Welcome to the blog of Mary Brock Jones, SF author.

I also have a website, here


I write science fiction. Some dark, some not so dark. Some short, some longer, some very long. Some have a happy ending, others definitely not.

I also write NZ historical romance novels.They always end happily, even if the journey can get quite bumpy.

It's a nice mix.

Monday, July 12, 2010

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...