Tag: Sleep Take Me

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!

A Happy Birthday To Me

As of yesterday I turned thirty. Another year has flown by and another is already blazing past. It feels like just the other day I was getting back from Canada and preparing for Christmas. Now I’m doing my best to not have some midlife crisis (especially since my Dad passed away at the age of forty eight) but I’m also not trying to crumble at the prospects of my store being down a manager for the next few months. But who wants to hear about such drama?

Not me, that’s for sure.

In writing, I am at this accursed editing phase which is the part that few writers tell you about. I will liken it to that friend who tells you having kids is some sort of higher calling and that your life is meaningless without them. Then once you’re there and the damn thing is spreading poop all over the walls of its room you realise, you’ve been duped.

Writing for me is absolutely beautiful. The conversion of imagination into reality is an incredibly addictive feeling. Meeting a character on your own pages and having them show you the world gives you a feeling I cannot describe.

Remember that kid drawing on the walls with poop?

That’s editing.

Editing is that absolutely bitter aftertaste from the joyous first sip of glory. The lower half of the mermaid. The side of the coin that lost you the bet. Rock, when you picked scissors. I could go on, but in short… editing is not fun.

So in my novel I have had some beautiful moments of clever writing, and character developments and interactions that made me grin and beam with pride. Then every once in awhile, a line or a paragraph stands out as if I’d been possessed by some Foreign Exchange Student who english is roughly his fifth language. Writing is all high, no lows. You soar with the eagles and dream among the gods.

Then editing tears you down and beats you with a bar of soap in a sock in the middle of the night.

Editing is rewarding don’t get me wrong, but I’m definitely sobering up to my own writing abilities. Especially as a writer who doesn’t drink coffee or tea. I am pretty sure the better part of chapter sixteen was written while I was asleep. Spell check can only do so much before you realise that all the words are spelled correctly, but the sentence itself makes less than no sense and sounds more like the spell from a witch’s tome.

The other problem is my mind keeps having fresh ideas while I am trying to edit. Back stories are getting fleshed out, new characters are appearing to offer more depth to the story and the world becomes less like the real one and closer to its own being.

Now if only I wasn’t so tired, maybe I’d be able to focus on more editing. Not sure how some people worked full time and managed to write a book of quality. My hat is off to those wonderful folks.

Wish me luck, and… happy birthday to myself!

Meet My Character Blog Tour

So I have been tagged in Alex’s post over at the Valourborn blog in regards to an introduction to what you’re working on and one of the characters from it. Interesting concept, like chain mail… but for something I actually care about. Nice! Well Alex, I kindly accept your curiosity and will give you a glimpse into one of the characters from my first completed novel: Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse. As I have mentioned before, sometimes I can float off the beaten path and side characters become more interesting than the protagonist. Such is the case with this character’s back story, as his history could spawn their own novels. My challenge is to not give away too much, but get you interested! 

Q1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Well, the name of the character I’m introducing you to is one Gabriel Li Mercador, otherwise known as Gabriel The Great, Magician Extraordinaire.

Q2) When and where is the story set?

The story is set amid the travelling magicians of a replica of 18th Century Vienna. Along with the travelling circus, these magicians also hold their own secret societies and meetings away from the public eye.

Q3) What should we know about him/her?

Gabriel is an extremely powerful magician. His method of recruiting involves a traditional magic show with one element aimed at recruiting into their order: A single live spell. It’s a risky manoeuvre, but as the forbidden arts begin to rise up, he is forced to take action. This is how he comes to mentor the young Jefferson, my protagonist, and together they begin trying to find others as quickly as possible before it’s too late.

Q4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life? 

The main conflict of the story is the rise of the forbidden magic. Magic in my world has three forms: Illusions (Entertainment Magic, or Tricks), Limited Casting (Casting spells using your own energy and life force) and Forbidden Casting (Casting spells channelling the energy of others for unlimited potential, but linking your soul to theirs even through their death). Gabriel himself has experienced the forbidden casting first hand and has come forth to find the one who will end all life on Earth. He believes this to be Jefferson, until he realises that the boy is seemingly good at heart. He decides to train Jefferson in hopes that when the evil shows itself, he will have a powerful ally. Unfortunately, his life begins to take a turn for the worse when he decides to try his hand at controlling the forbidden magic to essentially fight fire with fire. Will he make it out okay? Only time (and my story) will tell you.

Q5) What is the personal goal of the character?

Gabriel’s goal is to end the line of knowledge that enables the forbidden arts to exist. He believes firmly that if the good magicians can control the new recruits and there is no knowledge of the forbidden arts and how to tap into them, then magic can be used in hospitals and entertainment and for other good purposes. He tries desperately to find the one who will lead the charge for the rise of the forbidden arts and stop them before all life on Earth is extinguished in the name of magic.

Q7) When can we expect the book to be published?

First it must go through the editing process a few times. I wrote some of it while I was half asleep, so those important scenes written under the influence of sleep are also half the quality of the rest of the book! My partner in crime is still working on that, but as we both work full time, it’s hard to get into it and beat it out. I’m hoping on her school holidays (she’s a teacher) she may make some headway. Especially if she wants me to get published and make some money writing!

In the meantime, I have a story called Circle of Vengeance up in the iBook Store and on Lulu.com for free. That story has been edited roughly 20 times (although I did still find a spelling mistake the other day… drats) but is well polished for a short story. Feel free to check that out! (Links are down the right side of the page). 

 

HMM. Who should be my victims? I mean, lovely people whose stories I would like to know more about. Just answer the above questions in your own post (Unless of course you don’t want to, that’s totally fine!). I’d love to reconnect though and this is as good as an excuse as any!

  • Serena – It’s been awhile since I’ve swung by, will you indulge me?
  • Lizzee – Hope story life is treating you well, who will you dish up?
  • Nikki – Seems you’ve been busy, but what character would you like us to know?

Thanks in advance if you decide to take me up on this, if not good luck with your writing and I hope to see your novel on a shelf near me sometime soon!