Category: State of the Drafts

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State of the Drafts

State of the Drafts, Labor Day Edition

(Or pre-Labor Day, in this case!)

Most of my time the past few months has been spent editing A Buried Stone Gate, aka A Buried Stone Arch, aka That Misshapen NaNoWriMo Novel From Last Year. However, I have had time to edit a couple stories.

I also wrote a peculiar series for The Daily WTF, based on a multi-part submission, and partly inspired by ninjitsu in pop culture and The Book of Five Rings. I’ll be sure to post links here when it’s up.

Novels

  • A Buried Stone Gate. Rural, contemporary fantasy novel. Finished rewrite; awaiting two more rounds of editing.
  • The Red Flood. YA SF. Tentatively querying agents.
  • Those Who Favor Fire. Something-something-pseudo-hard science fiction. Submitting to markets.

Short Stories

  • “In This Universe or the Next.” A far-far-far-future space opera, which I finished recently. Submitting to markets.
  • “Mold.” A Stephen King-inspired horror story. Will edit in the near future.
  • “A Very Long Chess Game.” My first venture into even remotely military SF. The idea fell into my lap the other day. Outlined, ready for first draft.
  • “Brain Bombs.” Cyberpunk. Submitting to markets.
  • “Alyssa and the Way of Kido.” YA SF. Submitting to markets.
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State of the Drafts The Daily WTF

You’re Never Done

Another Daily WTF article up: “SELECTing Valid SQL.” I used up my single Joss Whedon reference  card this time, yet I’m also getting flack for including a Lord of the Rings reference as well. Such is life.

I finished my rewrite of The Red Flood last Saturday. I started in early February; overall, I estimate I took 45 days, working 2 hours each day. Besides a couple of substantial storyline changes, I also cleaned up a lot of the action and did some line editing. It’s turning into a proper novel, and while it’s not the most ambitious at 55,000 words, it’s the tightest story I’ve written so far.

I don’t feel done at all. There’s a brief moment of relief after you type the last word of a rough draft, or correct the last red-inked mark, when you feel a release. It doesn’t last long. There’s always the next draft, the reader feedback, the manuscript preparation, the query letter writing, the agent hunting, and the endless waiting. Even if a publisher picks it up, there’s the editorial notes, more revisions, galleys to proof, and months of promotion. A book is never done until you’re dead.

While I wait for feedback from my beta readers (there’s room for more!), I’ll be catching up on my reading, rewriting a couple of short stories I haven’t touched in several months, and working on some blog posts.

After reading the comprehensive Goddesses of Water and Sky, I’ve decided to pursue that series on the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga. That book didn’t cover the series, as it is only concerned with Miyazaki’s film career. I keep returning to that story like a miner to a vein, yet too enraptured to chip anything away.

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State of the Drafts

State of the Drafts, Early February 2013

I meant to post at the end of January, but got delayed by, well, you’ll see.

Continue reading “State of the Drafts, Early February 2013”

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State of the Drafts

State of the Drafts, December 2012

People have asked me what I’m working on, and I have had no easy answer to give them. Unlike some writers, I never have just one plate spinning at any given time. So, I’ve decided to do a (probably) monthly write-up on what stories I’m working on. Also, consider this a response to the “Next Big Thing” meme going around. (Note: ~ designates a word count goal)

Continue reading “State of the Drafts, December 2012”