Second Draft: The Finishing

Whoo Hoo! Just finished the second draft of my very first novel. Though I don't know if it really counts as a novel, since the final word count is 66, 182.

Now we just need to see if Angry Robot books wants the full thing sent to them. If not, well I can always start shopping it around. Since this is my first long form work it's not likely to sell. Still, I've learned a few things. I can sustain the effort of writing long fiction, and then I can sustain the effort of revising it. I really do need to work in making my first drafts more dynamic, and I need to reduce the amount of repetition.

All in all, I'm happy. The book is what I set out to make, a small, personal story with a few characters in a dangerous situation. Even if it doesn't sell, writing it was a learning experience.

And We're Off

Just a quick note to say, that yes, I have indeed submitted my novel to Angry Robot books. I'm sure it will be praised and hailed as a triumph, bringing both my future publisher and myself critical and commercial success. Indeed.

Yeah.... even I'm having trouble with that one. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of the book, and proud of myself for writing it, but I am realistic about my chances. This is my first novel, and it's a bit on the short side. My chances of it being picked up are slim, and I'm far from done working on it. So far I've got the prologue and the first four chapters done to a degree I'm happy with. I'm going to have to spend the next few months continuing to revise, on the off chance I do get a request for a full manuscript. Then there are a few more steps that need to be completed over at Angry Robot books before a decision would be made.

If the book does get accepted it would be 2013 before it's published, so not anytime soon. So even if this book turn out to be a home run I've still got plenty of times up at bat before I see any results.

Wish me luck!

I've Been Drafted

First draft that is. Finished the first draft on my new story last week and took a few days off to let the story percolate in my brain. Not that the days were actually off. I still worked the day job, and I spent the free time reading which can be considered part of a writer's job.

I started on the second draft yesterday and I like where things are going. I'm not as strapped for words on this one since I don't have a limit like I did with Tesseracts, so I've starting to include more description. Also, the second draft is starting to include more direction. The first was all about getting it out on the page and that led to some interesting developments. I actually had one character die who I didn't intend to, and that ended up changing the protagonists motivation completely. I think in the end it gives him a more nobler and more personal reason for doing the things he does.

It sh0uld be interesting how this plays out. I'm thinking I'll submit this one to Writers of the Future when I'm done and see how it does. If that doesn't pan out I'll continue to submit elsewhere. I already have the next story idea in my brain and I can't wait to get working on that one.

One final note, still waiting on Tesseracts but then I'll likely be waiting for a few more weeks. Oh, and I'm almost done my Christmas shopping. Yeah!

New Doctor in the House?

Happy Monday Everyone!

Yeah, I know. Mondays suck. We've all read Garfield at one point or another so I won't belabor the point. One bright spot today, and the subject of the title, is the new season of House just kicked off with a 2 hour episode and it was a doozy. I'll resist the urge to reveal any details of the episode except to reveal that at the end of it House achieves a new equilibrium. Oh, and German woman are hot. If you've seen the episode you know what I'm talkin about.

So how are things going on the writing front? Well, we have a revised draft that my friend Jeff read over this weekend and he enjoyed it and he only found one obvious grammatical mistake. Why would I trust Jeff with this task you may ask. I trust him because he is a former Brock English Major, such as myself, and is even more widely read than I.

He is the first step. The next is to spend the next few days with the text and hammer out another revision. I didn't look at the story for the entire weekend while Jeff read it, so I can look at it with a fresh perspective. I will have another revision by Friday so that I can hand it off to my friend Gary for his impression, and then next week it goes to Trevor.

So, if all goes according to plan I could have the finished, or rather the submittable draft, ready by the end of next week. I already have a least two other good stories in mind, both in settings different from the one the current story is set in, but I intend to come back to this setting in future stories.

Who knows, I may be able to get a few stories out of this setting and years from know collect them and publish them in a single volume. Heck, stranger things have happened.