Thoughts about the process

Hello everyone.
I've read this tidbit in various resources, and once again it makes sense for me.
Read.  Read voraciously.  Absorb stories and sentences and cool turns of phrase into your brain from it all.  This is the bank of words that you use when you create your own stories.
Having recently finished "The Lost Gate," by Orson Scott Card, I was reminded of this...by the simple fact that the man can assemble words together in a truly masterful way.  His prose is very easy for me to absorb. 

Choose your favorite author, re-read a book of his/hers, then go and write something.  It's how you grow.  After all, you are the one who knows your story first . . . the trick is making it so that others can know it too.

J.A. Gartshore

AHHH! A new direction of effort...again!

I love my wife more and more, ya know that. She sees with different eyes, and not the filled eyes I have from looking at the depths of this story for as long as I have. She is truly my peridot...she comes to me and I am empowered by her.


Thanks to her, I am beginning to see that my current manuscript is, in fact, the first two books of my series, schmucked together. Therefore, I'm beginning to look at filling out the first part of the story, up to Topaz's graduation...treating that event as the climax. The adept stories that happen in the second half will certainly be kept, but interspurced with Academy elements.



Back to the drawing board....
 
...this means that all the sensory descriptions that I glossed over can now be expanded to a much greater extent.
...the interactions can be broadened.
...the emotional reactions to things can be revealed more thoroughly
...the Topaz Realm can be explored even more.
 
This burst of revisionist thinking is actually coming from two sources.  The first is my wife's suggestions, of course.  The second comes from having almost inhaled a new book by Orson Scott Card, called "The Lost Gate."   Greatjumpingsquashnibbletsonaflamingkabobstick!   THAT MAN IS A MASTERFUL WORD-SMITH!!!!  It's not my concept, thank goodness, but it does explore a magic system that is fresh and that breathes life into aspects of human history like nothing I've read in ages!  
 

 
Read his stuff.  Now.  Right now.  Find this book, or "Ender's Game" and subsequent books, or anything by the man, and read.  He's that good.  'Nuff said.
 
J.A.Gartshore
 
p.s.  New life is breathed into my stories here, with the need to further expand.  It's exciting, and infuriating, all at the same time. 

A fresh crew...welcome

If you are new to my blog, I bid you welcome. 

Just so that I can get a sense of who you all are, could you please....


1)     Introduce yourself
2)     Mention what month / gem you are



If you want to tell me a bit about yourself, you are welcome to.  This is a blog that I'm using as a thinking space for the stories.  There are many concepts here that I'm exploring for stories that happen later on in the Arc. 

I will answer, if I can, answer any questions you would like to ask me.

I really appreciate your interest, and I look forward to your reactions as you move forward in the reading of my work.



Fate Favor You.



Jeffrey A. Gartshore.

The Process and the Learning

The more I revise-retool the manuscript, the more I'm appreciating my reader-helpers, specifically my amazing-brilliant-so-much-smarter-than-I wife.  As a lawyer, she sees things that I don't, language-wise.  Every point of weakness or linguistic ambiguity that she points out is like a wonderful little flash of light that helps me learn more and more each time. 
Ah, I'm going to be learning things about how to be an author for the next 70 years, I sure of it!

Proof-reading...amazing what you find.

I've made a new, current physical working copy of the manuscript. Intersting. I'm finding many loose ends that I had thought dealt with hiding here and there.  So, after tightening all the time references, I've started another round of proof-reading/editting. The physical copy seems to be easier to see, for me. (Heck, the first sketches I wrote were drafted with a fountain pen. I guess I'm just a visual thinker. Surprise? Nope.)


Hope I can get this set of corrections finished in a timely fashon. Ya never know...a literary agent might nibble. Heh.

Cultural links

Had this interesting thought the other day:
Ruby = Spartans
Sapphires = Samurai

Both warrior cultures, very different focus and spin. 
Leads me to find other cultural links between my Realms and the real world.

Garnet = pre-Revolution Russia, right before the change
Diamond = Finns (stoicism)
Peridot = Canada (+USA?  Possibly...)
Amethyst = Beijing?  Hong Kong? (a la Blade Runner)
Topaz = California?  (That's a whole culture right there...)
Aquamarine = Carribbean. (with enough PotC , of course, Yo ho!)
Emerald = The steamy jungles of the Amazonian Basin?
Pearl = Australian Outback (the aboriginal peoples there refer to the "DreamTime" culturally.  Research cue!)
Opal = The irish / scottish celtic cultures...with a serious dose of gypsy nomadicism!
Turquoise = Switzerland?  (Neutral, Make great timepieces)

Always interesting, this exploration of the possible links that can be called upon.  Now to keep the brain focused enough to make use of that in the tales...

And the next step begins

Hello all.
I have now completed my manuscript.  It is essentially done.  (I reserve the right to polish it here and there, but the bulk of it is as it will be)
I have sent out 5 query letters to various literary agents.  I have about 100 more on my list.  This is the longish part.  *(Literary Agent is a person who knows a whole lot more about the publishing industry than I do, who agrees to try and sell your manuscript to different publishers for you.  They know the latest trends, what different publishers are looking for, and have contacts within the publishing community.  They are usually payed by taking 15% of whatever money comes to you.  i.e. if they think your work is a masterpiece...the next "Lord of the Rings", they will move Heaven and Earth to get the right publisher printing it, since 15% of your profits from royalties and advances goes to them.)

This is a time consuming process, but I figure that I'll just keep plugging away until someone nibbles.  Some of them want just a query letter (which introduces you and your work to them in an interesting way).  Some want up to the first 3 chapters.  Many will accept email submission of query letters.  .... the list of things I'm learning goes on and on.

Heh.  At least it's possible to take this step now..

TTFN

Jeff

the process

Got chapter 7 re-tooled now.  Chewing on 8.  I've lost some momentum with the self-editting task, but I chug away at it still.  Real-life tends to be distracting....gets in the way of this mild, self-induced obsession that I'm using here.  So be it.

I'm going to be adding Historical references to the beginning of each chapter, in such a way as to show the larger universe that my stories come from.   Thank you, Kristen.  That wife of mine is still one of my strongest idea-banks.  xxoo

The Re-tooling of Manuscript draft #4...

Update:  Got a draft of the entire manuscript now.  The self-editting process is my current challenge now.

As of right now, I've got Ch. 2 re-worked. Heh. I thing I'm picking up speed here. Now, I use the momentum to finish retooling by the end of this week, then....then I send out my first query letter to a literary agent, with samples of my work.

More news, as it filters down.

Jeff

more imagery from the story arc

At this point, I'm thinking that each world that Topaz visits on his Journey will get its primary inspiration from a particular song.

Opal:  Bring Me to Life,  by Evanescence

Sapphire:  Shut Up and Drive, by Rihanna
                Ordinary Day, by Great Big Sea
                Downeaster Alexa, by Billy Joel
                St. Elmo's Fire, by John Parr

Peridot:    Almost, from the movie Enchanted
               The Cup of Life, by Ricky Martin
               American Wake (The Nova Scotia set),  from Riverdance

Ruby:     Awake,  by Godsmack
             Return of the King, from the sountrack to the movie 300

Pearl:     Serenity, by Godsmack
             Moonlight Desires, by Gowan

Emerald:   Welcome to the Jungle, by Guns 'n Roses

Diamond:  ?

Aquamarine:    Pirates of the Carabbean, (nuff said)

Amethyst:   Take On Me, by A-Ha.

Garnet:     That Don't Impress Me Much, by Shania Twain

Turquoise:  Circle Game,  by Joni Mitchel

Topaz:     Wanted Dead or Alive, by Bon Jovi
               Firework, by Katy Perry

Now that I've captured this list, and can actually see it with my eyes, I understand why some of the story elements that I've imagined are not all that clear for me.  I need to get some powerful, image-ful songs in my head for Diamond, that's for sure.  We'll see.  This is a side thought for me, of course.  Still chugging away at the first one here. 
Morgan, the daughgter of a friend of the family, read the first few chapters, and liked 'em.  Being 13, she's the target audience.  Yay for me...I'm writting in a way that is accessible for the adolescent mind, so far.  Now to keep it up.

TTFN

Jeff