Today

Today I managed to write a pretty good chunk of Shades. I got Saeli started in the portal form, and brought the first of my obstacles, Geris, onto the scene. Today I almost managed to write myself into a corner, when the established rules of magic in my world prevented me from doing something the simple way. Please Login or Register to view this.

Anyway, that’s why we’ve taken a break from our regular schedule of bloggish activities. I’ve actually been, you know, productive.

And the apartment is clean! It’s great! I can actually concentrate on clearing up some areas that always get ignored because I’m too busy trying to catch up with a backload of dishes and laundry.

Tags: editing, Kaladan, Mora, Raphel, revisions, Saeli, Shades, worldbuilding

Raphel is afraid of the dark

Did that get your attention? It got mine. Blame Saeli for the revelation.

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Tags: characters, editing, ideas, Mora, Raphel, revisions, Saeli, Shades

Goals

Well, Shades isn’t going to be done by January. Maybe if I had like a month on a deserted island with food, my computer and a power plug…but even then, it’d be rushed. I don’t want to rush just to get it done; it’s a good story and I want to do it justice. I’ve paid for an agent appointment anyway, because I think it will be good practice, and I’ll get to ask questions. I started making a list of agents I will want to target once I get done…even going as far as picking out some to pitch Mask of Eldarmarch, Dragon Singer, and even Briar Rose to (if nobody is interested in Shades at first).

I decided a while ago that I’m going to need an agent if I want to make a career of writing. One: more and more of the big publishers are no longer accepting un-agented stuff. Two, and possibly more important for me: I am absolutely terrible with legalese. I don’t want to screw up with a first contract and have it come back to bite me later…I’d rather just leave it in the hands of someone whose job is to handle that stuff. But I’ve realized that I’ll need to be particularly selective in my choice of agent, because I have such a broad range of projects I’d like to do. I did some research and discovered that most agents who handle YA and MG (middle grade) fantasy do not handle adult books and don’t know the adult market, and likewise, agents who handle adult fantasy don’t want YA. My first few novels definitely fall somewhere between YA and MG, but my Tindaari epic, for example, was always going to be an adult fantasy. Will I have to get a different agent for that one?

Also, I did not find a single agent that I thought I could pitch multiple ideas to and have them be interested in all of them. Obviously I have more looking to do, and there were a few that I could probably pitch most of my ideas to. But for example, some want gritty urban fantasy, but no regular fantasy…or more specifically, they want fantasy but no vampires (Briar Rose?), or fantasy but no sci-fi (134340?). I mean once you’re in, I guess an agent will represent anything if it’s good enough, but still, I don’t want to get stuck having to find a different agent every two or three books.

Shades is going to be a hard story to sell anyway, for three reasons. It’s YA, it’s long, and it’s my debut. Most publishers won’t take a chance on a super long YA novel from an unknown. Right now I’m probably in the neighborhood of 200,000 words. I can pare that down, and I will, but not in half. Certainly not down to the 80,000 mark (which is about the max for YA, typically). At that point, I’d be sacrificing story for length, and I refuse to do that. I’ll hang onto it and finish Mask of Eldarmarch and sell that first, if I have to. If it was an adult fantasy I could probably get away with long…but I think the voice is too young, and the people that will really be interested in it will be mostly teenaged girls.

But long YA debuts are not unheard of. Stephanie Meyer was relatively unknown, and Twilight came in at 118,501 words. Christopher Paolini was a complete unknown, and Eragon has 157,220 words (though he self-published it first…it existed for a whole year before a major publisher discovered it). Both fantasy, like Shades…even in YA, if it’s fantasy, it can be a little longer than average. I’ve actually revised my word count goal based on these two books…first I will shoot for 150,000 (comparable to Eragon), and if I can manage that, I can shoot for 118,000 (comparable to Twilight). That way, when I pitch it, I can point to the bestseller and be like, hey, this other book was long too, but it did well because it had a great story, etc. I think Shades has a good shot of succeeding on its own merit…as long as I can somehow prevent a prospective agent from having apoplexy over a 150,000 word manuscript.

I’ve also been thinking about the title of the book. “Shades” is an okay one, but it was really more of a working title in my head because I had to call it something. I had several permutations going, having to do with black and white, and shades, and gray, but none of them really seemed right. But one day last week I was scanning back through my first draft chapters (which are all titled based on a phrase from within the chapter), and I happened upon Chapter 24: Like softly breaking glass. And I thought to myself, “You know, that’s a nice poetic line. That could almost be the name of the whole book.” Especially since the essence of the story is not the abstract notion of good verses evil (though the story does cover that, obviously)…it’s about Saeli’s tragic relationship with Raphel. “Like softly breaking glass” conveys that in a way that’s interesting, and eye-catching, and poetic. (Not to mention glass seems to be a common prop in the story).

So, Shades may become Like Softly Breaking Glass when it’s done.

In other news, I have not been able to write at all this week, due to holiday preparations. However, my gingerbread cookies were a success both at our small group and at MOPS today, and I think I have everything bought that needs to be bought. I have some things to finish making, and things to wrap, and probably things to bag, and cards to sign…and the hubby and I’s anniversary is this Sunday, which will be a pleasant reprieve, but still. *sigh* Yeah, I’m beginning to understand why people dread Christmas.

Tags: agents, editing, revisions, Shades

Love and Shades

I had read somewhere that a writer must love her characters. Seems pretty logical, because if the author doesn’t care about the lives of the people she’s creating, why would anyone else? I got to thinking about this in conjunction with Shades. Do I love these characters? Actually, there was only one character in Shades that I couldn’t respond with an immediate “yes”.

Raphel is my favorite character, hands down. Do I love him? Oh yes. Too much. I occasionally I have to make sure I’m not lavishing too much attention on the guy. He has such a strong personality that if I let him have too much leeway, he would take the story and run. Nix that, he wouldn’t run…Raphel would dangle the storyline in front of my face, smile at me with that sexy, challenging glint in his blue eyes, and dare me to try and take it from him. Who could resist? (Apparently, not me ). I like to think that somewhere in that dark heart of his, he harbors a soft spot for Saeli, but honestly, I’m not sure. Beefing up the world around him, Aschera, the raider culture, etc. has actually helped keep him in line. Raphel might want everyone to think he’s got everything under control, but I have a whole world of problems I can use to take him down a notch, if I have to. I’ve already given him a rival cabal to worry about (that was a godawful chapter to write, btw).

Mora is actually keeping her distance from me in this rewrite. I do love her, though, because she’s always cool, and unflappable, and quietly sardonic, if the occasion arises. She’s such a tragic character, in that Raphel had already stolen her soul before Saeli ever met her. She’s a strong woman though, with a lot of history you only get glimpses of. She represents what Saeli could have become, if Raphel had really had the chance to break her. (I think that Saeli has more inner strength than Mora, and that Raphel would have never been able to completely conquer her, but it would have been a near thing.)

I’m having a lot of fun with Kaladan this time around. He’s a complicated man, and next to Saeli, he probably has the biggest character arc of anyone. You have to love a character who can throw out one-liners like this one:

Geris licked his lips. “You can’t blame me for being careful. This is enemy territory,” he said.
“Aye, we’ve only remained undiscovered in the largest Mantle city in the region for two whole moons,” Kaladan remarked. “Clearly Raphel’s subterfuge skills leave much to be desired.”

But his history is what really makes him fun to work with. In a way, as a Mantle turned Cowl turned Gray, he has the most perspective of any of them.

Cara is great because on the surface she seems like a typical young woman, flighty, scatterbrained, and doesn’t care for much other than socializing. But on the inside, she has an unwavering spirit and deep affection and loyalty to those she cares about. She’s the type of person who would never take charge unless they were forced into it, and then they would do an amazing job. Her early optimism and carefree nature is something I regret taking away from her at the end…but everyone in this story has to lose something.

Brendan…eh, who wouldn’t love Brendan? He’s the classic boy-next-door, who is willing to suffer in silence while the girl he loves dates someone else, just so she can be happy. Until he finds out the other guy is hurting her, of course…he won’t stand for that. Unfortunately, he’s a character that only really becomes important by dying.

Geris is like Peter Pettigrew from HP: one of those cowering, whiny villains who are so pathetic that it’s incredible how much trouble they manage to stir up. I like him for that, and because he gets what’s coming to him in the end. The High Priestess, aka Linserae. Avalgo. Othau. Isharyel. Hakarin.  Adna. The Keeper of the Oath. Jalil…those are all my minors that really get screen time, and I love them all, for various reasons. And there are my gods: Yuril, Scisaxar, Naeth.

I considered every single character in Shades, and interestingly enough, the only one that I’m not sure I love is…Saeli. And I was like “uh-oh…I love everyone except my PROTAGONIST? That can’t be good.” It’s not that I don’t like her, it’s just that I don’t seem to have any real perspective on the matter. She is so much of ME, in this story, that I can’t distance myself from her. Saying I love Raphel or anyone else is like saying I love my husband…I’m analyzing my own feelings for another person. Trying to decide if I love Saeli is like me trying to be someone else trying to decide if they like me. She is…transparent, to me.  I have been trying to give her more backbone this time around, and a few definite quirks that are NOT like me. But for the most part, how she reacts to things is pretty much how I would react, were I in her shoes. However, I’m pretty sure she’s not a Mary Sue…she screws up too much. She doesn’t always make the best decisions (clinging to Raphel for so long being the chief of these…but interestingly, I’m pretty sure I would make the same mistake).

The rewriting is going more slowly than I would like. I worry, sometimes, that I just don’t write quickly enough to survive in this industry. Even when I have a block of five hours to work with, I still don’t get a whole chapter done. I don’t know if I could really write a book per year, even if I had huge blocks of time to work in. I guess either it’s something you learn, or you find a publisher willing to let you take two and three years to produce a work. I’m beefing up some of the sexual tension in this story, even though I still don’t think I could market this as a genre romance. But the story is about Saeli and Raphel’s relationship, so I’m trying to keep the focus there, where I can.

Tags: Brendan, Cara, characters, editing, Kaladan, Mora, Raphel, revisions, Saeli, Shades

Reinvisioning parts of Shades

The revision process continues. Please Login or Register to view this.

Anyway, I have precisely three months to get this story done and polished before the conference. (Technically, I may have a little longer, because even if I get a bite at the conference, there will still be a period of days or weeks of querying and conversing back and forth with a potential editor or agent). That’s a little scary, but I’m going to try to do it.

Tags: Brendan, Cara, editing, Raphel, revisions, Saeli, Shades

My voice, and a Shades update

Well, I woke up this morning with no voice. I’ve had a cold since last Thursday or so, though luckily it hasn’t been a really bad one. Lots of throat soreness, which is a change from the I-can’t-breathe stuffiness I usually get. I think I actually prefer the sore throat…not being able to breathe is scary, especially at night when you start having dreams about it. Plus, I’m not using boxes and boxes of tissue. (No, it’s just all dripping down the back of my throat instead )

It’s amazingly difficult to handle a three year old child without a voice. I could whisper this morning, but Eli thought that was some kind of game, and refused to listen to me. *facepalm* My voice has come back gradually throughout the day, but my throat is still very sore.

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Tags: Brendan, Cara, editing, Kaladan, Mora, Raphel, revisions, Saeli, Shades, the High Priestess

Smell of November

A number of months ago, I wrote a short story that I intend on submitting to a Writer’s Digest competition sometimes before Nov. 2. I’m not a very good short story writer…or at least it doesn’t come naturally to me. My ideas for stories can be many and varied, but rarely are they brief. Writing “Smell of November” was a challenge.

Last night, I went through the draft that one of my friends so thoroughly picked apart for me, and revised. I need more people to point out when my prose starts turning alarming shades of purple. I’m on version 4 of the story now, and I definitely think it has improved. I’m going to send it out to my critique group and see what they think. I’ll revise one more time after that, and call it done.

I think that’s an accomplishment. Now, back to Shades…

Tags: editing, revisions, smell of november

Shades update

I committed a grave writer’s sin the other day, and started revising a portion of Shades before the rough draft is done. In my defense, I really can’t help it if good ideas occur to me at inopportune times. Not only am I not done with the ending yet, I was driving when I had the brainwave and had to wait until I got home to play with it.

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Tags: editing, ideas, revisions, Shades