Saturday, April 23, 2011

Villians and edits

So I'm mostly through the Edits for AB's Child.  I've got two spots that the editor would like a little more description and detail so I'm trying to figure out how to describe a room, explain why my ghost can suddenly interact, and drop a minor hint of time frame without going into a full-backstory. 

I know I have the answer to the time frame question in my notebook, I just haven't had the notebook handy when I've been editing.

As for Villians, I'm kind of thinking that for my steampunk novel, I need to figure out who the bad guy is.  Because it's a mystery, I don't have to give it away but I'm finding that as I'm writing, I don't know what the bad guy is doing while my heroine is chasing after him.  And I think I really need to have the motives and deciding characteristics about the bad guy.  

"Even now the intensity of his dread power can be felt, weakening the body and saddening the heart." - The Necromancer, Rush

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Edits and a publication date!!

Fortannis:  A Bard's Eye View will be published in June!  I'm excited but sad that it won't be before ConCarolina's.   I've received the contracts for my short story...although I thought we'd settled on "Rebirth" as a title...but the contracts all say Faith.  I'll need to check with the editor and see if he decided to go back to Faith. 

And in other news, I got the edits back for Anne Bonny's Child for Spells & Swashbucklers.  Other than a request for some more visual details and a good bit of deletion of adverbs (I hate adverbs!), most of the edits are fairly minor! The edits are due at the end of May so I'll probably spend the next few weeks with every free minute working the edits.   I'm still not sure I want to call it AB's Child but that really seems to be a good title. 

Then it's down to working on the Steampunk story.  Once it's finished, I then have to actually learn the art of attempting to sell the book - from agents and query letters to which publishers I want to submit the story.

~T
More things than are dreamed about/Unseen and unexplained
We suspend our disbelief/And we are entertained

(Mystic Rhythms by Rush)

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Good morning, Richmond!

So RavenCon is as excellent as usual. 
The steampunk panel I moderated went well. I did learn some things myself.  I have to decide about how much of the "icky" part of the Victorian world I want to mention.  Laurel Anne Hill also pointed something out about steam power - to make 1 horsepower of steam; you need 47 lbs of water.  So I probably need to do a little research on the steambuses of England and make sure my double decker is reasonable.  Ditto with Airships.  
The interesting challenge in writing in a steampunk world is how to describe the tech without it dominating the story.  Particularly since my novel is basically a simple mystery novel set in Steampunk Victorian England.  I think making clear it's an alternate history where some things work and somethings were never discovered is going to be important in the long range.
Differed the Geek parenting panel to James so I could go spend time with the Geeklet.  Then it was back to the New authors mistakes panel w/ Mike Ventrella and Laurel Anne Hill.  Mike had it organized very well and did a great job of keeping it on topic, yet covering a lot of information in a limited amount of time.   We started by talking about writer mistakes:  pov, talking heads, show don't tell, etc.  Then we moved on to the aspects of getting published - query letters, being polite, don't self-publish.  I hope we gave some good advice.
Then it was out to Friday's for a lovely dinner with EB.  Then back to put the Geeklet to bed. 
She got is up early this morning, so I've had time to check the email, make some notes on the outline and write here.   Then it's off to breakfast and back down to the convention.

"Fly by Night away from here, change my life again."
(Rush - Fly by Night)

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

RavenCon this weekend

So we'll be headed up to RavenCon this weekend.  I adore Raven.  Excellent convention that pays attention to it's fans and guests.   This is the first year I'll be a guest; I've either been on staff and just attended previously.

Schedule:

Friday
3pm Have Goggles, Will Travel
4pm Geek Parenting
5pm New Author Mistakes
7pm Opening Ceremonies

Saturday
12N Staying Safe Online

Then for the most part, I'll just be hanging out, maybe trying to attend some panels myself. 

Of course, I do hope to get some writing done over the weekend.  I've got some edits for AB's Child I want to work on and I definitely need to work some on the Steampunk Novel. 

"Surge of Energy/Spark of Inspiration/the breath of love is electricity."
Rush - Out of the Cradel
~T

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Starting a new blog...

So I decided I wanted to have a place to write about writing, random meanderings, ideas and links related to writing when I can't get to LJ.


So having heard good things about Blogger, here I am. 


Thanks for coming!

"I'll be around/If you don't let me down too far."
Rush - Coldfire

~T