I've posted my review of the invitation only anthology 'Grant's Pass' over at HorrorScope. Go here to check it out! On my review scale, I'm rating it at a healthy 4.3.
I should have updated my currently reading to convey my sudden switch, but...I didn't.
Now before I move onto the mountain of books which has arrived, I promised Danielle I'd review her anthology, and as I paid good money for it, I'd better keep that promise, so I'm about to begin reading Atrum Tempestas.
The current assignment I'm working on has been a doozy. Create and smooth out a query letter for a novel I'm still writing. Create a synopsis for that same still-being-constructed novel and make sure the two combined don't equal more than 1500 words.
Easier said than done.
And finally add a sample chapter - well, that was easy enough. Which one of my 23 already written chapters would you like to see?
The query is kind of done. I'll gain more insight and loads of goodness when the Query Ninja has at it, but I think it's good enough for the assignment. I've also done the synopsis, which I think is poor - still. It doesn't flow as I would like , but not getting bogged down in detail and including all the relevant bits will take time. I think stepping away from it for a bit and then revising will be worthwhile, as will feedback from others. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time, so it may have to go as is. The chapter, as already stated, is done.
So this assignment is just about ready to go out the door. I feel a huge amount of sympathy for the other students in this course. At the meet and greet at the beginning of last year, very few of them admitted to being up to their armpits in trying to write a novel. If they haven't gotten seriously stuck in before this semester began, I can see them ready to hit the self destruct button by now - I was almost there about a week ago and I already knew a lot about this industry.
Now the final assignment looms on the horizon--well the final two assignments. The script has been done and is waiting for the lecturer to open up electronic submissions, but the novel writing assignment requires I find some willing readers. Thank you one and all for jumping up and down and offering, but I've already got my three in mind and will be sending them emails shortly explaining what I need and asking if they'd be willing to help out. Spread the love, or don't ask too much of too few is the catch phrase here - otherwise known as don't wear out your welcome...
And all these assignments are coming to an end just in time.
Today my reading-for-review books arrived.
On my immediate to read pile over the next 8 weeks are (in no particular order):
Sheep and Wolves by Jeremy C. Shipp
Vacation by Jeremy C. Shipp
This is not a Game by Walter Jon Williams
Ravensoul by James Barclay
The Grave Thief by Tom Lloyd (No, I haven't read the first two)
Two Jeff Lindsay books concerning Dexter (One of the books contains three stories, the other arrived in a police evidence bag - cool!)
Grants Pass Anthology (already reviewed by 'my pick for the fan writer Ditmar', Chuck. The man is a machine when it comes to reading and churning out excellent reviews. I've started reading this one already so my pale imitation of a review should be available soon. Psst, so far I agree with Chuck, this is very good!)
So, the chaos that is my writing life continues.
Oh, and lastly: David Such has written a program to help us all produce wonderful pieces of fiction. Head on over to his blog and download the beta release of his exciting new product called FlashWRITER and give it a go. You'll be able to supply feedback and give input to create exactly the type of writing program you want. No more excuses about Microsoft or any of the other Office-type programs out there not being able to do what you want. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Go and have a look and at the very least, say hello and congratulate him on a monumental effort in producing this very professional looking program.
To be honest, I'm not sure how many testers David is currently after, but it can't hurt to go over and ask if you're interested.
That's it from me for tonight. Email requests going out shortly and then I'm going to get some reading done.
But the penny is slowly dropping.
The best bit of advice I've read, which was repeated at a number of sites, was to study the back jacket of already published books. It clearly shows the voice, tense and styles synopsises can be written in. Apparently lots of these 'blurbs' come from, or are inspired by, author written synopsises.
I now have my own method of writing one:
Take my chapter outline - the thing I wrote many months ago as a rough map of where I wanted the story to go - from that I wrote a running summary. My outline is 4 pages long and contains notes on the major turning points, conflicts and any theme type stuff I touch on. My running summary turned that dot point document into 7 pages of flowing story which said the same stuff, only in a more reader-friendly manner.
I then take this summary and take out the major points. As the major characters are always involved in the major points, then they come with it. I then shape that into a readable blurb and add stronger theme and conflict description.
Then polish to the required length. (which is what I'm doing now).
Currently I've gone from a four page outline of 1084 words, to a seven page summary of 2100 words, and I'm now working on a synopsis of 1324 words (which needs to be edited down to 1238 words).
Things I've learned when tackling the dreaded synopsis:
Get over not liking them. Agents/editors want them so you have to do them.
Break down your story slowly. If you haven't written it yet, and haven't got a vague outline, then leave it for now. Once your story is out, then break it down into a chapter summary, and then a single summary, and then the synopsis.
When you're happy with the size, then you can worry about the words and your voice - play until your hearts content and the thing sings.
Don't get rid of any attempts at any of these previously mentioned documents - everything comes in useful.
The synopsis is written in present tense and third person POV - regardless of the choices you have used in the manuscript. A first person, past tense murder mystery, still has a present tense, third person POV synopsis.
Make sure the tone is appropriate to the book you've written. No point writing a biting satirical synopsis if you've written a dark historical romance - for instance.
Don't leave loose ends and don't go into too much detail.
And don't leave the ending in doubt.
See - easy!
Good luck...
Not wanting to jinx things, I won't name publications or stories in this post.
I received notification that one story has been long listed, and another has been accepted, but I also have an issue.
With the story that's been accepted, it has over a year before it can be published due to a backlog. Do I accept the wait and be happy it's found a home or withdraw it from consideration and see if I can find it a home elsewhere?
I've never been faced with a decision like this before.
Suggestions?
Query letters: although I'm getting the hang of these the more I work at it. In time I think these will just be something else I need to do.
Synopsis: if I write until I'm 103, I will never get the hang of this. I've read all sorts of advice; I'm still trolling through websites looking for a better way.
I need to produce a synopsis of AKL of 3-5 pages in length. Currently my synopsis stands at 7 pages! It doesn't yet include all the Aboriginal flavour I want, it doesn't have all the passion and romance I want, and it doesn't have the plants for the paranormal in the first half of it because I haven't done that yet.
This assignment, and this synopsis in particular - sucks!
And I still have a sample chapter to polish and send with them yet...
I hate, I hate, I hate...
I still make the grade even when I'm being bad...
And that is very sad.
A little while ago, I joined an online writer's group to give me additional impetus to do some work on 'A Kookaburra's Laugh' (AKL). I was a little lost on how things were to operate, but I think I've figured things out. I'm never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed, or should that be sharpest pencil in the case?
Still, the rules state I need to write a minimum 1000 words a month on a declared project. My project is AKL (obviously), and this is my word count. I've only been tracking wordage since December 2008 where I wrote nearly 16,000 words, but I've been keeping a written tally since Feb 09.
Feb - 14135
Mar - 7848
Apr - 6147
And so far in May 09 - 1900. Notice a trend...anyone....?
How sad is that? Two days left in May to add to that miserable target, but at least I still got my minimum done. Yay for small victories. (a very small yay)
In other news:
Some links I couldn't resist sharing with you.
Every writer's friend, Mr JA Konrath, has listed some excellent advice to published writers, but I think getting these things right at any level, published or unpublished, should be a priority.
The irrepressible Janet Reid has a lovely post about the courage of some writers. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't do it.
And lastly, here's a post from Alan Rinzler about POV and a bit on the whole publishing process which I thought was a worthwhile read.
So this weekend, in among shopping for a new secondhand car, I need to seriously complete my second-to-last assignment for this semester, and aim for a couple of chapters drafted in AKL. Oh, and I need to read quite a lot as I'm falling behind (I should probably stop playing with my daughter's DS - it gets quite addictive battling with Pokemon).
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Wamphyri has gone out to Night to Dawn. Worth the Wait has also gone to Festive Fear.
Fingers crossed.
I've also submitted my current draft query to the Query Ninja over at Carrie Harris' blog of awesomeness. Hopefully it's not a total flop and she can use it to instruct others in the ancient art of query balck magic - and I can get it into shape.
On Monday I went into town. While there I had a follow up appointment with the back specialist - I need to seriously start an exercise regime - organise a student ID card - so I can get into Conjecture next month on the cheap - and visit a book shop for some research.
I was very proud of myself for not buying anything, even though I visited three book shops!
I needed to locate where my book, AKL, would sit on the shelf so I could pinpoint the type of book I'm writing in regards to genre, and to help me better describe it when talking about it with other interested parties - you know, agents, publishers, and the like ;c)
It was a bit of an eye-opener.
Is my book historical fiction? Yes. It takes place in colonial Australia back in 1839 with fictional characters in a real time and place, and with real events of the period happening around them.
Is it paranormal? Yes. It involves European superstitions of the time, Aboriginal Dreamtime legends, and a malevolent ghost.
Is it romance? Yes, but not so much. My protagonist falls for one man, who betrays her and later she falls for the right man, but this isn't the main focus of the plot or theme. There is a fair bit of underlying (and mildly graphic) sex and passion which breaches the surface on a regular basis to firmly place it in the adult reading sphere.
Is it literary? Yes. The plot centres around a young woman's struggle to survive in an inhospitable climate and against a male dominated society. So the quintessential coming of age/finding one's place type of story.
So I have a paranormal historical romance novel??? What???!!!
While at the book store, I took note of other historical novels. 'The Potato Factory' by Bryce Courtenay; 'A Kingdom for the Brave' by Tamara McKinley; 'Nindra' by Dianne Holding - just to name a few.
AKL is a little like all of these, but with more. In many instances, that more is the paranormal element. Currently, my story wouldn't have a final Act without the paranormal bits. The first two Acts were written pretty much without any paranormal input (I'm waiting to write the last bit so I can go back and do plants (layering). The first half works without it, but a story isn't a story without an ending (as Aaron has so neatly pointed out here). In other bits, my use of sex is more prominent (re: graphic) than many other historical novels.
So how to define my book succinctly? Carrie Harris, as part of the Query Ninja Project (if you haven't checked this out yet you definitely should), puts some great advice on the table to help with this. Unfortunately, my assignment, which started this round of thinking about query letters, asks me to name the genre my book fits into. Personally I like the idea of painting a picture of the book with enough detail that the genre is fairly obvious to any agent/publisher who reads it, but I can't side-step this assignment requirement.
In my real-world query, I'll paint the picture and let those in the industry, who should be better at it than I am, decide for themselves.
So that leaves me with the assignment. How do I nominate a genre for this book? A hard question as I haven't fully finished writing the first draft, and none of you have read any of it, but any suggestions on how I can narrow this down, at least for the assignment, would be appreciated.
Does anyone else have this difficulty?
Assignment 6 for the novel writing module went out the door this morning. Last night I commenced work on assignment 7.
This will be interesting and highly beneficial.
I need to create a submissions package to a fictional (at least I think it's fictional), publishing house. Strangely, my course seems to highlight the course of submitting directly to Houses rather than to agents inside Australia. Through my research, this seems bunk advice but then nobody is twisting my arm to follow it so as long as I pass, I don't care. If any other writer taking this course is silly enough not to do their own follow up research then they don't deserve to get on the publishing track anyway. Harsh - yes, but true.
So, last night I began drafting my query letter for AKL. It still needs work and yes I'll be paying a visit to the Ninja Query, but a few things have already hit home. I've managed to get the first paragraph pretty much done as per the guidelines in the assignment. I'm then to move into the spiel about the book, which I've done - and I sat back and thought, gee, it sounds like a pretty interesting book - why doesn't the one I'm writing have all that in it?
In part, this is because I'm still writing it, because it's a first draft, and because I know there are bits I have to go back and add/edit/expand/kill. But overall, it's a little depressing to find I haven't penned the story I imagined so long ago.
Still, I must remember that it is still only the first draft.
After the query is done, I need to write the synopsis. Anyone know where I can find a Synopsis Ninja? And then do a quick polish on the first chapter and submit the lot. Some time this week or early next - joy.
In other news, Wamphyri was rejected again overnight. I need to reread it and closely consider my next move with this one. Anyone think of a paying market for a vampire story (which isn't a YA romance) off the top of their head?
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