How does one go about rewriting an entire novel? Considering restarting the project “Bel-Gonows: The Child” after I read some out to my cousin Richard – and he loved it! In fact, he loved it so much that he told me to stop reading it out to him so he could read the book himself once it was published (cue: “D’aaaaaaaw!”) I believe I posted up a snippet in here somewhere...
The novel “Bel-Gonows: The Child” (when I did it for NaNoWriMo – my first year) ended up at only around 55k words. Any Fantasy that wants to get published ideally needs to be over 80k, probably even 100k ... So, mine is a little short. I know, I know. It isn’t just about the word count. It is also about the story – which I believe is still as original as a snowflake, so I am safe there. However, I did do it at flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants speed. I’m sure, with a lot of revision; it could be a lot longer and honestly a lot better. The beginning is great, although it could use a spit-shine, but the latter end of the novel has some horrific grammar mistakes and I’m pretty sure I dropped the ball on it somewhere! (OH and my main character misbehaved at the end! Funny how characters take on a life of their own ... funny and irritating!)
Good news is that I know roughly what I want it to be ... and I’ve got a lot more experience now. Even just looking back two years I can see the amazing improvement in my writing – and that isn’t just be tooting my own horn! Practice really does make perfect (although I think that may be a bit of a strong statement. Perhaps “Practice really does make it readable” is a better one? Heh!)
It seems I have run into a lot of creativity, suddenly. My fingers are itching to get some seriously long writing done, hence looking at my first novel again. Break-away from Flash fiction for a while. Don’t let myself get pigeon-holed again by the shorter stuff (which did happen just before NaNo-2010 when I got into a knot about going over 5k words – I really am pretty daft sometimes!) I love doing Flash and the shortness of it and the challenge but it is all too easy to get stuck just doing the shorter stuff! It’s also over in a flash (pun intended). There’s nothing to get amazingly attached to and I am missing that right now.
It does, of course, help that I have the next few days off. Means I can sink a lot of time into a new BIG project like reviving a novel. I’d go back to “Alonzo Asa” (my second NaNo-novel) but truth is: I need something innocent again. Okay, “Bel-Gonows” isn’t amazingly innocent but it is Fantasy and that is where my imagination thrives. I want to encounter dragons and dream of fairies for a while ... and not despair that the sexier scenes of Alonzo are over-the-top or whether they will be misconstrued as personal fantasies (Eeeep!)
April is just around the corner! Which means I should, fingers crossed, be hearing from Fangtales/Wyvern Publishing about my short story “Hugbugs” and hopefully with a contract! If you remember back that far, they had expressed an interest and I told them I would hold off sending it elsewhere so they could keep it on hold.
April is also the planned launch date for “The Reclusian Times” – the small e-zine I’ve just started for “A Writer’s Recluse” friends and authors. The blurb on the website is done and ready, and all the links work. Just waiting on some art from friends (thank you Bloodeye – you’ve seen his art in here before with the Dominance War thing – and Shinga!) and a lot more stories (which a few people say they are currently working on!) I must admit that I am pretty nervous ... Especially since the due date is drawing closer and still only two stories. Still, I shall have faith! Just hope I have enough time to sort it all out into some kind of PDF before April!
(April is also ScriptFrenzy – run by the same people who do NaNoWriMo. I must admit that I keep considering the possibility of taking part. I do have an account over there but have never tried it. I don’t think I am much of a script-writer, to be honest. Given it a try and I imagine with practice I probably could ... Again, with the pondering! But I think this year might be a bit too crazy and busy for me to attempt!)
Oh, and my friends over at “6 Minute Magazine” say they are also aiming for the next issue of their magazine at or near the beginning of April. I will link it when they send it out ... because, if you are like me, you also loved it and cannot wait to see the next crop of good tasty and very short stories! Fingers crossed here as well. Remember that I mentioned that I had sent them “Echo”? Well, they sent it back to me asking for a rewrite – holy crap, it wasn’t a rejection! So I revised the story and sent it back. I also just sent them “Bus-Route Rain” because I’ve struggled to find the right home for it ... and think “6 Minute Magazine” might be the right place for it.
Oooooh! Also! Good news! I sent a poem to Amaranthine Muses (“Broken Heart”) and they accepted it. The poem should be posted up on their website in the next few days. I will link it here when it gets published.
Another-also. I sent “Tonight?” (The erotic flash – oops!) to Pill Hill Press for their erotic quarterly anthology – and they also accepted it! It is going in their Sept issue. I will also link that up when it arrives (they have an online shop that you guys could buy it from ... if you want a Delaney story on your bookshelf!) Although – erotic! Oops! I definitely wasn’t expecting them to accept it and now I feel a little embarrassed. I’m not an erotic writer (although Alonzo would probably tell you something different!) Think I shall crawl back to my safety zone of YA Fantasy, thank you!
This means (with those two acceptances) that I am now a published author. Huzzah and celebrations! You certainly need thick-skin and stubbornness and perseverance to succeed in the publishing market. I’ve been pretty lucky and haven’t had to wait that long for somebody to say “Yes, we’ll have it” ... but I don’t expect it to be a smooth ride after this either. Both the publishing places I’ve been accepted to don’t pay anything for the story. So I’m still only minor league but just as chuffed!
As for real life stuff: still working at Clinton Card shop. After a visit to my Aunty Gilli and Uncle Norman (with lovely but dementia-wandering Grandma and amazing guitarist Cousin Richard) I’ve decided that I want to live in or near St. Albans – so that is my next big step. Saving up money to make the big jump. I believe that the creativity community and supportive family there would do me ounces of good (my Brother James is also living there with my new baby Nephew Will!) It is closer to Amaravati the monastery ... and further away from Cittaviveka (which I love so much!) But I am sure I will be able to cope with the change considering the amazing Temple at Amaravati. (Aunty Gilli also reintroduced me to make-up ... Eeeewy! But I do look surprisingly female now and less messy. Even got my hair-cut at the most expensive salon there. Remind me to get you a photo later!)
One final note: good luck to Taed from AWR who is now also trying out the publishing market. (Agro from AWR needs to finish Phantoms and get that published so I can buy it already! Cannot wait to actually read that book – having thoroughly enjoyed his snippets.) Haka from AWR says he will be trying to publish some poetry soon. And Locke from FFF with his scrub-up for 365Tomorrows – which looks like an awesome market to crack and seems to always want submissions of the Sci-Fi variety.
Much love and until next time, which should be in a few days with a link from Amaranthine Muses (Love her website! So clean and professional looking and the poems/stories are beautiful!)
The novel “Bel-Gonows: The Child” (when I did it for NaNoWriMo – my first year) ended up at only around 55k words. Any Fantasy that wants to get published ideally needs to be over 80k, probably even 100k ... So, mine is a little short. I know, I know. It isn’t just about the word count. It is also about the story – which I believe is still as original as a snowflake, so I am safe there. However, I did do it at flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants speed. I’m sure, with a lot of revision; it could be a lot longer and honestly a lot better. The beginning is great, although it could use a spit-shine, but the latter end of the novel has some horrific grammar mistakes and I’m pretty sure I dropped the ball on it somewhere! (OH and my main character misbehaved at the end! Funny how characters take on a life of their own ... funny and irritating!)
Good news is that I know roughly what I want it to be ... and I’ve got a lot more experience now. Even just looking back two years I can see the amazing improvement in my writing – and that isn’t just be tooting my own horn! Practice really does make perfect (although I think that may be a bit of a strong statement. Perhaps “Practice really does make it readable” is a better one? Heh!)
It seems I have run into a lot of creativity, suddenly. My fingers are itching to get some seriously long writing done, hence looking at my first novel again. Break-away from Flash fiction for a while. Don’t let myself get pigeon-holed again by the shorter stuff (which did happen just before NaNo-2010 when I got into a knot about going over 5k words – I really am pretty daft sometimes!) I love doing Flash and the shortness of it and the challenge but it is all too easy to get stuck just doing the shorter stuff! It’s also over in a flash (pun intended). There’s nothing to get amazingly attached to and I am missing that right now.
It does, of course, help that I have the next few days off. Means I can sink a lot of time into a new BIG project like reviving a novel. I’d go back to “Alonzo Asa” (my second NaNo-novel) but truth is: I need something innocent again. Okay, “Bel-Gonows” isn’t amazingly innocent but it is Fantasy and that is where my imagination thrives. I want to encounter dragons and dream of fairies for a while ... and not despair that the sexier scenes of Alonzo are over-the-top or whether they will be misconstrued as personal fantasies (Eeeep!)
April is just around the corner! Which means I should, fingers crossed, be hearing from Fangtales/Wyvern Publishing about my short story “Hugbugs” and hopefully with a contract! If you remember back that far, they had expressed an interest and I told them I would hold off sending it elsewhere so they could keep it on hold.
April is also the planned launch date for “The Reclusian Times” – the small e-zine I’ve just started for “A Writer’s Recluse” friends and authors. The blurb on the website is done and ready, and all the links work. Just waiting on some art from friends (thank you Bloodeye – you’ve seen his art in here before with the Dominance War thing – and Shinga!) and a lot more stories (which a few people say they are currently working on!) I must admit that I am pretty nervous ... Especially since the due date is drawing closer and still only two stories. Still, I shall have faith! Just hope I have enough time to sort it all out into some kind of PDF before April!
(April is also ScriptFrenzy – run by the same people who do NaNoWriMo. I must admit that I keep considering the possibility of taking part. I do have an account over there but have never tried it. I don’t think I am much of a script-writer, to be honest. Given it a try and I imagine with practice I probably could ... Again, with the pondering! But I think this year might be a bit too crazy and busy for me to attempt!)
Oh, and my friends over at “6 Minute Magazine” say they are also aiming for the next issue of their magazine at or near the beginning of April. I will link it when they send it out ... because, if you are like me, you also loved it and cannot wait to see the next crop of good tasty and very short stories! Fingers crossed here as well. Remember that I mentioned that I had sent them “Echo”? Well, they sent it back to me asking for a rewrite – holy crap, it wasn’t a rejection! So I revised the story and sent it back. I also just sent them “Bus-Route Rain” because I’ve struggled to find the right home for it ... and think “6 Minute Magazine” might be the right place for it.
Oooooh! Also! Good news! I sent a poem to Amaranthine Muses (“Broken Heart”) and they accepted it. The poem should be posted up on their website in the next few days. I will link it here when it gets published.
Another-also. I sent “Tonight?” (The erotic flash – oops!) to Pill Hill Press for their erotic quarterly anthology – and they also accepted it! It is going in their Sept issue. I will also link that up when it arrives (they have an online shop that you guys could buy it from ... if you want a Delaney story on your bookshelf!) Although – erotic! Oops! I definitely wasn’t expecting them to accept it and now I feel a little embarrassed. I’m not an erotic writer (although Alonzo would probably tell you something different!) Think I shall crawl back to my safety zone of YA Fantasy, thank you!
This means (with those two acceptances) that I am now a published author. Huzzah and celebrations! You certainly need thick-skin and stubbornness and perseverance to succeed in the publishing market. I’ve been pretty lucky and haven’t had to wait that long for somebody to say “Yes, we’ll have it” ... but I don’t expect it to be a smooth ride after this either. Both the publishing places I’ve been accepted to don’t pay anything for the story. So I’m still only minor league but just as chuffed!
As for real life stuff: still working at Clinton Card shop. After a visit to my Aunty Gilli and Uncle Norman (with lovely but dementia-wandering Grandma and amazing guitarist Cousin Richard) I’ve decided that I want to live in or near St. Albans – so that is my next big step. Saving up money to make the big jump. I believe that the creativity community and supportive family there would do me ounces of good (my Brother James is also living there with my new baby Nephew Will!) It is closer to Amaravati the monastery ... and further away from Cittaviveka (which I love so much!) But I am sure I will be able to cope with the change considering the amazing Temple at Amaravati. (Aunty Gilli also reintroduced me to make-up ... Eeeewy! But I do look surprisingly female now and less messy. Even got my hair-cut at the most expensive salon there. Remind me to get you a photo later!)
One final note: good luck to Taed from AWR who is now also trying out the publishing market. (Agro from AWR needs to finish Phantoms and get that published so I can buy it already! Cannot wait to actually read that book – having thoroughly enjoyed his snippets.) Haka from AWR says he will be trying to publish some poetry soon. And Locke from FFF with his scrub-up for 365Tomorrows – which looks like an awesome market to crack and seems to always want submissions of the Sci-Fi variety.
Much love and until next time, which should be in a few days with a link from Amaranthine Muses (Love her website! So clean and professional looking and the poems/stories are beautiful!)
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