Author: TJ Edwards

The Time Machine

Nope, I’m not here to discuss a classic Sci Fi Story. Nope. Not that.

I’m here to be all… What the hell, it’s already June!?

 

This should read, “You should be editing.”

 

The Time Machine in this sense is what I’ve been up to since my last post, apparently in March. MARCH.

So, what exactly have I been up to? Fantastic question, the short answer? EVERYTHING. The long answer is (in no particular order):

  • Trying to sort out our backyard still so we can put our fence up (bloody council).
  • Completing my citizenship test for Australia (pledge taking place 4th of July).
  • Handmade all the invitations for our pending wedding (September isn’t far away now).
  • Sourced our rings, or attempted to (waiting on a reply…).
  • Read quite a few books (Throne of Glass, The Final Empire, Sabriel just to name a few).
  • Submitted to three writing competitions (haven’t won yet…).
  • Attended a “Pitch Perfect” workshop on how to pitch my novel (which became more of a publisher Q&A).
  • Became a member of two writers’ centres and one writing society (now to take advantage of all their services).
  • Attended my first writers’ festival (met two writers and asked them all my pressing questions, got a book signed too).
  • Made a few new fantasy writer friends (If you’re reading this, hello friends!)
  • I am apparently mentoring three writers (blind leading the blind much, but I’ll coach them through to “The End”).
  • Been to one leadership training event for work, and two product training sessions. (I hate parking in big cities).
  • And last but not least, managed to rewrite the intro to my story, as well as the synopsis and two rough pitches. (*gasp*)

SO! Really not too much. Might as well go and write another one, right? Okay, no. So in less than four weeks I will be at the Kids & YA Festival where there is the potential to actually pitch to a panel of publishers. I’m only slightly freaking out because everything appears to be lining up.

What’s that?

Don’t believe me?

PROOF! (Put on your tinfoil hats kids, it’s going to be a bumpy one…)

 

Me explaining the following theory…

 

I became a member of the ASA last year, and they posted the event for Pitch Perfect early this year. As it appeared to sell out every year, I leapt at the chance (stay with me here). Then, a few weeks before I attend that event, the Kids and YA Festival comes up and releases the program for it, guess what? PITCHING. Holy crap, I think to myself. It must be fate! (Nope, still not there, but what are the odds?) THEN, to get a discount to that, I decide to join a writers’ centre near me like I was going to anyway. So bam, got both the membership and then my ticket. Fast forward a week AFTER the Pitch Perfect session, a small welcome pack arrives. What’s this? A magazine with the Director of the Kids & YA Festival in it, offering up her top tips for… what do you think it could be… oh man… PITCHING. AGAIN. With heaps of advice from not just her, but also advice from the lovely lady at HarperCollins, which is oddly enough where I’d love to end up!

So, all in all, I’m dreaming about my novel now. Thinking about it 24/7. My pitch is literally on my phone, should just make it my lock screen. ANYWAY…

I’d love for anyone’s feedback in regards to my pitch. I’ve adjusted it slightly as I will only have one minute to get the whole thing out, providing they choose my one hundred word pitch from the piles I’m sure they’ll get on the day. I’ve taken into account the winning pitch from last year’s festival and how she pitched her book, so hopefully I’ve got this… my pulse is racing just thinking about it.

THE PITCH – JEFFERSON & THE MAGICIAN’S CURSE

Born because an immortal magician travelled back in time, Jefferson is forever an outcast struggling to find his place in the world. Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse follows the boy as he is recruited into a secret society by Gabriel, the immortal magician, who is desperately trying to stop the end of the world at his own hands. While the forbidden arts begin to rise and war seems likely, Gabriel spitefully decides to infiltrate the enemy ranks after being bested by his young apprentice. As Gabriel succumbs to his alter ego and the magician’s curse, Jefferson hopes he’s powerful enough to stop him, without tapping into the power around him he doesn’t fully understand…

Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse is a 98 thousand word YA novel for readers 13 and up. With a strong fantasy element, the novel is reminiscent of the unique magic from Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy, and invokes the strong characters from Sarah J Maas’s Throne of Glass series. Like these books, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse offers up an intriguing world filled with rich lore, diverse characters and the possibility for a series of novels.

Let me know what you think as it’s 1 AM and I should be sleeping!

Oh, Hello March.

I fondly remember the beginning of February. Three blog posts ahead, a full team of managers and a plan for my store that was nearing completion to set myself up for the year. Ah, the best laid plans eh?

Staff suddenly were leaving this way and that, others who were transferring into the store decided not to and then my boss and his wife had their baby. Oh, did I mention I was in the middle of writing a novel when all this went down?

Bloody good thing I’m already bald.

The good news? I finished Firebrand, my #writeabookwithal book for February, which clocked in at just over fifty thousand words! Then I interviewed and hired four new staff. Now we are prepping for stocktake. #bossinglikeaboss? I think so.

Writing the book with Allison Tait wasn’t actually sitting in a room with her, but it was the next best thing as we all cheered each other on across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. In fact, in episode 223, I actually got a lovely callout from the author herself on the podcast “So You Want To Be A Writer” where she spoke of my wins! The worst part about it was I was so far behind I found out about it in the Podcast Facebook group first and then had to wait patiently while I caught up!

The novel I wrote, Firebrand, is a story set in the same world as Jefferson and takes place long after Jefferson’s novel. The story follows the barbarian Balthazar who started off as a prophesied child who would rise up and defeat the gods, only for the town to fear his power after he accidentally incinerates a group of kids who were bullying him. The story follows his exile and search for meaning until he begins searching for the Wanderer, a supposed god who walks the realms of mortals searching for those worthy enough to ascend to the heavens. FUN TIMES!

The thing I love about the last two novels I’ve written is that my writing has improved ten fold and although these stories are lore building stories, it is how they tie in that makes me so happy to write them. The more of these fifty thousand word novels I write, the more intricate the details for the world become. After all, the best part about fantasy is the world building, am I right?

Seriously though, am I?

Lastly, I must mention my latest endeavour. Nope, not another novel. Not a submission to a contest either.

No.

This is nuts.

I queried an agent!!!

So for the next 4-6 weeks (as per the guidelines on their page) I will be a bundle of nerves every time my email dings. I’m both excited and terrified at the prospect of actually finding an agent. It’ll make it all too real to get one, and I’m unsure as to how I’ll react if I get knocked back. This being my first query ever, I do expect rejection but expecting it and receiving it are two completely different things. I will say this though, with Harry Potter being my biggest influence for Jefferson’s novel, I’ve chosen my agent carefully as Harry Potter was the series that turned her into a reader. I really want to do that for a new generation and I want to also welcome them into fantasy with open arms.

Not only that, but I have huge plans for my world. I have two story ideas that have come to mind as of late that are also lore building and diversifying. One tale of two womanising princes who fall for each other and cause war between their kingdoms and another with a battle maiden who sacrifices herself to save the princess she’s fallen for, only to find out that the princess is still in danger and claws her way back from death to save her. These are both stories I believe I could write out in fifty thousand words or a bit more (NaNoWriMo, I’m looking at you) so now I just have to choose!

Anyway, hopefully on my day off this week I can get back to some scheduled posts as next week is stocktake, so I will be a zombie roughly until Thursday! Until then though, let me know how your writing is going and also if you’ve got any tips for querying (as I may need them in the future) or for editing (as I continue the staring contest with my first drafts).

Let me know and thanks for stopping by!

Exercise, The Bane Of My Food Loving World + Update!

With NaNoWriMo fast approaching (What? It’s only four days away?!) my final October evenings have been spent trying to prepare for writing a novel in thirty days. As I squeeze lore from the lemon that is my mind right now, I stare at the screen hoping for more loreonade. My mind is putty because today I pushed my body to do things it doesn’t enjoy. Heavy lifting. Manual labor. Cleaning (No, wait… that is deeply satisfying). As someone who eats fast food more than anyone should, I’m a bit out of shape (despite a circle being considered in that group). After gaining some weight during my travels back home, an additional ten percent to put it into perspective, I have been making strides to eat healthier. Today was a different beast entirely.

The backroom at work has been somewhat of a nightmare for a borderline OCD guy like myself. I like order and when things make sense. Safety is also always a good thing. So after speaking with my manager we decided to tear down the backroom and rebuild it. I got to plan, design and execute my idea! Oh how delicious gratification is! However when we began to move stuff around today, as good as it was feeling to have everything in order and tidy, my body disagreed with the methods at play. So after about eight hours of continuous lifting and moving, muscles I didn’t know I used began to groan under the most basic movements. Crouching? Agony. Sneeze? Searing pain. The end result was worth it… for now. Order has been chiseled from chaos and beauty born of insanity.

Fast forward five hours.

Present Me hates Past Me for not worrying about Future Me. Future Me is currently excited for bed, while Present Me is trying to be productive. Damn Past Me has destroyed Present Me’s productivity by overworking us all. In short: Working hard all day keeps the night time productivity at bay. However, that being said I think I know where my story is going to start. Unless it changes, the beginning will introduce one of the antagonists and one of the protagonists as well as two forms of magic, set the kingdom and initiate the plans for a coming war. In my mind, I can already see the battles ahead between two factions! Necromancy in my world is classified as a Forbidden Magic. Forbidden magic simply means you are tapping into an energy that is not your own which changes you through the Magician’s Curse (actually from Jefferson’s story at the top right). Necromancy in particular is cruel in the sense that unlike other forbidden magics that can cause insanity, the caster remains clear of mind while their body decays. In short, you waste away until you are classified as a Lich (skeletal magician). The other form of magic early on is Sacrificial. In order to give life, a life must be taken. These two magics won’t be pitted against each other just yet, but I’m excited for the development!

So many things! Four days! Oh man, this is getting crazy! So many consequences to using magic! So little time! Okay, well I open my store in the morning and still have a ton of things to clean up and move there so I should probably sleep. As for you ladies and gents beyond the screen, are you ready? Have you started early? I am considering also trying to do a blog post (short or long, doesn’t matter) after every NaNoWriMo writing session. Not sure how wise that is, but it’ll be nice I think to touch base with the others out there and help celebrate the wins of Team NaNo! Talk to you soon and remember, FOUR DAYS!!!