Cupid War Rewrites Begin

The notes for The Cupid War have arrived. Not as bad as I'd feared, and I'm not surprised by that one bit. To quote Mark Twain, "I've faced many disasters in my life, some of which actually happened!" Or words to that effect.

Nevertheless, I have a lot of work ahead of me. I need to put in more visual details, something I'm not very good at. I admit it - I'm all about the story and the action, with no time for the nitty gritty details. Readers, however, like and need those details. It is definitely something about my style I need to improve.

Then there are the things that seem obvious to me but are not so obvious to others. It can be interesting, learning of other people's ideas about what they think I've written. For example, I once wrote a short story about a naughty boy who discovers Santa Claus is a monster who steals youth from children in exchange for presents. The Santa creature captures the boy and takes him to the North Pole, where naughty kids are forced to work like slaves. A popular Canadian speculative fiction magazine rejected the story because they didn't think the Devil would want to punish naughty boys. Wouldn't he want to encourage them? I don't know where they got the idea that my Santa beast was Satan, but that was how they chose to interpret the story.

That was a case of an editor jumping to the wrong conclusion. Based on the notes I've looked at for The Cupid War, however, it's clear that I'm the one at fault. There were a few instances where I was sure the reader would get what I was going for, but my editor didn't. Those items will have to be fixed.

I have about a month to patch up the book. Wish me luck and success, readers!

Rewrite Blues

It's rewrite time again. At least, it will be when the guys at Flux send me their notes. Seems they had a computer crash and lost those notes, and they have to re-type them. Happens to the best of us.

But when I do get those notes, it will be time to do a new draft of The Cupid War, my next novel. I'm always a little anxious about this process, but I understand it is a chance for me to get valuable feedback. I do goof up sometimes (no really, I do), and I welcome the chance to make the book better.

There are times, however, when rewrites can be a daunting process. I still have yet to type up the last chapter of A Walk-In To Remember, the last manuscript I finished. I can't bear to think of revising that one. I've also been putting off a revision of Kids Who Know, one of my recently-finished manuscripts, for half a year now. I'm sure it will be my best novel, and that scares me; what if I re-read it and find out it's crap?

That's not the only reason, of course, or even the main one. It's my mood disorder, an affliction that has put a real dent into my productivity this year. My motivation gets sucked out of me, and I find it very hard to get things done. I suffer from depression and anxiety, and have had less success this past year managing them than I have in previous years. I'll do a blog post all about that sometime soon.

None of this bodes well for my upcoming rewrite of The Cupid War. What if they want a really big change? Both Evil? and Epoch required a couple of chapters to be completely rewritten. What if I'm not up for a major plot overhaul?

Still, anxious though I may sound, I know I'll end up doing a good job. This is my fourth novel with Flux, so it's not like I haven't managed it before. Come spring, the best possible version of The Cupid War will hit the stands. I just have to get there.

And I will.

Dreaming In Books Review

And here's another review of Evil?!!! This one is from the blog Dreaming In Books, written by John Jacobson. Check out the review by clicking here.

I'm also doing an interview with John, so check back later to see that posted.

Yay!

Guest Blog & Interview With TRT Book Club

I did a guest blog for TRT Book Club, the book club of Teens Read Too.com. I also answered a whole bunch of interview questions in my own special way. Do check it out here !