Sentinals Awaken is the first book in my Sentinals series set in the world of Remargaren.
I invested in a Market Editor to make sure my story was on point and made sense! And was surprised to find out that my weakness was grammar! Sentence structure and use of commas. So back to the grammar drawing board to relearn the grammar rules and how to avoid the dreaded comma splice! And hello semicolon. I’ve never used semicolons, and was interested to see that the eye does run over it more than a full stop, which if used too often I think can make sentences choppy. (Unless you want choppy of course!)
The good news was that she loved the story, found the plot original and the characters engaging. And learning grammar is probable simpler than rewriting the story or having to address plot holes or flat characters! I am sure there will many who disagree.
I addressed the issues the editor raised and relearnt my grammar (and groaned over the comma rules), and had a discussion about Point of View (POV) and how to bring out a character’s inner thoughts. I then developed one of my Sentinal characters a bit more as I had deliberately down-played him as he was threatening to take over, and he was obviously down-played too much! I have written a book just for him so he doesn’t get too downhearted and that led to me writing his backstory which became the prequel as it was such fun discovering where the Sentinals came from to begin with.
Next step is to get a few beta readers to do a final sanity check and then to find a copy editor/proofreader to check the final version, and then it will be on to formatting and cover design as dip my toe into the world of self-publishing.
Helen Garraway 