Tag: Fiction

Transition From PM to AM…

Ah, the best-laid plans… am I right?

I was a fool to think this holiday would be rife with gaming, reading and writing. We just moved into a new home! There are boxes to unpack! Floors to clean! Furniture to buy! A property to sell! The list goes on, and on, and on… and… well, you get the gist of it.

On top of all that I was in no way, shape or form a handyman prior to moving here. In fact, it wasn’t until we bought this place I’d worked with concrete. I’d certainly never used a pickaxe (I foolishly thought shovels had come a long way, I was wrong). What was a drill bit? I’d seen 8, 16, 32 bits… But Sonic and Mario had never taught me how to use a hole saw. In the past week, I’ve donned many a hat; from plumber (no goombas were hurt in my adventure) to carpenter and labourer to janitor. Thank god for YouTube!

I have written a bit, just not as much as I wanted to. Then again, it never is. I had a lofty goal of setting myself into a routine in the new house. New home, new me. I swore it, by the old gods and the new! Ha ha ha! I laugh aloud, well more in hushed tones so I don’t trigger a barking fit from the pups in the laundry below, but alas the feeling is the same. I’ve been a fool! Three weeks, squandered on moving and eating and cleaning and sleeping and all for what?

*SIGH*

I am the very definition of a writer: suffering from extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain.

Oh no, wait… that’s the definition of distressed. My apologies. I think that may stem from work calling me back early from holidays. Imagine having six days left, suddenly to have it become five with no actual passing of time! I hadn’t travelled to the future! I stared at my phone for what felt like another day, as I was already wasting the day at hand waiting for people to service our windows and quote us for flyscreens.

They need me. I thought. Normally, there’s a good feeling attached to that.

Fast forward to this evening, I’ve been reading an extended family member’s memoir and there’s always this guilty feeling I get when I’m reading. You should be writing. But reading is good too! Who knew even my imaginary friends would end up peer pressuring me? I’m an adult goddamnit! I’ll do what I want! Oddly, in editing through her writing I’ve suddenly become more aware of things I do as well; Punctuation I don’t use enough of, some I use too much of, run on sentences. I was just too close to see.

Not only has editing her work helped but much of her writing is entertaining. I’ve found myself chuckling through more than a few of her experiences and wishing I was living nearby now. Not just because she’s living in one of my favourite countries in the world, but I’d like to discuss writing in person. That being said I could find more people here to write with and discuss our stories, however, there is a lot of poetry focus nearby and as much as I enjoy poetry… I need to discuss my stories with people who are excited by the same thing I am. It helps with the motivation and also keeps the gears turning.

At one in the morning, however, I sit tapping away at my illuminated keys for a blog post as opposed to editing or creating. Why I don’t know, but if I’m ever to be a published author, eventually I will have to knuckle down and give it a fair go, especially with my NaNoWriMo plan slowly progressing. As for now, I should probably sleep before I stop making any sense. I am a writer who dares not to drink coffee, so wish me luck!

My First Query Letter Attempt

So… Hindsight… 20/20… Yadda Yadda.

I imagine the folks at HarperCollins who may have received my manuscript for Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse most likely opened the file for a single moment before deleting it. Harsh right?

No.

In fact, now, I wouldn’t blame them.

I kind of let my excitement and nerves get in the way of rationale and sanity. When I sent it through, first I hoped I’d sent the right file. Second, I hoped I’d sent the right story. Third, I abandoned all hope and wrote the whole ordeal off as a mistake. Back to square one? Don’t mind if I do!

Fast forward… uhh… to a few weeks ago. I started getting Writer’s Digest emails because I’d been looking at their Writer’s Market books. This all stemmed from my partner asking her favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, for some advice on writing for me. She actually replied and with some good tips to boot! On her recommendation, I began to look into the Writer’s Market books but couldn’t take the plunge. Just too expensive in my mind and I couldn’t really get a feel for what they were actually about.

As if by some divine guidance, an email dropped into my inbox.

Now 75% Off! 2017 Writer‘s Market Books!

75%?! That had to be wrong. I mean, I know the 2018 editions are coming soon but 75%? That meant I could get five books from there including shipping and it would cost me less than two of them with free shipping from Book Depository (let’s not even talk local bookstore pricing, yeesh). The order was placed with the support and approval of my lovely partner (who by now was wondering why I hadn’t already bought them).

Shut-up-and-take-my-money

Then, as if guided by the hands of fate herself, the books arrived in record time from the US and just in time for my day off. Not only that but we were informed our house may be ready by the end of next month, which means my writing room could be right around the corner!

As everything falls into place, I began reading the beginning of Writer’s Market 2017 which has a wonderful section about query letters. These are essentially the resume cover letter that we were taught about back in high school, but geared toward the writing industry and your product. It’s not just me I’m trying to sell anymore (yes, I see what I wrote there… close enough) but it’s the story too. Limiting yourself to a single page for all the important details is a fun challenge (read: the tears come at night) but I think I’ve managed.

The question is, what do you think?

<Insert El Editor’s Details Here>

Dear El Editor,

My 98,000 word novel, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse, is fantasy fiction in the same vein as the Harry Potter series of novels but with a hint of influence from Star Wars as well.

Jefferson is a teen orphan whose feeling of being the outsider leads him to seek out the circus for its oddities and curiosities. Here, he discovers a performing magician, Gabriel, who introduces the boy to the wonders of real magic.

Finding his place in a secret society of magicians, Jefferson walks a dangerous line between the rise of forbidden arts and learning magic. As Gabriel becomes more erratic and dangerous, Jefferson finds he is the key to saving or defeating him.

From cursed magicians and multiple personality disorders to magical battles and time travel, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse is familiar to fans of fantasy while taking a new approach to the question, “Where does magic come from?”

Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse would ideally fit in with Harry Potter or Dragonlance series of novels. Your website noted that you were seeking out fantasy novels over 75,000 words and this fits those criteria.

I have been writing and editing many of my shorter works for the below website and blog. My short story, Circle of Vengeance, was critiqued and edited more than twenty times before being self-published. You can find this on my website below as well as at lulu.com and on the iBooks store.

As stated in your guidelines I have enclosed the first 30 pages. Thank you for your time and consideration of my novel, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse.

Sincerely,

TJ Edwards

<Insert My Details Here>

Let me know if there’s anything I could do better! I need all the help I can get!

Also… any tips out there for submitting manuscripts?

Thanks a bunch, as always you folks are legendary!

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!