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Novel 002 Finished! Draft 5 is, anyway

You may be thinking to yourself: SHROUD OF DAWN is called “Novel 002” because THE RAVEN was the first book, right? Wrong! THE RAVEN is actually called “Novel 003”. I don’t need to explain myself to you.

(I will, though: Novel 001 was a bit ambitious for me, so I shelved it. I’ll circle back to it later. Maybe.)

Anyway, Novel 002, SHROUD OF DAWN, is as complete as I can get it at the moment! I have been querying agents since finishing Draft 4, but Draft 5 is the one I’m actually sending out when they request fulls. It has a better ending. Don’t worry about all that.

The important thing is, what are we going to do next, all of us here at the Gwendolyn Kress Institute for Being Gwendolyn Kress? Good question. I have several more novel projects waiting impatiently to be made, so I’m probably going to make them fistfight until one of them wins.

If you’re reading this, and you’d like to beta read Novel 002, reach out to me via the contact form and I’ll see if I can pencil you in. If you’re reading this and you wouldn’t prefer to beta read Novel 002, then I have hugs on offer too. (Hugs are available for beta readers as well.) If you’re not reading this, then I can’t tell you what to do, but I hope you have a good day regardless.

The Raven won a silver IBPA Ben Franklin award!

THE RAVEN was a finalist for the Fiction: Horror category, and won a silver! Which really just means it didn’t win the gold but I don’t care, this is cool as hell! Congrats to fellow silver winner GIRL AMONG CROWS by Brendon Vayo, and especially to the winner of the category, THE WOODKIN by Alexander James! In other, equally as important news: I’ve gotten Shroud of Dawn to a point where it’s essentially as polished as I can get it without just tinkering forever! Now it’s time for me to search for an agent, then, ultimately, do more editing. 😅...

Still Almost Done

It turns out that not having a lot of experience writing endings makes endings difficult to write. Interesting…  I’ve been stuck at the end of Shroud of Dawn for a little while now; I know what I need to solve, but not how to solve it–and it’s difficult to ask for help from anyone other than a rubber duck. I’m 100k words into this novel (yes, I should shorten it) and every one of those words needs to tie into the end. (Not ‘need’, exactly–you know what I mean.) I just need to do it! Meanwhile, several story ideas, some...

The Race to Be Imperfect

Working on Novel 02, I’m finding out that it’s criminally difficult to both put out a work that you’re proud of and to put it out in a timely manner. Some wise man once said that if 100% is perfection, then we should all strive for 80%; and they’re right, of course. But why not make it BETTER if it can be better? At the very least, I want the themes to be cohesive, and the lessons, as a bare minimum, not harmful. It turns out that that’s quite the line to walk for Novel 02, which is about a...

The Raven Has Been Released

The Raven is out! It’s achieved freedom! That’s! Not great in-universe, to be honest, but here it’s awesome. The Kindle version will be 99c for the first week, so keep an eye out for that. You can also request it at your local library! We stan libraries here at the Gwendolyn Kress Institute, and The Raven has a large print version that you can recommend to your local librarian if you get the chance. If you want to learn more about the book, I have a whole page for it right here! But here’s the quick version: A lonely girl...

On Editing

Hey folks! Diving back into my scifi-western after taking some time away from it and it is a BREATH of fresh air!! It’s when you’re in the weeds of a draft that imposter syndrome really kicks in–and it’s here, returning home from vacation, that you realize how much you do love your home, and the people and things and memories that you’ve decorated it with. Anyway, here’s hoping that I finish this draft sooner than later. Cheers everyone! (I’m not British)

The Raven will be published on February 7, 2023!

Interested in Edgar Allan Poe? How about a teenage girl who manifests demonic entities in her nightmares? Interested in learning more about the definitions of justice and the cyclical nature of pain? Look no further! The Raven, a supernatural horror novel about a girl trying to navigate her daily suffering by dreaming about violent retribution onto her bullies, is coming out in February, and guess what! I (mostly) wrote it! You can pre-order it on Amazon if you feel so inclined. Or you can just click on the link and look at it, for fun.

Webbed Site is Under Construction

You might have noticed this already, but this is a bit unfinished! Keep an eye out for another post where I say we’re all done, but until then, apologies for the odd-looking pages and such in the meantime. Feel free to poke around, but make sure to grab a hardhat on your way in or we WILL be sued by OSHA

THE PLACE WHERE A WRITER LIVES IS CALLED A SCRIVODE

If your goal is to keep up-to-date on Gwendolyn Kress, world-renowned* author, then you’re in the right place. If you’ve never heard of this person, then one might wonder how you came to find yourself on gwendolynkress dot org, but don’t leave yet. You might just find your next favorite author! Or at least a new author! If nothing else, a person! What’s one additional person on your radar, you ask? Uhh [FX: rifling through papers] Let me get back to you on that. In the meantime, peruse this webbed site to discover more about my social media, my books**,...

Baby’s First Novel

Hey all! As some of you already know, I’ve completed my work as co-author on a horror novel. I’m excited to give you more information when I can! I probably can right now, but I’m not yet perfectly clear on the rules surrounding announcements and titles and such, so for the time being mum’s the word. (Or mom, if you’re American and your mother is particularly good at keeping secrets.)

Now Opening!

Hey, folks! My name is Gwendolyn Kress, and sometimes I rearrange the English alphabet to suit my own nefarious needs. This is my little corner of the Internet; welcome, and please take off your shoes before entering.