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Novelism
4 min read
I have decided to post some excerpts from my two finished novels here, as well as some from the book-in-process as I go. After collecting so much art to inspire the writing, I thought I should give something back. Thanks to the artists featured in my Favorites - your works have made the words pour from my hands and I praise you for it. Please feel free to leave comments, criticism, etc. If you are interested in having the text I've written to "go with" your art, message me.
A bit about my trilogy:
I won't go into details of the plot. This series started simply as a source of entertainment for myself. Over the years as friends and acquaintances have read pieces of my work I've gotten praise and criticism that have shaped how I write, when I write, what I write. I began writing at 13 and rewrote the same idea several times, too many to count at this point, through high school. Once I reached college the entire idea got tossed into oblivion when the love of my life led me to believe it was bunk. I didn't write for 7 years, and those years were some of the most difficult in my life. I'm sure if I had written at that time, the mood would've been very macabre. However, on the other side of those seven years I had learned a great deal about myself and the world. I'd used the story as a crutch in the past to help me through the toughest times; now I wanted to use it to help others find themselves as I had, offer a different view of the world.
My motivation to start writing again came from a friend and coworker. She introduced me to Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's series. At first I found her writing style so bogged down, her endless list of characters too difficult to remember; but as I forced myself through those first few chapters I found my heart fluttering with the realization that it did not matter how many people objected to the subject matter - the story was brilliant. It was such a perfect play of fiction, history, and erotica that I couldn't help but sit down and type all night long on that story I'd abandoned, the words pouring onto the page as if they'd been trapped and suddenly set free. My whole life I'd been unable to qualify WHAT I was. Now I knew, introduced to an alternate world that wasn't unlike my own. I had my muse and my motivation back.
I completed writing The Waking World in approximately 4 months, typing away on my lunch breaks, staying up until 3 am, taking every free moment to escape back into the world I was creating. It was the easiest to finish since the ultimate story had not changed. I sent it to a select "committee" of peers for review, each with their own useful perspective: the person the main character was based on that had read some of the previous incarnations of the story; the coworker that inspired me in the first place; an acquaintance from college that enjoyed the same genre; a friend from college that served as my technical editor; and a friend that was there at the very first writing and also the basis for a character, who hadn't seen it grow over the years but could honestly compare it to the original. I braced myself for the onslaught.
So far there are very minor discrepancies I've corrected with their help, but the overall feedback I've received has bolstered my confidence again. I'd gotten so much of "it's good, but I don't think it's worth publishing" in the past, and when I got "OMG this is awesome!" universally I continued on to the second book without reservation. It took about 6 months to write, and I've just sent that off for their review as I am starting the third. Once my technical editor gets the first back to me I will submit it for publishing, and cross my fingers.
I've never been in this to make money. I would pay to have it published. If just one person learns something from reading it I will consider that payment enough.
So please, as I post more and more to DA I welcome your thoughts, positive or negative. Do not hold back. I haven't.
A bit about my trilogy:
I won't go into details of the plot. This series started simply as a source of entertainment for myself. Over the years as friends and acquaintances have read pieces of my work I've gotten praise and criticism that have shaped how I write, when I write, what I write. I began writing at 13 and rewrote the same idea several times, too many to count at this point, through high school. Once I reached college the entire idea got tossed into oblivion when the love of my life led me to believe it was bunk. I didn't write for 7 years, and those years were some of the most difficult in my life. I'm sure if I had written at that time, the mood would've been very macabre. However, on the other side of those seven years I had learned a great deal about myself and the world. I'd used the story as a crutch in the past to help me through the toughest times; now I wanted to use it to help others find themselves as I had, offer a different view of the world.
My motivation to start writing again came from a friend and coworker. She introduced me to Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's series. At first I found her writing style so bogged down, her endless list of characters too difficult to remember; but as I forced myself through those first few chapters I found my heart fluttering with the realization that it did not matter how many people objected to the subject matter - the story was brilliant. It was such a perfect play of fiction, history, and erotica that I couldn't help but sit down and type all night long on that story I'd abandoned, the words pouring onto the page as if they'd been trapped and suddenly set free. My whole life I'd been unable to qualify WHAT I was. Now I knew, introduced to an alternate world that wasn't unlike my own. I had my muse and my motivation back.
I completed writing The Waking World in approximately 4 months, typing away on my lunch breaks, staying up until 3 am, taking every free moment to escape back into the world I was creating. It was the easiest to finish since the ultimate story had not changed. I sent it to a select "committee" of peers for review, each with their own useful perspective: the person the main character was based on that had read some of the previous incarnations of the story; the coworker that inspired me in the first place; an acquaintance from college that enjoyed the same genre; a friend from college that served as my technical editor; and a friend that was there at the very first writing and also the basis for a character, who hadn't seen it grow over the years but could honestly compare it to the original. I braced myself for the onslaught.
So far there are very minor discrepancies I've corrected with their help, but the overall feedback I've received has bolstered my confidence again. I'd gotten so much of "it's good, but I don't think it's worth publishing" in the past, and when I got "OMG this is awesome!" universally I continued on to the second book without reservation. It took about 6 months to write, and I've just sent that off for their review as I am starting the third. Once my technical editor gets the first back to me I will submit it for publishing, and cross my fingers.
I've never been in this to make money. I would pay to have it published. If just one person learns something from reading it I will consider that payment enough.
So please, as I post more and more to DA I welcome your thoughts, positive or negative. Do not hold back. I haven't.
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March is pretty in the PacNW
1 min read
Today I went for a tour down Orting way to get a good view of Rainier with the new camera. Unfortunately the clouds were hiding it, but I got a nice raspberry pinwheel and half a chocolate croissant at the Orting bakery and went for a short walk on the foothills trail with the dogs. Seems like all the crabapples are blooming right now; I passed a few that actually smelled good. Some trees just plain smell BAD. Came home and decided to take the dogs for a short pull to finish off their pent-up energy; spent a few hours scouring the rubble of the Puyallup River for cool rocks until the dogs decided to wade in the pond of orange goo. ew.
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