Random Progress this Week: Lots! Whee! I'm getting books written! Let's not talk about editing...
Random Exercise this Week: Not as good as last week, but at least 15 minutes daily of yoga and some walking.
Random Thought of the Week: How soon could I be ready to query?
This has been plaguing me. Especially since I decided to put DoJ down for a month or two and then come back with fresh eyes. The editing was frustrating me and I really do need the break from a book that I've been mired in for a year now.
Don't get me wrong. I've learned a ton about writing from working on DoJ. And I love the story still (most days) but I have doubts. I'm not sure I should try to make this my debut novel. Someone kindly pointed out I have nine novels sitting in line up, I need to stop writing and start polishing. (Do I really have nine? Probably, I know 4 are finished and one of those will never see the light of day. Some of those are training novels. Some of the novel ideas will die before they get past chapter 1. It happens.) They are right, I do need to get to polishing.
So, I did some math, factored in everything, and tried to figure out how fast I could get a novel polished. Assuming that it wasn't a rough draft, I think six weeks would do it. I'd have to work at it. And I mean WORK, not fiddle with a chapter for a week. But only if I know what I need to do to make it perfect.
There are a couple of finished novels that I can't promise have a future. Ghost of a Queen is DOA and being sold for scrap. Penumbra is on permanent hold until the rest of the series pans out. And Bryson Anomaly is cutesy, but not tough enough or well-formed enough to be a serious novel yet. And I don't know how to fix BA.
Which gets me right back to wondering how I can make DoJ a debut novel.
A bit of a conundrum. When I figure it out, I'll let you know.
Random Results of the Week: The Are You Hooked Contest....
My obsession with numbers continues.
7 of 13 liked without hesitation,
Main problem: Confusion over who was what and who was surveying the damage.
Classic confusion: The thought that I started with the MC. Maybe it's me, maybe it's a sci-fi convention, but the character lying on the ground is not our hero. He is out bad guy.
Favorite comment:
It seems just a little tactless to name a non-human species Finns. Are they supposed to be related to actual Finns? And would that come off as offensive?The Finns have fins. This is sci-fi, not future Earth. Neither the surname Finn (well... long story... but safe enough) nor the country of Finland are part of the series. I see where the person is coming from, but I don't think anyone reading will be offended.
SA Comment:
This seems to be a great opening for a commercial sci fi novel. It has all the components that a book of this kind needs: immediate distress and a seemingly impossible dilemma. I like how this conveys information about the world and the narrator's species without a long winded explanation. Very good start.Species is a complicated concept in DoJ, but that's okay. The agent liked, which means I will definitely query them once I'm completely confident with my draft. While this was going up on Authoress's blog I had some feedback from a beta-reader about the pacing of the opening chapters. I thought it was clean, they thought it was sterile and slow. So I'm going back and cutting and trimming again to tighten up the opening chapters.
So...........what's your random?
I don't read SF much. I'm not sure why. I know I don't like hard core SF--the kind that teaches me a bunch about science (possibly), and has a story in there...somewhere. But--if the story's good and the characters are well developed, I like it no matter which genre it's in.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on editing. I got physically nauseous going through GF. I had to set it aside for a few months here and there during the editing process. I hate doing it, but it really does turn a piece of gravel into...well, a shiny piece of gravel. ;)
Oh, Lei, you are SO going to convert me over, aren't you? You're taking n that challenge at the end of the article . . . and I'm your prey. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dani. If it has a good plot, is understandable (explain that universe, please, without confusing the heck out of me), and has fantastic, lovable, characters with depth, then I'll like it for sure. No matter what genre it is!
So...that said, I hope to read your DoJ when you have it where you want it. Let me know when that it is. ;)
Yeah, 9 novels . . . that really is a lot. I would love to see you published!
*hands over incentive to revise, be happy, and query.*
Some of those are training novels. I thought they were fun and fantastic when I wrote them. But the more I write the more the early novels make me cringe.
ReplyDeleteAnd all the pot boilers are... pot boilers. Ideas that haven't been completed and that may get banished. So it isn't as much as some people would think. Of the nine, one is close to being ready, 1 is scrapped, and five aren't even written yet.
Early novels are good. The dust bunnies need something to guard. %-)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Lei. I have a couple I focus on and let the rest percolate until I can give them the attention they deserve.
Training novels are important tho. It's hard when you begin to see that some of them are permant file cabinet residents. Still we wouldn't be where we are without some practice, right?
ReplyDeleteHere's to goals and staying on track! You can do it!
*hugs Angela for being encouraging*
ReplyDeleteThis is true. I'm glad I didn't give up after I realized my first book wasn't perfect. I love the idea, but I know I can't just rewrite as is. It's a comfortable, familiar story that only a few people have seen, and it may stay like that. Somethings need to be comfortable and in the filing cabinet.