Friday, January 29, 2010

DR WHO

I took some time this week and put together a proposal for Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range. There are several restriction as to what they were willing to look at and that was a bit more difficult than I had expected. They wanted one 25 minutes story with the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, and no more than three original characters. I tend to write big, all the books a bigger than the average novel, and doing a 25 minute story was pretty constricted. I looked over all of the Dr. Who short stories I have written and the only ones that would fit into the time frame depended on some knowledge of previous events in the Doctor Who universe and those were forbidden. For a while I tried to think of a Twilight Zoneish story with a bizarre twist at the end but that just wasn't working. Once I decided to go with a straight character story it came together quite fast. I'm hoping that it not being a traditional adventure, no monsters of villains, may make it stand out. The writing of the actual script took about three hours.

BOOK 3 WEEK 4

Actually only did 7 pages this week which is the lowest so far for this book. On the other hand a new character showed up I wasn't expecting and she really solved some problems I was having with character motivations.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

BOOK 3 WEEK 3

Had a really good week writing. I got 15 pages written by hand but there are two intense combat scenes so it will translate into much more in the final version. Usually three hand written pages equal four typed pages so it'll be twenty pages. I usually don't write out details of the combat scenes in the first version, just a few quick notes. That way it feels fresher and more energetic on the final version.

It was a also a good moment when the sky opened and a new character fell out. I didn't see her coming but she ended up having a major effect on three of the established characters. That is what makes writing exciting.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

DR WHO

Big Finish has been doing Doctor Who audio adventures featuring the original actors in their original roles for a decade. Occasionally they open up for submissions from new authors. I submitted once before but got turned down. They have now opened up for a two week window. Unlike before they are very specific in what they are looking for. It must be a 25 minute stand alone adventure featuring the 5th Doctor and Nyssa. I'm going over all of my ideas I've ever had and trying to rework them in to this frame. I'm even taking time off from GHOSTS to put this together.
To tell you the truth the number one reason I wrote the novels is to eventually have enough clout to write for DR. WHO.

THE NEXT STEP

I got an email from the agent I submitted to today. It's a bit odd. It doesn't say yes but it doesn't completely slam the door in my face, either. They said:

"Thank you for querying with TIME WEB TREMORS. Unfortunately we feel that the book still needs an edit and thus we cannot accept it at this time. We wish you the best of luck with TIME WEB TREMORS and in all of your future literary endeavors."

I'm thinking of sending the SECRETS OF STARPOINT MOUNTAIN as well.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

BOOK 3 WEEK 2

Had another really good week. 6000 words and I'm about midway through the fourth chapter. Hardest part was a very important speech that Gallif gives and I wrote it four times to get it in to shape.

SHADOWS OF STARPOINT UPDATE




I'm 99% sure it's ready to go as is right now but I'm not going top approve it until I get my proof copy. I learned that with the first book and it cost me a lot. I made some changes on the cover, front and back, and I want to see how they look. I know that it should be fine because I used the exact same art that I have all the other times and only changed a few of the words but you never know how it will look. So I'll just wait until I actually have one in my hand before I consider it done.

Strangely enough, even though I haven't approved the book, it is available directly from Lulu. It seems a bit odd that even though they need a final approval to market it on Amazon, B&N etc, they can go ahead and sell it on their site.

They ask for keywords for people doing searches on topics. Originally, I just put down a few obvious ones and figured it was covered. Then it occurred to me that the more times I can get it to show up on searches the better. I ended up writing 65 of them but they only allow so much space. They are all legit connections, well, maybe not Harry Potter, but if you do a topic search on Lulu for these words you'll get my book:

female warrior, fighters, politics, torture, prejudice, discrimination, chains, bondage, dwarf, elves, dragons, casting, magic, wands, swords, daggers, library, books, myths, legends, dungeons, skeletons, Harry Potter, roleplaying, ghosts, leather, sorcery

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

THE SHADOWS OF STARPOINT MOUNTAIN

I took the leap and started the process to full publication today. I got the ISBN number and the book is in the process of getting officially listed. It has to be cleared and approved by a registry, I can't remember the name, that will look at the book and make sure it is what I claim it is. It makes sure the title, author and copyright are correct and all the legal listing get done. This is especially good because it makes sure that the title, characters, and situations are copyrighted under my name. The final sale price on the shelf will be $18.00. Of that, if bought from B&N or Amazon, etc, I will get $1.35. The cost of getting listed has gone down considerably since the first book was done and now the stores only get $7 for taking it from one box and putting it in another. This whole process takes 6 to 8 weeks and then I can start to advertise.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

BOOK 3 WEEK 1

Had a really good week. Got the prologue and the first chapter written which came in to 16 hand written pages. I write small enough and tight enough that it translates to about 21 typed pages. I also didn't write out a combat scene so this translates to about 5,500 words. It's off to a really good start.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

FULL SPEED AHEAD

It's really fun to be back into the Starpoint Mountain universe again. I've been writing like crazy and got 10 pages in the first two days of the week at work plus what I do at home.

Friday, January 1, 2010

GHOSTS OF STARPOINT MOUNTAIN

I started writing GHOSTS OF STARPOINT MOUNTAIN on 1/1/10.