No more is there silence between the literary agents and me. The rejection letters are now pouring in. The silence was unnerving, but it's good to know that my email works. But I still hope that someone will read Khaladin. :)
I also might not have writer's block anymore. I am working on a new story called A Moment In Time. It's a science fiction story that's kinda in a weird market. My main character is too old for this book to be young adult, but she's kinda young for the adult market. She's around 21, 22...I haven't made up my mind yet. But it's going pretty good. I've got the first two chapters written (I love chapter one) and I hope it sounds good. I'm thinking about posting the first chapter on AW to see how it goes.
Anyway, that's it for now! ttyl! :)
Showing posts with label AW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AW. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
An Editing Update
So, I have been editing Khaladin the past couple days and have edited nearly half the book. I'm very close to where the revamp is going to be taking place in the story, so I'm trying to plan everything out. I've got a few ideas, but not quite sure how to make it all work yet.
In the meantime, I got my query letter for Khaladin probably as close to perfect as I can. I ran it a LOT on AW and it got to where fewer and fewer people would edit it and then it got to where the edits were nit picky. Once you get to nit picky edits, it's my opinion that you take those hints that you want and leave the rest and lean back, hoping you have the right query letter.
And this one really didn't turn out bad! In fact, I'm rather proud of it. It's the best query letter I've ever written, but I want to share it with you to get your thoughts as well. So, here it is:
Dear Agent:
I am seeking representation for my middle grade fantasy novel, KHALADIN, which is complete at 39,000 words. (word count subject to change with edit *wink*)
Thirteen-year-old Judy never imagined her aunt’s horse would give birth to anything but a normal foal, until she saw the colt’s tiny horn. She’s thrilled to have a baby unicorn to take care of, but she soon learns it’s not easy keeping Khaladin’s existence a secret. When a greedy casino owner discovers him and steals him away to auction him off to the highest bidder, Judy knows she has to save him.
The road to rescue isn’t easy. Judy and her aunt follow the casino owner to his ranch in Arizona where Khaladin is being held. Judy knows that if she can’t rescue Khaladin, he’ll become nothing more than a status symbol- but if she succeeds, she’ll be condemning him to the same imprisonment he faced before. Judy wants Khaladin to be free to choose what life he wants. She just hopes his choice won’t break her heart.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
me
So, feel free to tell me what you think. :)
In the meantime, I got my query letter for Khaladin probably as close to perfect as I can. I ran it a LOT on AW and it got to where fewer and fewer people would edit it and then it got to where the edits were nit picky. Once you get to nit picky edits, it's my opinion that you take those hints that you want and leave the rest and lean back, hoping you have the right query letter.
And this one really didn't turn out bad! In fact, I'm rather proud of it. It's the best query letter I've ever written, but I want to share it with you to get your thoughts as well. So, here it is:
Dear Agent:
I am seeking representation for my middle grade fantasy novel, KHALADIN, which is complete at 39,000 words. (word count subject to change with edit *wink*)
Thirteen-year-old Judy never imagined her aunt’s horse would give birth to anything but a normal foal, until she saw the colt’s tiny horn. She’s thrilled to have a baby unicorn to take care of, but she soon learns it’s not easy keeping Khaladin’s existence a secret. When a greedy casino owner discovers him and steals him away to auction him off to the highest bidder, Judy knows she has to save him.
The road to rescue isn’t easy. Judy and her aunt follow the casino owner to his ranch in Arizona where Khaladin is being held. Judy knows that if she can’t rescue Khaladin, he’ll become nothing more than a status symbol- but if she succeeds, she’ll be condemning him to the same imprisonment he faced before. Judy wants Khaladin to be free to choose what life he wants. She just hopes his choice won’t break her heart.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
me
So, feel free to tell me what you think. :)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
More Agents, More Queries
I submitted The Ultimate Evil to four more literary agencies yesterday. It is now with five agencies. I have submitted to a total of seven, but two have already replied with rejections.
You know how sometimes when you query an agent, they will send you an e-mail two minutes later that basically says, "Hey, we got your query!"? Like I said, two minutes later. But I'm super confused about something. When I submitted yesterday, on a Saturday, I got one of those letters, but four hours after I sent my query. For all you who find out all the scams, this is a reputable agency. Andrea Brown Literary. So, do they have those e-mails sent out on a timer on weekends, or did this agent look at my query on a Saturday and send me this as a "hey, I may be interested in your work" type deal? I don't know, so I'm not reading anything into it.
Speaking of reading, I finished my second round of edits in Khaladin. Even though I took away a lot (as I can get wordy) I added about 1,000 more words. There's more to be done and I'm thinking about getting a Beta reader for it. Not the whole thing, only part. See, with my Beta reads, I like to see the mistakes people find and then correct them and find them on my own throughout the rest of the manuscript. That way I'll learn. Unfortunately, AW is down right now (which stinks!) so I can't post that I need a Beta reader. I do need to go back and see how many chapters I want read before I put that post up though. That way I can get the word count. Khaladin has twenty-eight chapters, but is only 33K. But I know if I just say I need the first ten chapters read and don't put down any word count, people aren't going to want to read it. At least, that's the pattern I've seen.
I'm over halfway done with my first round of edits in Help! My Parents Are From Outer Space! Those are going really well and when I finish them, I'll send the manuscript to a friend of mine who has offered to read it. He said he wanted to read something of mine that did not contain unicorns, and this new story doesn't even mention them. I think he's happy about that. I am too. The last thing I want to become known as is "The Unicorn Writer" though I can't not write about unicorns. I love them too much. :D
You know how sometimes when you query an agent, they will send you an e-mail two minutes later that basically says, "Hey, we got your query!"? Like I said, two minutes later. But I'm super confused about something. When I submitted yesterday, on a Saturday, I got one of those letters, but four hours after I sent my query. For all you who find out all the scams, this is a reputable agency. Andrea Brown Literary. So, do they have those e-mails sent out on a timer on weekends, or did this agent look at my query on a Saturday and send me this as a "hey, I may be interested in your work" type deal? I don't know, so I'm not reading anything into it.
Speaking of reading, I finished my second round of edits in Khaladin. Even though I took away a lot (as I can get wordy) I added about 1,000 more words. There's more to be done and I'm thinking about getting a Beta reader for it. Not the whole thing, only part. See, with my Beta reads, I like to see the mistakes people find and then correct them and find them on my own throughout the rest of the manuscript. That way I'll learn. Unfortunately, AW is down right now (which stinks!) so I can't post that I need a Beta reader. I do need to go back and see how many chapters I want read before I put that post up though. That way I can get the word count. Khaladin has twenty-eight chapters, but is only 33K. But I know if I just say I need the first ten chapters read and don't put down any word count, people aren't going to want to read it. At least, that's the pattern I've seen.
I'm over halfway done with my first round of edits in Help! My Parents Are From Outer Space! Those are going really well and when I finish them, I'll send the manuscript to a friend of mine who has offered to read it. He said he wanted to read something of mine that did not contain unicorns, and this new story doesn't even mention them. I think he's happy about that. I am too. The last thing I want to become known as is "The Unicorn Writer" though I can't not write about unicorns. I love them too much. :D
Saturday, January 10, 2009
First Beta Read Done!
So my friend finished Khaladin and, to use his own words, says it's awesome! I was afraid he wouldn't like it because it's totally different from The Ultimate Evil. He even said he likes Khaladin better than The Ultimate Evil. I thought it'd be the other way around.
Go figure.
Apparently, the story kept him on edge because he told me he was wondering how in the world Judy and Khaladin were going to be able to work everything out. I thought it was pretty obvious reading through, but apparently not, which is great!
About the torture scene in this story, he didn't mind it. He liked it because there's not a lot to it. Someone over on AW said the piece about the torture was lovely and they would read the story. Holy major compliments, Batman!
If you are a member of AW, you can find the torture scene in the Children's SYW section with the title: Khaladin All Debated Torture Scene! If you're not a member, don't worry. I promised that I would post the scene on here after I was done with it, so I'll put that up here for you guys in a day or two. I don't have my JumpDrive on me right now. :(
Overall, I am very pleased with the way things seem to be turning out. The Ultimate Evil is in the querying stage and in case it is good enough to snag an agent (I think it is, but I'll let the agents give the deciding vote) I already have Khaladin ready and waiting. Now I need another WIP because I loathe not writing. I have several ideas, especially this one I'm toying with called The Prophecy, but as we say, that's another story. :D
Go figure.
Apparently, the story kept him on edge because he told me he was wondering how in the world Judy and Khaladin were going to be able to work everything out. I thought it was pretty obvious reading through, but apparently not, which is great!
About the torture scene in this story, he didn't mind it. He liked it because there's not a lot to it. Someone over on AW said the piece about the torture was lovely and they would read the story. Holy major compliments, Batman!
If you are a member of AW, you can find the torture scene in the Children's SYW section with the title: Khaladin All Debated Torture Scene! If you're not a member, don't worry. I promised that I would post the scene on here after I was done with it, so I'll put that up here for you guys in a day or two. I don't have my JumpDrive on me right now. :(
Overall, I am very pleased with the way things seem to be turning out. The Ultimate Evil is in the querying stage and in case it is good enough to snag an agent (I think it is, but I'll let the agents give the deciding vote) I already have Khaladin ready and waiting. Now I need another WIP because I loathe not writing. I have several ideas, especially this one I'm toying with called The Prophecy, but as we say, that's another story. :D
Friday, December 5, 2008
OK, I Need Your Help
My new story, titled Khaladin, is a story about a girl named Judy. Her aunt's horse, Penny, ends up giving birth to a unicorn foal. Well, technically, he's a half unicorn. Long story short, they try to keep him a secret, but the baddie finds out and kidnaps Khaladin. In trying to find more unicorns, said baddie tortures Khaladin.
Here's my problem. The age group I'm targeting is upper middle grade. I don't want anything real gory and gross, like Khaladin lying there dripping in blood. But I would like something that appeals to both sexes. Most girls don't tend to like a lot of blood and guys are like, "Yes, blood!" I'm somewhere in the middle. But do any of you have any suggestions on how to do this scene? Yes, it will be told from either Khaladin's or baddie's point of view.
PS: If you are a member of http://www.absolutewrite.com/ (aka AW) you can go to the children's section and read one chapter that I posted of this story. Also, I have a thread about the torture topic in The Sanbox titled, Unicorn Help......Again.
Here's my problem. The age group I'm targeting is upper middle grade. I don't want anything real gory and gross, like Khaladin lying there dripping in blood. But I would like something that appeals to both sexes. Most girls don't tend to like a lot of blood and guys are like, "Yes, blood!" I'm somewhere in the middle. But do any of you have any suggestions on how to do this scene? Yes, it will be told from either Khaladin's or baddie's point of view.
PS: If you are a member of http://www.absolutewrite.com/ (aka AW) you can go to the children's section and read one chapter that I posted of this story. Also, I have a thread about the torture topic in The Sanbox titled, Unicorn Help......Again.
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