Connections & Progress

I know I haven't posted on here in a while, but hopefully this progress I confess here today will make up for that absence. First off I have had many new developments in writing my own novel. I have settled on a title which is always exciting (even though this is only my first time to pick a title for a novel I or anyone else is writing), but I imagine it is always pretty exciting. I don't want to say it hear yet though without giving any context about the book or its story, but I will soon. I am hesitant simply because I have just reached the halfway point of the story and am unsure myself as to how this whole thing will end up. I have the story and plot planned out, but you just never know what directions the writing might take you in.

As my class has been writing we have also been reading a few book, among these is the No Plot, No Problem book by Chris Baty, whom I wrote to for my first contact in class and whom I never received a response from, shady punk. In his book he gives much advice as to how to make this journey of completing a novel in a short amount of time much smoother than you may be expecting. One of these helpful hints is to find a companion novel, a book that is similar to the one you are writing and use it as a kind of guide. I knew from the beginning which book I would use and as out of left field as it sounds it was going to be a novelization of the first "X-Men" film released in 2000. I read the book when I was thirteen and have a few times since, It just made sense. My novel is a little on the science-fiction/fantasy side and concerns a form of super hero like characters and the book was pretty close to the size we are shooting for in class. It was a perfect role model. And to date it has helped me out greatly when it comes to pacing.

The authors of this book are Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I was unable to find a way to contact Ms. Rusch, but found Mr. Smiths Word Press website and a link to his facebook so I messaged him and sent him a friend request. Turns out the guy has a pretty impressive resume of work. He founded a small press called Pulphouse and has published over ninety novels and a hundred short stories. He has written books for Marvel, DC and Dark Horse comics as well as an editor and publisher. Needless to say I am really hoping to hear back from him.

On a side note:  Writing this book has gradually become more of an obsession, but a good one I think. It has taken over my thoughts and I am constantly thinking of directions I can go and how I will construct the next chapter. I am always wanting to go back to it and write more, and when I watch a movie or read anything for just a short amount of time I begin to think about my story and what I can do to it that will make it as good as it can be. I am enjoying it thoroughly and though it does take up most of my time and brain space, I'm OK with that. Let's just hope it turns out to be a somewhat decent book.

Responding to the Media

Being a fan of Neil Gaiman's, I of course was excited to read his journal. What is nice about Gaiman's journal is that it is just that, a journal and one that gives insight to a lifestyle not too many are fond of. One of a writer who is completely successful in just that. Gaiman mainly discusses what he has been doing the past few days when he hasn't been able to post a blog. He puts up a considerable amount of pictures that not only give a visual to these events as he sees them, but it truly gives us a closer look at what this mans life is really like, what kind of world he lives in. Gaiman always writes little captions for the photos, describing and explaining what is going on and always letting us know how he feels or is related to the event going on within the picture.

I knew of Will Wheaton from “Stand By Me” though I didn't know he was an author and prominent voice of the geek community on his blog. So on stumbling across his I was interested to see what kind of geeky stuff he was posting. I can be quite a nerd sometimes I thought, there is no reason for me not to enjoy the blog. But, after reading a few posts it was clear that while Mr. Wheaton had his geek tendencies as well, he was simply a really cool guy. At one point he discusses recording an audio book for one of his favorite books he read first a few years ago and how it was interesting creating different character voices for it. He goes on to plug the book s little, but then the tone shifts a little and he realizes how lucky he is for this to have been his job for a week. He is grateful and then he slides into discussing watching thunderstorms and walking in the rain with his wife. It was romantic and real, and though it may not have as much to do with writing as you or I would have hoped it was another glimpse into the life of a full-time writer and I guess that is why I chose these first two to highlight because I found them both the most intriguing to me.

The remainder of blogs and things I have been reading from the literary world do more concern the actual literary world. While I love the fantasy of living the life of a full time writer, I am also very interested in how exactly you do go about publishing and have honestly never looked into it before taking this class, so when choosing these to follow I did end up looking at more book agents than anything else. First up is Nathan Bransford, who I believe you recommended in class. He writes a lot and often, it is nice to see and he offers so much insight. He has also wrote a book and it will be published next year so as well as getting insight into the world of publishing we are, at the moment, being walked through what it is like to have that first book published. Last week, Bransford talked about seeing the cover art for the first time. Oh, what a dream. It would be so nice, it sounds so thrilling.

I was surprised about how many agents actually had blogs, but simply by putting it in the google search bar I found plenty of them. Others I have been attempting to keep up with are Janet Reid's literary agent blog, Rachelle Gardner who has a blog entitles Rants & Ramblings On Life As A Literary Agent-very interesting and human. She sets a nice tone with everything and updates regularly. I also found one by Chip MacGregor that is lengthy at times, but discusses a lot about the relationship between one's self and their agent and how it is a very important relationship. He discusses many other topics, but this seemed to have been a trend in his last few. He also has guest blogs which are interesting and his insight into getting into the publishing world is very specific and helpful.