Sun, May. 11th, 2008, 10:21 am
Another Week Gone By
And yes, I've made some progress on SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS. When I left work Friday, I had only one more chapter to read/edit/revise. As I didn't especially want to cart it back to work for one more lunch hour's work on it, I went through that last chapter last night. Gave me something to do, and a way to take my mind off the Mariner's losing again! I've also done quite well at getting the changes incorporated into the book as well. I finished up on chapter 15 yesterday, and hopefully I'll get a couple more done today. (The story has 26 chapters, so I'm well over half way there.) Then I need to write up a synopsis, so that when I start querying this particular work, I'll have it ready to send out, should any agents decide to ask for it. Better, I suppose to have a synopsis ready before hand, than to scramble because somebody has asked for one.
Recently, somewhere in the LJ world, someone asked about all the writers who post word count and writing progress, and whether or not others are suitably impressed with it. I don't know that I have any real opinion on that or not. For many, I believe the journal and the recording of writing progress is really for their own use. That us LJ users are willing to share that progress with others is simply a manifestation of the blogging/journalling phenom. I do enjoy seeing the progress that other writers are making, and when I mention my own, I hope that a few of you find it interesting as well.
I guess that when someone does post a current word count, we can get an idea of just how far along they are. I've always understood that 100,000 words is good for the average novel, although specific genre works are often at a different expected count. And does this word count reflect what one's word processor actually says, or is it based on a set number, an average number of words per page. If one writes in standard format, using Time New Roman 12 pt font, then the standard 250 words per page works out to 400 pages for a 100,000 word manuscript. It is my understanding that most in the publishing industry work with this concept, although I've seen a few sources that would rather one give a more detailed count. The final version of BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE, ended up with 396 pages or 99.000 words. Yet it I go through and check word count via the computer for each chapter and add them up, it's just over 120,000 words. From my view point, I'll submit it as 99,000 words, unless the place I'm submitting to specifically asks for the more detailed word count.
One other thing I've noticed in my own writing, is that as I revise, my word count seems to go down. When I first finished BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE and finally got it into standard format, it was nearly 550 pages long. Each time I went thru it, I shortened it a little more, and after a concerted effort to get it close to the 400 page goal, it ended up at around 420 pages. I ended up dropping the last two chapters and moving them to become the second and third chapters of SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS, which left me with 396 in the first book. I suppose I "self-edited" a little closer in writing the second one. The first draft came out to 403, and after I incorporated the first round of edits, it was also at 396. In incorporating the second round, I find that it's being shortened even more. When I start on the revisions for Chapter 16 (hopefully later today) it'll start four pages sooner than it did in the earlier version...which started four pages sooner than the original version. At the same time, I do have a couple of places where I will be adding a bit of dialogue or narration, so I may gain back a page or two.
It's not that I'm cutting all that much. Sometimes the final page of a chapter has only a line or two on it. If I shorten up just a little, all the way through the chapter, it's easy to lose that last page. While my goal is to come up with 400 pages for a story, I'm not going to quibble about 390 to 410 or so. I do know that the "industry" gets a little worried about stuff much over 400 pages/100,000 words. Printing costs, I guess! And once I do get it beyond the point of searching for an agent, there will be revisions and changes (by request) that may shorten it further. The idea is to write and present an interesting and compelling story. Whether it is done in 300 pages or 749, doesn't really matter.
Dave
Sun, May. 4th, 2008, 10:08 am
Back on Track
I thought I had been doing pretty good at posting. Once a week seemed to be the way to go, and for awhile I seemed to be successful at it. Last weekend, however, turned out to be a little different and I didn't get anything new put up. I did think about posting something on Monday or Tuesday, but nothing really came to mind.
Part of it I suppose was that by the time last Saturday had rolled around, I'd worked seven days straight. That sort of sucked the creative/communicative processes from my being. Sunday I had a car club event to go to, which took away from my time (and desire) to post then. To top it all off, I've not been feeling all that well lately. The hernia that I've had for years, and which for the most part has simply existed, is making its presence known. I've got an appointment in a week and a half or so to determine just what to do about it. Depending on that, I may find that I have ample time to work on my various writing projects and even to post with a little higher frequency.
With regards to the writing, I'm nearing the end of the story as I read through SAILING DANGEROUS SEAS. I've got a little over six chapters to go. Progress on incorporating the changes and corrections found in this latest read through is on going as well. Yesterday I upgraded three more chapters and now have the first six done. They were all fairly easy, and I very well could have done a couple more. (I'd marked a lot of changes in the first chapter, and it took me three different sessions to complete the modifications to it.)
If anyone remembers, sometime ago I posted about an agent asking to see the entire BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE manuscript. I did hear back from her a couple of weeks ago, and unfortunately she was not interested enough to consider offering representation. Still I was thrilled to have an agent ask for the entire manuscript. That was certainly a step in the right direction. I'll just have to keep querying and submitting when asked to do so. I understand and firmly believe that it isn't only the technical quality of one's work that counts, but the gut instinct that an agent (or editor) gets about it. The agent has to really "love it" in order to be able to pitch it farther up the publishing food chain. If not, then he/she is right not to offer representation.
Quite honestly, I've slipped a little in the querying process. My goal has always been to send out at least one query a week, but with everything else that's been going on, I haven't been doing that. I have a couple that are still outstanding, but I do need to get some more in circulation.
Sorry if I'm rambling. Maybe next time my thoughts will be better organized!
Dave
Sun, Apr. 20th, 2008, 05:46 pm
Another week gone by and...
I still haven't gotten to the garage or the automotive work. The work that pays (a little) and the weather seem to have conspired against me. Last weekend was so nice, but because of the dastardly springtime cold that I had, I couldn't take advantage of it. I feel so much better this weekend, but now the weather isn't what it should be. All week long they said we'd have snow! Truth, it wasn't all that bad, but still it was rather raw and bleak...conditions which induced me to stay at the computer for a good part of it. (I did have to work today, but thankfully it was a fairly uneventful stint, and I was done in a little over a half day. That begins the long week, as I believe that I am to work this next Saturday as well.)
So, where am I at with regards to SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS? I just finished making the initial corrections to chapter twenty-four, HMS Pickle. For those who might be interested, the schooner HMS Pickle was the dispatch vessel that carried word of Nelson's victory and death at Trafalgar back to England. At this point in the story, Edward Pierce and Island Expedition have just about completed their epic voyage beyond the ocean's edge. They briefly sight the "advice schooner" as she drives forcefully towards Britain, exchange greetings, and learn of the recent triumph off the Spanish coast. I suppose I include it to help set the time and "current" events as related to my own story. That aside, I now have only two chapters left in which to make the initial set of corrections. (Who knows, I might get one more done today!)
The second read through is going well. I'm just past the half way point, and when that's done, it'll be time to incorporate those changes. Then, hopefully, I'll be satisfied enough with it that I can start letting a few "first readers" have a go at it. (For those that might be interested, Anne Mini has recently completed a series of posts on receiving and utilizing feedback, whether from writer critique groups, first readers, or professional (agent/editor) readers. Her Author! Author! blog is at www.annemini.com It's chock full of excellent advice and inciteful comments from readers, including at times, yours truly.)
As I have been writing these STONE ISLAND SEA STORIES, one of the more difficult things had been to categorize them. My first impulse is to say they are Naval Adventure in the line of Hornblower, Lord Ramage, or Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey. But there is a fantasy element as well, seeing that Edward Pierce and his companions find themselves in a completely different but somehow familiar world. So, do I call them fantasy or not? Last year at the PNWA conference, I pitched them as "fantasy disguised as naval adventure," which did cause some interest amongst the editors and agents. But one editor who requested a sample complained that the fantasy aspect wasn't there from the beginning. And that's true. The fantasy part does not manifest itself until well into the story, because in part, the story is about the characters' discovery of another world.
Some weeks ago I had a discussion with one of the others in my writing group. He suggested that all fiction is fantasy, and to a point, I suppose he's right. If we define fantasy as coming from the imagination, and as fiction is "made up" or imaginary people and/or events, then any and all fiction could be considered as fantasy. On the other hand, I'm thinking in terms of book categories, or upon which shelf in the book store would it go. In that case, fantasy has a range of definitions that classify it as such. While I certainly see fantasy in my work, I just don't know if it has enough to be called such.
He also suggested that perhaps what I write is of the "alternate world" variety. My understanding of this sub-genre leads me to believe that it isn't. Thinking along those lines, however, I might conclude that the STONE ISLAND SEA STORIES are "additional world" tales. When Pierce and his compatriots are in England, in this world, I fully intend it to be the world that really existed two hundred years ago, the world that has developed into what we know today. On the other hand, they find their way to a world that exists only in our imagination (my imagination?). The whole point is that as I write the stories, both worlds exist.
That's probably it for this time. I'm deciding now, whether or not I'll do another chapter's worth of corrections. As it is getting relatively late, I probably won't. But there's always tomorrow!
Dave
Sun, Apr. 13th, 2008, 12:25 pm
A BEAUTIFUL DAY AND I FEEL LIKE...
Here in the Inland Northwest, we have long been awaiting the arrival of true spring like weather. For the past week, the weather guessers have been promising us sunny skies and warm temperatures to make this weekend a truly glorious one. I've been waiting for a chance to get away from the computer and to do some stuff outside. I need to clean out my garage, do an oil change on the Sidekick, and rebuild the carbs on the Corvair Rampside pickup. But about halfway through my work day on Thursday, I began to notice that slight scratch and ache in the back of my throat. Was a dastardly spring time cold on its way?
Unfortunately the answer was a resounding "YES!" With a little help from my prefered cold medication (which I will not mention, lest is seem that I'm plugging a particular product) I made it through Friday's work session in fine shape. Yesterday went fairly well, but today, even with taking the medication, I feel the effects of the cold. And I feel them to the extend that I do not have the desire to do much of anything. That being the case, I think my best bet is to relax, rest, and make myself ready for work tomorrow.
I'm still working on polishing and smoothing the recently completed SAILING DANGEROUS SEAS. I'm up to chapter 19 in incorporating those changes and corrections that I've marked over the past months, while the book was till in progress. At the same time, I'm reading from the beginning marking those changes that are still needed. In that endeavor I'm nearly finished with Chapter 8. No, I've not made any of the changes that I've so far found in this read through. I'll probably wait until I have the first batch incorporated before I start with the second.
Right now, I'm finding that some of the changes are extensive enough that the overall length of the book is changing a slight bit. As it was on the day I finished the final chapter, I had 403 pages of manuscript. But from where I am in incorporating the first round of changes, I've shortened it by four pages. At the rate I'm going, I imagine it will end up being five to ten pages shorter than it originally was.
So, what am I doing to shorten it? Is it intentional or just coincidental? One thing I'm doing is slightly revising many of the first pages of each chapter. I had been starting the first line on the first page of a chapter, two lines farther down that I should have. I'm also cutting what I see as unneeded words and phrases from the text. Now if I cut a few things and move everything in a chapter two lines up, if the final page of that chapter had only a few lines, it's conceivable that it will just disappear.
Even if it ends up being a full ten pages shorter than it was, I don't see that as a "major shrinkage." When I first got BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE into something resembling standard format, it was over 540 pages. Then I diligently worked at cutting it down, and finally got it to around 425 or so pages. It's now at 396, primarily because I moved the last two chapters into the beginning of SAILING DANGEROUS SEAS.
If you like, I'll provide a short example of how I'm cutting words and phrases. Here, at random is a short paragragh from Chapter Nineteen of SAILING DANGEROUS SEAS:
Pierce was as hungry as anyone on board but felt it his duty to ensure that his officers and crew were fed first. The watch had already been changed, and like him, those now on deck would eat in turn. The wind lessened somewhat more, and he could see small patches of blue sky. If it continued to clear, tonight he could use the stars to accurately establish their position.
That's the original version. Now, with the changes made, here is how it reads:
Pierce was as hungry as anyone but felt it his duty to ensure that his crew was fed first. The watch had already been changed, and those now on deck would eat in turn. The lessening wind revealed small patches of blue sky. If it continued to clear, he could use the stars to accurately establish their position.
Out of four lines of text, it shortened up by over half a line! That's the sort of thing I'm doing as I go through the story. And just so you'll know, as I put the second version into this post, I saw some additional areas that could be changed and incorporated them as well.
I'm now thinking that when I end this post, that I'll make the changes to one more chapter, but as I've been at the keyboard since this morning, I may not. Instead it might be time to relax a little and see if the Mariners can take a third game from the Angels!
Dave
PS: If I list a song or type of music, it is not that I'm listening to that at the time I post. In most cases I don't have anything playing while I'm on the computer. What I do list is a particular song that I have heard recently.
Sun, Apr. 6th, 2008, 04:39 pm
Review, revise, repeat!
Somewhere in my last post I mentioned my growing belief in the principle that a written work is not in its final form until it's actually published and printed. Having finished the last chapter of my second novel at about the same time, I can say that the past week has done much to prove the above philosophy to me.
Monday I took my working copy to work and over lunch began going over the last two chapters. Especially in the final one, I marked up several changes and found many errors that I need to change. Remember, this is in an area that I had just gone through. Then as the week end neared, I started reading at the beginning of the book. This portion has already been revised, edited, corrected, and yet I found that I was marking it up as much as anything. True, it was over six months ago that I reviewed it, but looking at it with relatively fresh eyes, reveals that many little changes are still needed.
Just a few minutes ago, I made the first set of changes to chapter Eleven. I want to stay a few chapters ahead of where I'm reading and doing further revisions and corrections. As I've said before, the idea is that someday I want to be able to read it without having to mark changes or typos. There's a catch to that as well, as I've discovered with my first story. At one point I was pretty well satisfied with it. Then my writing group started going over it, and as of late their comments and observations have caused me to make further changes in the first two chapters. They do tend to point out problem areas that I usually don't see.
But how does one get to the point of having a completed novel, in which one can find things to change or allow writer friends to find errors, and other items that need to be addressed? I suppose the real question is how does one write a novel? I bring this up because of a writer acquaintance of mine has made some comments in a recent e-mail exchange. I had mentioned finishing up the second book, and from the tone of the e-mails, I believe this individual is a little frustrated with writing progress.
First of all, I think that everybody that writes has their own particular (and sometimes peculiar) method of writing. Some are quite structured. They outline major events and plot points in the story They fill in the gaps and add detail as they go along, but they always have a good idea of what happens. On the other hand, I just let it flow. I do have a general idea of where things are going, and often I have to steer the story in that direction to keep on track. At the same time I let the story unfold as it goes along, and quite honestly, it may lead to places that I had never considered when I started.
Within the STONE ISLAND SEA STORIES, I am attempting to follow the basic story as told in the original version written several decades ago. But while that was but a single book of somewhat primitive quality, I find that the two I've written lately don't make it all that far along the plot road described in it At the rate I'm going, I'm guesing a solid series of five or six stories to cover the time and basic events of the old story. I'm adding more detail and providing more detours for the characters contained within. Some detours end up being detoured again, and a lot of what is in the last third of BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE and nearly all of SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS had never entered my mind when I first started writing again. And then over the course of writing the second, I found myself completely revising it as I went. The final chapter that I have so often mentioned was originally one fairly close to the beginning. I chose to fill in the gaps as well as add several more detours to get it to that chapter that is now the end. Much of what I had originally planed for the second book will end up in the third.
I've often thought of a story as equivalent to a drive across state or across country. While we all like a safe and sane journey without frustration, weather problems, detour, and the like, such a trip is not much to talk about around the water cooler come Monday morning. It's much more interesting if the recent traveler comes to work complaining about all the hardships, trial, and tribulations they had to endure, just to get from Spokane to Seattle and back. In the same vein, a story with no problems for the protagonist(s) is rather dull and mundane. If everything goes well all through the story, is there really a story to tell? As writers we need to establish a few road blocks, steer the story onto some unused and treacherous mountain trails. Detour off the beaten path!
I'll continue with this thought the next time I post. Right now I'm getting sleepy, I worked this morning, and I have some Inland Northwest Corvair Club newsletters to get ready to mail tomorrow.
Dave
Sun, Mar. 30th, 2008, 02:30 pm
Finally, THE END
At long last I can say that I've finished SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS. I completed the changes required in chapter Twenty-Six about an hour and a half ago. I've printed it out and now it's in the binder with the rest of the story.
For the foreseeable future, my writing efforts will be to smooth and refine that volume of the continuing series of STONE ISLAND SEA STORIES. Tomorrow I'll take it to work and hopefully get that last chapter read and any changes noted. At home and on the computer, I'll be making the changes that I've already indicated on the hard copy of the story. Currently I've made initial changes to the first eight chapters. At the same time, I'll start reading, correcting, and revising from the beginning again. And if I can come up with a few "first readers" to offer their opinions and suggestions, that would also be most welcome. Right now I'm finding enough changes that I simply reprint each entire chapter. Hopefully on the second and subsequent go-rounds, I'll only need to change the page(s) upon which changes are made. My goal (as it was with BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE) is to be able to sit and read it the same as if it were someone else's book and not have to mark errors, changes, or other revisions...ideally because there are none!
One of the things I've learned about being a writer, is that no work, no manuscript is fixed or set in stone until it is actually on the bookstore shelf. No matter how well written a piece might seem to be, it can always be improved. If I set something a side for a little while and come back to it, I'm most certainly going to find things to change. Once I get to the point where such things are triveling or not worth changing, others may find stuff that indeed should be changed. And at this point I'm speaking of one who is still searching for an agent, so I know that even more revisions and changes are in the works as I progress to being a published author.
I am trying to get back to sending out at least one query letter a week. I still need to do that today, but as the weather is uncooperative, I might find the time to do just that. (Here it is, near the end of March, and we've actually had a considerable amount of snow over this weekend.) Once I finish this post, I may well get ambitious and see about getting another query letter ready to go.
I've never mentioned it, either in a post or in my profile, but I do not have any particular policy regarding "friending." I did "friend" a few individuals quite soon after opening my journal, simply to not appear "friendless." I don't normally read those individuals' journals via the friends page, but simply check them via the favorites function of my browser. I did receive word a few days ago that a particular individual had friended me. Neat! I've checked that lj user's profile and will probably "friend" in return. As long as I have a fairly small friends list, I'll try to return the favor to anyone who does "friend" me. But if I should happen not to, don't read anything into it. Likewise, should I "friend" you, do not feel that you have to return the gesture in kind.
If next weekend is warmer and drier, I will hopefully get outdoors and get the garage cleaned up and some work done on my '62 Corvair Rampside Pick-up.
Dave
Sun, Mar. 23rd, 2008, 04:33 pm
Making Progress
Since I posted yesterday, I feel like I've made some real progress towards finishing SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS. I did finish the twenty-fifth chapter and have a good start on the twenty-sixth and final one. Most of it has already been written, and it is merely a matter of updating it to fit the story as it now is. More of an edit job than anything. I just left off for the time being, and am on the sixth of sixteen pages. One or two more sessions should finish it.
Along with that, I've managed to make corrections and reprint three more of the earlier chapters. I don't know how much I'll get done this next week, other than in reading towards the end while at work, on my break. It's just about time to start on the next issue of the Corvair Club Newsletter. Hopefully this time I'll be getting it out to the members a little closer to the first of the month. My goal is to have it mailed NLT the 5th of April. Next week end, if the weather is nice, I want to try and get some outside/garage/automotive work done.
Did manage to get another query letter sent out. This one's a repeat of one I sent over a year ago. I don't recall ever receiving any sort of reply from this particular agent/agency. It's also one of those in which I goofed and had the salutation to a different agent than the one it was going to. (I'm just hoping that after thirteen months or so she doesn't remember the "boo-boo!)
For those that celebrate Easter, I hope you are having a Happy One.
Dave
Sat, Mar. 22nd, 2008, 09:45 am
Another Week Gone By
And did I accomplish anything? I suppose so. As mentioned last time, I did get back to querying again. That one went via e-mail as requested by that particular agency. And it came back the next day as "rejected." But that's to be expected. Even if you think an agent might be a perfect fit for you and your work, the agent may not see it that way. Still, the game is send out a query to the next agent on your list.
As far as the writing goes, I've been entering some of the corrections and edits that I had marked in the earlier chapters. At the same time, I am currently taking it to work daily and am doing some editing polishing while on my "lunch" hour. Today, I hope to finish entering changes and re-printing chapter Six. I might even get the rest of Chapter Twenty-Five written. Then Chapter Twenty-Six and it should be done. Then it'll be a process of making the corrections and changes already noted, and going through it again. I'm sure I'll find more things to change and correct as I work to make it as perfect as possible.
Because I am working on my second book while on my break at work, I'm not reading anything at the current time. If I hadn't mentioned it, I had been reading, and I've finished, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE by Philip K. Dick.
If I spend all my time making entries in my LJ, I'm not going to get any of my other stuff done, so I'll make this a short one and get on with it.
Dave Sat, Mar. 15th, 2008, 03:27 pm
Querying Again!
Yeah, after several months, I'm back to sending query letters, trying to land a literary agent to represent me and my work. Actually I have only sent a single letter on this latest go-round, but it is a start and should get me back on the path.
If you wonder why I stopped in the first place, it was because I had been advised by experts that the publishing industry basically shuts down from Thanksgiving through the Christmas and New Years Holidays. I was also advised that as many writers make New Year's resolutions and flood the agencies with queries immediately after the beginning of January, that one should wait until after the celebration of Martin Luthor King Day before resuming to query. The fact that I've ended up waiting an additional two months is strictly on me. It's always seemed that I've had something else going on and just never got around to it.
I think I mentioned queries and pitches a couple of posts ago. What I said then was that both serve as a way to get an agent's attention so that hopefully they will respond and ask to see a sample (or even the complete manuscript) of your work. If you receive a request for a sample submission, then the query letter (or verbal pitch) has done its job. Just remember, when it comes to query letters, different agents and agencies operate in different fashions. Many want just the query letter. Based on that alone, they will send a request for sample material or decline and send along a rejection notice. Others will ask for a sample submission to accompany the query letter. A rather well-known writer who I heard speak a time or two at a particular writer's conference suggested that one should always send that sample submission along with the query letter. That way, if the letter grabs the agent's attention and he/she is interested, the sample material is right there. It makes sense, I guess, but it also has a couple of drawbacks. First of all, agents often screen querying writers for the ability to follow directions. If told to send a query letter only, and you send a fifty page sample, what impression does the agent (or the agency screener) gain of your ability to follow guidelines. If I've learned anything about this writing and publishing business, it is that it pays to follow directions exactly.
Thus, the query I sent today was simply the one page letter, sent via e-mail, because that is how this particular agent has requested that queries be sent to her. Before I sent it, I did print out a copy and filed it with the other queries I've sent out. This way I can monitor those that bring responses. If I don't hear from a particular agent or agency after a fair amount of time, I can always update the letter and resubmit.
The last time I talked about query letters I mentioned that I have a generic one on file. What do I change when I get ready to send it. First of all, I want to make sure it's dated appropriately. The last time I had revised and sent it, it was the 17th of November, 2007. Wisely I changed that to today's date. Then as it is a business letter, I include the address of the agent and agency I'm sending it to. Since the letter as saved in my files has the address of the last agency I sent it to, that get's changed as well. Just as importantly, the salutation, the "Dear Mr. Jones:" gets changed as well. It doesn't win you any favors to greet Mr. Jones when you are sending the letter to Ms. Smith. (I've done this a time or two, and it is really a downer to realize it, especially when it comes back with a terse, "we are not interested in your work," rejection.)
I often slightly revise the first paragraph of the letter and tailor it to the specific agent or agency. This is where I mention how I discovered that particular agent or agency, and why I feel they might be interested in my work. The part of the first paragraph that stays the same is a very brief first mention of that work. I mention its category, word count, and title, and hope that the agent will find it interesting enough to consider offering representation.
The second paragraph remains pretty much the same from query to query. It is a really brief explanation of what the story is about. This can be compared to the blurb that is often found on the back of a book's cover...something to gain a reader's (and an agent's) interest.
In the third paragraph I try to offer a little information about me and explain how I came to write the story. It too remains the same from query to query. Some people might include the next part in this same paragraph, but I make fourth one and briefly describe my current writing projects and membership in various writers associations and groups.
Finally I close with a final paragraph, thanking the agent for taking his/her valuable time to consider my work. I also confirm that I am sending any requested materials, including the prerequisite SASE, and mention that I hope to hear from him/her soon. As different agents request different things to accompany the query letter, this paragraph often needs to be revised. It also needs to be revised if one is sending the query via e-mail, rather than as a hard copy in the regular mail.
From time to time, I do reread the entire letter, and occasionally I'll make a small change here and there, hopefully for the better.
Depending upon your source of expertise, you might be told different things regarding the overall appearance or format of a query letter. Some say that it should be in the same format as is this LJ page...no identations and skip a line between paragraphs, with everything left justified. However, my source of expertise, Anne Mini, of the AUTHOR! AUTHOR! blog at www.annemini.com strongly suggests that it should more closely resemble manuscript standard format, the primary difference being single instead of double line spacing. There should be no extra space between paragraphs, and the first line of each should be indented. Additionally, the writer's address, contact information, closing and signature should be to the right of the vertical center line. In other words, it should look like the older, more traditional business letter.
Finally, unless told not to send one, every query letter should be accompanied by a self addressed, stamped envelope. A standard business sized envelope allows the agency to easily send a reply. Often they will simply scribble a note on your letter and send it back to you. Or they will include their own form letter, either sending along yet another rejection or requesting a sample submission. If a sample submission is sent with the query letter, it is standard practice to send a SASE large enough (and with enough postage) so they can return the pages to you. (For insight into the "whys" of returning submissions, see Anne's blog and the entry for, I believe it is the twelve or March. It is the one with a picture of her mom and the head of the Philip K. Dick ("dickheads") fan club.
Speaking of PKD, I finished reading THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE at work yesterday. As it is the first of four novels in the volume I have, I've debated as to whether or not I'd read them all together or spread them out a little. I've decided to spread them out. Now as I near the finish of SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS, I think I'll be taking that to work and start going through it with a mind toward revision and editing.
As it has turned out, I haven't gotten any more done on it since the last time I posted. However, I've gotten the newsletter for the Corvair Club out of the way, some of my stuff for Spokane Authors done, so the next week should be wide open for work on the book.
(Speaking of Spokane Authors, a couple of posts ago, I listed the website, but did so incorrectly, mentioning it as a "dotcom" instead of a "dotorg." I corrected the entry, but I've noticed that it still tries to go to a "dotcom." Anyway, for those that might be interested, the correct web address is: http://www.spokaneauthors.org
Until next time, then
Dave
Mon, Mar. 10th, 2008, 05:14 pm
Making Progress
This will be short, but I want to pat myself on the back. I've finally made some real progress towards finishing my second story. Over the past week end I've gotten nearly all of Chapter Twenty-Five, An Unnoticed Return, of SAILING DANGEROUS SEAS written. Currently it's at nearly fourteen pages, all of which was done since my last posting. It will probably end up with sixteen to eighteen pages, and then it will be in to the twenty-sixth, and hopefully last chapter. A lot of that has already been written, so it will simply be a matter of editing and smoothing.
Dave
Sat, Mar. 8th, 2008, 09:19 am
I've got the whole weekend
to do those things I want to do. Probably the best thing is to be able to sleep in for two days in a row. And since I don't have any commitments either Saturday or Sunday, I should be able to make some progress on the writing. Besides adding another post to my LJ page, I might even get something done on the final chapters of SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS. I would really like to have the first draft finished by the end of the month.
Last week I did get my part of the Inland Northwest Corvair Club's REAR ENGINE REVIEW done and sent off to our club president. Even though I am officially the editor, he adds his input and acts as editor for my contributions. Now, I'm just waiting for him to send it back so I can print and mail it out. And as it seems that I've been a little bit behind on producing that monthly "tabloid," I hope to start on the next issue in a week or two. Hopefully during that intervening time I'll get back to working on the book.
Thursday marked my third time presiding over the Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers meeting. All in all it went pretty well. Still have to write my "President's Page" piece to put in the group's website. (www.spokaneauthors.org) It just seems that there are so many little things that tend to distract me from actually writing.
One other thing I need to get back to, is my former practice of sending out a query letter or two every week. Quite naturally, and in accordance with advice from many in the publishing industry, I did not send any over the holidays, or indeed through Martin Luther King Day. My plan was to resume sending letters out near the end of January, but with all else I have going on, I just haven't done it. (But I did get my entry put together and sent in for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association's Literary Contest. Now, the best I can do is to forget about it, because winners are not announced until the Writer's Conference in July. That's a long time to be wondering and worrying. Better to not even think about it. By the way, PNWA is at www.pnwa.org )
I keep thinking that in one of these posts, I'll get back to discussing the writing and publishing industry a little. Again I warn you that I'm not an expert. I'm still not published, and I'm still in the search for an agent. But over the past few years I have learned a great deal, and I'm willing to pass along what little I know. That being the case, I'll mention just a little about query letters and pitching.
In my mind, query letters and pitching both serve the same purpose. The goal of each is to arouse the interest of an agent (or other industry professional) to the point that he or she asks to see a sample of your work. The difference, of course, is that the query letter is written and the pitch is delivered orally and in person. I must be somewhat successful in both forms, as I have had requests for sample submissions as a result of either. At the same time I have a large and growing collection of rejections slips. I even have a rejection slip from a particular agency that mentioned the query letter as being very well written!
When I first embarked on my writer's journey, I felt that what I put down as I wrote was etched in stone and would never change. But even as I wrote the original draft of BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE, I realized that that just couldn't be. I found (heaven forbid) typos and other things that needed changing. The story needed a lot of fine tuning to get to the point it is at now. And I'm aware that after I do land an agent, that other changes, corrections, and even finer, final polishings will be needed.
My query letters have gone through much the same evolution. When I first heard of such a thing and was told (shown) what they should be, I sat and wrote one. I sent it out a number of times with nothing but form rejection letters in return. While the aspiring writer might often get the impression that agents delight in sending rejection slips and laughing at our struggles to understand and break in to the publishing world, most really do want us to succeed. After all, they make their living because of our success. I was fortunate, early in the querying process to have contacted Nadia Cornier of Firebrand Literary. As had happened with previous early queries, she rejected it. In an effort to be polite, which I understand goes a long way in the industry, I replied and thanked her for her time. She responded most graciously by pointing out some flaws and areas of concern in my query letter that may have caused her to reject it more readily.
I took the information to heart, made the changes as best I could and continued to send query letters on a regular basis. As time goes on, the letter constantly evolves, as I attempt to make it the best that there is. It is obviously getting better as now I get the occasional request to submit the first fifty pages or first three chapters...depending upon that agent's preference.
Like a lot of querying writers do, I believe, I have a standard query letter in my computer files. The majority of it stays the same, regardless of who I am sending it to. What changes on a regular basis is of course, the date and where (and to whom) it is going. I was quite chagrined a year or so ago to realize that in a couple of cases I had correctly changed the "inside" address of the agent and agency I was sending it to, but somehow had neglected to change the salutation. I don't believe it helped my cause when agent "B" opened a letter that said, "Dear Agent 'A!'" Just one of those things that happens when we get in a hurry, I guess. My first thought was to re contact the agent(s), apologize profusely, beg for a second chance, and implore the agent(s) to reconsider the previous rejection. That would not have helped my cause. It would have made my error(s) stand out that much more. In this case it was (and is) probably best to just "lay low." Agents receive so many queries that after a few days, while they may well have remembered the gaffe, they had probably forgotten the name of the poor fool who committed it. Chances are that now I could query these particular agents again with absolutely no worry that my previous goof would be remembered.
The other part of my query letter that changes regularly is the opening line in which I briefly mention how I came to be writing to this particular agent/agency. Depending upon what the agent/agency requests with the query letter, the last part of the letter may vary as well. If the last letter I sent was to an agent requesting a synopsis and the first fifty pages to accompany the query letter, and I've mentioned that I've enclosed those materials, I should not mention it in the next query to an agent that wants only the letter and an SASE.
The body, the middle, or the "meat" of the letter stays pretty much the same. I do find that when I get ready to send it again, that I might find that a small change is needed to further improve it. So while this portion is basically fixed, it does change little by little, hopefully evolving into an ever better query letter.
Next time I'll delve a little in to that aspect of the query letter.
As for what I'm reading, I'm still with Philip K. Dick's THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE. Hopefully by the time I finish that I'll have finished my second book and will spend some time going over it for my daily reading exercise.
Take care,
Dave
Sat, Mar. 1st, 2008, 03:32 pm
Progress, or the lack thereof:
When I was last here, Monday I believe, I was energetically contemplating work on the one or two chapters remaining in SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS. As it has turned out, about all I've done is to think about them while at work. I just haven't got to the point of actually sitting down and working on them. I could offer the excuse that over the past week I've not felt the best, and that after a full day of fairly physical (as opposed to being at a desk) work, I was just tired enough that I did not want to get into the work of writing. At times, about all I do with the computer is check incoming e-mails and review those blogs that I follow. I like to think of that as "warm up" for getting on with the writing, but sometimes I'll open up to the chapter where I am, look at it for thirty seconds and close it again. Hopefully I'll get past that much of the time, and by the end of March have the first draft finished. Then it'll be a matter of first readers, editing, and polishing it. Also about then I want to be able to take a little time away from the writing and get back to a little wrench turning...perhaps on the weekends.
I spent the morning with the little writers group I'm in. Currently two of us are working on novels, two write poetry, and the fifth writes short stories. We meet every two weeks, and review one member's work. The work reviewed today was some starting points for a novel that one of our poets is attempting to write. She has mentioned the premise of the story to most of us before, and I was delighted to see some of the ideas set to paper at last. The newest member of the group saw this effort from out of the blue. In otherwords, she had never mentioned her idea for the story to him. Perhaps because of that, he was the most critical of the beginning scenes as they now exist. Certainly his comments as well as those of the rest of us will give her a better starting point.
As I think of it, I feel fortunate to be in this particular writers group. We seem to be an association that can put our individual work before the others with the expectation that we will receive meaningful and helpful critiques. While a writer must be willing to have his/her work criticized, it does the writer no good if his/her work is simply dismissed. At the same time, it is not at all helpful if the other members of a group simply tell a writer how wonderful his prose (or poetry) is. A good writers group finds a way to balance critique and praise, as each member needs both.
And then we come to the realization that somewhere there is no doubt someone who will not like a certain writer's work. On nearly any level of the writing world, a person might be told by many many individuals that this particular writing effort is of the highest quality, only to find that the next reader has no use at all for it. As I've come to learn over the past couple of years, if I believe in my writing, if a majority of folks in the industry see some promise in it, I'm not going to be all that concerned with the occasional one who dismisses it as un-polished or un-marketable. That merely an opinion, and like certain parts of one's anatomy, we all have one.
I'd add some more to the list of what I've been reading, but as of the last post, that's up to date. I will tell you that I've started THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE by Philip K. Dick. It's in a volume of four of his novels which I got for Christmas. Right now I'm deciding if I want to read the four of them straight through, or if I want to interspace them in amongst other works as well. Maybe what I'll do in the future is mention some of the non-fiction/reference type books that I've read or studied that I find helpful in writing my own stories.
With that in mind, I'll end for today. I might even find time in the near future to do a little work on my writing, although I think next week will involve work on the next issue of the Inland Northwest Corvair Club's REAR ENGINE REVIEW.
Dave
Mon, Feb. 25th, 2008, 04:42 pm
A Small Triumph (Delayed!)
Well, if you must know, the small triumph of which I speak is that yesterday I completed Chapter 24 of SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS! (You may have noticed that I've dropped the "Always" from the beginning of the title. I originally did that to fit it on to my business card layout. Decided it was better as it is now and changed it.) The delay is that I went to post about that and a few sundry other things yesterday. I was nearly done and ready to post when I evidently got a case of fumble fingers and somehow deleted it. Since I had been on the computer just about all day, I decided that I wasn't going to try and redo it. I'd just wait until today.
Now that Chapter twenty-four is done, I can say I'm getting pretty close to the end of this particular book. I'm thinking there will be one or perhaps two more chapters. Then it'll be time to set the writing aside for a little while and get some work done on my cars. (I'd at least like to devote the weekends to the wrench turning, and write after work on weekdays.)
If I haven't mentioned it, I have two Corvairs. One is a '62 Rampside pickup. I had it running again last summer and fall. I think that it needs a good tune up to be back on the road. That and some body and structural work, which I hope to get done as well. The other is a '65 "Spyderized" Monza coupe. About four or five years ago I started a "two week" project on it. I'm maybe a third of the way done. Primarily I'm rebuilding the "homemade dash and instrument panel that's in it. I plan to get to that as well this spring and summer.
Do any of you, especially those of you with older cars name them? I do. The '65 is "Ralph" for Ralph Nader, whose book, DANGEROUS AT ANY SPEED had a chapter about the Corvair, and in many folks' opinion led to it's demise. The '62 is "Tim" for Tim Allen/Tim Taylor, because when I first bought it, it needed more power! My current daily driver is a '98 Suzuki Sidekick. Living in the Pacific Northwest and being a Mariners fan, is it any wonder that we refer to it as "Ichi?"
This will no doubt be a fairly short post. As I end, I'll continue with the list of what I've read as of late.
BLACK ORDER(autographed)
James Rollins
AMERICAN KNEES(autographed)
Shawn Wong
SHADOWFALL(autographed)
James Clemens
THE END OF BARBARY TERROR(non-fiction)
Frederick C. Leiner
DEPTHS OF MADNESS(autographed)
Eric Scott de Bie
HAND OF EVIL
J. A. Jance
EMPIRE OF IVORY
Naomi Novik
THE JURYMASTER(autographed)
Robert Dugoni (I should finish this on my lunch break tomorrow.)
It seems that I was posting fairly regularly on either Saturday or Sunday, each week. I'm thinking now that I will try for Mondays and Fridays, and unless I really get deep into something, the posts will be a little shorter. I do want to thank those of you who have commented. That's one of the more enjoyable parts of doing this LJ page. It lets me know that someone is reading it, and I like the dialogue and discussions that often ensue.
Dave
Fri, Feb. 22nd, 2008, 04:43 pm
OOPS!
Wouldn't ya know it! I start of my last post, basically promising not to be one of those folks who go for long periods of not posting. And while it hasn't been all that long, it's still been a considerable amount of time beyond what I normally allow between entries. If I was to offer any sort of excuse, I suppose it would have to be simply, that I've been busy. I've been dealing with stuff for Spokane Authors, the Inland Northwest Corvair Club, an entry for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association's Literary Contest, as well as everyday life, and nearly everyday work. (I'm speaking of the work that puts $ in the checking account, as opposed to work on literary pursuits.)
As it turned out, last Sunday when I normally would have posted, I ended up on the job for nearly a full day. It's usually a short day if I work on a normal day off. As it was, I worked late enough that I missed a meeting for the Corvair Club, and was just tired enough once I got home that I didn't do much of anything. I find it very hard to post if I'm tired!
I guess that's enough time spent offering excuses. My entry is in, I can wait a week or so to start the next Corvair Club Newsletter. Maybe I can actually get some work done on my second book over the next week or so. I still have the very last chapter or two to finish up. I know what is supposed to happen, and now I just need to get it down on "paper." I'm hoping to get a little done on it this weekend. Hopefully I'll also get something posted on Sunday and be back on schedule with that.
Other than that, I don't have a whole lot for today. Perhaps I'll continue a little with the list of what I've read. So here goes:
The Commodore by Patrick O'Brian
Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone
The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O'Brian
Owlflight (Autographed) by Mercedes Lackey and Tom Dixon
The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian
Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O'Brian
Dead Wrong (Autographed) by J. A. Jance
Dr. Futurity by Philip K. Dick
We are getting pretty close to the end of the list, as it now stands. If I include another eight books, it'll bring us up to what I am currently reading. If anyone wonders about the titles marked "autographed," the majority were signed by the authors at the last two Pacific Northwest Writers Association's Conferences. Many of the authors were presenters or keynote speakers at these conferences. In addition on one night, all of the attending authors hold an autograph party or mass book signing. I bought the books and had them signed. Simple as that. Actually the only one that wasn't signed that way was Stillpoint. The author is a member of Spokane Authors, and a copy of her book was a door prize that I won at the second meeting I attended. Doesn't make reading them any different, but it is a neat way to impress family, friends, and co-workers!
See ya Sunday, unless I get side tracked somehow. Will really feel good to sleep in for a couple of days. Getting up at 0245 hrs (2:45 am for the non-military types) isn't my favorite thing to do.
As always, if you have anything to say in response, rebuttal, or just want to say, "hi!" please feel free to comment.
Dave
Sun, Feb. 10th, 2008, 11:49 am
MEANDERINGS
Now that I've started this journal, I don't want to be one of those individuals who post once in the proverbial "blue moon." That's why I try to do something once a week or so. More, and I feel I'm cutting into my time for writing, or producing the Inland Northwest Corvair Club's newsletter...the REAR ENGINE REVIEW. (And it seems that the time for those tasks is limited enough as it is!) After all, I see this as a supplement to my other writing activities, not as a substitute for them. I do envy those who can seemingly find the time to post nearly everyday, and still have the time to do their other work. At the same time, it's somewhat disappointing to check a particular blog or journal, only to find that it hasn't been updated in several weeks. But as I understand the dilemma of balancing posting with other work, and as most of those particular blogs are by people far busier than I am, I understand.
Thursday I conducted my second meeting as president of Spokane Authors and Self Publishers (www.spokaneauthors.org). It went better in many respects, possibly because it was not my first time at doing it. At least I did not feel quite as apprehensive as I had a month earlier. We did have a bit of a problem in that due to the weather and road conditions, our scheduled speaker could not make it. The last minute cancellation and again road and weather conditions prevented our substitute/fill-in speaker from making it as well. I tried to alert as many members as possible the night before, and I planned to have various people read some excerpts from their work. As it turned out, I volunteered and read the first chapter (A FRENCH SURPRISE) from BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE, my first novel. Another member did read a couple of poems, and our secretary read a short essay that he had written.
This coming week my writing projects will be to finalize and print this month's edition of the REAR ENGINE REVIEW. (I'm waiting for it to come back from the club president who always adds some inputs to what I write before it's printed and sent out.) I also want to freshen up my entry for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association's Literary Contest. (www.pnwa.org) It's due in about two weeks. I'll probably end up entering my first novel again, but I am thinking of entering the second one instead. I'm so close to having it finished, that for all practical purposes, it is. However, I still have to write a synopsis for it, and with the way time has been messing with me as of late, I don't know that I'd be able to get one done in time. And if I ever do find the time, I need to work on actually finishing that second story.
That's about all I've got for today. In closing, I'll add a little more to the list of what I've read over the past few years.
THE THIRTEEN GUN SALUTE
by Patrick O'Brian
THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION
by Patrick O'Brian
THRONE OF JADE
by Naomi Novik
THE TRUELOVE
by Patrick O'Brian
THE PROTECTOR
(autographed) by David Morrell
HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON
by Naomi Novik
BLACK POWDER WAR
by Naomi Novik
THE WINE DARK SEA
by Patrick O'Brian
AMAZONIA
(autographed) by James Rollins
BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE
by D. Andrew McChesney (yeah, I actually read my own book. It was another attempt to perfect it. My goal was to be able to read it without finding mistakes and making changes. I didn't quite succeed at that, but it did give me a chance to catch typos and other problems that still existed in it.) Until next week! Dave
Sat, Feb. 2nd, 2008, 08:48 am
Continuing the "Fact vs. Fiction" Dilemma
Hello again! I'm posting a day or so earlier than I normally would. I'm scheduled to work for about a half day tomorrow, and then it is also Superbowl Sunday, so my time to do this might be a little compromised. The solution then is to do what has come to be my weekly posting, today. (The weather in the Inland Northwest is currently not conducive to any outside or away from home activities, so I plan to spend it at the computer. catching up on stuff.)
As of late, I've been talking about how a writer of historical fiction can seemlessly blend his/her fictional character and fictional story line into the facts and reality of history. To narrow the discussion a little further, I'm applying it specifically to that branch of historical fiction known as Naval Adventure. In any case, what you as a writer permit or forbid yourself to do is strictly your choice. Some may not want to tamper at all with the known facts and events of history, but rather prefer to have their characters actions support or supplement what really happened. Others have no qualms at all about substituting their fictional characters for those who were actually there. Even so, I suppose there is a limit for these folks a well. While Patrick O'Brian may have allowed Jack Aubrey to fill in for Captain Hammond as commander of HMS Lively, I seriously doubt he would have allowed him to command the British fleet at Trafalgar in place of Lord Nelson.
Many writers of Naval Adventure do pattern there fictional characters and their exploits after real individuals and their recorded and real adventures. A great deal of Aubrey's career approximates that of Lord Cochrane, including the improbable capture of the Spanish xebec frigate Cacafuego by His Majesty's Brig Sophie. In reality, Lord Cochrane's Speedy performed the deed against the larger El Gato. Even so, O'Brian changed the dates of the event (or of a larger battle of nearly the same time) to allow Aubrey to participate in both.
Further, some writers tend to disregard the time line and cram a dozen years worth of adventure into a year or two. I don't mean to be critical of Mr. O'Brian, but he does this to a great extent as well. FORTUNE OF WAR finds Aubrey and Maturin as passengers aboard HMS Java when it is destroyed by USS Constitution. As prisoners they spend the winter and spring of 1813 in Boston and eventually escape to sea and the blockading HMS Shannon. Quite naturally they are aboard when Shannon scores a long awaited British victory against USS Chesapeake. Following their return to England, Aubrey and Maturin undertake a voyage to the Baltic, deploy to the Mediterranean, sail to the Pacific in pursuit of an American raider, return to a financial scandal resulting in Aubrey's temporary dismissal from the service, undertake a period of privateering, sail once again to the Pacific and the East Indies, try to foment revolution in South America, combat the slave trade off the coast of Africa, and are available to be of service when Napoleon escapes from Elba. Additionally, Dr. Maturin marrys, has a daughter, and by the time these two years or so have gone by, and as Napoleon tries to reclaim his French Empire, this child is active well beyond what one would expect of one aged less than two years.
(I should point out that Patrick O'Brian was well aware of these little oddities and adjustments to the time line. He often mentioned such changes and variation in his "author's notes" that began many of the stories. In those he also often noted that a lot of what happens with Jack Aubrey was indeed based on the life, exploits, and adventures of Lord Cochrane. That period in Jack's and Stephen Maturin's careers, roughly from June 1813 until the end of 1814 is often referred to, and I believe by O'Brian himself, simply as "the long year.")
It should not be seen that I am criticizing Mr. O'Brian for writing the Aubrey/Maturin tales in this fashion. I've read and have enjoyed them tremendously over the past couple of years. I do think he allowed himself more latitude with historical facts and time spans than many other writers would have done. And in regards to the famous movie based upon these books, MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD, is a compilation of the various stories that become, on the screen a completely different story, with incidents and events culled from many of the books. Title wise it combines those of the first and tenth book. To me, even if it does deviate so much from the written pages, it is still a very good and exciting movie and certainly captures the characters and personalities of those depicted in the books.
Maybe I'm getting of track a little, so let's look at a little more subtle way of inserting a fictional character into historical situations. In the beginning of HORNBLOWER AND THE ATROPOS,
Nelson has just died at Trafalgar. Someone has to arrange and coordinate his funeral procession along the Thames. As a newly commissioned (and very junior) captain, Horatio Hornblower is saddled with this responsibility. Perhaps if one dug deeply enough into the records, one could find who actually did arrange and coordinate the event. But as that name eludes us in general, we could say without to much a stretch of the imagination, "why couldn't it have been Hornblower?"
In my writing I tend to set rules for myself, closer to what I believe C. S. Forester set for himself. I don't want to tamper with history as it really occurred. I will allow my characters and their actions to add to, supplement, and complement what actually happened some 200 years ago. However, I will not allow them to replace, change, divert, or confuse the events of the past. It is for that very reason that my writing as diverged slightly into a fantasy or alternate world mode. There, I can be more manipulative of events and place my characters and their actions directly in the middle of it all. Yet, I have kept them tied to the world as we know (knew?) it, and when they are "here," I do not allow them the freedom to ride roughshod over historical fact.
Hopefully this might help explain how or why my Naval Adventure series has that Fantasy or Alternate World aspect to it.
To progress a little with my reading list:
TREASON'S HARBOUR
by Patrick O'Brian
MAP OF BONES
(autographed) by James Rollins
AMERICA
by Stephen Coontz
THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
by Patrick O'Brian
GHOSTWALKER
(autographed) by Eric Scott de Bie
THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL
by Patrick O'Brian
STILL POINT
(autographed) by Patricia Campbell Kowal (a fellow member of Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers)
THE LETTER OF MARQUE
by Patrick O'Brian
Until the next time, have a wonderful week and enjoy the Superbowl!
Dave
Sun, Jan. 27th, 2008, 02:16 pm
Hiding Fictional Characters!
Perhaps I should say, "hiding a character's fictional existance." Or, in other words, how do we eliminate that huge red letter "FICTIONAL" stamp from across the foreheads of those we create in our writing, that we and our readers know never existed.
The last time I dwelled on this at any length, I mentioned that perhaps that is why so many writers of Naval Adventure place their primary characters in the British Navy. I suggested that it is easier to hide an imaginary naval hero amongst the many hundreds that really existed, as opposed to trying to hide him amongst the relatively few that were actually in the U. S. Navy at that time.
There are a few other things that one can do to lesson the "un real" impact of such an individual. First and foremost, he can serve aboard ships and with individuals that actually existed at that time. C. S. Forester does this with Hornblower in Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. For a good portion of that book, Hornblower is a midshipman aboard HMS Indefatigable, an actual British Navy razee that existed at that time. In the story, her captain, as in real life was Sir Edward Pellew...later Lord Exmouth. Honestly, I'm not sure if the events and exploits that take place aboard as described by Forester actually occurred or not. But by placing Hornblower aboard an actual ship, commanded by her actual captain, Forester makes Hornblower seem a little more real. One could probably research Admiralty records and find out exactly who the midshipmen assigned during that period were. The main thing is that without research, we don't know. With a little use of our imagination, a Horatio Hornblower very well could have served aboard.
It's quite easy to do this with the more junior individuals aboard ship. Without a lot of digging, almost nobody knows who the less senior lieutenants, the warrant officers, or midshipmen were. As a writer, it is quite easy to substitute one or more of our characters into those positions. Depending upon the author's personal choices (and that's what we are really talking about, here) that fictional character can be made to fulfill a more important role, even assume command of an actual historical vessel during an historical event or era. In Post Captain, Patrick O'Brian has Jack Aubrey temporarily in command of HMS Lively during the time she was actually under the command of a Captain Hammond. (As the story goes, Hammond was also a member of Parliment and had taken leave in order to attend there and Aubrey fills in for min.) So it would seem that it is easier to place a fictional individual into a real crew aboard a real ship if he is less senior. Without a great deal of digging, no one is going to notice. But if one places his created character in a more senior position, where perhaps the actual individuals are known to a good many people, the substitution will be that much more noticeable.
Certainly, whether a writer does insert his character into a high profile slot or not depends on the writer and his or her personal rules regarding such substitutions. My personal preference is to let the higher visibility positions remain as they actually were. I mention a time or two that Pierce served as fifth lieutenant in HMS Orion under Sir James Saumarez at the Battle of the Nile. I don't think the identity of the actual fifth lieutenant is common knowledge. I would not have him as captain or first lieutenant of the ship, as the identities of those individuals are too well known or are rather easily determined. In another way of saying it, my goal is to leave what is recorded in history as it was. I believe my characters and their actions should compliment and supplement what really took place. They should not replace or change what actually occurred.
Other writers are not as restrictive in this matter as I apparently am, and I can illustrate this with two different writers' approaches to an actual event.
The event is this: In the late summer of 1804, England is at war with France once again. Spain is neutral but appears ready to enter the conflict as a French ally. At the same time, the annual Spanish treasure fleet is enroute to Spain from the New World. England suspects that these monies will go to finance the French war machine, regardless of Spain's participation in the war. She would rather fight both an impoverished France and Spain as opposed to a well supplied and well equipped France. A small squadron of British frigates patrols the approaches to Cadiz, intercepts the Treasure Fleet, sinks one, captures the remaining three and diverts the treasure to London.
In O'Brian's telling of this event, Jack Aubrey has command of HMS Lively as noted above. Quite naturally, it's the actions of Lucky Jack that carry the day and make the operation the success that it was.
C. S. Forester also relates the incident in Hornblower and the Hotspur. Master and Commander Horatio Hornblower, commanding His Majesty's Sloop-of-War Hotspur is assigned as a fifth vessel to the intercepting squadron. En route to join the group, he is ordered into Cadiz, at that time a neutral port to gain the latest intelligence information. While there, he notices that a large and powerful French frigate, the Felicite is also in port. When Hotspur sails, the laws of neutrality require the French to wait twenty-four hours before sailing themselves. Hornblower joins the four ships already on patrol. When the Spanish treasure ships are spotted at the opposite end of the line from the Hotspur, Hornblower starts to reinforce the seizure attempt, but notices the French frigate approaching. It had evidently came to warn or aid the Spanish Treasure Fleet. Instead of hastening to the scene of the primary and historically real battle, Hotspur takes on Felicite, fighting at great odds and allows the actual operation to succeed just as history recorded it.
Can you guess what version I prefer? And for any Patrick O'Brian fans, do not think that I am not one myself. In the incident mentioned above, I just happen to prefer Forester's approach to including his fictional character in it.
That should about be it for this time. I'll leave you with a few more entries of what I have read over the past few years.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court
by Mark Twain
Desolation Island
by Patrick O'Brian
Sea of Grey
by Dewey Lambdin
The Fortune of War
by Patrick O'Brian
People of the Raven
by Lathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear
The Surgeon's Mate
by Patrick O'Brian
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
The Ionian Mission
by Patrick O'Brian
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
Hey, if you agree or disagree with anything that I write in this Live Journal, do feel free to leave a comment!
Dave
Sun, Jan. 20th, 2008, 02:27 pm
Getting close to the end!
Another week has gone by since I last posted. It's almost as if I'm on a schedule, in that I've posted on Sunday for the past three weeks or so. I'm sure I could come up with enough to post everyday, but then I'd never get anything else done.
Over the past few days I've gotten a little work done on my second Naval Adventure/Fantasy novel. I finally have the final details worked out in my mind, and now it's just a matter of putting them on paper. (On screen? In memory?) A lot of the final portions are already written, so a good deal of what I'm doing is a rework as much as anything, I've a few more things to develop from the mind to the page, but it's going fairly well. Much of what is going on in the story at this point was originally to have been near the beginning of the book. However, over the past few months, I've filled in the resulting gap between the first and second books, and now these events occur near the end. I also moved what had been the last two chapters of the first story to the second, and now they are the second and third chapters of it. I've also been giving considerable thought to moving at least a portion of the final chapter of the second book to the beginning of the third.
As it seems to be going now, I might actually be writing a trilogy. My original idea was for a series of stories, related and in order, but not necessarily running on, one to the other. My goal was that one should be able to pick up any book in the series and read it for itself and not feel lost because a certain situation was dealt with in an earlier volume. Hopefully, these two and those that follow will still enable a reader to do that. Now, I have them more closely linked together. It is almost like chapter one of book two could be chapter twenty-five of the first. (It has twenty four as it stands now.)
I'm hoping to get the first draft of book two done by the middle of February. Then I'll use it for my reading at work, and go through it with an eye towards a bit of polish and typo elimination. Eventually I want to be able to read it at work the same way I read other books, where I don't feel that I have to mark changes and corrections. (For those that might be interested, when I print out my working copy of a manuscript, I use both sides of the page, three-hole punch it, and put it in a binder. Makes it a lot easier to take to work or to writers groups. JUST SO NO ONE GETS IT WRONG! I DO NOT SUBMIT ANY OF MY WORK IN THIS FASHION. THEN IT'S SINGLE SIDED, NOT PUNCHED, AND UNBOUND, just like STANDARD FORMAT and the traditions of the PUBLISHING INDUSTRY REQUIRE!)
I mentioned a few days ago that our printer was acting up, just as I went to print out this months issue of the REAR ENGINE REVIEW. I managed to get one copy to come out satisfactorily and took that to a copy shop to make the remaining copies. Took the printer in and had it cleaned and aligned. Works good! I'm just glad that it was because of usage rather than non-use. So many things seem to break because they are never used instead of because they are not used. If something of mine is going to break, I'd rather it break because it has worn out, instead of a result of sitting and gathering dust. I feel the same with regards to my Corvairs. I prefer that if they break it's because I've been driving them; not that they've been sitting. Yeah, they have been sitting, but that's a different story.
Well, about a half hour now until game time and the NFC Championship game. That means I need to start winding this up. As I go, I'll relate the titles of a few more of the books I've read during my current reading spurt.
Once I had finished with C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series, I undertook the reading of Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin series. I read them in order, but not exclusively. Normally I read one of that series followed by something else. Of those, I read: Master and Commander
Post Captain
HMS Surprise
The Mauritius Command
In between I perused:
Atlantis Rising by Thomas Greanias
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Dave
Sun, Jan. 13th, 2008, 10:44 am
What I Read!
I think it has been pretty well established that most writers are also readers. As I look back on my life, I think it is the enjoyment of reading that has led me to become a writer. As a writer, I find that I read differently than I did when I was just a reader. I tend to look a little closer at the writing itself and not just at the story being told. Hopefully I am learning from this, and that as I read I am also improving my own writing.
I've been reading ever since I learned how. As I remember it, that was a fairly simple and straight forward process, no doubt due to the fact that my parents read to me constantly when I was very small. It only took a few weeks for me to grasp the concept of words in print being the same as words spoken by an individual. I suppose I was so taken with the magic of reading that I taught my younger sister to read, even before she entered kindergarten. (She too, picked it up with very little difficulty.) My one regret is that she did not have a chance to read my work before she succumbed to cancer nearly two years ago.
I think I've mentioned in an earlier post that it was in getting back to reading regularly that inspired me to dig out, dust off, and revise a story I had written years ago that brought me back into the writing arena. For some obscure reason, I've been keeping track of what I have read during this latest and last reading stint. If it's not too boring to mention, I'll provide a little of the list of what I've read lately. This probably goes back about three and a half years, and compared to some folks it may not seem like that much. However, the vast majority of it has been done, a half hour at a time while I've been on my lunch break at work.
To start, I reread the Horatio Hornblower stories by C.S. Forester. (I read Mr. Midshipman Hornblower prior to starting to read at work.) While I had read most of the series several time, I had never read them in order of Hornblower's naval career. In order, after Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, and as I read them, they are:
Lieutenant Hornblower
Hornblower and the Hotspur
Hornblower During the Crisis (This was the last written by Mr. Forester and was unfinished at the time of his death. It also includes two short stories; Hornblower and the Widow McCoo, which takes place sometime between Mr. Midshipman and Lieutenant Hornblower, and The Final Encounter, which comes well after the end of the series.)
Hornblower and the Atropos
Beat to Quarters
Ship of the Line
Flying Colours
Commodore Hornblower
Lord Hornblower
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
As I enjoy C. S. Forester's writing, I've also been trying to read some of his other works. I've read some of his other works many years ago, but in this latest reading spurt, I've only had the chance to read The African Queen.
I've also read The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower by C. Northcote Parkinson, which is written in the style of a biography of a supposed real individual. (I've been posting a little on the concept of hiding fictional characters amongst those individuals who are (were) real.)
The next time I post, hopefully I'll continue the discussion mentioned above. What I might do as well, is as I end each post, update the list of what I've read by a few more entries. Once get today's effort posted, I need to get back to working on my second story. It's basically finished, except for one additional chapter I need to write. However I have three or so that I wrote a long time ago that I'm reworking and polishing up to fit where they now occur in the story. Sometimes that can be almost as time intensive as writing something brand new. It does so happen that what now occurs in the later parts of my second story was slated originally to occur near the beginning of it. A lot of what I had intended to have happen in this volume will now find its way into the third book. Or maybe a fourth?
Sun, Jan. 6th, 2008, 11:31 am
This Past Week
Hi all,
And welcome to 2008. I hope it is a good year for everyone so far. For the most part it has been good to me as well.
Thursday the 3rd, I conducted my first meeting as president of Spokane Authors and Self Publishers. (www.spokaneauthors.org) It actually went better than I had expected, especially as I am not a flamboyant, in your face, charismatic type of public speaker. Still, I did all right, and with that first one under my belt, the next one will be a little easier. (And those in attendance might notice that each succeeding one will run just a little smoother.) I and the other new officers of the organization did have the benefit of a previous administration who worked hard to ensure a smooth and easy transition. Still, no matter how well a turnover is done, a new group is bound to stumble now and then. As in many things, the whole idea is not to worry yourself into a frenzy about it. Just use it as a means of identifying a problem, correct it and move on.
Despite the name, Spokane Authors and Self Publishers is not strictly about self publishing. Yes, a lot of the folks in the group have done just that, and the desire to share their learned experiences was the reason the organization was originally founded. Yet today the group consists of those who write a variety of work, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. We also have some individuals whose skills lie more in the artistic arena. Some have already had their work published, either through the traditional process or via the self-publishing route. Others are still unpublished and are taking the route most open to them for eventual publication.
For the Naval Adventure Series that I am working on now, my goal is to be published in the traditional sense. I do have other ideas and projects in the back of my mind (where there is even more room than in the front) that I could possibly consider self publishing. And in the very competitive world of today's publishing industry, should it eventually come to pass that I cannot get my Naval Adventure stories published by the usual means, I might consider self publishing them as well.
My other big project over the past week has been to get the January issue of the REAR ENGINE REVIEW finished and out to members and friends of the INLAND NORTHWEST CORVAIR CLUB. I got the final inputs from the club president a few days ago and added the last little bit that was needed to make a complete issue. It has been e-mailed to those that get it that way. My original plan was that I would print out the hard copies this week end and get them in the mail tomorrow. (They still might get into the mail tomorrow or Tuesday, but the route for them to get there might be a little different than what had been planned at first.)
A couple of pages ago, when I talked about sending of the complete manuscript of BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE, I mentioned having some printer problems. Well, I still have the problems, and I don't want to print the newsletter with them still in existance. To go to a higher level of print quality (as I did for the manuscript) would be too time consuming, so I don't want to do that.) Instead, I've down loaded it to a jump drive and will take it up to Kinko's later today. Then I guess I should see about getting the printer fixed. It gets a lot of use, and probably is just gummed up. If I print out a page of text, there are horizontal lines every half to three quarters of an inch across the page that look as if someone took an eraser and completely wiped out a narrow section of print. I'll have to call the shop tomorrow and see if I can get it in this next week. (The last time we took it in, it wouldn't print anything except blue.)
Well, I'm fresh outa ideas and things to write about. In that case, the best thing to do is to say, "so long!" More in a week or so. Sooner if I have anything of importance (to me, anyway) to say.
Dave
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
calm
restless
optimistic
lethargic
busy
hopeful
thoughtful
relaxed
tired