The Hook

I've put a great deal of thought into The Oracle (book 2 of the Gateway Chronicles) this month, particularly concerning what the hook for the second book should look like. Of course I already know what the story is going to be (I'd be in a great deal of trouble right now if I didn't at least have that figured out), but I think there is a great challenge to be met in drawing the reader into the story right away in the first chapter. Writing a good hook is always a challenge, but I think it's even more difficult when you have a series of stories like mine, in which the principle characters have to get to the other world before the real conflict of the story develops. The Six started off very gradually because it was introducing the entire series, and I want The Oracle to be a distinct break from that. I determined long ago that each book has to start in "our" world, so I took care in The Six to set up elements of conflict that can carry over from Alitheia to "here." And I think that just this morning I figured out exactly what the hook for book 2 should look like. (No, I'm not going to tell you!) Now that I know the beginning, I feel like I can finally start putting together the outline for the book.

Okay, I've been feeding peach puffs across the table to my ten-month-old, but I think he needs something more substantive. Now he's grabbing at the laptop. Time to go!

Contest Entry

Well, I just finished submitting my book to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest. I have never entered a writing contest before and it was super nerve-wracking just trying to make sure that everything was formatted correctly and just right. It's really a matter of jumping through the same publishing hoops as usual: They will read my "pitch" (ie. query) to determine if they want to look at anything else. So if the pitch is not engaging enough, that's basically end of story. I'm torn between feeling really confident about the pitch I wrote and really morose about, but it's submitted and done regardless. I know that I have a good story to tell! The positive feedback has been overwhelming! Now it's just a matter of getting somebody in the publishing industry to take notice. Okay, to avoid sounding like a broken record, I'll leave off on that for now. My thanks to all of you who are supporting me!

The Waiting Game

What an amazing time this publishing experience has been! It's incredible to me that I have "fans." People have read my book, like it, and are eager for more! I have gotten nothing but positive feedback so far from my readers, and some of it has been VERY positive. So, now that I have gotten the first wave of books out and we are through the holidays, it is time for me to start actively promoting myself again. I feel like I am stuck in a waiting game for a while, though. I am waiting for those who have read and liked it to tell other people about it who will then go purchase and read it. I am also waiting to hear from some various people who have given copies to people in the media and the publishing industry and whatnot. I feel like official publication just HAS to happen for me! I don't know how long it will take, but I think I will get there eventually. As to what else I can do right now, I'm going to take some copies to the local libraries and try to set up a few more book signings. That's as good a place to start as any!

What's new?

Well! It's been a whirlwind couple months for me in which I've made some important decisions regarding my publishing prospects. So here's what's new:
-I decided to self-publish my book on Amazon with createspace.com.
-I successfully completed said task and now have a book for sale!
-I have sold 22 copies of my book in 3 days and am looking forward to the prospect of many more sales to come!
-I have been working hard at promoting my book and have a large book-signing party planned for December 10th.
-I have many more prospects in the works for the further promotion of my book, including (hopefully) some interviews in various media outlets in the Birmingham area.
-I will continue to search for representation by a literary agent and I hope that I will someday soon see myself signed by a publishing house!

Whew! I think that's enough to be getting on with for now. If you would like to purchase The Gateway Chronicles: The Six, you can get it on Amazon.com or you can also purchase it at www.createspace.com/3402648

Thanks!

Good Fantasy

I've long had some thoughts about what makes for really good fantasy, and I've come to the conclusion that that there are a few elements that must be present. One of the most important things that must be in any good fantasy novel is, I think, comedy. Now, I don't mean roll on the floor with laughter comedy, but there must be at least something that makes you feel good when you're reading; something that makes you smile. The Lord of the Rings certainly has this. Who can resist a grin when Tolkien describes hobbits and their oddities? Or when Gandalf says "Fool of a Took!" The Chronicles of Narnia also has plenty to make one smile. I particularly like the dufflepuds. And Harry Potter has comedy in spades in the antics of Gred and Feorge (Oh, I'm sorry, Fred and George) and all the little ways that Rowling so perfectly captures adolescent nuances. In my own book I have also attempted to capture the adolescent ways in such a manner as to make people smile and say reminiscently "I knew somebody like that!" or "That was so me in junior high!" I also have a humorous character or two, but I will have to talk more about that later . . .

Teacher by day...

I've fallen behind on my writing goals... way behind. This has only served, however, to show me how hard I have to work to balance everything in my life. I'm a teacher, you see, and even though it is the middle of summer, I still have lots of teacher-related things to get done. I fell behind because I had teacher training last week and had to put my other activities on hold for a little while. When the school year officially starts, I'm going to have to schedule in time to work on my writing endeavors so that I do not just grind to a halt, like I did this past week. I'm going to have to master being a teacher by day and a writer by night (and a wife and mother all the time).

Today I accomplished getting three more pages of synopsis written, and it feels good to be back to work on it, despite the fact that I have no idea if I am doing it properly. I have never seen an example of the sort of synopsis that one sends in to agents and publishers, and my searches online have yielded no satisfactory results. I guess I will just have to plod along and hope that I am doing it properly. With only one chance to impress the people I am querying, I would hate to do it wrong!

Anything worth doing...

As I work my way through the goals that I set for myself this week, I've had to conclude that my expectations are unrealistic. Although I worked far ahead on my assigned readings, as I began to research agents to query this afternoon, the impossibility of having 20 queries out within a week assailed me . . . and that's okay. It really is true that anything worth doing should be challenging. I researched for a solid hour this afternoon (solely in my Writer's Market) and didn't even make it out of the B's. I really want to do this right, however, so I believe that it was time well spent. Right now I am just reading over the agent entries and selecting agencies that accept the following: New, unpublished authors, YA literature, and Fantasy literature. Once I have compiled a list of possibilities, I will have to research each one on the internet and check submission guidelines. Then it will be a matter of writing a good, strong query letter that I can tailor to each individual agency, and putting together a profession book proposal (for those that will accept it). All things considered, it's a long process. I'm going to sit down this evening and rewrite my query goals for the week.

With all of these things to occupy my mind, I think I'm entitled to a little recreation as well, wouldn't you agree? Unfortunately the object of my summer movie-going is still a couple weeks off, and I'm hoping that my anticipation of the movie will not eclipse the movie itself. I'm speaking, of course, of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I understand as well as anyone that film-makers need to make changes from book to script, but I've failed to understand (in the last three movies) the addition of story elements in lieu of tried and true elements from the books. Do the film-makers not realize that what makes Harry Potter beloved to the fans is . . . Harry Potter? I, for one, certainly do not go into a Harry Potter film desiring to see something new and cutting edge; I want to see the stories that I love come to life. With any luck, this most recent installment will not disappoint.