Editing progress

The editing process is going superbly well. After the initial re-writes, I sent out my first draft copy of the manuscript to my wife and mother in law (Who are both very, very well read). My wife has so far given me the first comments and allowed me to go through them, and I am very pleased with the things she has caught. I made a good choice in placing her on my Beta Reader list. She tells me what works, what doesn't, and where I messed up the comma placement (again).

While this is going on, I am training myself to recognize weak writing while I am doing it, rather than afterwards. The more practice with this that I get, the better I will become, and hopefully the end result will be superb and powerful writing. I am picking up the latter half of the craft, and I am loving it. What's more, my beta readers seem to be enjoying the book. Folks, it just can't get any better than this - writing, having people read it, and having people entertained by it.

Demon (working title) has been put on hold so that Afterlife book 1 can go through it's editorial process sooner. The YA market is hot right now and a lot of publishers are open to new voices in YA. I am trying to get this done with high quality writing before that window closes so that maybe, JUST maybe, I can put a publishing credential on my resume. Time will tell.

(There might be a rant later on. Stay tuned)

Voice...

Yesterday blogger.com seemed to be having a problem posting my material. Sorry you didn't get the update until today. Anyway, today I have a new little article, based on a conversation I had with my technical recruiter last week.

She was astounded to know that I am a writer and that I have finished novels (the news that I am unpublished didn't seem to phase her, which I found interesting). She asked me the classic question - "When you submit your work to people, aren't you nervous that someone will steal your work?" My answer to this has always been, and always will be, "No."

I have had business ideas stolen from me, I have had a guitar stolen from me, and I have even had my wallet stolen. Each of those things made me warry of allowing the situation to arise again - discussing business with friends, letting new friends into my house, and leaving my wallet in my vehicle.

However, sending my writing out to other unpublished writers and agents, editors, publishers does not worry me in the least. This is because of voice. Let's get two things straight off the starting point here:

1. There is no such thing as a new story idea.
2. Everyone is unique and different and special in their own way.

So, considering that I can't come up with a new story idea, I can just rehash what's there already, people ask - " Then how do you write something original?" See part two - Voice. I might tell a vampire / vampire hunter story (Dracula) but in my own unique way (Death of Blood, coming in 2007 if I ever get around to finishing the edits on my current manuscript).

Voice and perception are the reasons that literature, much like artistic painting, can never truly be 'stolen'. An artist paints a picture of a flower. The flower is not original - Good old Mother Earth has been making them for years. But the WAY he paints it is unique. And try as they might, another artist will not be able to paint the same uniqueness unless he does a stroke by stroke copy. Writers are the same.

Sure, I could take 30 pages from Stephen King's Carrie and stuff it into a work of my own, and then write something around it and pass it off - but it would be completely obvious that the voice changed in the middle. Evidence such as this is why I don't worry - the idea for the story isn't new (good vs evil, love vs hate, life vs death) but the way in which it's told and the voice which tells it are unique to me. Without copying me word for word, no one will ever be able to steal 'me'. There was a writing professor who tested this theory. He gave all of the students in his class a plot and characters, with a description of what the characters were like. The class went and wrote the story. Though he gave them the same plot, and even the same characters, he received back 15 different stories.

So don't be scared - submit your work, no one can steal (or become) you.

Literary Rants

I have a couple of things I could rant about today, however I think I am going to stick with one subject - one that is more important to fellow writers.

Third party query companies.

These are companies that will put together a "well written" query letter about your novel and submit it to agents for you. All paid for, by the author, of course. This is a bad idea for a writer, and a supreme waste of cash.

Let's start off with the first reason, the most obvious reason, for me to say the above statement.

AGENTS AND EDITORS AREN'T STUPID. They remember queries - maybe not authors, but definitely queries. If they start seeing several query letters in the same sort of format (down to the style and wording) they will definitely pick up the trend. And from what I have read from Miss Snark, Nelson, and Agent Obscura - they don't like them. It shows them that you, as an author, don't have the gusto to really jump up and write your own damn query letter. Also, these companies tend to make mistakes on WHO and WHERE they are submitting these to (incorrectly spelled names, incorrect addresses, etc). None of this is impressive to an agent or an editor.

The second reason, one which I shouldn't have to explain, is that this is something writers should do on their own. Let me put it this way: paying a third party company to query an agent for you is equivalent to asking your friend to ask the pretty girl out for you. It's a bad idea all the way around. Not to mention that the query letter is an agent or editor's first impression of your writing, your voice, and your ability to communicate effectively. This is when you show up all dressed for success, smiling white teeth, perfectly manicured hair and speak politely to everyone. You never get a second chance to make a first impression (cliche, but true nonetheless) - don't blow it. Show your creativity, your voice, and your originality.

Anyway - that's my rant for now. Feel free to send comments. Even argue if you have a valid point. I won't bite, I promise.

Surprise, two posts in one day

I have to talk about this. Everyday when I come in to work, I check the blogs of SEVERAL agents and editors (from large houses). I try very hard to learn all that I can - these guys are the Oracles of our industry. It's my job to learn everything I possibly can - hell if I could afford to, I would take a free internship at TOR for a summer just to learn the ropes.

There are thousands of authors out there. Everyone wants to write a book. My perception is that they all go to try to find either an agent or an editor to publish their book. I don't really see a lot of people writing a novel and letting it sit there. Let's say 100,000 people want to write a book. 80,000 of them actually write it. Out of that 80,000, I would say the odds are that 100 of them make it to "published" status.

Why is this number so small? Is it because it's such a niche you need to know someone to get in? (NO, and please see my previous post debunking this myth a month ago). 79,000 of them didn't get past the query letter stage.

And surprisingly enough, 77,000 of them didn't follow submission guidelines. These aren't true numbers, but I am betting they aren't far off. I would love to know how many people Agent Kristin has to reject because the submitters didn't even know what genres she represented. And she is nice too - gives even the non-submission-guideline-followers a read. It makes me shudder to think how many Miss Snark has to reject (she is known for her toughness, and right on).

It still boggles my mind. People don't think the rules apply to them, and do what they please, and end up in the reject pile. I follow the rules TO THE LETTER. I recently submitted a short story query to a magazine. Why? Because they said they look at 4,000 words at the largest, and anything larger than that should query first. My story was 4,200 words after trimming every single inch of fat I could from it. A lot of my colleagues said to just go ahead and submit the story without the query. I just had to stand back and shake my head. They said 4,000, not 4,200, or 4,500. Therefore I did what they said and I queried. It's only been a week, and it might still get a rejection. But it wouldn't be because I didn't follow the rules.

And really, that's what guidelines are. Not suggestions - Rules. I read this little quote today on Anna Louise's blog (she is an editor at TOR).

This is a drive by announcement from my intern, who has been opening slush for me for the past few weeks, and stacking it on my shelves.

She said to me yesterday:

"It's amazing how many people say in their cover letter that they read your blog, and then don't follow your submission guidelines."

This tells me that even though people are looking right at the Oracle, they are still either not hearing, or not caring. Seeing as it's written online, hearing has nothing to do with it. Don't be an idiot.

How do you measure a year?

For me, I measure a year in the strands of events. Those are the spider web of changing matter that marks the forward movement of time. Becoming serious about publication has helped me to appreciate these events, and to examine the interconnected web closely.

What am I talking about? Well, beyond the insanity that has been this month, many good things have happened. I have learned about myself as a writer - I am still a young (speaking amount-of-novels-written-wise) writer, and I am following the same patterns that most young writers fall into. This has brought to my attention exactly how much I DON'T know, and how much I do. It has awakened me to some of the areas I need to work on within my work. This isn't to say that I write a bunch of garbage, but that the story I write has quite a bit of coal on the outside before you can get to the diamond within. My goal is to learn to make that layer of coal smaller.

I discovered this about myself by getting a sample edit from an editing company. They turned out to be less experienced (they had been editing for 20 years, but had never been a professional anywhere in the industry either as an Agent or a House) and more expensive than I liked. So I decided that I needed a mentor. An author, agent, or editor who was in the industry, or had been in it, who could show me the ropes, so to speak. This isn't easy - you can't just go up to someone and say "Will you be my mentor, mister?". Mentors-for-hire didn't sound like a good idea to me either, so I avoided that entirely.

Writing, being a solitary sport, played against ones-self and without a net, is not simply art - it needs skill. Skills are something I have taught myself since I was a kid (the reason I am a programmer without ever having stepped on to a college campus), and at this point I decided I would teach myself what I needed. This quickly turned into a block wall - I don't know what it is that I don't know. In the words of some old Chinese guy - "wise men know what it is that they don't know."

Then, while perusing the Florida Writers Association site for 2006 conference details, I found information about a service in my area that did coaching and editing, and even, if you are deemed good enough, submitting. The coaching caught my eye. I checked out the person who offered the services. She had been an acquisitions editor at Cader books AND with Tor, as well as another large non-fiction house I haven't read much of. I checked her out, and she is indeed true to her word - she really was all those things. And from what I can see, I can afford at least her advice on the book. Hell, her advice on the book alone is worth twice its weight in gold.

For those who don't know, and Acquisitions Editor is responsible for getting through the slush pile and finding manuscripts that will make money for the house. They also edit the book with the author to make it the best it can be before it goes to print. This person is the one you want to impress when you are trying to get published. To have one tell me if my book is salable, and how to make it so if its not, is extremely valuable. To put it in the words of my favorite character from Afterlife, Zig - "Dude, sweet!"

Also, I have been posting and writing to another Agents' blog (who just so happens to be coming to the conference here in November) and they have been responding to them, and, AGREEING with them. This tells me that I am learning - I am catching on. The mystery of the industry is slowly fading. For me, this is nothing but a good thing. An educated author is a successful author.

Who knows where these strands in the cobweb of atoms and molecules will take me next?

New Novel Progress, editing, etc

Two things for this post weigh on my mind.

First thing: Do professional freelance editors really make a difference? Copy editing is expensive, and as far as I can tell it shouldn't be necessary for an author to pay for it. They should be able to do it on their own. Copy editing is something that comes from practice, schooling, and being a good writer. It 's part of the craft.

Critiquing is OK, but if your editor does not have a background in publishing, either as a writer or an editor for a big house - their critique is just as good as any that you would receive from a writing group online.

Out of the pages that the editor did for me as a sample, I was able to glean one bit of advice that I found useful (the other parts I already knew and had been planning on implementing). That was to avoid getting caught in sentence patterns. I hadn't realized that they were there, but afterwards, I could see how I would use the same pattern over and over. So in the editing process that comes on with Afterlife: Oblivion I am going to focus on changing it up a bit.

OK part Two: The progress on the next novel, "DEMON", is going well. Its 4, 300 words into it. Not bad for two nights of writing (ah the suckiness of being a writer who has a day job). Already I can see the tone for this novel is going to be much more into the 'sad' direction. In the second scene of the book, a really horrible tragedy occurs, and just when you thought it couldn't get worse, I threw in some extra tragedy for the heck of it. Makes you want to hate me, but hey, that's good - emotional response to prose keeps you reading to find out if I make it any better.

We shall see when I get the outline done, how much happiness really does invade the book. I am a fan of happy endings with deep consequences and profound impacts on the character's future, so you will just have to wait and see.

Oh, Hey, does anyone want to see the blurb for the Afterlife book that I am going to put into my query letter? I was thinking of posting it and getting response on what you think of it.

Anyway, I won't be able to post much until after Easter - we are going to visit my father this weekend in IL, who turns 50 in a few days. Can't miss the chance to shower him with 'Over the hill' merchandise :) The cool part: he doesn't know we are coming. My mom has done a pretty good job of hiding it :P

Go mom :)

Recent updates

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - the home life is busy right now.

I am still editing Afterlife, although now that I have gotten through the major re-writes, I am going to let it sit. I think I only have one more section to really re-write, and then I am going to just let it go for a while.

In the meantime I have started on a new novel, tentatively called 'Demon'. Here is the blurb I am thinking of using (feel free to send comments on it):

"
Fourteen year old Cassandra Grey's father has an odd job - one that he has trained her to do since she was eight years old - to remove demons from the bodies of humans using the latest technologies available.

Then one day a tornado rips through their town, ripping a young man from his trailer and up into the darkness. He is found two days later, three miles away, unconscious but unharmed. Everything seems fine at first - until he discovers that he is not alone in his body. Now Cassey and her father hurry to expel the presence within the boy before it destroys him and takes over completely.

This time more is at stake - a battle over who will have the boy's body wages, and Cassey is stuck in the middle, fighting against evil and her own fears of inadequacy.
"

Anyway, it's going well so far. It's going slow as well. This month is busy as hell for me, and I won't have as much time to dedicate to it, but that's OK, there is no need to rush.

Still hunting for an editor with the publishing background I require. Hard to find, but I have faith.

Editing

I am having a fairly hard go at editing this novel. At first I thought, maybe it's because I need to step away from it, give it time to breathe, though then I realized that was just a cop out to hide the manuscript under the table and not ever finish editing it because hey, editing is way more boring than actually writing. Especially when my new novel - Demon - is so damn exciting.

So, does anyone (If there is actually anyone who reads this blog) have any advice about editing? Does anyone have any tips to make it more enjoyable? I realize that I am betraying my supreme lack of self-discipline in the editing department, but hey, what can I say - pumping out the stories that have been sitting in my head for the past 4 months is a stronger calling. Plus I am unpublished, with no fan base and no deadlines, so I can afford to take my time.

However this won't always be the case, so I am trying to prepare myself for when there are deadlines in the future. My day job has prepped me for business, and for deadlines, two things I am extremely familiar with. But not for deadlines with creative sides (programming is far from what I would call 'artistic' or 'creative').

In any case, I am looking for advice, tidbits, experiences - whatever. Give me knowledge people, and I will promise to sign you a copy of the book, if it ever becomes part of the world of the 'published'.