Tag: Fiction

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!

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!

One Week(ish)

So last Wednesday I submitted the first fifty pages of Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse to HarperCollins’ Wednesday Post. I’ve been checking my email roughly one hundred times a day on the off chance I’m something that they’re looking for. That being said, I’m still not even sure if they’re back to work yet but I hope so. It kills me that my iPhone won’t alert me to new emails… some sort of glitch I assume as I’ve centuple checked the settings to the point where I’m starting to wear swipe marks into my screen protector.

That aside, I have definitely enjoyed being back on the blog and it feels really good to get back into writing regularly. Not that video games aren’t fulfilling, but it doesn’t have that same satisfaction of writing something to completion. Although I do have the Jet Pack in Fallout 4 and I am abusing its power to get pretty much everywhere.

My writing as of late has been entirely history, backgrounds and character descriptions. The reason for all of this? I’m trying to cut down on inconsistencies in my writing. Once a person’s eye colour is mentioned, it should always be that colour. Hopefully. Also, I really want to flesh out the main areas for the story so that I can keep them alive. Some of the hardest things for me as an author is describing scenes when that isn’t the most important thing that is going on.

Take this example. I can remember vividly the conversation I had with my Mother when my Father had passed away. Do I remember what I was wearing? Do I remember where I was? Do I remember what was around me in the room?

The answer is no, no and no. I remember the following vague details: I was most likely wearing jeans and a collared shirt, I was at work and I remember I was in the office. I remember pacing back and forth as the conversation went on, but I always do that. The rest of that day is more of a blur. I’m not saying this because I’m looking for sympathy, but I’m saying those details did not matter. So in a scene involving the death of a character, I probably won’t be using all of the senses. I’ll be more importantly using the emotions of the protagonist and supporting characters because that is why the scene is there.

That being said, keeping a busy scene hustling and bustling while the characters are a part of the scene is something I managed to accomplish in this story. There used to be the initial description setting the scene, and then the characters acted around it like everyone stood around like statues. Now, there is a flow where the busy street is experienced through the protagonist’s eyes. Do I have room to improve? Always!

Anyway, as I plot out the next two novels in the Jefferson Trilogy, I can’t help but remember how hard it was to actually write a novel in the first place. The only thing that really got me there in the end was putting one word after the other. NaNoWriMo was a fantastic help for that, and now that I know I can write a novel, the next one is that much easier.

How are you all doing out there? Is your writing going to plan?

Just remember, you’ll never find the time to write… if you don’t make the time.

The Work Week

*Check email* *Be Disappointed* *Check email again*

The funniest part about the above chain of events is that I’ve been repeating this roughly one hundred times a day without considering publishers probably aren’t even returning to work until this week.

Hilarious.

On the other hand, since submitting my story to HarperCollins I’ve been talking a lot more about my story… and carrying a bit more stress. My wonderful work colleagues asked me if everything was okay to which I told them of my submission. A few people understood, but more than a few asked me more questions about it.

What’s it about? How did you come up with that? How many words is it? When did you write it? How long did it take you? Why did you write it? When will they get back to you?

Not that I thought my coworkers were cold, unfeeling monsters, but I’d always just considered the fact that my work life and my personal life were very separate and that I don’t fit the mold that my company unofficially has. It felt good to have people getting excited and interested in my story and as I looked around, I felt a bit better about the team I work with.

Although I also spoke at length with a customer who was having trouble with her eReader about it as well, which was a weird feeling and also pretty exciting. The questions she was asking were actually very deep questions that made me think long and hard.

What sets your novel about magic apart from Harry Potter and other such stories? How does the magic work in your novel? Do you have enough female characters?

Admittedly, I don’t have as many leading ladies as I should, although Jefferson is near ambiguous enough to be either. To be honest, it wouldn’t kill me as a person to think of him either way, even if someone suggested I changed him to a female lead, I’d still love the story. Strange to think the protagonist could be either, but my antagonist must be a male. I have a very strongly defined image of him and could even write a novel about his journey before he met Jefferson. In fact, that’s not a bad idea.

The world of Jefferson’s story has seven novels in my head. Three directly including Jefferson, one prequel about Gabriel and three novels (much more mature) set hundreds of years after the events of Jefferson’s Trilogy explaining the division of the land and how magic has progressed over the course of time. I’ve already begun on the first one of that trilogy and the word count’s just over fifty thousand!

For today, my writing is turning to some background on Jefferson’s world and the characters within it. While I’m waiting for any news (hopefully) from HarperCollins, I’ll be fleshing out the depth of my story. As for you fellow writers out there, how goes your own writing? Did you make a New Year’s Writing Resolution? Let me know, maybe we can help each other!

 

How The Time Doth Fly

Wow… I planned on giving an update into my writings roughly uhh… nine days ago.

Well this is awkward.

Either way, my life has been starting to look up as me and the girlfriend began looking at display homes in the hunt for, “The One”. (See relevant blog post here) At work they hired a third key holder (possibly no more open to closes, that is until my boss is forced to take more holidays) so my holidays are coming up… oh man… In two weeks!

As not excited as my girlfriend is for my so called, Staycation, I am beyond pumped! I want to clean! I want to cook! I want to sleep! I want to game! I want to write! It will be good as an introvert to actually just stay home where all of the stuff I love is and recharge the old batteries. Life can be exhausting. Especially since my last staycation was when I moved to Australia four years ago, and that wasn’t relaxing… that was freaking out about being unemployed for three months when really I should have written a damn novel and taken advantage of the situation… Damn you past TJ! Damn you!

As for gaming, I played an hour of the new Batman game and realised one thing. If I were Batman, they would strip me of my license to drive and take away the Batmobile. That thing handles like a sleigh pulled by one legged emus. I have grown to loathe the bloody thing and they force me to use it. I’m Batman for crying out loud, let me find another way… I’m sure there has to be one! Although the new suit and subsequent takedowns are fantastic! All that being said though, now that Fallout 4 has been announced, everything else is simply filler until then.

Oh yeah, what was this post about again? Writhing? No… Whiting? No. Ah yes, writing. To be honest I haven’t done a lick of writing in the past few weeks.

However… I have managed some editing.

I think if I have my way, Jefferson and The Magician’s Curse along with the two novels to come would suit the big screen really well! Also these novels lay the groundwork and lore for the other trilogy where work has begun. Thus far, that novel has a lot more viewpoints and protagonists while also being larger in scope and would suit a TV show really well. Partly, I think this will affect some of my decisions for both series of novels, but first thing is first.

I have to finish editing Jefferson before all these dreams come close to reality!

I had planned on submitting a short story for a contest towards the end of last month, and between my partner’s birthday weekend and working I managed to get out a sub par story that didn’t even seem like it was written by me. I suppose you have to be in it to win it, but I didn’t feel as though I was putting my best foot forward. I’m still pretty bummed that I didn’t get something submitted, but I think I’ve learned I really need to work on my editing skills. Editing Jefferson has been one of the hardest challenges I’ve had to face and a lot of that has to do with being brutally honest with myself and cutting things if they don’t feel right. Sometimes that scene you love just isn’t going to work out. Sad days.

Best part about the editing though is it seems as though most of my writing made sense (except where you could tell I was mid-stride and falling asleep) and some of it is actually really good. It is building my confidence in a good way, almost to the point where I’m ready to pass it on! Sooooooon!

Lastly, I have been meaning to go to this writing group and check it out nearby. Sadly every time I think about what day it is, I always seem to be the day after the meeting! There’s another one next month, but I will most likely be working that day! I mean honestly, who has these events at 10:30 am?!

Anyway off to sleep and back to editing tomorrow! 50% mark cometh!