Some thoughts on editing

Things I've learned from trying to edit my story:

• If you've read a passage 10 times through and still can't see where it needs changing but know it needs to be changed, highlight it and come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• A change of font can help you see things you hadn't picked up before.
• If you ask your family to proof read for you, don't expect them to pick up everything that should be changed.
• Make sure anyone you ask to proof read has a good grasp of grammar and spelling, and make sure it's the same spelling you use! If you're British and you ask an American to proof your story, don't expect them to pick up your spelling mistakes.
• Things always look different on a printed page than on a computer screen.
• Something that makes perfect sense to you may not to a reader who hasn't spent the past two years engrossed in the story...
• If you ask for honest feedback, don't be offended when you get it! (Unless it's completely useless, like 'your story's really bad, I didn't like it' with no suggestions to improve it.)
• Treasure the good comments but don't be afraid to change things.
• Always keep a copy of your previous draft, just in case!

Writers block & dreams

Some days the writing just flows and other days ... it doesn't.

For the last week or so writing has been a real struggle. My imagination isn't coming up with anything especially interesting, and my vocabulary seems to have shrunk whenever I try to get anything down on paper.

I've been trying to do some more refining of Dark Magic as well this week, and I don't know if it's because I've been looking at it too much, but although I know where I should be changing things, I haven't been able to find the right way to do it. For example, I know I want to turn one of the early scenes into a flashback scene rather than a memory, but I can't seem to find the right way to transition.

The only thing I seem to have written that was good - and which surprised me because the subject matter wasn't something I usually write about - was a very vivid dream I had. The following night I woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep so I went to the computer and wrote down the dream - 600 words of blood, strange powers and healing.

Maybe I'll post it later, but I don't know... It was a dream about some of the characters from Heroes, and I don't want to do a Mary Sue (although helping Claire Bennet to heal Peter Petrelli was a nice dream to be in the middle of...!).

Doing big, scary things

I've been thinking, and I decided that I didn't like the idea of publishing with CreateSpace after all. The main problem was that it's based in America and I'm in the UK, so anyone I talk to who may want to buy the book will have to pay a lot extra for shipping.

So I was looking around the sites I have bookmarked and discovered that one of my favourite publishers, Wyvern Publications, is starting a new children's imprint called Pixiefoot Press. After a few days of dithering, and another day trying to make sure my synopsis makes sense, I've submitted Dark Magic to Wyvern for consideration.

Fingers crossed!

Love Whisper Of The Flowers

I've tracked down more information on that picture I want to use on the cover of Dark Magic. It's actually from an album called Love Whisper Of The Flowers by an artist called Mickey. I believe it's Taiwanese or Chinese, and the album was accompanied by beautiful drawings for each track, including The Sincere Happiness (not, as I'd previously thought, 'lincere').

According to this translated page, the album was released in Taiwan in 2003 as Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros Story and the images were drawn by illustrator 'Prince - William'. Unfortunately now I've hit a dead end. I can't seem to track down any more information on the illustrator or anything else about the album itself. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Dark Magic - finishing NaNoWriMo 2008!

I have finished my story from NaNoWriMo 2008! What started out as A Dark Faerie Tale then turned into The Dark Lady and has now ended up as Dark Magic.

The book is available here for US$8.50, which is about £5.80, and I'm really excited :)

I have to say I love the cover, which was one of CreateSpace's layouts. I found the picture online when I did a Google search on copyright free images. It was being used on three social networking sites by people who obviously really liked faeries, but I haven't been able to track down its creator. If it's you, or if you know who did design it, please let me know, because I'd like to get in touch to ask if it's okay to use it on the book and to find out if they'd like paying!

So now to answer a few questions about the book:

Why CreateSpace print-on-demand and not a traditional publisher?
Well I don't think I'm going to sell that many copies, to start with, and when I completed NaNo I got a code to use for a free proof from CS. I can still order more copies if I want to to sell elsewhere, and the book has its own website, so I figured there was no reason why I shouldn't sell it this way.

Faeries? Don't you mean fairies?
Nope, I like the spelling f-a-e. To me, a fairy is a fluttery little thing rather like a butterfly, while a faerie has more depth and more character. I wanted my characters to be real, solid girls who just happened to have wings and magic. I couldn't seem to fit that in with them being fairies.

Why doesn't Poppy get her own story?
I don't know... There didn't seem to be the opportunity to give her anything of her own, so she ended up being the nice helpful friend who's always there when you need her but doesn't like taking the lead.

Sum up the characters in three words each.
Columbine - shy, dark, powerful.
Poppy - fun, hungry, excitable.
Lavender - loyal, clever, quiet.
Persephone - cute, caring, happy.
Ginevra - fiery, brave, mouthy.
Lily - determined, imaginative, serious.

Finishing a story

I'm reaching a few deadlines during the next couple of months. First, I really need to finish editing my NaNoWriMo story from 2008, The Dark Lady.

Lavender crept out into the passage, trying to ignore the feeling that the pictures were watching her. At the end of the passage she found a large round room, lined from floor to ceiling with shelves containing jars, scrolls, bottles, small wooden boxes and dusty old books.

Fascinated, she went closer to see what was in the jars. She reached out a hand towards one when a voice stopped her.

'I wouldn't do that.'

She turned to see Columbine standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest and black and green wings held out wide, blocking the exit.

'Columbine!' she cried in relief. 'I know you said you want to be here, but this place isn't good for you!'

Columbine shook her head slowly. 'I wouldn't expect you to understand,' she replied. 'You have never been afraid of your own magic, scared that it will run away with you, and worried that you might do something terrible.'

'No, you're right,' Lavender replied. 'But there still have to be better places to learn how to control your magic than here, with that dark faerie.'

'She is my friend,' Columbine returned, coldly.

'I thought I was your friend too,' Lavender replied quietly, looking Columbine straight in the eyes.

Columbine paused, and for a moment Lavender thought she had got through to her. But before she could be sure, another voice cut in, and Lavender wheeled round to find the dark faerie had somehow appeared behind her.

'I'm impressed you got out, but you've caused enough trouble now,' the dark faerie hissed at Lavender, throwing a bolt of black magic at her.

This story has been lying around not doing very much for the past year. I did get it proofread, but never really got around to editing it. Now I'm finally getting the chance to edit, and I'm on the second read through now. On the first go through I fixed a section that didn't make sense and took out a large chunk that was really just waffle. Now I'm onto more nitpicky things. I'd like to get it finished by the start of June - I'll keep you posted...

The other story that's coming to an end is Alive. I've been doing weekly updates since January on this story and it's due to come to a close in July. There's no fixed date yet, but I'm already starting to tie up loose ends.

I reckon I've got about 6-8 more installments to find out the truth behind Delta the cyborg and figure out why she was sabotaging the Crazy Horse, figure out whether or not to leave Colonel Leonard and the missing child unsolved, and help Dak get out of trouble for taking a drug mule on board.

30,000 words

In November I decided to take on the challenge of NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. The idea is fairly simple - sit down for the 30 days of November and write 50,000 words by the end of the month.

It's not quite that easy, of course. Daily life has a tendency of getting in the way of writing time, and on some days I found myself having to write considerably more than the 1,666 words a day which, in theory, would have taken me past the finish line.

But eventually, I finished, and the first draft of The Dark Lady was completed. It's now sitting in a nice ringbinder waiting for me to start editing it.

In the meantime I'm going to start another story - the new target is 30,000 words by the end of February. The lower target is for two reasons - it puts less pressure on me, and I write children's stories which are generally shorter than adult novels.

And the reason I'm telling you? Quite simply, accountability! I need to have somewhere to keep track of what I'm doing, because I know if I don't have that I won't stick to my writing goal.

So here's to 30k by February 28!