I hit the bookstore tonight and picked up my "2005 Guide to Literary Agents" (and a few readin' books of course!) and now I am completely depressed. For starters: it seems my query letter is completely wrong. Well, not completely, but I do still have to go through another rewrite because I failed to include a "hook" in my first paragraph and it recommends more of a story outline than I had included. (Sigh). Second, I'm surprised how few agents are working with fantasy writers now, and of the few who are it seems almost 1/2 of them are only accepting clients on referral. That sucks for someone like me. I know no published authors, have neither the time (nor money!) to attend writer's conferences or the other networking opportunities suggested in this book. In short, it looks like I'll be taking the hard road into publishing. Ah well, I'll do as I must. Maybe -just maybe- my writing is nearly as good as I think it is and an agent will say: "Damn! This is the guy I've been looking for my whole career!" (Yup, and right after that I hit the lottery and my wife decides she actually IS a nymphomaniac bi-sexual with a fetish for bald fat guys like me . . .)
In the meantime, I keep writing. I got in another 1,000 or so words today on "Fish". The ending is going slowly because I want it to be dramatic but the scene seems to be moving much quicker than I imagined it. There's very little in the way of tension but a whole lot of action pulling me straight through to the finale. I'm just going with it. I have to keep reminding myself I can fix it in the edits if it sucks.
I've finally decided what I'm going to start writing next and (naturally!) it's not one of the novels I've been considering. I've had this bizarre dark urban fantasy that's been playing in the back of my head for the last two months and I figure: what the hell? The other fantasy novels I have in progress seem a little too generic right now. They don't have enough originality in them to run with. Oh, don't get me wrong: they all have good potential but they really need some major twist to give them "OOMPH". The other horror/literary book I have going I don't want to jump into right after "Fish". I'm going to need some space so I don't confuse the voices of the two books. I'm also gearing up to start my edits on "Clans" but not until I've gotten the agent queries finished and out the door. I have too damn much on my plate right now as it is!
The problem is I have too many damn ideas and not enough time to get to them all! (Which, for a writer, is not such a bad thing) It will be nice when I can do this full time (note the positive thinking there!) and I can really start to push into all the stories I have notes/concepts/backgrounds on, or have started writing but put aside. Christ, I write part time and I've written two complete novels this year; finished one from last year; started two more and have plans for at least another two before the year is done. And three of those are the first novel in extended series.
Ambitious?
Nah, not me.
Now, if only I could be sure they're more than toilet paper with ink stains on it!
Later!
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