Sent off my Mad Scientist story to my critique group. There’s one or two sentences I may cut or change radically but it’s one of the sillier things I’ve written. I guess I could try to do a serious Mad Scientist story, someone descending into madness could be an interesting challenge to write, but the sub-genre in general seems to have its tongue in cheek.
Lots of submissions this week for us Wordslingers. Very good to see. I can’t wait to dig in and read them. With so many, I’m not going to be able to wait until Friday night, though. :) Ah well, the discipline will be good for me.
I also sent off my synopsis to our novel editing teacher, Lois Brandt. The bloody thing sprawled out to six pages, even cutting some subplots. I may go back to the snowflake method, starting with a one-sentence summary* and then expanding out to a paragraph, then a page. MAYBE I can go from that into three pages. We’ll see. I’ll have to do it when I send “The Mageborn Mechanic” out to editors (and Donald Maass Agency) later this spring.
Apart from critiques, I’m also going to start outlining my next novel, which I want to work on at the Rainforest Writer’s Retreat. I’ve decided to go a sequal to Smooth Running. I’m planning to get a trilogy finished and up on Amazon/B&N/iBooks while I try to sell Mageborn Mechanic to the New York houses. So I’ll be brainstorming and outlining and daydreaming for the next week or so. I have a general idea of where the story was supposed to go but I’m thinking I can probably raise those stakes a lot. I’ve learned a lot about plot and story since that first novel.
Finally, I’m going to refresh my memory of Andrea Host’s “Lab Rat One” and get a review up, soonish. I’m really impressed with her writing. I’m reading “The Ranger’s Apprentice”, another , traditionally-published YA novel and her work is at least as good, maybe better. I’d really like to get her book into more people’s hands. Maybe I can convince her to do an interview here. I’d like to do author interviews and help in my small way, other writers.
*An 18 year old with a magical gift for understanding machines gets blackmailed into stealing data from a government server.
Lots of submissions this week for us Wordslingers. Very good to see. I can’t wait to dig in and read them. With so many, I’m not going to be able to wait until Friday night, though. :) Ah well, the discipline will be good for me.
I also sent off my synopsis to our novel editing teacher, Lois Brandt. The bloody thing sprawled out to six pages, even cutting some subplots. I may go back to the snowflake method, starting with a one-sentence summary* and then expanding out to a paragraph, then a page. MAYBE I can go from that into three pages. We’ll see. I’ll have to do it when I send “The Mageborn Mechanic” out to editors (and Donald Maass Agency) later this spring.
Apart from critiques, I’m also going to start outlining my next novel, which I want to work on at the Rainforest Writer’s Retreat. I’ve decided to go a sequal to Smooth Running. I’m planning to get a trilogy finished and up on Amazon/B&N/iBooks while I try to sell Mageborn Mechanic to the New York houses. So I’ll be brainstorming and outlining and daydreaming for the next week or so. I have a general idea of where the story was supposed to go but I’m thinking I can probably raise those stakes a lot. I’ve learned a lot about plot and story since that first novel.
Finally, I’m going to refresh my memory of Andrea Host’s “Lab Rat One” and get a review up, soonish. I’m really impressed with her writing. I’m reading “The Ranger’s Apprentice”, another , traditionally-published YA novel and her work is at least as good, maybe better. I’d really like to get her book into more people’s hands. Maybe I can convince her to do an interview here. I’d like to do author interviews and help in my small way, other writers.
*An 18 year old with a magical gift for understanding machines gets blackmailed into stealing data from a government server.
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