SpecFicNZ meet up

Today I went to the first Auckland meet up for SpecFicNZ writers. The weather was real Auckland summer weather - pouring with rain and atrocious. The cafe was packed. The coffee was good. But most important -  the people and the meeting were brilliant. Six of us turned up and we talked about so much.  And I didn't once have to stop myself from saying anything for fear that others would think I was weird, not all there or just plain deluded. They got it. They got what I do. That is so special. Roll on the next one and thank you very much, Paul and Grant, for organising it all.

final assignment

I've got my final assignment short story back from Massey - for the Grad dip in English I'm doing. And I got an A. A real, honest to goodness, full A. So I can write literary stories. Which doesn't mean I want to, but it's nice to know I can.

Floating POV

POV issues are a real sticky problem for me at present. Then I read this terrific post about 'floating POV' which made so much sense.
 http://ffnp.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-not-just-point-of-view.html

Omniscient 3rd person POV sneaks into my work all the time, particularly in "Hathe", the book I'm currently editing. And while on the one hand, I have  a distinct mistrust of writing ideologies that set limits on the techniques an author can use - the proverbial insistence on using deep 3rd person that pervades present day genre fiction, in order to make the story a page turner - this idea of a 'floating POV' really made sense to me. Basically it seems to be what happens when the newbie author doesn't really know who is telling the story at any given point in time. And not knowing what you're doing or why you are doing it is shoddy storytelling in anyone's book.

RWNZ Strictly Single contest

I've found out that I've finalled in the RWNZ 2010 Strictly Single contest. Very exciting  - and finalling has the most fantastic reward. For entry you have to send in the first 7500 words plus a synopsis of your book. I finalled for "In Hills of Gold",  a NZ Historical Romance. And the fantastic reward - the 6 final entries are forwarded to Emmanuelle Morgen from Judith Ehrlich Literary Management and Meredith Giordan from Berkley Publishing Group for final judging. How great is that! To get your work in front of a New York agent and a US editor from a major publishing group - wow.

Deep in Editing Country

I'm currently deep in editing country. It's a strange place - sometimes so tortuous and riven with hazards and darkly plunging gullies, you just about give up ( then you have to remember all the sayings about talent being 90% perseverance); other times, it's a skip in the park; and then there are the very rare and truly glorious moments when you re-read a section of your own writing and just fall in love with it. That's supposed to be a bad sign, I have been told. That those are the parts that ought to be cut, as you as author are too in love with the words to be able to judge whether or not they add to the story. But hey - authors are readers too. If I enjoy it, then won't a reader? And part of the judging part of editing is knowing what to leave in, as much as it is knowing what needs cut or re-written. That's my argument, anyway.

Final assignment

I've just finished my last assignment for the extramural paper I've been doing this last 6 months. A big relief. Now I can get back to my own writing again. It's always a major balancing thing. The uni papers help my writing by improving my craft skills - I'm doing a Grad Dip A in English - but they take away my writing time. So what's best  - to do more of the writing I want to do, or extend myself by trying out new ways of writing? I think it's a bit of both.

But right now I have one book (Hathe) I'm editing down to two separate books, another (Gorge Creek) completed first draft waiting for editing, and a third (working title- Planet Wars) with the first couple of chapters only written, waiting for me to find out what happens next. It's definitely time to get back to my own writing, I think.

Semaphore anthology

I found out last night that my story "A Conjunction of Interests" is to be included in this year's Semaphore Anthology of the best works for 2010. This is so great. Can't wait to see what the final anthology looks like.
      Marie Hodginkinson, who edits, runs and everything else in Semaphore, deserves a national honour for this ezine. A genuine, quality NZ based ezine specialising in spec fic, or fantasy/scifi or whatever else you like to call it. It's just so amazing that she decided to do it at all in the first place, and then made it work so well. She was awarded a Sir Julius Vogel award this year for Best Production / Publication, and it was very richly deserved.

Hathe revisited

Another rejection, but a more positive one than I've ever had before. A positive rejection? Yes, there is such a thing. This one was from Deborah Nemeth of Carina Press, a new digital publisher, for my romantic scifi novel Hathe - my first and most beloved book.
     The reason it was positive?She said to re-submit once I had revised it in line with her suggestions. And they were very much to the point, very clear and helpful. Biggest fault - my control of POV. As she pointed out, you really can't change your POV half way through a paragraph.  I also use quite a bit of ominiscient 3rd person in that book, which is not what editors want. She says they prefer deeper POV to more effectively involve the reader, to make it a " page turner". Plus she agrees that the book needs to be split in two.
     So that's what will be keeping me  busy for the next few months. completely revising a 150 + thousand word book, into two books. With proper story arc and satisfying conclusion to each book, and revising the POV and any other problems. It already splits into two parts, but will need a tweak to end of Book 1 and start of Book 2 to make them truly 2 separate books. As I said, it will keep me busy...

I have just about done my first read through of Gorge Creek, before getting down to serious editing. It's not as bad as I had thought. Some bits need cutting, but mostly it's sounding OK. Better than I expected. That's the advantage of leaving it alone for a while - you get over that "I've had more than enough of this story" stage. 
    In the meantime, I've had an exam for the extramural English paper I'm doing this year, and have read through the feed back I got from the Wild Rose Press editor, Susan Napier. In hindsight, it was spot on and very helpful. As a result, I am now in the middle of writing full character backgrounds for my hero and heroine. They are helpful, I have had to concede. I am finding out heaps about my characters that I didn't know, and that came across in the story, where I have glossed over stuff, or just left it. Mostly, I am giving them a proper family background, and trying to understand better who they are, why they do things, and what would be their normal reaction to things happening to them.
     I've also only now discovered why I find the non-verbal bits between dialogue so difficult. I didn't know the characters well enough to know what their actions would be when they were not talking. Sounds basic. But it's taken me years to learn this.

No go from The Wild Rose Press

I had a very long email from Susan Yates of The Wild Rose Press. It was a rejection of the partial I had sent her. Obviously very disappointing. But she did take the trouble to explain at some length what it was about my novel "In Hills of Gold" she found problems with. And in a week, when I have got over the initial pouting, I will look closely at the manuscript again and see exactly where the problems lie. She also included links to articles that further explain and assist with the problem areas in my writing. That is pretty good for an editor, to go that extra mile to assist a potential author. I wish she had said yes, but a long helpful reply is still a good response..

Request for partial

I've had an email tonight from Susan Yates of The Wild Rose Press for the 1st 3 chapters of my NZ Historical romance "In Hills of Gold". So I've changed them to US spelling, gone over them with a fine tooth comb, and sent the partial off. Now to wait - all toes and fingers very much crossed and everything inside me too scared to hope.
We'll see.

Gorge Creek finished.

I've done it. Finished the first draft of my current book, tentatively titled "Gorge Creek". There's still heaps of editing to go, stuff to cut out, parts to rewrite so they  make sense, awkward bits to cut and lyrical bits to add. But the first draft is done. The story is ended. It's taken nearly 4 years, from that first idea but the story is now all done. And that feels brilliant!!!
    The way I look at it is this. In the first draft, you write down What you want to say. The remaining drafts are where you figure out How you are going to say it. And that is so much easier.

What to do between submission replies?

I am in waiting territory at the moment. I have a number of agent and publisher queries pending. Replies to some of them are due soonish - but not soon enough. The usual advice is that you should send away a query, then get on with writing or editing the next WIP. It's good advice. Very good - in theory. In practice, you can't help being on edge until that answer comes back. Maybe this time - in the words of the old song. It's what all writers hope for. It does happen to some people. The trick is to keep up the belief that it will happen to you, one day.

Climax of Gorge Creek

I have finally started it. I am now writing the climactic chapter of Gorge Creek, my NZ historical romance. I first saw this scene over 3 years ago and it has taken me this long to get my hero and heroine here. Very exciting. It's also a bit scary. In my head, I know exactly what happens now. But can I get that on paper?I once read something a well known NZ writer said about being amazed at what her fingers produced when it came to writing. I know what she means. In your head, you have one story. But when you start writing - and I handwrite, then type onto the computer later - your fingers, characters and story take over, and you never quite know what is going to come out on paper. But that's half the fun of writing.

Query letter

Another rejection today. I had sent a query letter to an American agent, and they came back with a form rejection letter within 24 hrs. That's fast! And very dispiriting, even though I had not really expected this agency to be interested.
    Truth to tell, I'm coming to think my writing doesn't work in the US market, full stop. The example query letters on agent websites are just so chatty. It's supposed to be a business query letter, not a gushing outpouring of self praise. At least, that's how it feels to little ol kiwi me. NZers just don't do that kind of self promotion. At least, not one's of my generation.
    That's the problem with rejection letters. They make you start questioning everything about yourself, your entire system of self worth. You have to go into mantra territory - keep repeating inside, over and over again. 'I can write'  But maybe it's not true? I hate the business side of this writing passion. Who gets published - the best writers or the best self marketers? Is there an alternative way of doing it? If anyone has a better system of getting good writers out there, it would be great to hear from you.

Procrastination

I should be writing.
But I keep finding other things to do instead. That's what writer's block really is - writers trying anything to prevent them having to actually write. I know what comes next in my Gorge Creek novel. I just can't seem to find the actual words.  What sites can I browse?

Semaphore back

Semaphore's website is back up again and working. So I am still a published writer.

Just my Luck

The joys of publishing. I finally get a story published, and the webzine site for Semaphore is not responding. Has it crashed, the editor has decided it's all to  much and given up on it, or is this just a temporary glitch. Who knows, but can you still call yourself published if the webzine doesn't exist? I choose to. But why would a perfectly good web magazine go under just when I finally get a story into it? It ain't fair, as the eternal cry goes.

Mission accomplished.

It was my day off today. Usually it's Monday, but this week I switched for work reasons. So I had today off, and will have Monday off as well - a 4 day weekend. Bliss. And most importantly, time to go to a cafe and get some more writing done. JK Rowling had it right. There is nothing like a change of location to get the writing wheels whirring again. Three pages later, my characters are back on task, and I can again start to believe I might actually finish this book soon.

Working title at the moment is "Gorge Creek" That is where the crucial action at the end is set. It's a small gully south of Alexandria, where a number of miners perished in a snow storm in August, 1863. And that will be the final challenge for my hero and heroine.

Distractions

Writing is taking a very big back seat to other stuff at the moment. I enrolled in another Massey paper this year,  on medieval English. the first assignment is looming - end of March is D-Day. So I have been reading for that. But mostly I have been reading 2 new release, paranormal romances. And they are so good!. Alexis Morgan's latest in her Paladin series "Defeat the Darkness" and Nalini Singh's latest in her angel series "Archangel's Kiss" Both are utterly awesome and enthralling to the exclusion of the reading and writing I should be doing. 

My characters in my current work in progress (Gorge Creek)seem to have written themselves into a blind alley. I have a sneaking suspicion it will be a very productive blind alley, with a cunning detour out of it. Or maybe that is wishful thinking. It's certainly making my heroine a more interesting person. She has made a major fool of herself, and lost the good will of all the people she had come to depend on, except of course our hero. I think it will help, as it forces the hero to see what it is that makes her tick. But whether it will help her, or the resolution of the story, I have yet to find out. And right now, it will have to wait until that dratted assignment is finished. Why do I do these things to myself?

Welcome

Hi everyone. Welcome to my brand new blog. Here, I will be posting updates on my writing: the ups and downs, how the writing is going, rejections and (hopefully) publicatons.

What do I write - that depends on what mood I am in or how deeply into a project I am. Currently I am working on my 2nd NZ historical romance novel, set in the gold rush period in Otago, a rugged, remote and very harsh region of the South Island. The first draft of that is nearly finished, and if my main characters would just kindly stop finding new conflicts and ways to prevent themselves getting together, I can hopefully finish it in another chapter.

I also write science fiction - of the not so romantic variety. My short stories lately seem to include a lot of death: suicide, war, mass slaughter and quite a lot of misery. It's why I need the romance writing to balance it all. I have written an SF novel, rather too long for publication at 150,000 words. But it's my very special baby as it was the first full length book I ever wrote. I still think it's wonderful, even if no one wants to publish it ever. That started as an SF romance, but ended up as a political epic. The main characters sort of had a happy ending.