News
I spoke to my agent yesterday. She’s read the re-edited version of Lethal Inheritance and she loves it as much as she did the first time she read it. She noticed the new beginning but couldn’t see what else I’d changed in the ms. That’s because the main changes were in the quality of the writing, not in the big structural elements. I told her that basically, it’s just much better written. Specifically More skill in showing not telling – a lot of subtle changes here that add a lot to the immediacy of the writing.. More clarity in the explanation of how the elements of the world fit together More clarity in the nature of the energy exchange between Nick and Ariel A slower & more interesting development in Nick and Ariel’s relationship She was a little concerned that it’s 97,000 words long, thinking that publishers might be reticent…
Why you need an ereader.
I’m going to tell it to you straight and you might not want to hear it, but here it is… you need an ebook reader. ‘Nah,’ you say. ‘I like real books. I like the way they smell and feel.’ You still need an ereader. “Nah,’ you say. ‘I don’t like looking at computer screens for long periods of time.’ Neither do I, but good ereaders don’t have back-lit computer screens; they have something called ‘e-ink’ that approximates normal print on paper. No backlit pixels to make your eyes sore. So, you still need an ereader. ‘Why?’ you say. ‘I’m perfectly happy with my print books’ Here’s why you need an ereader. The books are cheaper, and there’s masses that you can get free. Ones that are out of copyright & their authors dead ,and ones that authors are giving away to get a greater readership. Don’t even think about…
Finished. Done. And into the world again.
I declare Lethal Inheritance finished – at least until I get a publisher and their editor wants changes. For now though, I’m done, and I’ve emailed the ms to my agent along with my revamped blurb. In this last round of edits, I got rid of another 5000 words and redid the beginning. Again. I discovered and fixed Too many ‘hearts’ – thumping, fluttering, lifting, sinking, shrinking etc. You name it, I had it. Every couple of pages, sometimes twice on a page. I cut it down to generally no more than every 10 pages. Every time I changed it, I discovered that the words was either not necessary or the change was an improvement, because I found a more interesting – or at least different – way to say the same thing. It’s amazing what you find when you do a search for a particular word. I’d done it…
On dealing positively with feedback
Here’s the process I used to work positively with and apply my latest feedback.
Done it – again
I finished another edit and yes, the writing is a lot better. A lot! I sorted out a few problems with changes of POV and thanks to some blogging friends, particularly Jami Gold who happened to be writing about POV changes & head hopping at the time I was looking at just that, I now feel confident that what’s in there now isn’t going to red flag a publisher. Today, I’m printing out the ms and posting it to a writer friend to look over with a VERY critical eye. Expect some posts on handling criticism in the near future, and that give away for the ‘Light series’ is on it’s way too, amybe tomorrow or Saturday. If you can get me 100 friends on face book ( only 9 more needed) – they’re yours. Check out Jami’s blog, she writes some good stuff.
What REALLY helps writers? Truth?
There is clearly a lot of support for writers within the writing community on the web, but if all we give each other is support, without real help, then not only are we not helping, we could also be hindering them as well. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be encouraging and supportive, no, no, no. These things are the very basis of our helping each other. What I’m saying is that support isn’t enough and that without real feedback on our work it could lead a writer to think that they are ready to publish when they’re not. I have been to blogsites where a writer has something up for you to look at. I read it and find flaws, but I don’t feel I can say so because all the other comments are glowing. I want to support the writer. I can see some good ideas there, but… in…
Guest post on Krisi Keley’s blog.
I wrote a guest post for M-Award winner Krisi Keley (author of ‘On the Soul of a Vampire’) on her blog. It’s about soul, the aspect of her book that won her the M-Award and how Ariel’s vision in Lethal Inheritance relates to the concept of soul. Don’t forget to read my last post on what makes you want to read a book again. I’d love to know what you think. I had to post these two together because I’m on holiday and have one hour in the local library today, and I won’t be back in town until Saturday.
Choosing an ebook reader.
The first thing you notice about ebook readers is that there’s a lot of different ones, they do different things, take different files and are different sizes. So how do you choose?
The Pros and cons of ebooks
When I first heard about ebooks, I thought, ‘no, I’ll stick with paper and ink’, but there are advantages to owning an ereader and having doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll give up print books entirely
The query letter
I rewrote my blurb and query letter maybe twenty times, because without a good one, no matter how good your book is, no one will want to look at it.