Sometimes My Job Is Kind of Weird…
September 2, 2009
I finally finished my massive rewrite of the contemporary fantasy I’ve been working on. It was a tremendous amount of work, deeply wrenching at times, and deeply satisfying at others. In a way I was taking an old book and grafting a new book onto it.
I let the manuscript sit for a little over a week, and now I’m polishing a bit. And sometimes when I polish, I read the book aloud. Why? Because it’s often the best way for me to experience the book, to check it for awkward wording, for overused phrases, for anything that might jar a reader or put off a potential editor. It’s a technique that works well for me — I recommend it.
But it’s a little weird sitting alone in my house and reading aloud. It’s even weirder when my kids and wife are home and they constantly think that I’m talking to them or that I’m on the phone or that I’m having a conversation with myself. (“Dad’s finally gone off the deep end…”)
Anyway, that’s what I’m doing this week. I’m reading to myself. Out loud. And for what it’s worth, I like the book a lot….
An Update on my WIP
August 13, 2009
Thought I’d give an update on my work in progress, since I haven’t done that for some time now. Usually I’d show one of those fancy progress bars that I like so much — you know: actual word count versus projected word count. But for a couple of reasons that doesn’t really work with this current project. For one thing, I have no idea how long the book is going to be when it’s done. It could be 100,000 words; it could be 130,000; it could (and probably will) come in somewhere in between. I just don’t know. Also, this is a book I’m rewriting (the first incarnation was 124,000 words, by the way). Parts of it I’m writing again from scratch, while other parts will remain almost exactly as they were in the original version. I’ve changed the magic system entirely, I’ve changed the core conflict that dominates my main character’s life, and I’ve changed the fundamental narrative thread that drives the story in this particular book (it’s the first of what I hope will be a series of stand alone mysteries with a strong fantasy element). I’ve kept many of the peripheral characters and their interactions with my protagonist, because they were, along with my main character himself, the strength of that original book.
I’m probably two-thirds of the way through the rewrite and I love the way this thing is coming out. I loved the original book, but have known for some time that it needed to be reworked before I could sell it. I believe that when this new version is done, it will be marketable. In fact, I think it will be as good as anything I’ve ever written. Rewriting in this way — fitting major new elements into a book I already love — has been a challenge. At times, as I’ve had to jettison some of my favorite scenes and moments from that first book, it’s been incredibly hard. At other times, as I’ve seen it coming together into something new and exciting, and yet still familiar, it’s been deeply satisfying.
Along with not knowing for certain how long this book will be, I also don’t really know when I’m going to be done with this rewrite. It could be as soon as the end of this month. It could be late September. It’s flowing well right now, but on Monday it was giving me fits. I’m sure I’ll cycle through a whole range of emotions several times more before I’m done. Right now I’m just happy to be working on a project I love, making progress, and watching it gel into what I think could be something very special.
Two Posts Today
July 13, 2009
I have two posts up this Monday, at different sites. The first post, “Developing Your Internal Editor,” an be found at Magical Words, the blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain with fellow fantasy authors, Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and C.E. Murphy. The second, “When Did You Know…?”, can be found at SFNovelists.com, another collaborative blog that I share with a group of approximately 100 fantasy and science fiction authors. I hope you’ll visit both sites and enjoy today’s posts.
Just Checking In…
June 19, 2009
Busy week — hence no posts. Sorry for that. I’ve been working on two books, a short story, an article for a ‘zine, and now I’m about to begin going through the copyedited manuscript of a third book. This is what it means to be a full-time writer. No complaints. One of the books I hope to sell quite soon, the other I still have to work on before it’s ready to sell, the third will be released in February 2010. The short story is for an anthology I was invited into, and the article was also invitation-based. So most or all of this will eventually be published. Makes the frantic pace much easier to take. These are tough times for all writers and just having work is a good thing. As I say, no complaints.
All right, back to work.
Yet Another Post About Revising….
April 23, 2009
Today’s post, “More on Revising and Editing,” can be found at the SFNovelists web page. Please visit our site and enjoy the post.
A Post About Revisions
April 20, 2009
Finished!
March 10, 2009
The WIP is done! I finished writing it yesterday and read throught it today, making some changes and seeing how it flows. I like it a lot. It’s as tight as anything I’ve written, it’s got plenty of action, mystery, magic, and suspense. It’s even got a bit of humor. I was hoping it would come in somewhere between 100,000 and 110,000 words. The final tally was just under 107,000, making it the shortest book I’ve ever written. But I think that’s part of the reason it reads so well.
Now let’s see if I can sell it.
A Post About Writing Decisions and the Market
January 26, 2009
As always, my Monday post is all about writing and can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog I share with fellow fantasy writers Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and C.E. Murphy. Today’s post is called “Artistic Choices and the Market.” Please visit MagicalWords, and enjoy the post.
Interview with Edmund Schubert
November 4, 2008
I’ve mentioned Edmund Schubert in this space many times before. Ed is the editor of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. He also edits a couple of magaizines outside our genre. He’s written many short stories, and as of this month he is a published novelist. He’s a dad, a Mets fan, and the owner of several very loud shirts that he insists on wearing to conventions. In addition to all of this, he’s incredibly bright, outrageously funny, and as nice a person as you could every hope to meet. He and I give each other a hard time whenever we’re together, but the fact is he’s one of my favorite people in the world. With his first novel, Dreaming Creek, now in print and available from your favorite book dealers, I thought this was a good time to post an interview. (I’m pretty clever that way.) Enjoy
A Post About the Editor-Author Relationship
September 8, 2008
Today’s post, “About My Editor,” can be found at http://magicalwords.net. Please visit the site and, as always, enjoy!
