{"id":2883,"date":"2018-08-16T04:46:49","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T12:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2883"},"modified":"2018-08-16T04:46:49","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T12:46:49","slug":"thoughts-for-thursday-update-from-the-klepto-cat-mystery-factory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2883","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts for Thursday \u2013 Update From the Klepto Cat Mystery Factory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It\u2019s been a month since I brought out Book 30\u2014Revenge at its Felinest<\/em><\/strong> and two months since the Meowmoirs of a Klepto Cat<\/em><\/strong> debuted. And I\u2019m hard at work on the next Klepto Cat Mystery, tentative title\u2014Cats Don\u2019t Squeal<\/em><\/strong>. Like it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy to see that both Books 29 and 30 have garnered all 5-star reviews\u2014so far. Yay!<\/p>\n

So where am I with the book in progress? Let\u2019s see if I can break my process down for you. First I come up with a basic story idea\u2014whether it\u2019s Rags\u2019s humans and friends taking him camping, using Rags to flush out a kidnapper, a theme based in an eerie old mansion which conceals many secrets that Rags will reveal, or maybe initiating a drama around Rags\u2019s friendship with Savannah\u2019s horse, Peaches. So first, I determine where the story will take place, with which characters, and I start exploring plot ideas. Sometimes I do a simple outline, but generally, I just start writing and the story lines begin to emerge. That\u2019s phase one.<\/p>\n

Secondly I take the best ideas and start running with them\u2014writing dialog and action into \"\"the developing story.<\/p>\n

Once I have the shell of the story, which might involve sixty pages or even a hundred, I go back and begin the organization\u2014making sure facts fit and match\u2014so that the story line continues to have relativity, interest, and suspense. Facts are extremely important in fiction. If you write about a certain time period or automobile or weapon or fashion, it had better include correct information. I continually check facts\u2014when did they stop making the Jeep Liberty, for example, what time period was a certain style furniture or fashion popular, what is a certain coat pattern on a cat called? (Sure I take time out to play with kittens every chance I get.)<\/p>\n

Once the story is in place, I often make one full sweep through the manuscript to make sure the timeline is correct\u2014that Thursday always follows Wednesday, for example, or if something is supposed to happen on Saturday that the countdown to that day is correct. Don\u2019t want to confuse readers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Next comes the massaging. I might decide there\u2019s not enough Rags in a story, so I\u2019ll give him something more to do. I may feel there\u2019s too much dialog in one section that sort of makes the story drag rather than move it forward, so I\u2019ll adjust that. Sometimes I create a new twist or turn just because I can and it sounds fun.<\/p>\n

After that, it is pure editing\u2014numerous reads for editing. When I can read through the manuscript without making too many changes, I turn it over to one or more readers. This gives me a chance to distance myself from the story. By the time the readers report back to me, I\u2019m ready to edit again, considering some of their suggestions and impressions. At the end of that process, the manuscript is ready for the editor.<\/p>\n

I get it back from her in about two weeks and I go through the editing process again as few as two more times and as many as five or six.<\/p>\n

When I feel it\u2019s ready, I turn the manuscript over to a formatter who prepares it for Kindle publication and a page layout person who prepares it for print. The layout person prints out the book as it will look when published and I go through that with a fine-tooth comb\u2014yes, reading it word for word, scene by scene again once and sometimes more than once.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I\u2019ve been working with the cover designer to develop the purrfect cover. And once all of the elements are in place, we publish. That\u2019s when I start spreading the word to all of you who enjoy reading my stories\u2026thank you, very much!!!<\/p>\n

By then, I\u2019ve pretty much outlined or at least have thought about a theme or destination for my next Klepto Cat Mystery. You keep reading them and I\u2019ll keep producing them.<\/p>\n

Klepto Cat Mystery website: http:\/\/KleptoCatMysteries.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a month since I brought out Book 30\u2014Revenge at its Felinest and two months since the Meowmoirs of a Klepto Cat debuted. And I\u2019m hard at work on the next Klepto Cat Mystery, tentative title\u2014Cats Don\u2019t Squeal. Like … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,33,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2885,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions\/2885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}