basket. My eyes hurt.