The Trident of Merrow Writing Log

Back to the search...

2009-09-12T15:43:00.003-04:00

Got a reply back from that agency we sent the 50 pages to: it's a no go. That makes lucky 13! Time to look again (it'll give Kris a break between job hunting).

We got a bite!

2009-06-24T14:15:00.001-04:00

Let's hope it doesn't wriggle off the hook! OMG I still can't believe it... Kris called and said check the e-mail... an agent we queried wants to see the first 50 pages of the manuscript! :D

Wish us luck!

Rejection #12

2009-06-17T12:50:00.001-04:00

The one we sent in by snail mail came back with a woefully thin envelope containing a form rejection. Oh well, one for the board!

Bit of a hiatus

2009-03-29T11:50:00.003-04:00

Things are kind of on hold for the moment. Kris drafted a new query letter that is a lot more dynamic and sounds much more "us" than the sort of stiff sounding one we'd been sending that got us all those rejects so far.

Unfortunately, life has been throwing some shit at him (not my place to go into detail) so for now while he's dealing with that, we're kind of in a holding pattern. We fully intend to see this through, though, but there are things that need dealing with first. Good thing manuscripts don't have shelf lives.

Tallying the Board

2009-01-23T00:55:00.004-05:00

Just looking at the magical cork board next to my desk which I mentioned awhile back. Right now we're at five rejections. Just sent out four more queries, so that leaves it at eight outstanding.

It's funny, but this is really getting much easier for me. The first time I sent out a query, I could hardly bring myself to hit the "send" button, I was so nervous. I think I've taken to the curmudgeonly tactic of expecting rejection. You're never disappointed that way. If you get a rejection letter, well...it wasn't unexpected. If you get a request for partials or a manuscript, then you're pleasantly surprised. Only way to go is up, right?

Am's note: I agree. I've been expecting rejections, partly because I somehow feel we have to hit a quota before we end up getting a success. I think it's a decent tactic... I mean, we're not being pessimistic. If we were, we'd give up.

Rejection #5: The quick hits keep on comin'!

2009-01-21T12:42:00.003-05:00

<-- Massi's starting to get grumpy.

Dear Amber and Kristopher,

Thank you for submitting your query to The ______ Agency. While your proposal shows merit, I'm afraid it's not right for us. As I'm sure you know, this is a very subjective business, and no doubt another agent will feel differently. Best of luck in your writing career.

Best wishes,
______
Assistant

Awaiting two more replies...

Dear Amber and Kristopher,

What did the five fingers say to the face?! "SLAP!"

Best Wishes,

Agency X.

Comment setup update

2009-01-21T12:38:00.001-05:00

Instead of only being able to leave a comment if you have an account or openID, I changed it to moderated, so I'll have to approve them before they show up. So now you can leave comments here, Terry!

Rejection #4

2009-01-20T22:17:00.005-05:00

I love how they always put that "don't take this as a comment on your writing ability." It's reassuring.

Kristopher Lewis [10:15 PM]:
Oh GOODY!
Kristopher Lewis [10:16 PM]:
Now THAT's service!
Amber Marshall [10:16 PM]:
?
Kristopher Lewis [10:16 PM]:
Dear Amber and Kristopher,
Thank you for querying me. Unfortunately I am going to have to pass at this time.
Please don't take this rejection as a comment on your writing ability, because it isn't intended
to be one. I'm sure another agent will feel differently.
Best of luck to you with the submission process.
____
Agent
____ Literary & Media Representation
Amber Marshall [10:16 PM]:
man that was quick
Kristopher Lewis [10:16 PM]:
45 minute turn around.

Kristopher Lewis [10:17 PM]:
Hey, once again, it didn't sound like a form letter, so I'm taking that as a good sign.
Amber Marshall [10:18 PM]:
nice
Kristopher Lewis [10:18 PM]:
yeah, it's a disappointing, but "I'm sure another agent will feel differently." is very promising.
Amber Marshall [10:19 PM]:
It's funny; it's not all that disappointing.
Amber Marshall [10:19 PM]:
I figure eventually we'll hit and in the meantime it's kinda rolling off
Kristopher Lewis [10:19 PM]:
No, that's two non-forms in a row
Kristopher Lewis [10:20 PM]:
and while a non-form is a rejection, it also tells me that our query is good, just not for person X.
Amber Marshall [10:20 PM]:
:) I hope so!
Kristopher Lewis [10:21 PM]:
If an agent doesn't like your writing, they aren't inclined to say, "I'm sure another agent will feel differently."

The latest news

2009-01-13T14:58:00.003-05:00

Haven't updated in awhile, so here's what's up:

-Still waiting on query #4. Gonna send out query #5 soon, possibly.

-Asked for some YA readers on Shelfari for the first three chapters, got two replies with feedback.

-Rethought some plot stuff for book 2 (Witchbred). Mostly Kris's brain working away on it though I submitted a few ideas. Probably going to start working on it again soon.

-I've been doing some fan art. :)

Massimo's Lament

2009-01-03T01:32:00.002-05:00

Little nursery rhyme I came up with to channel my anger...a bit on the melodramatic side. This would fall much later in the Witchbreed Chronicles timeline, but fun nonetheless. Here's to vengeance, m'good witchbreed!

Ten lashes for the anguish you stirred up inside,
Ten more for the lover you ripped from my side,
Ten for the family that I'll never know,
Ten for the child I'll never see grow.
The last ten for hatred I know all too well,
And one musket ball to send you to hell.

Rejection #3 but with a twist!

2008-12-11T22:17:00.003-05:00

Kristopher Lewis [10:15 PM]:
And even as I speak! Dear Kristopher and Amber,
Thank you so much for querying us with your project. Unfortunately, while we found the concept interesting, we did not feel it was the right fit for our agency at this time. Thanks again for thinking of _________ and we wish you both nothing but the best in your publishing careers.

Sincerely,
M___ J_____
Submissions Coordinator
Amber Marshall [10:16 PM]:
wow, they're getting faster
Amber Marshall [10:16 PM]:
so not exactly a form letter this time, or do they tell everyone they find the concept interesting?
Kristopher Lewis [10:16 PM]:
Yes, but you know what? I think they considered it this time. I really think they did!
Kristopher Lewis [10:16 PM]:
No, they wouldn't bother.
Amber Marshall [10:16 PM]:
Yay! we're working our way.
Kristopher Lewis [10:16 PM]:
I've never been so happy about a rejection! LOL
Amber Marshall [10:17 PM]:
heehee
Kristopher Lewis [10:17 PM]:
The other reason I know it's not a form rejection? They used our names BOTH of them!
Amber Marshall [10:18 PM]:
wow
Kristopher Lewis [10:18 PM]:
"Dear Kristopher and Amber,"
Kristopher Lewis [10:20 PM]:
And considering we signed the letter "Amber Marshall and Kristopher Lewis" it took more than a cut and paste
-----

So yeah... we were just talking about how after reading a lot of varied advice on queries, it seems that the key is persistence, not a magical formula of how to write the query. And then we get this reply that seems to encourage us on that path... that eventually we'll work our way up to someone who is interested enough to represent us.

Wish us luck!

Off topic, but worth mentioning

2008-12-11T00:33:00.006-05:00

This has nothing to do with writing, but it impacts one of our lives, so everyone welcome Amber to aunthood. Her niece, Autumn, was born on December 9th, 2008.

Congrats to Am and her family (sister especially) on their new addition!

That was (disconcertingly) quick

2008-12-01T18:25:00.004-05:00

Kris sent a query out last night and we've already gotten a rejection form letter. That makes two! I just found out A Wrinkle in Time got passed up 29 times, and we all know Dr Seuss got rejected over and over again. And in Googling those I found some article with advice for salespeople talking about how one of the main elements to successful sales is persistence.

Garin just said, "If you run out of agents, start spamming the publishers." Heh.

Well, the upside is we didn't have to wait long. On to the next! I've gotten this advice more than once: "I just tell myself, 'my goal is to get twenty rejection letters by the end of the month!'" Let's see how many we rack up by 2009, yeah?

And on the seventh day...

2008-11-30T02:37:00.004-05:00

So that's it, all there is. The manuscript is done, finished, complete. We'll not be changing anything until an agent or editor tells us otherwise. I should have the query done by Monday, and then it's a break before continuing to work on Witchbred. Am and I are patting ourselves on the backs right about now. Feel free to join in!

Am's note: YAY! Yknow, it's the very very last day of National Novel Writing Month, and even though we didn't write this in a month, it feels right somehow that we finished it in this month. Go us!

Move over Wolverine

2008-11-24T06:37:00.003-05:00

My claws are made of pure Tedium. I laugh at your adamantium. Oh, and I'm a bigger dork than you'll ever be. Hah! Blame the timestamp, people.

Latest update: Parts 1 and 2 have been compiled and formatted. Hope to have 3 and 4 completed before the holiday--I'll be pushing. It's looking fantastic.

Vae Victus!

2008-11-22T06:27:00.002-05:00

Part 4 copy editing is in the bag. We're about 20,000 words (maybe less) from putting this bad boy to bed and starting the query process again. It's a much stronger story this time around, in my opinion, and I even find myself starting to like some characters I wasn't too fond of in the first couple drafts.

This time we're not taking "no" for an answer.

Almost there

2008-11-20T13:53:00.003-05:00

So the last revision has been written; I just finished up the last little rewrite of part 4 last night. Now it's on to the copy editing once again. I copy-edited part 2 last night and found surprisingly little error. That works for me. Must mean we're doing something right, hey? At this rate, we should definitely be done before the holidays and then... Well, then it's that whole patience thing, which I lack in spades.

Am's note: I have enough for the both of us. :p You want I should change the Gmail password so you can't check obsessively? ;)

Part 3 complete?

2008-11-17T14:14:00.004-05:00

I should let Kris get a post in edgewise once in awhile but anyway... I think part three is done. Are we really reaching the home stretch? :)

Kris here: Indeed we are. I just have to do some cutting/pasting for part 3, and we can move on to the next. I'm horrible about committing to blogs; I always have been. I could update it everyday for days, and then suddenly stop. Then I won't blog for weeks, maybe even months. Bah. Oh well, I'll try and be a little better about updating here. I really do want to record trials and tribs so we can look back on all of this and say, "I remember when I was little more than a writing smeet. Oh well, no time for nostalgia. The movie premiere awaits." ;)

Part two vanquished

2008-11-12T13:59:00.005-05:00

Kris and I have put part two to bed, on to the airship! :D

Kris with an update: The revisions on part three have begun in earnest. Am's making my job way too easy on this one. Won't hear me complain, though. =)

Am with an update: Silly man, you just rewrote the part I was supposed to rewrite and I'm making it too easy?

Massimania

2008-11-03T23:49:00.007-05:00

So yeah, I had time on my hands today. On my Epiphanation blog I've created icons (with permission) from another artist's Temari art. Today I tried my hand (for several hours) at making my version of our favorite witchbreed. Here are the results:

Quickie updates

2008-10-30T13:32:00.002-04:00

-Geistnacht story is done.

-I wrote a couple more part 2 scenes; Kris will be tweaking them soon.

-Halloween (my 26th birthday) is tomorrow!

-I am wearing my devil horns. >;)

-Pending me receiving a drawing tablet for my birthday, I'll be doing some more Trident "fan art" (should we just call it creator art?). One I'm thinking of as a gift to... somebody... ;p for Christmas. We'll see.

MvM <-a bat

Geistnacht

2008-10-24T13:48:00.002-04:00

I'm working on a fun little Halloween-themed story set in Aquan, assigned to me by Kris to celebrate and keep up the spirit of the season (and give him time to figure out the next steps in our rewrite/play some video games while I catch up). It's so much fun! :D I love writing holiday-themed stories and I love writing these little mini-stories related to our larger tale. It's not really set within the timeline of the novels.

Someday after the novels are out, I foresee an anthology of things like this...

Report!

2008-10-23T04:29:00.003-04:00

It's been a bit, so I figured I'd just leave a small update. Am and I are slogging away on the latest iteration of part 2 of Trident of Merrow. It's really kind of cool to see how all of this started and then watch it turn into something very different after a few revisions. We've lost some really good scenes, added some equally good new ones, and even cut out a lot of the excess blah.

I have to say in all my years writing, I don't think I've ever had this much fun and patience with one story. "Drink up, me 'earties. Yo ho!"

Forging ahead to part two

2008-10-16T11:55:00.004-04:00

Well, I already had, but that was before our decision to cut a bunch of stuff. I completely rewrote Germaine's dream... that turned out slightly different. I hope it serves; I had a brainstorm in the shower but you know how long it takes to get to the keyboard from that point. Eh, we can tweak it like crazy, no big deal.

UPDATE (10-17-08): Man, Kris is doing a fantastic job! I'm intimidated...

All Aboard!

2008-10-13T02:51:00.002-04:00

How appropriate that I set sail for Sturmwald once again on Columbus Day. I plan on going back and looking closely at most of the scenes for the Gallows Jig crew, deciding what should stay and what should go. Obviously, I don't make these decisions lightly, and certainly not without Co-Captain Marshall. Though it saddens me to release some of these babies, in the end it makes for a stronger story, and that's the most important thing.

Waaaaaahhhh

2008-10-09T02:45:00.003-04:00

I'm going bloody insane here. Seriously, it's like going through nicotine withdrawal without the physical side-effects.

I suppose I can start something this weekend. Am's well ahead of me now, so I've got to catch up. I'll be psyched when we're finally ready to send this out... And now I'm babbling without purpose at three in the morning since my life's routine is all out of whack. Bah!

Am's note: Well, to be perfectly honest with you, Kris, I'm going to stop until you get back into it. I'm just not doing much good when I'm not talking through stuff with you and reading what you send to get an idea of what kinds of things I should change. It'll give me a chance to catch up on chores and wedding planning anyway, yeah? :)

Sweeping changes!

2008-10-08T13:51:00.002-04:00

Ok, perhaps not always so sweeping. But there are a few things that we're thinking of changing around. I think once we're done (like really done) with the book, we'll be amazed to see how different it is from what it started as.

Kris's in-laws are visiting this week, so I've been working solo. He put some notes in what I went over, which goes to show I work much better when he's working with me. Thanks for switching my brain back on! :)

Meh!

2008-10-04T13:55:00.004-04:00

Quick update. I finished what we refer to as "Part I" in Trident last night. I fear it's probably the last bit of writing that I will do for the next week due to familial obligations.

I'm thinking that Am is probably having a much harder time with this rewrite than I am; she's given me a strong foundation to work with, so it's been a walk in the proverbial park. Anyway, that's all I had to report. Happy Autumn! Enjoy the cool air and sunshine!

Am's note: It's just that I haven't been changing much... sea battles (or any battle) are not really my strength. And we may get about the same amount done... today at least has been mega-busy and I wasn't able to do any writing.

And although it's cold it sure is pretty out! Brisk! Nice for a walk in the sun though. :)

Cross rewrite

2008-10-01T21:56:00.002-04:00

Kris and I finally decided that this playing around with each other's scenes is making things tons better, so we've put Witchbred on simmer for now while we go back to Trident of Merrow and tweak the scenes the other has written. It's balancing out the voice (and each other's strengths/weaknesses) and trimming/filling. Plus now that we have it in mind that we're going to shoot for the young adult market, we can tailor the story a bit to make it a better fit.

That means we're holding off on the query too. We don't want to unintentionally misrepresent the word count or be caught mid-rewrite if they want to see the manuscript we're telling them is finished.

Masterful

2008-10-01T12:25:00.003-04:00

After an evening of fumbling back and forth, my beleaguered collegue managed to whip up an incredible query. If we keep improving at this rate, there's no stopping us.

Somehow I think the main reason most authors go through a ton of rejections before getting accepted is because it takes that long to perfect the query writing. Haha

Seriously though, Kris, excellent job! I definitely couldn't have come close to topping it; it was beautiful. Thanks again for taking the reins on this. :)

Shikamaru and Naruto -or- On to the next query!

2008-09-30T11:26:00.003-04:00

So yesterday, Kris and I managed to get out something like 2000 words although he was pushing himself and dragging me along. He had the sort of Naruto "I'll keep throwing myself against this wall until it breaks!" attitude whereas I had the Shikamaru "What a pain in the ass this is, man..." attitude. Yes, we are dorks. Anyway, we decided to go back to our roots, old school (yo yo yo) and passed a scene back and forth in the ol' "I start, you add a bit until you run out, pass it back to me" tradition that started out Trident of Merrow. Hell, it's a SFD (shitty first draft) so why sweat it? We'll make it good later, just toss it on the pile. ;p

We've chosen our next target for query, and are rewriting our summary accordingly, much in the same way one would tailor their resume and cover letter differently for a different potential employer based on what they're looking for and what style they have. So far I like it more than our previous. It sounds much more YA, to start with, which we've decided is what we're aiming for since it's my natural tendency and I've infected Kris with it.

The Cork Board

2008-09-28T17:41:00.003-04:00

I figure now would be a good time to discuss, "the cork board." The cork board is a slab of--you guessed it--cork board sitting next to my desk, in what I affectionately refer to as my "office" (though it serves as one of those old-style 'rumpus rooms' too, just without the wood paneling.) I don't have enough space on the walls near my desk to hang it, so it sits next to the desk, tucked away like some oversized file in a drawer. Anyway, the function of the "cork board" is to track my successes and my rejections--not failures, failures are way more absolute than rejections.

I currently have one acceptance and now three rejections on the board.

There should be a fourth, but I'm missing one from the OTW days. Seems a little daunting, seems like the stats suggest this is fruitless, but in the end, the cork board is really a symbol of determination. Sure, rejection sucks; it gets you thinking about why the hell you're doing what you're doing. But it's a reminder that you're doing this "for the love of the game." I'm going to keep writing. I'm going to keep trying to share my work, and eventually, someone who is in a position to shop it out to a larger audience will have enough faith to believe in it.

I can't expect everyone in the world to like my work, and I can't really take rejection from an agent personally. I mean, if the query is rejected, it means the agent hasn't even read my work--how can I take that personally? They just didn't see the marketability in it, I guess. But if I did this based on marketability, I'd probably be a little more well off than I already am. So press on, and all of that good stuff, hey? Not like the crew of the Jig or the Folly would let an agent's form letter deter them.

Am's note: Yeah, did we think this was going to be easy or something? ;p We haven't even started to run out of agents yet!

It's the one that hits that counts, not the several that miss, right?

Rejection #1 racked up

2008-09-28T17:22:00.000-04:00

Sigh...

Well, who's next on the list?

Perchance to Dream

2008-09-25T23:02:00.004-04:00

I have to say that writing Witchbred is an entirely different experience from writing Trident of Merrow. Trident was a fast, furious ride of nights that turned into mornings, 5,000-7,000 word sessions at the keyboard, 8-hour Sundays, and pushes to just get the rough done. Witchbred, on the other hand, has been more like a dream. I sit down at the keyboard (usually at work) and I start to type in this haze, almost as if I'm asleep, and when I wake up, I suddenly have 2,000 or so words on the doc in front of me. The words seem jumbled, intangible, and lackluster as I write them, but when I go back to the read them, they're not bad at all. In fact, they're the same quality as the Trident rough, if not better. Looking back and realizing that we only started Witchbred a month ago, I'm impressed by the body of work we have so far. And rather than a flurry of typing and sleepless nights, it's been more of a languid play-it-by-ear situation. Are we evolving as writers, I wonder?

Am's note: Yes, I think so. The only thing about the more languid pace is I feel like I'm lazy or something, like I'm not working hard "enough" or as hard as I did on Trident. But it's not like we're putting out crap or putting out hardly anything so I'm sure it's just a perception thing.

My theory is that we had been dabbling (working on small, shorter projects and exercises) for so long that when we actually started working on something constantly and long term, we started to "live the writing life" as they say. So yeah, I think we are evolving. They say practice makes perfect, and you definitely can't accuse us of skimping on practice the last several months. :)

Checking in

2008-09-24T13:35:00.005-04:00

While I haven't re-experienced writing nirvana, I can say that Kris and I have been kicking some major ass. I actually am starting to think that I do a better job on it at work. Who'da thunk?

Kris just sent me an energizing lead in today that I plan to tackle once I go in. Unless I go in and find out we're all laid off.

But we are evil, evil people. We hurt you 'cause we love you, Tosh and Massi. You gotta believe me, baby.

Evil aside, I have to say I love those moments where you start writing with only a vague notion of where you're going. And then you hit that point where you assess everything that's happening and you say, "Oh. OH!" Happened last night while I was busy thinking of mean things to do to our "children." I was just sort of slogging along through the build up, and then it just kind of slapped me upside the head like a coal shovel. It'll be interesting to see what kind of mess Am makes for these two...

Like a gift from the muses

2008-09-22T20:56:00.003-04:00

I tapped into something truly rare and exquisite tonight. I can't believe it happened at work. I started out today feeling performance anxiety about my next scene. As usual, Kris sparked me with a bit of direction and off I went. And that's when it happened: perfect brain-to-page translation. Everything came out exactly as I wanted it, exactly the way I wanted it, with no feeling like I was trying to paint a dream and doing a poor facsimile. From start to finish, I wrote the scene with ease and skill and I'm so utterly satisfied and proud of it. :) It's an incredible feeling.

Kris here. While I didn't reach this state of Nirvana Am speaks of (and I hope to one day) I did go in pursuit of it and managed to crank out a kick-ass scene. Normally I'm very humble about my own work, but I know I'm doing well when it's a ball writing it. Looking forward to the days ahead.

Am again. Yes, that scene kicked major ass. Yesterday was a great writing day. Must be because it was the first day of autumn, eh? ;) We're getting in our element. Let's hope the asskickery continues!

Short story done (?)

2008-09-21T15:44:00.001-04:00

Or very nearly, anyway. I'm proud that I can write a love scene and give people a good sense of what's going on without getting too technical or too metaphorical. No throbbing members here, folks, nor blooming flowers dripping with dew (ew). Romance writers could take a lesson. Actually, that's probably why a lot of people read those things, and they'd find my stuff boring. Whatever. :p

Writing for fun

2008-09-18T11:50:00.003-04:00

Even a dark, edgy writer has to cut loose and write something sweet and lighthearted for a change.

Kris and I are fucking sadists. We're torturing these poor kids. It makes for a great story, true, and they'll come out better in the end, but I feel so sorry for them. All that angst! I love writing it, though. Still, I like writing stuff that's amusing and that's what I'm doing.

I didn't write a word yesterday, as I was convalescing (and I do feel better, not 100% but I think it was worth the day of bumming around). But as usual, I was doing dishes today and started thinking about my "homework assignment" of writing Massi and Tosh's first date, and I thought, "Am, every time you postpone it you lose it, so sit your ass down."

I got to the end of what I'd pondered about, so I stopped to eat. Now I'm going to take a shower and probably be flooded with ideas like usual (it's something about water, I think). Hopefully I won't lose it by the time I'm done straightening my bangs.

Spoilerish sample of a part I'm proud of (or at least demonstrates how I write when I'm going for "fun"):

Tosh was splayed face-down on the bed, tangled in her sheets with one leg stuck out over the edge of the mattress, a pillow clutched over her head. Massimo walked up and tickled the sole of her foot with a fingertip. “Hey, wake up. We’re going to the faire today, remember?”
“Bloody Harlot’s filthy fecking sheets,” she mumbled, muffled by the pillow. “Go ‘way.” Massimo bent to kiss her ankle and had to jump back as she kicked out at him.
“Whoa, I see how it is,” he chuckled.
“’m tired,” Tosh whined.
“You’ll be awake once you get up and eat something. I saw a nice little café around the corner from here. We can go get some coffee. They put syrup in it to flavor it. Sounds delicious,” Massimo cajoled. “They have muffins the size of your fist,” he went on, clearly impressed by this.
She brandished her broken hand at him, the white cast like a club. “I’ll bonk you so hard,” she threatened.

Not a Bloody Word

2008-09-18T05:30:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I didn't write anything today. Well, technically I mapped out villain motivations for the story, but that didn't actually contribute to the story directly. Anyway, nothing new on Witchbred, though Am did that rocking tattoo flash.

On another note, I discovered something about myself today: I am a horrible copy editor. After looking at Terry's (my wife for those of you who don't know) "magic notebook" of errors she found on her read-through of Trident I was floored. Man, I had read every page aloud, thought I got everything. Not even close. I think maybe I should take Am's approach and just tidy things up when I'm done with a scene. The way I function now, I just sort of sit down, let my fingers start typing, and say, "HEY! It's a rough! I'll get those later!" Well, evidently I won't. We're tackling Witchbred a bit differently from the way we handled Trident, so here's hoping that shaking things up will tidy up the copy.

My advice to you on writing a manuscript: Don't be a Kris; be an Amber. You'll save yourself a lot more time when it comes time to copy edit.

PS: Can you tell I've been messing with copy? I even underlined the titles in this entry rather than just putting them in italics like you'd do if you weren't submitting something.

AM'S 2 CENTS: Actually, your method is the way all my profs suggested we write, because my way tends to freeze people up. You have to shut your "inner editor" down otherwise you get too self-conscious. Of course, turning the "inner editor" on afterward and going over the scene isn't bad. I just do it to avoid embarrassment.

It is really hard to copy-edit one's own stuff. I figure, don't get too thrown by it; that's why we had Garin and Terry read through it in the first place, right? :)

Witchbred preview: Order of Brayshaw tattoo/flag design

2008-09-17T10:14:00.004-04:00

Not to spoil anything, but there is a brotherhood of pirates in Witchbred (book 2) called the Order of Brayshaw. All the members bear a certain tattoo (which is also the design on their flag). Kris had me design one up, and here it is:

Co-dependant and it feels so good

2008-09-16T12:40:00.002-04:00

Kris said yesterday that it seems like we're becoming dependant on each other because neither of us will be too enthused about writing until we start passing ideas back and forth. It seems to be working, though! It certainly makes work more bearable...

We realized that long outlines sometimes translate into shorter-than-we-thought word counts... luckily Kris's amazing brain thought up a bunch of ideas and we've inserted several new scenes. There has been a lot of brainstorming and talking, as well as shaking up of the outline, I mean events that have ripple effects and then we have to figure out "well then how do we deal with/change this?" It's a great mental exercise.

Unlike in Trident, we're doing a lot more of "I write a scene, hand it to you, you rewrite and tweak, hand it back" just to keep our characters consistent. Since we each followed a different group last time, we know certain characters better than the other. Plus often one of us has a certain "vision" for a scene so usually whoever has one, claims it, and the other puts in their refining/altering afterward.

Meanwhile, I'm leaping ahead to book three (I think we decided Strega Hunter is a good title) to do a sketch of a tattoo sported by a brotherhood of pirates. I've done two or three tattoo designs in my life, so this should be all right.

Concise or imprecise?

2008-09-15T12:44:00.001-04:00

Only 613 words today for one scene. It's very brief. I dunno if that's good or bad but I guess we'll see.

Garin finished reading the manuscript, and my father even picked it up for a short while and said that it drew him in and he wants me to bring it back next time I come down so he can work on reading it. :D Very encouraging!

Plodding Along

2008-09-13T05:02:00.003-04:00

So the total tally for the week on Witchbred seems to be about the first 4-5 chaps, depending on how we break this down. Not bad at all. Who knows...we could very well have a sequel before Trident ever makes it to print. Wouldn't that just be a trip?

!@&^# Kids!

2008-09-12T14:43:00.003-04:00

So I went to bed at a reasonsable 4 am last night, not bad considerng my lifestyle. I made dinner (for today,) Terry and I watched some Naruto, and then we went to bed.

Only I probably didn't actually get to sleep until sometime much later.

Brion, Gage, Tosh...welcome to the shit list. These dysfunctional little bastards kept me up all night with their incessant bickering. I know I probably should have just bitten the proverbial bullet, hopped out of bed, and found the ole notebook, but that would've been giving in. And you know kids these days...you give in once and they'll run all over you...

"You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun"

2008-09-12T13:36:00.002-04:00

Quoth my darling Zuko (yes, I am an Avatard and a Zuko fangirl).

Kris and I are like two sides of a scale, even though we're really similar in a lot of personality ways. He stays up 'til all hours writing amazing stuff, I got tapioca-headed after work and can't get out but a rough framework to improve upon the next day.

Case in point: last night I left work at 9pm (I got in at 1 for a special thing I had to do and so got out 8 hours later instead of taking the OT) and came home to write. I finished one scene and started another, and it wasn't horrible. It wasn't even difficult. But I thought about it this morning and it was like I finally hit the right switch, the Wiimote went "doodily doo!" and a previously locked gate swung open (sorry, Zelda analogy). I rewrote it (finished it too, as I'd stopped midway last night) and I'm pretty satisfied as far as first drafts go.

I think our first draft stuff is a lot stronger now. It makes sense; now we're in practice, and we had been rewriting our other stuff and looking out for certain things that we still have in mind as we write the rough of Witchbred (yes, we decided on a name, since we're planning on calling the whole the The Witchbreed Chronicles or something similar).

So yeah, 1200 words today, huzzah!

Words of wit

2008-09-11T12:10:00.004-04:00

To my personal shame, Kris leaves me utterly in the dust in the realm of witty and entertaining exchanges of dialogue and action between our characters. The rough of chapter one is fantastic! I have to do my part by finishing off a scene that he started (we're using the "when I get stuck I pass it to you" method of collaboration at the moment, which seems to work beautifully given our balance of strengths and weaknesses) but my damn day job keeps getting in the way...

All in all, a very strong start, which is encouraging. :)

As a personal plug, my Toadstool Bookstore signing is Saturday from 11am-1pm (this is in Milford, NH). I'll be reading a section of "The Price of Longing" my story that was published in Carved in Granite. I mistakenly told my friend, Sam, that it was on the 15th. That's a Monday, Am. A Monday. I have a doctor's appointment Monday at 11 so I think that's what screwed me up.

KRIS'S NOTE: SERIOUSLY, GO TO THIS THING. AM'S STORY IS FANTASTIC, AND A READING IS WELL WORTH THE TIME SPENT ATTENDING.

Putting the "Rough" in "Rough Draft"

2008-09-11T04:41:00.003-04:00

Yep, so despite having a lapse in brain-to-keyboard communication issues, I did manage to squeeze out 1,600 words for the day. This pretty much brings chapter 1 of Witchbred to a close. Here's hoping it works for Am.

Me, I am going to bed before 5 for my THIRD consecutive night in a row. Hey, it's impressive for me, a'ight?!

And the hits keep on coming...

2008-09-10T04:20:00.004-04:00

Like Am explained yesterday, we've got bound copies of Trident for our significant others' viewing pleasure ( and one lucky writing-savvy individual outside the circle.) Also sent the first query out to an agent for Trident. We're theoretically supposed to hear in back in 5-10 days, but you know the biz. It's call the biz for a reason, because everyone is so gorram (to avoid offending our religious-right audience--buahahaha) busy.

But these are all things you've already heard from Am and I'm just a parrot repeating what she's already said because that's what I've heard. So I guess the real question is: "What's new, Kris?"

Well, I think the most relevant piece of news is that the writing on Witchbred (Or is it Witchbreed? Still up in the air) has started. I've put up a small contribution of 3,000 words over the course of the day; I guess that's a good start. Witchbreed presents to us an entirely new set of challenges--like writing each other's favorite characters for example. But as with any writing we do, I'm more than confident that Am and I will tackle it with aplomb.

Anyway, I have a date with a pillow (whoa!) Check the time stamp!

Manuscript love

2008-09-09T10:58:00.002-04:00

So, my ever-insane co-author used his lunch break to go get three bound copies of the manuscript made. I couldn't stop thumbing through it all night at work between edits... somehow it looks so much cooler in print, in sections, on pages! :D I wanted Garin to start reading right away but the Broncos were kicking ass against the Raiders so he didn't get to it last night. Maybe tonight... maybe I'll make him do it. Bwahaha...

So we refashioned and sent a query to what seems like a close to ideal agent... understanding of the difficulties us newbies face, cognizant of how there is no such thing as avoiding the standard themes, just new ways of telling the story (one other agent we saw said something about being sick of stories with a magical artifact with the power to save/destroy the world, and I went, "uh... never mind then..."). So I'm optimistic, but it is our first try so it would be a long shot to hit. Here's hoping!

Here's hoping Kris got some good sleep too. I know my new mattress has made it so I don't wake up exhausted and feeling sick, and I get less sleepy during the day. Plus, insanity and determination can only carry one so far...

Query

2008-09-08T21:01:00.000-04:00

Just sent out our first query letter for Trident of Merrow. Have to see what happens, I s'pose...

Vae Victus!

2008-09-08T09:22:00.002-04:00

--insert triumphant bellow here--

And the winner is...

2008-09-07T07:07:00.002-04:00

The voice. My eyes gave out long before my voice did. I suspect if I had this in hard-copy format, I might've lasted longer. For some reason, reading something on a computer screen is so much more difficult for me.

So I'm about three quarters of the way through the part two copy edit. Suppose I will resume upon waking up. Joy. And now sleep.

Finished... again!

2008-09-06T18:18:00.003-04:00

The rewrite is DONE! :D I sent my last bits off to Kris, and after he gets done reading himself hoarse, we can get it printed out and figure out whom we should pester for a savvy opinion.

While that's going on, we'll start book two so we have a figurative wad of cash to wave in front of some agent's nose to assure them the gravy train ain't stoppin' anytime soon.

Busy, Busy Little Bee

2008-09-06T05:40:00.004-04:00

Yep, one hell of a day today on the writing front. I've succesfully slogged through the rewrite. Even went back to rewrite a piece of the story I'd skipped between parts one and two.

Here's the real kicker, though. I managed to copyedit Am's entire part one contribution (it helped that it was near flawless to begin with.) Yes, it is almost ready to be seen by outsiders. Tomorrow, I'll read through all my part one stuff. I'd do it tonight, but I haven't the voice for it anymore. Reading 48 pages worth of writing aloud will do a number on the ole' vocal chords.

The nexus of crisis and the origin of storms

2008-09-05T20:37:00.001-04:00

You have no idea how long I've wanted to use that line (yes, I'm listening to Metallica's cover of "Astronomy" by Blue Oyster Cult).

My part four parts are done and I've written to the part of the "endgame" where Kris and I started passing the flash drives back and forth and pretty much writing together.

So exciting! :D

Ketchup

2008-09-05T14:59:00.001-04:00

Almost anyway! My part 4 is done, onto the endgame... I'm one scene behind Kris. I knew he'd plow ahead right over me. :) We should be done by next week no problem.

Part 4 already?

2008-09-04T13:03:00.002-04:00

I thought I still had some stuff in part 3 but considering the stuff I thought was still part three comes after some of Kris's stuff that's obviously part 4, I guess I'm done part three too?

Man, I'm glad the mattress trouble is over. Never plan on being the delivery folks' first stop even if the lady at the store says, "It'll probably be closer to 7am than noon." Yeah, try half past noon. Once again I was overprepared. Dunno why I'm awake now, really.

But I may as well see if I can take a crack at part four!

3 in the Box, Ready to Go.

2008-09-04T06:43:00.002-04:00

So I finished rewriting action-packed part three and feel tons better about it. I know Am was near to finishing her work on part three, so we should probably be done rewriting in the next week or so. Who knows; now that Am has her new mattress, maybe the tapioca factor will plummet, and she'll go on a rewriting rampage. (No, Am, that wasn't a push, just wishful thinking. ;) )

Next step is to get a writing-savvy outsider's opinion... Ok...so next step is to go to bed.

New Scene and More

2008-09-03T06:16:00.002-04:00

So, added a new scene aboard the Rozinante'. Also rewrote the last bit of part 2, and the first two scenes of part 3. Needless to say I've achieved quite a bit. Tomorrow (what many of you would call later today,) I tackle 'The Pipe,' which should be a far less dangerous task for me than it would be for the characters.

Funny how your co-author spurs you on, because you know you've got a lot to live up to. ;)

In the groove today

2008-09-02T18:11:00.002-04:00

I got a few more scenes of part 3 rewritten, almost 3000 words. I definitely felt more in the mood today and feel like I'm improving things instead of worsening them.

Kris got "sidetracked" by outlining book three :P and we've realized that we didn't cover things we wanted to wrap the series up with, so it looks like there'll be a fourth book also. I hope we can keep the stamina up... Kris sure doesn't seem to be running out of ideas anytime soon, which is a blessing. I'm lucky to have him as a co-author. :)

Sidetracked

2008-09-02T06:42:00.002-04:00

I only have one scene left for the rewrite of Part 2. I would've finished it tonight, but I got sidetracked with a project of another sort. You have to love being able to play with that ball of yarn like the damn kitten with no attention span. Well...ok...you play with the yarn until you see the ball of tin foil. Or the catnip mouse... Gee, which one to choose. Ok, it's late, I'm babbling, and I'm going to @*$%^*& bed.

May the rest of you be blessed with the focus I lack.

Started part three

2008-09-01T21:51:00.002-04:00

I got one scene done, another scene started off. I'm starting to worry that I'm changing things just to change them and am making them worse. :/ It probably didn't help that I was sleepy... I guess being home all day has that effect on me.

More tomorrow, I hope!

And the winner is...

2008-09-01T05:28:00.004-04:00

I have to say Amber is the Champion today, for sure. Can't scoff at 7,000+ words. Amazing words at that. I myself put in roughly 6,000. I've got three, maybe four scenes left of part 2 before I trudge on to part three.

It's really exciting to see this all take shape the second time around. We've added more local flavor, solidfied some plot lines, even threw in a couple new themes here and there. It's exciting stuff. Of course I already said that, but it's five thirty in the bloody morning. I've got the right to be redundant.

After this, we'll have to find some poor sap to give this to for an outside opinion. I say poor, because they will never look at books the same way again. Hey, gotta take pride in your labor of love, no?

My rewrite part 2 scenes are done

2008-08-31T21:45:00.002-04:00

Whew... it's amazing just how long this takes. Seven or so hours later and the rewrite of part two is done. I actually pulled ahead of Kris, just because he has the bulk of the scenes in this part. I think we'll work on part three individually but that's just guessing.

Both of our Internet connections kept going out, though I think mine is the fault of my wireless card, and his is the fault of the cable company (I have DSL) so we've been "signing in and out" of AIM all night.

We're both feeling uneasy because we haven't been changing all that much except maybe wording, but like Kris said earlier this week, by part two we'd hit the stride (whereas part one we were still fumbling) so it's already stronger. I guess we won't really know until we find a third party to filter it through.

Welcome to the show...

2008-08-31T12:37:00.002-04:00

Kris has a great idea to start a blog to keep track of the process of writing this novel of ours, so I went ahead and made one.

This whole thing started out as a writing exercise. We were both kinda stuck, and in the past I've responded incredibly well to Kris's prompts (he comes up with the best ideas, real spark-for-the-tinder stuff) so we were sending this thing back and forth and writing a paragraph at a time. Paragraphs turned into whole scenes, we started discussing where the story was going, and fell into writing it in earnest without really thinking about it.

Eventually we were nearing enough words to be novel-length and Kris said, "We gotta go with this." Holy cow, we were writing a novel. The gal who had a professor who told her, "I think you may be a novelist, deep down" and whose teachers and friends always said, knowingly, "We're going to get a novel out of this one," is actually writing a novel.

The writing courses I took at UNH whittled my style way down into the short story template of show as much as you can, tell as little as you need, imply more than you say and let your reader make the leap, cram as much meaning as you can into a tiny space. I still ended up with most of my nice, meaty "short stories" being too long for the traditional short story length of however many words (to my shame, I've forgotten the number).

I still had issues going far enough. I could think of a beginning and end and no way in between. This is where Kris comes in. He's learning all that college-learned stuff from me, but he's the man with the master plan, the brain that (thankfully for me, maddeningly for him) will not shut up.

Currently we're in the rewrite for Trident of Merrow but in the course of this past week that I commanded him to take off (see how well that worked?) we (because I'm an enabler and couldn't resist participating) managed to outline the sequel, Witchbred (or is it Witchbreed? Did we decide?) from beginning to end.

We're also seeing book three take shape, because we get so excited we can't stand it. I'm thinking of titles, and Strega Hunter comes to mind, though it may not fit, we'll see.

So pretty much, I supply classroom workshop experience, Kris supplies foreknowledge of the publication (or at least the agent search) process, I supply good dramatic and angsty and personal/romantic scenes, Kris supplies breathtaking action/battle sequences, Kris supplies ideas aplenty (including awesome cinematic descriptions that make me squeal like a fangirl and dive for the pen) and long-view vision and impetus, I tell him he'll write much better and feel much better if he'd friggin' sleep once in awhile.

In a couple hours we start the part two rewrite... or rather, he continues on and I start the part two rewrite of my scenes (he's always jumping ahead and making me look bad ;p). Our method is this: original open in one doc, arranged alongside a fresh doc in which we copy it over and make our changes. Meanwhile we have AIM open and chat back and forth about it, send the scenes back and forth, make comments, changes, etc.

Should be fun!