Tag: fantasy

Poor Future TJ

Seven novels.

That’s the plan. A prequel, a trilogy, and another trilogy after that. If I continue on with my current run rate, I’m looking at anywhere between seven hundred thousand to a million words.

A million words.

Nothing makes a person freak out more than adding it all together, instead of breaking it down into manageable chunks. Really, it’s just two series. Present TJ spends a lot of time looking over the lengthy timeline in Scrivener, while poor Future TJ is stuck doing a lot of the writing. Thank the gods for Past TJ. At least that guy got something done!

On the topic of Future TJ, I find myself trying my best to figure out what to do with my stories as discussed many a time here. In light of this, I’ve been listening to some interesting writing Podcasts. I recently listened to one that told me to stop wasting words on my blog.

Every second you’re not writing is a wasted opportunity.

This is very true. This is actually the whole reason I started a blog in the first place, as when writer’s block struck I could come here to get away from my story and do something, anything, to get past that hump. NaNoWriMo was a huge help as I networked with a ton of writers who were struggling just the same as me but now there are still tons in the same boat as me… but there doesn’t seem to be a National Publishing Month (or is there?).

It was brought up in the Podcast that these blogs stick around like a bad smell and if your writing was terrible, then it would be around forever to haunt your dreams. I totally understand where they’re coming from. Hell, I look back at my hairstyles in high school and wonder just what I was thinking. I can only assume this blog will be the same.

In defense of this poor blog, AKA My Diary, I one day hope that other aspiring writers will come here (once I’m rich and famous, HA) and see how insecure and terrible I was at writing. I want them to see the struggle. I want them to see the wins. Most of all, I want them to see themselves as what was, what is and what can be. Bumbling around, writing rubbish and finally winning NaNoWriMo are all a part of the journey and for me, this whole blog is also a part of that.

I might be asking the wrong crowd, but do you lovely folks think there is merit to not having a digital paper trail? Or do you think like me in the sense that this is as much a part of your writing portfolio as the stories themselves?

No matter what, I hope poor Future TJ doesn’t look back on this blog and groan… much like I did when I saw my hair back in my teens. Here’s one for a late TBT!

grade 11
Past TJ! *Groan*

 

Face
Present(ish) TJ!

 

What Now?

There’s always been a part of me that believed I could actually write a novel. I mean, honestly, writing as often as I do I’d have to just get to an ending eventually. The writing process for me was completely haphazard and without a written plan.

Plot? Not exactly.

Characters? Some at the beginning… many along the way.

Setting? It is in a world… indeed.

It was so exciting though experiencing the world through my characters. Their voices carried the narrative and their actions dictated the direction. Could it be better? I’m sure it could. But as my first written novel, I’m damn proud of it! I told everyone who would listen about my story!

My coworkers! (Paid to listen, captive audience!)

My friends! (People who seem really enthusiastic for me!)

My family! (Must love me no matter what!)

Random guy selling me books! (Strangely, genuinely interested… great feeling!)

People on the internet! (In the same boat as me, well… and you out there reading this!)

Finally, I’d written something worthwhile and it was good. The best thing I’d ever written. All the toiling over a keyboard, finally living up to my hopes and dreams. I loaded up my trusty MacBook and stared at my Pages document. Something wasn’t right. Not with the story, but a feeling. If I were a Jedi… I’d imagine this is what a disturbance in the force feels like.

What now?

All the words, characters, settings, and events… what was I supposed to do with them now? I have this responsibility to introduce them to the world and have no idea where to start. Guides online are absolutely hopeless or written by someone self-publishing or trying to get published. You can submit to publishing houses but they slog through probably thousands of unsolicited manuscripts. Some typo sneak into page one of your book? Deleted.

It felt like getting a degree all over again.

You do all the hard yards, get the grades and then they give you the certificate. Congratulations! You’re done! Go out and conquer the world! Then you wake up the next day at noon and wonder why you don’t have a job yet. You finished it! But so did everyone else. Some of them were actually better than you too. So your chances of landing the gig are even less. Then sometimes, it’s just who you know.

That feeling, the disturbance in the force, that diploma, all at once sitting there and joining together in a chorus of mockery.

“Oh, oh wait. You thought that was the hard part?” They laugh. “You poor thing.”

The worst part is while I’ve been searching for all (or any) tips I can find about the step after writing and editing, all  writing website tips seem based around actually just writing.

“Just write.”

“Write it already.”

“You’ll never find the time, you have to make the time.”

“Set a schedule.”

“Find a support group.”

“Read a lot. Write a lot. Read some more. Write some more.”

Okay, okay. Now that I followed everyone’s advice… I look to their other articles, and all of them reiterate the same thing; Writing is the hardest part of writing. I made it though, so what now? It would be like getting to the light at the end of the tunnel and it just being a really bright room.

What the hell do we do now?

And I leave that question for you. If you’ve managed to get some decent advice or found a decent website on how to actually organise a manuscript, please point me in the direction! Thanks in advance!

Reconnaissance

For any budding author in my position, the road is far from clear. I’ve managed to write a novel, but now what? Well, instead of dwelling over my inbox (no new emails, just in case you were wondering) I’ve moved on to the next story. As odd as it may sound, I’ve actually had to do a bit of research… on how to start a sequel.

I figured this would be easy, it’s just really a continuation of the first story, right? Not so much. I’ve actually found writing the beginning to the second novel quite a hard start. So I did what anyone would probably do…

I figured, I wonder how everyone else has done it?

One thing I actually found tremendously helpful (read:distracting) was I headed over to Amazon where they’ve got that fantastic Look Inside feature. With this, instead of heading over to my bookshelf to take a quick look through many of the sequels we’ve got in our home, I was able to quickly search through a number of books (especially mainstream ones) for how they started off from the one before it.

This actually would have helped with when I was trying to set the scene for my novel, as I could have done the same thing for the beginning of the trilogy. One of the best ones was just the prologue to A Game of Thrones. The quality of writing in just that first bit makes me feel like I still have so far to go. Which is fine. I mean after all, I am just starting out and that book had an editor go through it. Apples and oranges am I right?

Anyway that small tidbit of advice was really the main reason for this post. Aside from that, business as usual. Now, back to trying to start up that second novel!

Disappointment Eve

As I logged into my laptop on this fine January evening in Australia, my MacBook reminders begin popping up.

“Work – 9 AM – Tomorrow.”

“1 new mail message.”

“You have Facebook notifications.”

And then…

“HarperCollins Wednesday Press – Cut off.”

A part of me knew nothing would happen. But then, somewhere deep inside the darkest corners of my soul, a small light was glowing. This light, the light of optimism, had been beaten back and abused into submission as my pessimistic side took on a Hulk-like form. Still though, somewhere in there… that damn voice whispered, “You can do it!” “Maybe this will be the year?!” “Your manuscript is flawless, and I’m insane!”

Insane indeed.

As my brain tried desperately to grasp the concept and plans for solar panels for our future home, I had almost forgotten about… okay, I’m lying. I checked my email roughly every three hours from the moment I woke up, until the last thing I did before my dance with the sandman. But for the most part, I didn’t stress about it. In fact, on this lovely Disappointment Eve, I can say one thing.

I tried.

And I will try again.

Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not the next day.

But it is coming.

While I consider when to submit again, I will find a writer’s group (somehow) and I will go to the Writing Centre at the Uni (when they get back to me). I need more unbiased people to look at my story. I need people who aren’t afraid to hurt my feelings and tell me it is rubbish and I write like a sixth grader. I will absorb all of that, so long as they explain why and what makes it so. I want to learn, yearn to learn even.

With this trilogy plotted out with book one completed, a prequel in my notes and another trilogy set in the same universe years later with book one at fifty thousand or so words… I’m loving it! To think that this time next year I could possibly have my writing room set up and be completing at the very least book two for Jefferson or book one of Pandemonium is just insane!

For now, I will try to sleep as tomorrow is the official last day for HarperCollins to get back to me. Tomorrow will be a long day (especially being day one after two days off) and I am hoping there’s a lot going on to keep my mind off my emails. Although I do wonder what number they actually select from each bunch or if they select any at all?

Ah well, until tomorrow! Wish me luck! Get me some of that good karma!

Ten Days… But Who's Counting?

I swore, swore to the old gods and the new…

I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

As the month wears on and my store seems to be doing decently in the things we are tracking, my mind ever so lightly flickers between work and play. Ten days, eight business days; Then it will have been four weeks since I submitted my novel. Strangely enough, I haven’t been freaking out as much now as I was, in fact, I’m pretty sure that I won’t get this one and that feels fine.

Do I still check my email all the time? Yes.

Do I get excited when I see any new email? Of course.

The craziest part of it all is that I’m actually here with a completed novel and that I’ve begun plotting the next two for Jefferson. I’m extremely happy with the direction they head in and the overall character development for both Jefferson and his antagonist.

Another fun thing I’m working on is a mature themed novel that takes place in the distant future of my world. This allows for Jefferson and characters from the novel to become legend and for the magic that began in his novel to have evolved into many different types and merge with society.

Well for now, another week down, another one and a bit to go. Here’s to hoping that I hear something this week! Either way, back to work for now!