My Writing and the Indie Scene (such as it is)

This post got me thinking about a lot of things, mostly writing related.

Of course, I've been thinking about my writing, which, BTW, now includes another WIP, a paranormal suspense, that's actually based on a short story I tried to submit mucho years ago.  It was rejected by a few different ezines and print zines, and I let it slip by the wayside.

I think I know why: it wasn't good enough.  I thought it was.  After all, I'd just sold my First. Ever. Short. to an ezine...after only submitting it to three places.  Yeah, I was high on myself, and was brought waaay down to Earth after those rejections.

So I moved on to novels.

Novel In Progress Number 1

This is one I originally started years ago.  It had a time travel element to it (a woman going back in time to 1942 to see her birth mother, also, a Roman deity :-)), but I started reading articles about different things I needed to do (or so I thought) or have in the story, so I chucked in just about anything I could think of.

What a bloated mess.

Well, I resurrected that this past year, completely reworking it, thanks to a writing instructor whose only question was how timely and up to date the time travel element was in fantasy books.  My reading time is small at the moment, but I've been a voracious reader in the past, and I know I'll get back to that way at some point...so my look at recent fantasy books made me conclude to drop that altogether.

Remember that for the next section of this post.

I think it's progressing very well, with a few bumps, but I'll deal with that AFTER I've finished the first draft.

I haven't done any writing in that in about a week or so, because of that short story I mentioned earlier.

Novel In Progress Number 2

Which takes me to my second novel.  I originally thought it would be a novella, which Wikipedia says has between 17,500 and 40,000 words.  Now I'm not so sure.  It might get to novel length (over 40,000 words) because I've been working like a nut case to get it done.

Words so far this week: 2,500.  Don't know what chapter I'm up to, as I haven't figured that out as yet.  But the words are flowing, which is more important.

As I said above, it's a paranormal suspense, like this one, and this one.  All right, not exactly, lol.  The paranormal elements are there, including the protagonist, who has powers to undo dark auras, which can induce people to kill; some romance, with a hunky guy who has a leg prosthesis (the romantic element is NOT of the Happily Every After (HEA) variety; and a creepy guy who's the landlord of the building the hunky guy lives in.  Oh, he's got a grisly, um, habit, that was suggested to me by a Beatles tune (I won't say which one).  Not that this particular Beatles tune has anything grisly in the lyrics; it's one of their most wistful almost melancholy tunes, I think.

The New Indie Scene

With lots of sales of The Kindle ebook reader last Christmas, tons of people started to download ebooks from Amazon.  And figure in Barnes and Noble's Nook.  And smartphones.

You get the idea.

Amanda Hocking is the current darling of the self pubbing scene, having sold a boatload of ebooks.  Her key was to upload a slew of books in the same series (YA paranormal, I believe), and enough people decided to give it a whirl that she was number one on Amazon's Kindle bestselling ebooks list for weeks.

Now you're wondering...where is this leading to?  (If you've already figured it out, skip this sentence. ;-))

I'm not getting any younger, and my health has come into question a lot lately - I'm not ready to kick the bucket yet, and intend to be around for a looong time - so I'm considering other ideas.  Nothing is set in granite at this point, but I like to explore everything that's available.  And ebooks - Kindle, Nook, whatever - are a big thing at the moment.

I'll just continue to gather facts and opinions before doing anything.  Part of that fact finding mission was accomplished over the weekend: I bought two Kindle-formatted ebooks off of Smashwords.  Why there and not Amazon?  Because Amazon doesn't use PayPal and Smashwords does.

I downloaded To Kill a Warlock, by H. P. Mallory (great cover, BTW) and Loose Ends, by Terri Reid.  The first is an urban fantasy (which I thought I didn't care for), while the second is a paranormal mystery.  Both women decided now was the time to get their stories out there, instead of going through the query agent/submit to publisher grind.  I admire them both for deciding to go this route, because it's not an easy thing, ESPECIALLY if you've heard for quite a while that getting an agent is not only a pain in the ass but they can do some horrid things to your royalty statements (I'll probably do a post on that sometime).  Submitting directly to publishers ain't easy, either; most have eliminated their slush piles (with the agents now in charge of that).

I haven't gotten through either book as yet, but when I do, I'll do reviews.

In the meantime, you simply have to see this fun cover of Ms. Mallory's (which she did herself!):

My Writing and the Indie Scene (such as it is)

This post got me thinking about a lot of things, mostly writing related.

Of course, I've been thinking about my writing, which, BTW, now includes another WIP, a paranormal suspense, that's actually based on a short story I tried to submit mucho years ago.  It was rejected by a few different ezines and print zines, and I let it slip by the wayside.

I think I know why: it wasn't good enough.  I thought it was.  After all, I'd just sold my First. Ever. Short. to an ezine...after only submitting it to three places.  Yeah, I was high on myself, and was brought waaay down to Earth after those rejections.

So I moved on to novels.

Novel In Progress Number 1

This is one I originally started years ago.  It had a time travel element to it (a woman going back in time to 1942 to see her birth mother, also, a Roman deity :-)), but I started reading articles about different things I needed to do (or so I thought) or have in the story, so I chucked in just about anything I could think of.

What a bloated mess.

Well, I resurrected that this past year, completely reworking it, thanks to a writing instructor whose only question was how timely and up to date the time travel element was in fantasy books.  My reading time is small at the moment, but I've been a voracious reader in the past, and I know I'll get back to that way at some point...so my look at recent fantasy books made me conclude to drop that altogether.

Remember that for the next section of this post.

I think it's progressing very well, with a few bumps, but I'll deal with that AFTER I've finished the first draft.

I haven't done any writing in that in about a week or so, because of that short story I mentioned earlier.

Novel In Progress Number 2

Which takes me to my second novel.  I originally thought it would be a novella, which Wikipedia says has between 17,500 and 40,000 words.  Now I'm not so sure.  It might get to novel length (over 40,000 words) because I've been working like a nut case to get it done.

Words so far this week: 2,500.  Don't know what chapter I'm up to, as I haven't figured that out as yet.  But the words are flowing, which is more important.

As I said above, it's a paranormal suspense, like this one, and this one.  All right, not exactly, lol.  The paranormal elements are there, including the protagonist, who has powers to undo dark auras, which can induce people to kill; some romance, with a hunky guy who has a leg prosthesis (the romantic element is NOT of the Happily Every After (HEA) variety; and a creepy guy who's the landlord of the building the hunky guy lives in.  Oh, he's got a grisly, um, habit, that was suggested to me by a Beatles tune (I won't say which one).  Not that this particular Beatles tune has anything grisly in the lyrics; it's one of their most wistful almost melancholy tunes, I think.

The New Indie Scene

With lots of sales of The Kindle ebook reader last Christmas, tons of people started to download ebooks from Amazon.  And figure in Barnes and Noble's Nook.  And smartphones.

You get the idea.

Amanda Hocking is the current darling of the self pubbing scene, having sold a boatload of ebooks.  Her key was to upload a slew of books in the same series (YA paranormal, I believe), and enough people decided to give it a whirl that she was number one on Amazon's Kindle bestselling ebooks list for weeks.

Now you're wondering...where is this leading to?  (If you've already figured it out, skip this sentence. ;-))

I'm not getting any younger, and my health has come into question a lot lately - I'm not ready to kick the bucket yet, and intend to be around for a looong time - so I'm considering other ideas.  Nothing is set in granite at this point, but I like to explore everything that's available.  And ebooks - Kindle, Nook, whatever - are a big thing at the moment.

I'll just continue to gather facts and opinions before doing anything.  Part of that fact finding mission was accomplished over the weekend: I bought two Kindle-formatted ebooks off of Smashwords.  Why there and not Amazon?  Because Amazon doesn't use PayPal and Smashwords does.

I downloaded To Kill a Warlock, by H. P. Mallory (great cover, BTW) and Loose Ends, by Terri Reid.  The first is an urban fantasy (which I thought I didn't care for), while the second is a paranormal mystery.  Both women decided now was the time to get their stories out there, instead of going through the query agent/submit to publisher grind.  I admire them both for deciding to go this route, because it's not an easy thing, ESPECIALLY if you've heard for quite a while that getting an agent is not only a pain in the ass but they can do some horrid things to your royalty statements (I'll probably do a post on that sometime).  Submitting directly to publishers ain't easy, either; most have eliminated their slush piles (with the agents now in charge of that).

I haven't gotten through either book as yet, but when I do, I'll do reviews.

In the meantime, you simply have to see this fun cover of Ms. Mallory's (which she did herself!):

My Writing

I got back to writing my own stuff this week.  It's been a while, and I think it's a combo of being lazy (of which I have a lot of practice ;-)) and a tad of depression.

The depression stems from this crappy weather this winter.  Living in the northeastern U.S., you know the winter is going to be cold as all get out, there will be some snow, and you deal with it.

But this winter?  I mean, WTF?

Every frigging week there's at least one day where you have snow up the ying-yang.  This week, it's the fun and frolic of ice.  However, it looks like I might actually make it into work, because the temps are warming up more than the weather people originally thought.  As I'm a temp (not by choice), I don't get paid if I don't get in, so this is changeover to good, old regular rain is welcome.

Number of words written this week so far: approximately 1,500.

I'm also critting/betaing a novel for someone over on Absolute Write, so that's cut into my own writing time a bit.  But it's also helped me get back into my own writing, which is always a good thing.

In fact, I've decided that I'm not going to edit the crap out of this ms.  No more.  I did that with the original version of this story and stuffed so full of odds and ends, that it made no sense.  (And editing was a nightmare.)

So...I've laid down the law.  I will do three revisions, then send it out/whatever.  The first draft is the "Get Down the Story" draft.  It's minimalist, with some bits of dialogue and some description.  Second time around is for adding more details, excising things that seemed like good ideas at the time, and to fix any typos/grammar nits/punctuation problems.

Third time will be to add any further necessary details and further typos, etc.

That's it.  I'll then work on a query and either a sequel or another series idea.  I'm no spring chicken anymore, so the time to get moving is now.

I've noticed that there are at least two people who believe that writing fast and minimal revisions are the way to go.  I've finally come around to that way of thinking.

Nancy

P.S.  It's Ground Hog Day (hubby and I watched the movie yesterday; profound and funny at the same time, not an easy thing to pull off)!  Already saw Punxy Phil this morning - early spring!  (Let's hope he's right, 'cause I'm really sick of all this snow and crap!)

Of course, I had to find a clip where Phil Connors (Bill Murray) has fun with a woman named Nancy. :-)

My Writing

I got back to writing my own stuff this week.  It's been a while, and I think it's a combo of being lazy (of which I have a lot of practice ;-)) and a tad of depression.

The depression stems from this crappy weather this winter.  Living in the northeastern U.S., you know the winter is going to be cold as all get out, there will be some snow, and you deal with it.

But this winter?  I mean, WTF?

Every frigging week there's at least one day where you have snow up the ying-yang.  This week, it's the fun and frolic of ice.  However, it looks like I might actually make it into work, because the temps are warming up more than the weather people originally thought.  As I'm a temp (not by choice), I don't get paid if I don't get in, so this is changeover to good, old regular rain is welcome.

Number of words written this week so far: approximately 1,500.

I'm also critting/betaing a novel for someone over on Absolute Write, so that's cut into my own writing time a bit.  But it's also helped me get back into my own writing, which is always a good thing.

In fact, I've decided that I'm not going to edit the crap out of this ms.  No more.  I did that with the original version of this story and stuffed so full of odds and ends, that it made no sense.  (And editing was a nightmare.)

So...I've laid down the law.  I will do three revisions, then send it out/whatever.  The first draft is the "Get Down the Story" draft.  It's minimalist, with some bits of dialogue and some description.  Second time around is for adding more details, excising things that seemed like good ideas at the time, and to fix any typos/grammar nits/punctuation problems.

Third time will be to add any further necessary details and further typos, etc.

That's it.  I'll then work on a query and either a sequel or another series idea.  I'm no spring chicken anymore, so the time to get moving is now.

I've noticed that there are at least two people who believe that writing fast and minimal revisions are the way to go.  I've finally come around to that way of thinking.

Nancy

P.S.  It's Ground Hog Day (hubby and I watched the movie yesterday; profound and funny at the same time, not an easy thing to pull off)!  Already saw Punxy Phil this morning - early spring!  (Let's hope he's right, 'cause I'm really sick of all this snow and crap!)

Of course, I had to find a clip where Phil Connors (Bill Murray) has fun with a woman named Nancy. :-)

My Writing - and the Dreaded Query Letter

After writing a lot last week (about 3,000 new words, while deleting about 2,000 old ones that had stayed out their welcome), I wasn't sure if I was going to manage any this week, as I didn't have any time on Monday to get to the WIP.

But I did yesterday! :-) And I'm up to Chapter 13 now. The story has only slightly changed, but then, even though I tend to outline, it's never set in granite.

Why should it be?

So far this week: About 500 new words, slashing about 100. I'll be doing more today, for sure.

My idea is still the same; wrap up this by the end of February and start sending out the dreaded query letter. ::insert freaky horror music here::

Can you tell I'm not looking forward to writing the query letter? LOL! But I'll probably put it up at the Water Cooler and have those fine folks take a whack at it (it'll probably dwindle down to nothing, but that's how you learn).

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

My Writing - and the Dreaded Query Letter

After writing a lot last week (about 3,000 new words, while deleting about 2,000 old ones that had stayed out their welcome), I wasn't sure if I was going to manage any this week, as I didn't have any time on Monday to get to the WIP.

But I did yesterday! :-) And I'm up to Chapter 13 now. The story has only slightly changed, but then, even though I tend to outline, it's never set in granite.

Why should it be?

So far this week: About 500 new words, slashing about 100. I'll be doing more today, for sure.

My idea is still the same; wrap up this by the end of February and start sending out the dreaded query letter. ::insert freaky horror music here::

Can you tell I'm not looking forward to writing the query letter? LOL! But I'll probably put it up at the Water Cooler and have those fine folks take a whack at it (it'll probably dwindle down to nothing, but that's how you learn).

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

More Words and Rearranging and...

So I was typing away a few days ago and realized that my Chapter 7 was like the Energizer Bunny: It kept going and going and going...

What to do?

I decided to leave it alone for a few days, to let it all simmer in my brain. I finally decided to cut out a lot of words pertaining to Viv taking Rita to Viv's work location (a really crappy publisher, one bought and started by good ol' mommy for her two wunderkinds).

But something at first funny, then more ominous, happens. I wanted to end this chapter with the ominous thing.

So, yesterday, I moved most of the stuff about going to work to another tab - so I can use those words if I think I need them. I typed about 350 new words, rearranged a few things, and voila! It's now the way I like it (for the moment, naturally).

Chapter 8 is one of the best chapters I've ever written - if I so humbly say myself (okay, so I'm not so modest/humble about that!). It's having to deal with a death, and in a strange way for Rita...

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

More Words and Rearranging and...

So I was typing away a few days ago and realized that my Chapter 7 was like the Energizer Bunny: It kept going and going and going...

What to do?

I decided to leave it alone for a few days, to let it all simmer in my brain. I finally decided to cut out a lot of words pertaining to Viv taking Rita to Viv's work location (a really crappy publisher, one bought and started by good ol' mommy for her two wunderkinds).

But something at first funny, then more ominous, happens. I wanted to end this chapter with the ominous thing.

So, yesterday, I moved most of the stuff about going to work to another tab - so I can use those words if I think I need them. I typed about 350 new words, rearranged a few things, and voila! It's now the way I like it (for the moment, naturally).

Chapter 8 is one of the best chapters I've ever written - if I so humbly say myself (okay, so I'm not so modest/humble about that!). It's having to deal with a death, and in a strange way for Rita...

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Back In the Saddle Again

I started work - part time - yesterday. Yay me! ;-)

Anyway, I also did some more writing. Now in an earlier post I might have mentioned that I was about to finish up Chapter 7.

Nope.

I'm on Chapter 7 now. I actually deleted a whole bunch of crap equal to about two chapters, so maybe that's where I got confused. I did write 247 words yesterday; however, my husband interrupted near the end of those words, and now I'm unsure if all of those words will stay. It's mostly dialogue, but did have some descriptive stuff near the end; I think the descriptive stuff will have to be a little more descriptive and less rushed.

At the moment, my thinking is that I'll intersperse some thoughts while Rita somewhat slowly puts on clothes - while Viv stews and steams that it's taking Rita too long to get changed and come to where Viv works.

Except there will be another telephone call...will they make it to the Poverty Row publisher that Viv works for?

Double or nothing they don't.

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Back In the Saddle Again

I started work - part time - yesterday. Yay me! ;-)

Anyway, I also did some more writing. Now in an earlier post I might have mentioned that I was about to finish up Chapter 7.

Nope.

I'm on Chapter 7 now. I actually deleted a whole bunch of crap equal to about two chapters, so maybe that's where I got confused. I did write 247 words yesterday; however, my husband interrupted near the end of those words, and now I'm unsure if all of those words will stay. It's mostly dialogue, but did have some descriptive stuff near the end; I think the descriptive stuff will have to be a little more descriptive and less rushed.

At the moment, my thinking is that I'll intersperse some thoughts while Rita somewhat slowly puts on clothes - while Viv stews and steams that it's taking Rita too long to get changed and come to where Viv works.

Except there will be another telephone call...will they make it to the Poverty Row publisher that Viv works for?

Double or nothing they don't.

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

More Writing

Forgot to say that I wrote some more stuff yesterday.

I wrote about 425 words, and I decided today that that will finish Chapter 7. I originally intended to add more to that particular chapter, but it'll be more of a tease (and a bit of foreshadowing) for what happens in the next chapter.

The next chapter may be more or less left intact, but, well, you know how that goes. ;-) What I say here at the moment may be forgotten once I start writing, lol.

Love and kisses,

Nancy Beck

More Writing

Forgot to say that I wrote some more stuff yesterday.

I wrote about 425 words, and I decided today that that will finish Chapter 7. I originally intended to add more to that particular chapter, but it'll be more of a tease (and a bit of foreshadowing) for what happens in the next chapter.

The next chapter may be more or less left intact, but, well, you know how that goes. ;-) What I say here at the moment may be forgotten once I start writing, lol.

Love and kisses,

Nancy Beck

Today's Writing

Yippee! I wrote 828 words today. Nearly finished the new Chapter 7.

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Today's Writing

Yippee! I wrote 828 words today. Nearly finished the new Chapter 7.

Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

I'm Writing Again

I'm going to try to update this blog as often as possible now. I feel a new vim and vigor that I haven't felt in a while.

I've already reworked Chapters 5 and 6 in the past 3 days, typing about 250 words on Sunday (before heading off to Mom's for a nice lunch), and then about 280 words today.

A Possible Goal

My thinking - and this could change at any time, depending on how I'm feeling - is that I'm going to try to do about 500 words a week between now and the end of the year. That includes new words and editing.

I'd really, REALLY like to send this thing out beginning next year. Yeah, yeah, I know that means the drudgery of putting on my thinking cap and putting together a query letter, but I don't care.

I think this could make some money for a publisher, not to mention the agent. :-) And I've decided agenting is the way to go right now. If I don't get any nibbles after 2-3 months, then I'll think about reworking my query letter. The good folks over at Absolute Write will be a good help, I'm sure.

Other Goals

Goal Number 1: Reading

I started reading novels again, too, but I'll talk about that in a separate post. What's good about the current novel is that it's written by a man; for some reason, I have a bias against male writers - and I don't know why.

So far, so good on this one, but, again, I'll write a post on that either tomorrow or on Friday (I'll have a special post on Thanksgiving Day, in between watching the football games - and YES, I understand football, so there's never been a football widow in this house).

Goal Number 2: Starting on Another Story

I'd also like to start thinking about another story to start in on, once I'm satisfied with the current one. I have a few ideas (in the fantasy realm, naturally), but I'm not going to decide just yet. I've written the beginnings of two, one that's been kicking around in my brain for some time, another that just kind of came to me after seeing a documentary about the Dust Bowl on the History Channel.

There's also one other one I'm considering, and my best guess is that's the one I'll probably go after. It's also a potential series, so we'll see how that goes.

Goal Number 3: Write 500 Words a Week

Considering I'll just be getting into the swing of things workwise next month, I feel 500 words a week is doable without overtaxing myself. I can't tell you how good it feels to be working on something again, and to be going onto some of the writing sites/blogs again.

Writers are so awesome. :-)

Goal Number 4: Learn How to Buzz My Book

I'm thinking of the social networking sites, of which I haven't bothered to even look at. Rather than bother with that stuff during the day at work - where I probably wouldn't even be allowed, anyway - I'll set aside about half an hour to an hour a day to get to know the ins and outs of My Space, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

After what I've just gone through, it doesn't sound in the least bit daunting - and could be quite lucrative: Look what Stephanie Meyer has done with Twilight and her other books (how many millions did the movie make over this weekend? Something like US$70 million or something?). She did some social networking to get buzz going on her book.

Of course, she had to written a pretty good book to begin with.

Goal Number 5: Write More Interesting Posts on This Blog

I think I'm going to start writing more on tips and tricks and stuff that's helped me. I've kind of gotten away from that (for obvious reasons), but I'd like to start offering that stuff again.

Why? Because I find it fun and interesting. And if it works for someone else - even better! :-) If people don't find it useful - or if I'm just writing for just me - that's fine, too.

Need to keep Ye Olde Braine stimulated, ya know.

Have a prosperous day, week, and year!

I'm Writing Again

I'm going to try to update this blog as often as possible now. I feel a new vim and vigor that I haven't felt in a while.

I've already reworked Chapters 5 and 6 in the past 3 days, typing about 250 words on Sunday (before heading off to Mom's for a nice lunch), and then about 280 words today.

A Possible Goal

My thinking - and this could change at any time, depending on how I'm feeling - is that I'm going to try to do about 500 words a week between now and the end of the year. That includes new words and editing.

I'd really, REALLY like to send this thing out beginning next year. Yeah, yeah, I know that means the drudgery of putting on my thinking cap and putting together a query letter, but I don't care.

I think this could make some money for a publisher, not to mention the agent. :-) And I've decided agenting is the way to go right now. If I don't get any nibbles after 2-3 months, then I'll think about reworking my query letter. The good folks over at Absolute Write will be a good help, I'm sure.

Other Goals

Goal Number 1: Reading

I started reading novels again, too, but I'll talk about that in a separate post. What's good about the current novel is that it's written by a man; for some reason, I have a bias against male writers - and I don't know why.

So far, so good on this one, but, again, I'll write a post on that either tomorrow or on Friday (I'll have a special post on Thanksgiving Day, in between watching the football games - and YES, I understand football, so there's never been a football widow in this house).

Goal Number 2: Starting on Another Story

I'd also like to start thinking about another story to start in on, once I'm satisfied with the current one. I have a few ideas (in the fantasy realm, naturally), but I'm not going to decide just yet. I've written the beginnings of two, one that's been kicking around in my brain for some time, another that just kind of came to me after seeing a documentary about the Dust Bowl on the History Channel.

There's also one other one I'm considering, and my best guess is that's the one I'll probably go after. It's also a potential series, so we'll see how that goes.

Goal Number 3: Write 500 Words a Week

Considering I'll just be getting into the swing of things workwise next month, I feel 500 words a week is doable without overtaxing myself. I can't tell you how good it feels to be working on something again, and to be going onto some of the writing sites/blogs again.

Writers are so awesome. :-)

Goal Number 4: Learn How to Buzz My Book

I'm thinking of the social networking sites, of which I haven't bothered to even look at. Rather than bother with that stuff during the day at work - where I probably wouldn't even be allowed, anyway - I'll set aside about half an hour to an hour a day to get to know the ins and outs of My Space, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

After what I've just gone through, it doesn't sound in the least bit daunting - and could be quite lucrative: Look what Stephanie Meyer has done with Twilight and her other books (how many millions did the movie make over this weekend? Something like US$70 million or something?). She did some social networking to get buzz going on her book.

Of course, she had to written a pretty good book to begin with.

Goal Number 5: Write More Interesting Posts on This Blog

I think I'm going to start writing more on tips and tricks and stuff that's helped me. I've kind of gotten away from that (for obvious reasons), but I'd like to start offering that stuff again.

Why? Because I find it fun and interesting. And if it works for someone else - even better! :-) If people don't find it useful - or if I'm just writing for just me - that's fine, too.

Need to keep Ye Olde Braine stimulated, ya know.

Have a prosperous day, week, and year!

Word Count

Well, I wrote 2,000 words yesterday, but I wasn't sure if I should post it.

Ya see, I'm a little burnt on my current WIP, so I wrote 2,000 words of an idea I have. There's a fantasy element (naturally), and there's also a wise-ass narrator (first person POV).

The only reasons I didn't include it was because 1) it's not part of my current WIP and 2) this just might die right where it is (that is, I might not take it to its fruition and try to sell it).

But I'll leave this post, and see what my Word Count Buddies decide.

~Nancy Beck

Word Count

Well, I wrote 2,000 words yesterday, but I wasn't sure if I should post it.

Ya see, I'm a little burnt on my current WIP, so I wrote 2,000 words of an idea I have. There's a fantasy element (naturally), and there's also a wise-ass narrator (first person POV).

The only reasons I didn't include it was because 1) it's not part of my current WIP and 2) this just might die right where it is (that is, I might not take it to its fruition and try to sell it).

But I'll leave this post, and see what my Word Count Buddies decide.

~Nancy Beck

Time Travel Novel? Maybe Not!

I was on Query Shark's blog (shades of Ms. Snark there, although the agent is somewhat gentler), looking at and commenting on some of the queries.

One was about a story wherein the characters go back in time to the launched/about to be launched/being built Titantic. It sounded fascinating, if a bit long (150K words!), and the title didn't grab me.

But...

That got me thinking (always a scary thing) about my current WIP, Yesterday's Gone:

• MC time travels back to 1942 from 1974
• Time travel does not include a machine or some SF way of travelling
• A Roman goddess sends the MC back in time
• Although not a huge part of the story, the goddess does do, um, certain things on the sly

By "certain things on the sly," I mean magical-type things: She "talks" telepathically (when she feels like it), can come down to Earth in either her goddess form or in mortal (earthly) form, she can influence (or not) certain events, and she can play around with/rearrange the structure of buildings (or make it seem that way).

So...

Because of a Wikipedia article on time travel, and another one on historical fantasy, I now think I should pitch my novel as historical fantasy.

What made me change my mind is this section about historical fantasy:

Historical fantasy is a subgenre of fanatsy, related to historical fiction. It includes stories set in a specified historical period but with some element of fantasy added to the world, such as magic or a mythical creature hidden in the cracks. Often the magic retreats from the world so as to allow history to continue unaltered[...]

Takes place in 1974New Jersey (eh, maybe not that part of it) and 1942 Los Angeles and San Francisco (definitely historical). Check.

Has a Roman goddess. Check.

Roman goddess can do magical stuff, but it's hidden (except to those in the know, of course). Check.

Oh!

(Always wanted to do that...if anyone has seen The Three Stooges, and, specifically, a completely politically-incorrect short having to do with the Stooges crashing a WWII Nazi/Japanese spy ring...then you know what I'm getting at.)

Then again, maybe even the Stoogeaphiles don't have a clue. ::shrug::

Anyway, I don't think it can be a straight time travel novel because the time travel aspect isn't the central thing, isn't referred to again and again, doesn't have a machine that causes the time travel to happen.

It's a trope I've used to move the story along.

Plus I have the addition of the Roman goddess; she's snarky, which is not exactly typical of a god or a goddess. She can lay on the booming voice and other goddess-type crap when she feels she needs to, but she's more interested in following a certain character around because she finds the character's actions and reactions fascinating.

Which is the main reason why the Roman goddess grants the MC's plea for help in finding her birth mother.

Historical fantasy. Yup. That's what it's going to be from now on.

~Nancy Beck

Time Travel Novel? Maybe Not!

I was on Query Shark's blog (shades of Ms. Snark there, although the agent is somewhat gentler), looking at and commenting on some of the queries.

One was about a story wherein the characters go back in time to the launched/about to be launched/being built Titantic. It sounded fascinating, if a bit long (150K words!), and the title didn't grab me.

But...

That got me thinking (always a scary thing) about my current WIP, Yesterday's Gone:

• MC time travels back to 1942 from 1974
• Time travel does not include a machine or some SF way of travelling
• A Roman goddess sends the MC back in time
• Although not a huge part of the story, the goddess does do, um, certain things on the sly

By "certain things on the sly," I mean magical-type things: She "talks" telepathically (when she feels like it), can come down to Earth in either her goddess form or in mortal (earthly) form, she can influence (or not) certain events, and she can play around with/rearrange the structure of buildings (or make it seem that way).

So...

Because of a Wikipedia article on time travel, and another one on historical fantasy, I now think I should pitch my novel as historical fantasy.

What made me change my mind is this section about historical fantasy:

Historical fantasy is a subgenre of fanatsy, related to historical fiction. It includes stories set in a specified historical period but with some element of fantasy added to the world, such as magic or a mythical creature hidden in the cracks. Often the magic retreats from the world so as to allow history to continue unaltered[...]

Takes place in 1974New Jersey (eh, maybe not that part of it) and 1942 Los Angeles and San Francisco (definitely historical). Check.

Has a Roman goddess. Check.

Roman goddess can do magical stuff, but it's hidden (except to those in the know, of course). Check.

Oh!

(Always wanted to do that...if anyone has seen The Three Stooges, and, specifically, a completely politically-incorrect short having to do with the Stooges crashing a WWII Nazi/Japanese spy ring...then you know what I'm getting at.)

Then again, maybe even the Stoogeaphiles don't have a clue. ::shrug::

Anyway, I don't think it can be a straight time travel novel because the time travel aspect isn't the central thing, isn't referred to again and again, doesn't have a machine that causes the time travel to happen.

It's a trope I've used to move the story along.

Plus I have the addition of the Roman goddess; she's snarky, which is not exactly typical of a god or a goddess. She can lay on the booming voice and other goddess-type crap when she feels she needs to, but she's more interested in following a certain character around because she finds the character's actions and reactions fascinating.

Which is the main reason why the Roman goddess grants the MC's plea for help in finding her birth mother.

Historical fantasy. Yup. That's what it's going to be from now on.

~Nancy Beck