Progress Report
A report on my progress.
Word Count: 72,719
13 July 07--Some of you might know that Lynth is the first part in a trilogy of novels I'm working on. After spending a LONG time figuring out the details of the plot (and looking for a missing antagonist!) I've started working on the second book. It's a long way from being finished, but I'm glad to have finally started it--though it's a bit odd trying to pick up the story again after I thought I'd ended it. Working title for the second book is Sleepwalker, and I plan to call the third book (still a long way off) Pheonix.
***
23 March 07-- FINISHED THE FOURTH DRAFT!
Going to have to concentrate on sending it to publishers now. I did actually
send the synopsis to one publisher and one agent, but it wasn't long ago so
I haven't had a reply yet.
Tired now...
***
28 February 07--The fourth draft is about half-way done now, but more importantly,
I've finished the synopsis. The synopsis is basically a summary of the story
that I'll send to agents and/or publishers in my quest to get Lynth out into
the world. Most agents/publishers want the synopsis and around three sample
chapters (it varies) before they see the manuscript. This means that, although
I still have some editing to do, I'm ready to start contacting publishers
and agents.
This is a big step for me. This is the first time I've ever COMPLETED a book,
much less tried to get it published. As you might imagine, I'm pretty nervous
about exposing it to the critical eyes of industry professionals.
But I have to do it.
The synopsis will need to be trimmed for length depending on who I'm sending
it to--again, the required length for the synopsis varies. It's currently
about 3 and a half pages, single spaced (just over seven pages double spaced),
but a lot of agents want a one-page synopsis, and there's one agency that
wants the synopsis to be 100-250 words. (That's less than half a page, single
spaced.) This is going to be a bit tricky, but I should be able to manage
it. Between that and writing the covering letter, I might not be sending Lynth
out for a while yet, but I hope to start sending the synopsis and sample chapters
within a few days.
Wish me luck!
***
04 February 2007--I am now working on the fourth draft now. I'm hoping that
this will be the FINAL draft before I start sending it to agents and/or publishers.
I'm aware that, if it gets accepted, they'll probably get me to revise it,
but what are you gonna do? :-p
It's a very meticulous draft. I've got someone helping me go through it, and
pointing out errors, which is good, since I'm not exactly coming at it from
an objective viewpoint. Unfortunately, that means it's taking a long time.
I'm still only at around chapter ten (out of thirty).
I completed NaNoWriMo, by the way. Got 50k words done within the time limit, which means I count as a winner. Unfortunately, the novel is still not finished, since I haven't worked on it very much at all since then. I will go back to it some time, but Lynth is the priority right now.
***
31 October 2006--Happy Halloween! Wooo!
I finished the third draft a little over a week ago. My proof readers have
it now. One of them found a continuity error on the first page AGAIN. -_-
This is me pretty much finished, then. I'm going to check it over one more
time, fix any errors my proof-readers notice, then send it off to publishers.
But that probably won't be until December. You see, I am going to be attempting
NaNoWriMo.
I'm gonna die.
Actually, I think I'll do me good to put Lynth down for a while. I've been working on it pretty much exclusively for more than a year. It'll be nice to work on something else for a while.
***
19 August 2006--Well, my proof-readers are FINALLY done with the second draft,
so I've started on the third. They found a lot of stupid continuity or grammar
errors (one on the VERY FIRST PAGE!), and I've got some really interesting
things to think about now. Which is all good.
So far I've only re-written the first chapter, and I really should be getting
on with it instead of reading Limyaael's Fantasy Rants and updating this site,
but what are you gonna do? Nothing, that's what.
I've been drawing some illustrations today. Well, one illustration. Even if
I get published and my publisher doesn't want the pictures, I like to draw
them. But it is FRUSTRATING. Kaemon manages to look feminine in most pictures,
and he rarely looks right even when he looks like a man. Raiel STILL doesn't
have a proper costume design, and Nicholai's clothes make me wish I wasn't
so keen on cross-hatch shading. The others tend to turn out OK, although I
haven't drawn Rune very much lately and am not quite sure of her. It's HARD
drawing in a non-anime style. But the characters look more individual that
way, which, I suppose, is a good thing.
***
11 July 2006--And now, I give you, the second draft.
(Except, you know, I can't really post it here because then I've, like, killed
my chances of getting it published. But whatever.)
I'm really proud of myself for getting so far. I really am.
What I'm going to do now is give copies to my proof-readers and wait for feedback.
I'm also going to look at my hard copy and make notes. I'll need to do a third
draft, of course, but I'm hoping that'll be more of a 'polish it' job rather
than a total re-write. Maybe I'll have to to a fourth draft after that, or
even a fifth, but the point is I'm now looking at making it suitible for publishing.
I'm really irritated, actually, because my mum won't let me print it until
tomorrow. (When I printed a hard copy of the first draft she ended up having
to watch the printer because it kept sticking.) She wants to get the right
sort of paper, which I suppose is fair enough, but it's still irritating when
I'm wanting to make notes and show it to my younger brother and bask in the
reflected glory of my novel. YOU CAN'T BASK IN GLORY FROM A COMPUTER SCREEN,
PEOPLE!
...you can bask in magnetic rays, but that's not the point.
I got carried away there, didn't I?
***
30 April 2006--The first draft is finished! Finally!
I'll have to get started on the second draft soon, but I feel I can give myself
a day or so's break.
I finished the first draft just before 12.00 this morning, roughly. I wasn't
actually looking at the clock.
***
27 April 2006--Okay, it's been over a month since I updated this page. My
bad, sorry. I mean, I don't think I can handle posting regular rants but I
should at least keep my word count up to date, right?
Anyway, looks like I've gained over 10,000 words since I last updated here.
You know, that used to feel special. Gaining such a big chunk of my word count.
Now it... well, I know it's still something to be proud of, and I'm a little
amazed, but... yeah. Still, I'm coming up on 50,000 words, and I'm looking
forward to hitting that milestone.
I'm nearing the climax now, woo-hoo! Just got to get to the next city, then
they can go off and... well, obviously I can't say what's going to happen.
Hey, I'm hoping that you people will buy the book some day, I can't just give
away the plot!
Lynth's just come out with this major emotional outburst, though. It was kind
of scary writing it, because I didn't plan it, but it left me feeling sort
of drained afterwards. You know how authors say they put a bit of themselves
in all their characters? Well, guess what, that's true. But it means the characters
have some of my bad things as well, and I think Lynth's had all the emotional
insecurity I've gone through in my life dumped on her. Poor girl.
My left arm hurts like hell. I've just had an immunisation done, and I HATE
them. I'm not phobic about needles or anything (Though I did feel scared...
well, I was about to get a sharp thing stuck in my arm, of course I'm going
to feel scared! It's going to hurt!) but it really aches afterwards. I can
still type, though (obviously), so I'm going to get on with writing Lynth
and add to my word count. See ya.
***
02 March 2006--Well, my word count is finally starting to climb back up after I had to take out that whole chunk--must've been what, three chapters? I forget, but it was bloody huge. Seriously, every time I try to introduce Gareth the story grinds to a screeching halt. And no, I'm not telling you who Gareth is. OK, he's not that important--at this rate he might not even be in it--but just on the off-chance, I'm not going to spoil anything.
It's starting to look like I'm going to finish this thing and it'll be nowhere
near 70000 words, which is what most people seem to agree is a good,
publishable length for a novel. I suppose I could draw it out by not combining
two of the parts coming up, but frankly I'm starting to feel like that would
mess up the pacing. And besides, I'm in a hurry to get to the end as all my
best ideas are for the climax. I can always flesh the story out on the second
draft--add some subplots, that sort of thing. I know there are some bits I'm
going to need to expand, bits that need re-worked, a whole character who needs
a backstory, appearence and name change...
What was I thinking when I started this?
Nah, just kidding. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
***
Home