These days I blog over on my writing web-site.
Please visit it to see what I'm up to!
Cheers,
Annaka
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Researching the Next Step - or - The Wild and Woolly World of Publishing
While waiting for feedback from TJ (oh, the suspense!), and getting a good start on my new work in progress, I have been starting to research What Happens Next.
It began innocently enough:
I determined from a book on writing that the recommended practice was to query publishers. Now, first, this was a book from the 90's, and second, it didn't give an example of a good query - so of course I went to Google.
At this point I have learned the following:
Oh, and my book is too long. It's currently at about 185K words; turns out that the standard is ~100K. There's some more wiggle room for Sci-Fi and Fantasty, but I'm still way over the limit of what is likely to get picked up. I might be able to slip by with 130K. Sigh.
In other words, I have learned that I'm peeking over the edge into a world about which I know nothing.
So I am now educating myself.
Fortunately there are lots of on-line resources. It'll probably just take me a couple . . . or a few . . . or several . . . months to sort everything out.
As I do so, I expect to be putting up posts on the nature of these various arcane steps.
Stay tuned!
It began innocently enough:
I determined from a book on writing that the recommended practice was to query publishers. Now, first, this was a book from the 90's, and second, it didn't give an example of a good query - so of course I went to Google.
At this point I have learned the following:
- Querying publishers has only the slightest chance of working - it's much more standard practice to instead query agents.
- Querying agents is a black art.
- If you have a successful query, you are then expected to send a synopsis - also a black art - and partial manuscript.
- If this is also successful, you then send the full manuscript, and pray. Even if you're an atheist.
- If you are very lucky, they will sign you - and then they get to go out and try to pitch the project to publishers, which will probably result in quite a bit more rejection.
Oh, and my book is too long. It's currently at about 185K words; turns out that the standard is ~100K. There's some more wiggle room for Sci-Fi and Fantasty, but I'm still way over the limit of what is likely to get picked up. I might be able to slip by with 130K. Sigh.
In other words, I have learned that I'm peeking over the edge into a world about which I know nothing.
So I am now educating myself.
Fortunately there are lots of on-line resources. It'll probably just take me a couple . . . or a few . . . or several . . . months to sort everything out.
As I do so, I expect to be putting up posts on the nature of these various arcane steps.
Stay tuned!
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Joy of a New Project
Having been bogged down with eternal editing for months, it feels good to actually be writing again. I am now a day and three whole pages into another book. I think it will make a nice change of pace; this time 'round I'm going to do a nice rollicking fantasy instead of a thoughtful science fiction story.
No matter what the subject matter, it's fun to be spinning out a new story. Of course, I'll then have to edit it, and so the cycle will start once more. Oh, well. Maybe it will be faster this time (I can hope).
No matter what the subject matter, it's fun to be spinning out a new story. Of course, I'll then have to edit it, and so the cycle will start once more. Oh, well. Maybe it will be faster this time (I can hope).
TJ-Ready Draft Complete
Written 7/25/09
Well, I finally have a draft that is ready – or as ready as it’s going to be – for eyes other than my own. It has taken me a mere 9+ months to get from my first draft to this TJ-ready draft. Once he’s had a chance to look it over, I expect to have another round of editing before I pass it out to a broader group of friends. It is both an exciting and terrifying prospect.
How do I know the book is ready for other eyes, anyway?
Because I’m sick of editing it, that’s why.
Besides, any additional polishing that I do now might just be wasted, since I know that I will be making changes based on people’s suggestions. My goal was to get it polished enough that they wouldn’t be distracted by little (or not so little) problems. This way they will – hopefully – focus on the story itself.
To get here I’ve gone through a variety of editing rounds:
1) Quick read-through on the computer. The goal of this was to get an impression of the book as a whole, and to fix any really minor problems.
2) More extensive read-through on the computer, noting more extensive problems that needed to be addressed (things that needed clarifications, transitions, more information, etc.).
3) Go through and actually make the changes noted in #2.
4) Go through and make sub-headings noting what was going on at a given time (usually 3-4 per normal Word page).
5) Print out table of contents showing chapters and sub-headings, and try to adjust the story line’s flow with this meta-view.
6) Go through and make the changes that came out of #5.
7) Print it out and give a quick read-through, jotting notes.
8) On same print-out, do a more thorough read-through (out loud where possible), making more extensive notes of changes large and small.
9) Go through and make easy changes noted in #7 and #8.
10) Go through and make the harder changes noted in #7 and #8. Ad nauseum.
11) Print it out again, in spiral-bound book form ($50 from Kinko’s – I was rather amazed at how expensive it was, but for a 400-odd page book plus binding . . . well . . . couldn’t cavil too much. It did make me go looking for a different source for my distribution copies, though).
12) Try to read it as a book, rather than an editing project.
13) Make minimal fixes noted in #12.
14) Make formatting changes and tweaks to get a copy printed at Lulu.com (as a real book!) for the TJ editing round – both cheaper and snazzier looking.
Whew!
I’m ready to get back to some actual writing, now. I’ll probably start on the next story sometime next week.
This time I’ll probably try to do a little more editing along the way (e.g. 5 minutes for every 30 minutes of writing). Maybe that will cut down on the 13 month turnaround from project start to TJ-edition. I can hope.
Well, I finally have a draft that is ready – or as ready as it’s going to be – for eyes other than my own. It has taken me a mere 9+ months to get from my first draft to this TJ-ready draft. Once he’s had a chance to look it over, I expect to have another round of editing before I pass it out to a broader group of friends. It is both an exciting and terrifying prospect.
How do I know the book is ready for other eyes, anyway?
Because I’m sick of editing it, that’s why.
Besides, any additional polishing that I do now might just be wasted, since I know that I will be making changes based on people’s suggestions. My goal was to get it polished enough that they wouldn’t be distracted by little (or not so little) problems. This way they will – hopefully – focus on the story itself.
To get here I’ve gone through a variety of editing rounds:
1) Quick read-through on the computer. The goal of this was to get an impression of the book as a whole, and to fix any really minor problems.
2) More extensive read-through on the computer, noting more extensive problems that needed to be addressed (things that needed clarifications, transitions, more information, etc.).
3) Go through and actually make the changes noted in #2.
4) Go through and make sub-headings noting what was going on at a given time (usually 3-4 per normal Word page).
5) Print out table of contents showing chapters and sub-headings, and try to adjust the story line’s flow with this meta-view.
6) Go through and make the changes that came out of #5.
7) Print it out and give a quick read-through, jotting notes.
8) On same print-out, do a more thorough read-through (out loud where possible), making more extensive notes of changes large and small.
9) Go through and make easy changes noted in #7 and #8.
10) Go through and make the harder changes noted in #7 and #8. Ad nauseum.
11) Print it out again, in spiral-bound book form ($50 from Kinko’s – I was rather amazed at how expensive it was, but for a 400-odd page book plus binding . . . well . . . couldn’t cavil too much. It did make me go looking for a different source for my distribution copies, though).
12) Try to read it as a book, rather than an editing project.
13) Make minimal fixes noted in #12.
14) Make formatting changes and tweaks to get a copy printed at Lulu.com (as a real book!) for the TJ editing round – both cheaper and snazzier looking.
Whew!
I’m ready to get back to some actual writing, now. I’ll probably start on the next story sometime next week.
This time I’ll probably try to do a little more editing along the way (e.g. 5 minutes for every 30 minutes of writing). Maybe that will cut down on the 13 month turnaround from project start to TJ-edition. I can hope.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
1st Draft Complete
Well, after some 3 1/2 months I'm done with my first draft. Admittedly it took rather longer than my original guesstimate of 2-3 months, but given that my first draft weighs in at 257 (Word) pages, and 121,147 words, I don't think that's too shabby.
Having finished on Sunday, I have started the process of re-reading it. So far I think it's actually not bad. I'll probably give it a second re-reading, filling in the obvious gaps and problems, and then I will commence Editing.
I expect that the second draft phase will be more of a challenge, because I won't quite know what I'm doing, and it can theoretically go on forever :)
Having finished on Sunday, I have started the process of re-reading it. So far I think it's actually not bad. I'll probably give it a second re-reading, filling in the obvious gaps and problems, and then I will commence Editing.
I expect that the second draft phase will be more of a challenge, because I won't quite know what I'm doing, and it can theoretically go on forever :)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
10 Week/40 Hour Status
I have been writing for ten weeks, and have managed to keep up on writing time, although the whole "one hour a day, four days a week" has kind of gone out the window. Mostly I've been doing whatever works, but at this point I think I might officially switch to half an hour a day most days, with a full hour one day (still totaling four hours per week, but a rather different model).
The "writing day" vs. "off day" model actually doesn't work that well with real life, and although my goal with the hour-long session was to have a session long enough to really get going, it doesn't seem to work out that way (at least for first-draft writing). The basic problem is that in about half an hour I've written everything I'd really thought out, and then either have to take precious time deciding what happens next, or stop.
With half-hour sessions I can just dump out what I had contemplated during walks, showers, etc., and not waste my writing time thinking!
Of course there is a cost to this: things probably aren't as dynamic and flowing as if I spent longer periods of time writing. On the other hand, it fits much better with a full life, and actually allows a surprising amount of progress:
In forty hours (one work week), spread over ten weeks, I have written:
82,229 words (2,055 per hour)
174 pages
There is no earthly way I could have written as much sitting down for eight hours a day, because I'm pretty sure I put in as much time thinking between sessions as I do actually writing.
In any case, I'm making good progress.
I don't think I'll be done by month 3 (the upper limit of my original estimate), but I might be done by month 4. Then the real work will begin!
The "writing day" vs. "off day" model actually doesn't work that well with real life, and although my goal with the hour-long session was to have a session long enough to really get going, it doesn't seem to work out that way (at least for first-draft writing). The basic problem is that in about half an hour I've written everything I'd really thought out, and then either have to take precious time deciding what happens next, or stop.
With half-hour sessions I can just dump out what I had contemplated during walks, showers, etc., and not waste my writing time thinking!
Of course there is a cost to this: things probably aren't as dynamic and flowing as if I spent longer periods of time writing. On the other hand, it fits much better with a full life, and actually allows a surprising amount of progress:
In forty hours (one work week), spread over ten weeks, I have written:
82,229 words (2,055 per hour)
174 pages
There is no earthly way I could have written as much sitting down for eight hours a day, because I'm pretty sure I put in as much time thinking between sessions as I do actually writing.
In any case, I'm making good progress.
I don't think I'll be done by month 3 (the upper limit of my original estimate), but I might be done by month 4. Then the real work will begin!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
1st Week Status
Well, so far, so good.
I have been writing for a week, which given my every-other-day schedule means that I've had four one-hour sessions. Out of that I have gotten 7,851 words, averaging 1,962 words per session - not bad.
As you might guess from my word count, I'm sticking with the NaNoWriMo style first draft: just write. And write. And write. And save the re-writing for later.
The advantage of this is that once momentum has been established, the words, ideas, and action flow fairly naturally.
The disadvantage is that it's hard to know whether what you're writing is good or horrible. It also means that going back and fixing things up later will probably take rather more work.
Still, overall I think it works fairly well for me. I'll just have to have faith that it isn't all crap.
Although it's only the end of the first week, I think I'm going to adjust my schedule to 4 times per week (preferably approximately every-other-day). If I stick with strictly every-other-day I'll get 3-4 hours in each week, depending on the week, and they'll keep scooting around. Given that my schedule makes writing on some days considerably easier than others, such scooting around isn't really such a good thing.
On to the second week! I'm hoping to get my protagonist into some difficulties this week . . . .
I have been writing for a week, which given my every-other-day schedule means that I've had four one-hour sessions. Out of that I have gotten 7,851 words, averaging 1,962 words per session - not bad.
As you might guess from my word count, I'm sticking with the NaNoWriMo style first draft: just write. And write. And write. And save the re-writing for later.
The advantage of this is that once momentum has been established, the words, ideas, and action flow fairly naturally.
The disadvantage is that it's hard to know whether what you're writing is good or horrible. It also means that going back and fixing things up later will probably take rather more work.
Still, overall I think it works fairly well for me. I'll just have to have faith that it isn't all crap.
Although it's only the end of the first week, I think I'm going to adjust my schedule to 4 times per week (preferably approximately every-other-day). If I stick with strictly every-other-day I'll get 3-4 hours in each week, depending on the week, and they'll keep scooting around. Given that my schedule makes writing on some days considerably easier than others, such scooting around isn't really such a good thing.
On to the second week! I'm hoping to get my protagonist into some difficulties this week . . . .
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