On Writing

  • Decisions, decisions …

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    So I met with my critique group last night. I’d sent them some sample chapters of Quiver, my young-adult fantasy, to look over. The general conscensus was that my second effort – making my main character, Gwen, more of a Robin Hood-type outlaw — was much better and more in keeping with my voice.

    That’s good and made me feel like I was going in the right direction with the book …

    Until this morning, when I had yet another idea — to make Gwen more of a Scarlet Pimpernel-type character and basically switch her role with that of her love interest’s.

    I think it’s an idea that has merit, but argh!!! :hulk:

    Now, I don’t know what to do — keep going with what I’m doing or go back to the beginning again and start over. I’ve never had such problems deciding what to do with a book before. Sigh.

    But at 36,000 words in my second draft, I think I’m just going to keep going and finish this draft out. Then, I’ll let it sit for a few weeks and see what I’ve got. Hopefully, even if I do decide to change Gwen’s character yet again, I’ll have enough good stuff from the second draft to help me make the changes relatively quickly.

    Oh yeah, and sometime during all this, I want to start working on the rough draft of Elemental Assassin 4.

    So hello, computer. I think you and me will be spending a lot of time together this weekend … :rolleyes:

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    And the title is …

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    Spider’s Bite: An Elemental Assassin Book.

    Pretty cool, huh? At this point, we’re thinking all the titles will have the word Spider’s in them. Spider’s Web is another title my agent, editor, and I all like – it will probably be used for Book 2 or 3. Anyway, more to come.

    I’m just glad I have a title now! :ww:

    Also, the first chapter of Spider’s Bite has been up on the Web site for a while now, but I thought I would also share it here. Please excuse the formatting. For some reason, the blog doesn’t like me to copy and paste stuff in. So I had to take all the code out. I think I cleaned up everything, but at the very least, you’ll get a sense of what the book is about. Warning: Violence and language follow. The book is about an assassin after all. Happy reading!

    Read More “And the title is …”

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    Done … for now …

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    So I’m back at the day job this week. But I actually did get a few things done while I was off last week. Namely, I finished revising the Spy book and sent that to my agent. Huzzah! Now, let’s just hope she thinks it has some potential. Fingers crossed on that one.

    And, yes, I got my house clean too. We’ll see how long that lasts, though. 😈

    And I finally decided on how I want to proceed with Quiver, the young-adult fantasy that I’m writing. My heroine is going to be a Robin Hood-type outlaw who gets mixed up in a plot to kill a queen. It’s very much going to be a fairy tale, action fantasy with lots of battles. Swords, sorcery, a cute prince. All the things I love about the genre, with a hefty dose of girl power thrown in. :ww:

    I’m not sure if this is necessarily the right direction to go with the book, but I’m having fun writing it so far, which is always important. Because if I’m not having fun, it pretty much means that what I’m writing sucks out loud. At least, that’s my general rule of thumb. Anyway, I’ll keep you guys posted on how it’s going. If I can figure out how to do it without screwing up the blog format, I’ll post the first chapter here on the blog for you to read.

    What about you guys? Anyone working on anything interesting? Share in the comments.

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    Title update …

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    So the latest on the titles is that everyone seems to think using Spider or Spider’s in the titles is the best way to go (since my character goes by the moniker the Spider). Everyone think that gives off the appropriate cool, gritty, urban fantasy vibe. Here are some titles we’re now considering:

    Spider’s Bite (or Spider Bite)

    Spider’s Web (or Spider Web)

    Kiss of the Spider

    Too bad Along Came a Spider is already taken by James Patterson. 😎

    Also, we’re thinking either calling it the Elemental Assassin series or a Gin Blanco book for the overall series title.

    So which Spider titles do you guys like? What do you like for the series title? Share in the comments.

    What’s that old adage about making sausage? Nobody wants to see you actually do it. This is kind of like that … 😉

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    ‘Tis done … for now …

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    Well, I got one of my to-do things accomplished this week. I finally finished revising the Spy book and sent that off to my agent. Huzzah! Now, I can focus on writing Quiver, my young-adult fantasy.

    Not sure if I’ve mentioned it or not, but the Spy book focuses on Abby Tomb, a bookstore owner and paramortal (someone with a special talent/gift/power). In Abby’s case, she happens to be immune to magic. When Abby witnesses a shooting, she’s recruited by PACT — the Paramortal Counter Terrorism Agency — to go undercover as a spy. But there’s more to the mission than meets the eye — especially Alex Raikkonen, the sexy mercenary who seems to be interested in keeping Abby very, very close …

    The book, appropriately enough, is called Live & Let Spy. Because you guys know how much I love all things James Bond. 😎

    It’s an urban fantasy, but not quite as gritty as the Assassin series (I don’t think I could write grittier than those books). Spy is a little lighter, a little more fun. Think Alias with magic. If my agent likes it, it would be the start of a series.

    But honestly, I’m not holding my breath about the book selling. Editors aren’t buying much right now, given the crappy economy, although urban fantasy seems to be selling better than most things. So do young-adult novels. Who knows? I may have more luck selling Quiver, if I can ever finish writing the darn thing …

    We shall see what happens …