TNT played the Matrix Trilogy in succession yesterday. While I'll admit to having a better appreciation for the storyline, despite its flaws, I am shocked that it also filled in a gap in my ability to describe my plot in an apt manner. I've always thought of my story arc as Dracula meets Snow White with some Biblical prophecy thrown in, but could never quite come up with that third title that truly enveloped what I mean by "Biblical prophecy." I thought about The Prophecy or The Omen or The Seventh Sign, but none of those quite fit, and I worried that using general religious terminology may make prospective agents or readers think it's a preachy story. Believe me, it's not. Many aspects of my story would most likely cause some controversry in mainstream Christianity. My goal isn't to preach at all. I'm simply telling a story and pulling from many faiths and religious texts as part of that story.
Hence, The Matrix, with its plethora of religious undertones and hidden meanings. On the surface, it's man versus machine in a futuristic war, but really, as many before this have deduced, it's good versus evil and symbolic of Christ versus the Anti-Christ. It's a story of a savior ending a war and bringing salvation to more than just the human race. It is the perfect fit for that third spot in my X + Y + Z = MY BOOK(s) equation and I love it.
Being told that my work is unlike anything out there makes it hard for me to describe it. Well how many books out there are Dracula meets Snow White meets The Matrix Trilogy? Maybe I'm giddy over nothing, but I'm rather happy about this.
I'm equally happy to report that I discovered a workable method to write (what I think is) a good synopsis. I started over (again), and this time kept my first manuscript open on one screen while writing my synopsis on another screen. Perfect! I'm down to the last chapter and a half, and then I can start redrafting and polishing. I have a lot of paring down to do, but I'm satisfied with my progress thus far.
As long as I'm moving forward, I'm not standing still. That's a good thing. ^_-
Monday, November 14, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The mightiness of my geekiness knows no bounds...
I took last Monday off to enjoy the day after my husband's birthday at home with him...which would have been nice if not for the day-long power outage that pretty much ruined his actual birthday. Being the techies we are...poor things...we suffered immeasurably without our televisions, consoles, or laptops, and the severity of my condition manifested as a festering need to cling to the one thing that could shed light and connect to a network: my cell phone. I should clarify that I normally could have used my laptop on its battery, but this was one of those rare moments where I hadn't charged it after its last use. Grrr @ me. So anyway, we went out for brunch. We came home. No power. We went shopping. We came home. The power came on! For five minutes. The power company said it would be twelve hours before it came back. We decided to go shopping again. We came home again.
The electricity did return much sooner than anticipated. Actually, it came back on just before we left the third time, but Best Buy was having a sale...and we are techies, after all. So let this little crisis be a testament to my reliability on the charge that runs all my gadgets and the first step toward demonstrating my geekiness.
Let's call that Exhibit A and this Exhibit B, since I used to work in Criminal Justice and am taking a step back there for just a moment. In that field, I created databases and I loved it. All the functions and queries and table-building, designing the forms and reports, and choosing the colors and pictures for the backgrounds - it was fantastic! It was the perfect blend of technical and creative that my brain drools over more than a zombie drools over a perfectly happy brain. But now - as much as I love my job (and I cannot stress that I LOVE my job enough) - any task I do on any given day is far more technical than it is creative. The most creative thing I do in a day is my makeup (anyone who has seen my Facebook page or knows me can attest) - hence the pink (or sometimes blue) hair, the crazy eyeshadow or themed makeup, and mismatched socks with plaid shoes. My body has become my canvas so that my mind can focus on the technical at work.
Time for a sidebar. My husband is an audiophile. Symptoms of his affliction include an extensive dvd/blu-ray collection. And since I'm an anime-niac, my anime collection certainly doesn't help matters. It's hard to keep track of - we can sit there, staring at it all, and not be able to pick out something to watch because there's just too much! In fact, we easily have a dozen discs that we've purchased and have yet to watch. Some are still in plastic wrap. I guarantee it.
Last monday night, I found myself wanting to watch a movie, but unable to choose. My solution? And yes, for whatever reason, with everything that I have to do, I was this bored: create a database so I (we) can look at a list or choose by genre to narrow it down. And that's what I did. Three hours later, I had the database completed, including a place to put in a cover picture for reference (fancy!), and even had all of our titles entered and the number of discs cataloged. OMG. Okay, I lied. I forgot to the put in The Karate Kid because it's here at work, so the database (PMDB) is missing one disc. Oh, and I have an anime shipping today, so I'll have to add it...well, suffice it to say that it's an ongoing project that'll never end. Just like my geekiness.
^_- Once a geek. Always a geek. For life!
P.S. I know, I know. I should have been working on my book or querying or something. But I want to do the queries in very small batches and wait them out before I start anew, and I've been reading sample synopses so I can strengthen mine. I'm only supposed to include the main plot lines, but my synopsis leaves out a major player in the "villain's" motivation that I feel I should work in. So...this weekend, hopefully, I'll start round numeral dos.
The electricity did return much sooner than anticipated. Actually, it came back on just before we left the third time, but Best Buy was having a sale...and we are techies, after all. So let this little crisis be a testament to my reliability on the charge that runs all my gadgets and the first step toward demonstrating my geekiness.
Let's call that Exhibit A and this Exhibit B, since I used to work in Criminal Justice and am taking a step back there for just a moment. In that field, I created databases and I loved it. All the functions and queries and table-building, designing the forms and reports, and choosing the colors and pictures for the backgrounds - it was fantastic! It was the perfect blend of technical and creative that my brain drools over more than a zombie drools over a perfectly happy brain. But now - as much as I love my job (and I cannot stress that I LOVE my job enough) - any task I do on any given day is far more technical than it is creative. The most creative thing I do in a day is my makeup (anyone who has seen my Facebook page or knows me can attest) - hence the pink (or sometimes blue) hair, the crazy eyeshadow or themed makeup, and mismatched socks with plaid shoes. My body has become my canvas so that my mind can focus on the technical at work.
Time for a sidebar. My husband is an audiophile. Symptoms of his affliction include an extensive dvd/blu-ray collection. And since I'm an anime-niac, my anime collection certainly doesn't help matters. It's hard to keep track of - we can sit there, staring at it all, and not be able to pick out something to watch because there's just too much! In fact, we easily have a dozen discs that we've purchased and have yet to watch. Some are still in plastic wrap. I guarantee it.
Last monday night, I found myself wanting to watch a movie, but unable to choose. My solution? And yes, for whatever reason, with everything that I have to do, I was this bored: create a database so I (we) can look at a list or choose by genre to narrow it down. And that's what I did. Three hours later, I had the database completed, including a place to put in a cover picture for reference (fancy!), and even had all of our titles entered and the number of discs cataloged. OMG. Okay, I lied. I forgot to the put in The Karate Kid because it's here at work, so the database (PMDB) is missing one disc. Oh, and I have an anime shipping today, so I'll have to add it...well, suffice it to say that it's an ongoing project that'll never end. Just like my geekiness.
^_- Once a geek. Always a geek. For life!
P.S. I know, I know. I should have been working on my book or querying or something. But I want to do the queries in very small batches and wait them out before I start anew, and I've been reading sample synopses so I can strengthen mine. I'm only supposed to include the main plot lines, but my synopsis leaves out a major player in the "villain's" motivation that I feel I should work in. So...this weekend, hopefully, I'll start round numeral dos.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Query Nerves
I've mentioned once or twice that my serious journey as a writer began in January 2007. Three months later, my manuscript was finished and I was eager to send it off to get published. Let me pause to laugh.
Okay, so truth be told, I did "polish" it for a few months before I sent my first queries. I put "polish" in quotes because I would not let anyone see those copies today. I hang my head in shame for giving a copy to my best friend and asking her to read it. (Sorry!! So sorry!!) Wow. And I actually sent pages from that out to agents and a publishing company.
Need I say rejections did follow? Did I really need a rhetorical question there? Should I answer that?
Rhetorical question - What is something you should never start your query letter off with for 800 dollars, Mr. Trebek? Correct. I got that part right. I did my homework when it came to writing a query letter. I just didn't know how to finish a manuscript.
And so, here I am, finally ready to call what was once nothing more than a barely edited rough draft a polished piece of work, and am ready to leap back into the agent hunt. Anyone who has ever been in my place can sympathize with the query letter jitters. My Facebook status this morning requested bug killer for the butterflies in my stomach.
I have read my manuscript hundreds of times over the years, editing, redrafting, editing, and redrafting some more. Friends and colleagues have read it and offered advice, some story-based and some grammatically/editorial-based, and all greatly appreciated. I've done tons of research on the subject matter within the story and the publishing industry alike. I'm as confident in my story and my abilities as a writer as I can be right now. I realize there's always room for growth, and I welcome that, but I can't procrastinate forever to keep on growing.
My problem rests within my query letter. I sent out six queries during that first (and only) naive round. My third was to Nathan Bransford, (my then dream agent) who requested a partial. Nathan Bransford requested a partial based on that query letter and I sent him 33 pages of what I consider to be an awful manuscript! O_O I received a very nice, personal rejection soon thereafter. He even said I was a talented writer. (Thank you very much!)
So...back to the rhetorical questions (although, since I could use an answer, I suppose this one isn't really rhetorical). Do I stick with my original query letter or do I use one of the new incarnations I've created since then?
Okay, so truth be told, I did "polish" it for a few months before I sent my first queries. I put "polish" in quotes because I would not let anyone see those copies today. I hang my head in shame for giving a copy to my best friend and asking her to read it. (Sorry!! So sorry!!) Wow. And I actually sent pages from that out to agents and a publishing company.
Need I say rejections did follow? Did I really need a rhetorical question there? Should I answer that?
Rhetorical question - What is something you should never start your query letter off with for 800 dollars, Mr. Trebek? Correct. I got that part right. I did my homework when it came to writing a query letter. I just didn't know how to finish a manuscript.
And so, here I am, finally ready to call what was once nothing more than a barely edited rough draft a polished piece of work, and am ready to leap back into the agent hunt. Anyone who has ever been in my place can sympathize with the query letter jitters. My Facebook status this morning requested bug killer for the butterflies in my stomach.
I have read my manuscript hundreds of times over the years, editing, redrafting, editing, and redrafting some more. Friends and colleagues have read it and offered advice, some story-based and some grammatically/editorial-based, and all greatly appreciated. I've done tons of research on the subject matter within the story and the publishing industry alike. I'm as confident in my story and my abilities as a writer as I can be right now. I realize there's always room for growth, and I welcome that, but I can't procrastinate forever to keep on growing.
My problem rests within my query letter. I sent out six queries during that first (and only) naive round. My third was to Nathan Bransford, (my then dream agent) who requested a partial. Nathan Bransford requested a partial based on that query letter and I sent him 33 pages of what I consider to be an awful manuscript! O_O I received a very nice, personal rejection soon thereafter. He even said I was a talented writer. (Thank you very much!)
So...back to the rhetorical questions (although, since I could use an answer, I suppose this one isn't really rhetorical). Do I stick with my original query letter or do I use one of the new incarnations I've created since then?
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