Author: Seething With Apathy

The Six Hundred and Sixty-Ninth Post: The One Where I Roll My Eyes and Give Up My Attacking the Windmill…

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I am going to write to market, and because the market wants horror and YA and fantasy (those are the most popular markets in no particular order…not that you could tell by my sales figures…), I’m trying to blend all three in the established fantasy setting I have which I cheekily call ‘The Tyroverse’. This is where The Quietest Heart takes place, as well as my often delayed sequel to it, the even more often delayed Unbroken and the never delayed because it’s going through yet another revision in my head before being put on paper again The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show. This place has more dead stories in it than a body farm.

This story concerns itself with a family coming out of a city-state called Tarjen. Tarjen could be politely called a ‘hermit kingdom’ where information going out is tightly controlled. Think of it as a meritocracy-favored North Korea, but one where the people actually want to stay.

Except for the main character’s family, who voluntarily choose to leave the mountains because their eldest daughter would face conscription in the Tarjen Armed Forces. They leave, find a village to live in, meet a crazy teen boy and the daughter finds out that the peaceful village holds a dire secret. What fun! Madness, mayhem and frolicking abound in this book.

I am cheating a little bit and I am using the “Save the Cat” way of organizing this story. Usually, I depend on the Five Act Structure…but I have a sneaking suspicion that my story is being evaluated by the Cat method, and that could be the reason why it’s not getting any traction. So, I am going along in hopes of eventually getting along.

In the end – Save the Cat is the Monomyth that Joseph Campbell made famous in Hero with a Thousand Faces. Save the Cat was made for movies, but now it’s been co-opted into every story telling medium out there. I’m not complaining about it’s use. It is really useful for organizing a coherent story.

What I am going to complain about is that it’s now a checklist. Did you use this percentage of the story to establish? As such-and-such a page, this needs to happen. The “Sex at 60” rule – which is not going to make an appearance in the book – and a lot of other nitpicky things. Storytelling is a lot more than checklists, slots and percentages. It’s about evoking feelings, stirring memories and teaching through tales. I don’t think agents and editors really want to take a chance anymore. Which is a shame, because I am sure that there are a lot of good stories out there that are being passed over.

Well, that’s it for now – I need to work on the outline and see how I am going to cater this for YA horror…and I should probably read a YA horror novel just to see how much I can get away with when it comes to horror.

Ta-ta for now!

The Six Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Post: The One Where I Ball Up the Towel…

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Okay, I’m think I’m going to throw in the towel on The Show Must Go On sooner than later. I haven’t gotten a bite on anything yet. I don’t think that sending out more queries is going to solve this particular problem. Not taking self-publishing off the table or even doing the more daunting gender flip. I believe in the novel, and I believe in the story it tells – but apparently, I am the only one.

Serve Me Now continues along at its slow pace. I need to light a fire under me when I get home. I was originally looking to have this done by the end of this month. By word count, I’m halfway through. Story wise…well…we’re not at the gory scenes yet, but we’re getting there. I am really trying to focus more on the dawning horror of her situation. This is supposed to be cosmic horror without the tentacles.

I’m just bummed, but I know I must press on. The Show Must Go On might not be the barn burner that I was hoping for, but I’ve got other projects. Certainly, one of them will catch someone’s eye, right?

Well, that really all for now. I should get back to work. Have a good day and I’ll talk to y’all later.

The Six Hundred and Sixty-Seventh Post: The One Where I Consider Flipping the Gender Tables

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OK – I’m going to admit that the constant rejections are getting to me. I’m tempted to let the fourteen queries I have out be it, and just go on ahead and self-publish The Show Must Go On. I haven’t had any interest in it, yet. I think it’s a good story, but apparently, I am the only one that thinks that. I’m half-tempted to gender swap everyone and resubmit it to people. I wonder if I would get any more traction that way? Have Lin the aggrieved party rather than Chip? I’ll think about it.

Speaking of cracking sanity…Serve Me Now is starting to get to that spot for me. Sara, the main character, is starting to have her sanity fracture, but I don’t know if it’s going to be effective or not. This is a delicate thing. I don’t want her to be all scenery chewing, but I must show something. I’m sure I can pull it off. I’m just getting stuck because I don’t really have an outline. This is a bit of a rush job for me in a manner of speaking, not that I have a deadline. I gave that up. It’s going to get done when it gets done.

I ma also working on a couple of other ideas. I think the spaghetti approach is going to be my best tool. Throw everything out there and see what sticks. So far, I think Lucky Evan’s Life is the winner, but I want to write in other genres. I should get Agonizing Alibi Day out there, as well as Tribal. I should finish Tribal first and get that looked over. I don’t know if it’s going to be a good fit for an agent, even though the political aspect of it seems to be the hot thing right now.

Anyway, that’s all I got for now. I should get back to work while I still have some lunch left. Have a good day and I’ll see you in the next.

The Six Hundred and Sixty-Fifth Post: The One Where I Struggle On In the Face of Adversity!

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Well, I’ve been rejected by all six of the agents I have approached. Am I going to let this get me down? No! It’s a matter of six down and forty-four to go. After that, I might just self-publish it to get a couple of dollars. If I go that route, I hope to have Serve Me Now and Tribal finished by then. If not (I wouldn’t be surprised), then I am going to put Alien Voices through the paces. Why I’m not going to do it next is because I am still doing the line edit on it and that’s going to take a while. Especially if my computer keeps on resetting for updates. Thanks, Bill.

Speaking of Serve Me Now, it’s coming along slowly, like a lot of my works, but I’m getting to the weight gain and madness part. That’s the part I’ve been waiting to get to, but it’s also looking like the book is going to be getting to be longer than 90,000 words…like it’s gaining weight, too. Unlike my protagonist, I am going to put it on a diet to keep it down to the amount I need it to be. I’ve been told that anything above 100,000 words, especially in horror, is a harder sell to agents and publishers. I need to get every advantage I can get.

I’m also working on a new idea: The Unfortunate Exorcism of Tony “The Fish” D’Epescatore. I think I might have brought it up earlier, but I’m doing the background research on it. I’m learning a lot about the Mafia, the Catholic Church and exorcisms in general. That’s what I love about writing – I get to learn new stuff almost every day. Whether or not this is a good idea…that remains to be seen. I think it’s a good idea, but then again I am biased a little.

I’m also pleased to say that my writing group is getting back together! I’ve missed these people through the holidays and spring. I don’t know what to offer to them first. I might go on ahead and stsart bringing Serve Me Now and get that working. It’s going to delay it because we only meet twice a month, but having other people looking at it will make it a lot stronger.

I think that’s all for now. I should get back to actually writing the books. I hope y’all have a good day! Ta-ta for now.

The Six Hundred and Sixty-Fourth Post: The One Where I Draw a Line In The Sand

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I’ve gotten a couple more rejections, but I am also going to send out more queries on Saturday. How many more am I going to send out? I’m thinking I am going to assign a hard number to this one: fifty. If I can’t get past the first round fifty times, maybe this book should be self-published and released into the wild. So far, I’m four into it. More will come later, I’m sure.

Serve Me Now has hit a little bump in the road, so I am working on something else right now. Working on a project titled: The Unfortunate Exorcism of Tony “The Fish” DePescatore. I’m in the research stage and reading about possession. I think this one is going straight to self-publish. I’m writing this one because it’s a good idea and I need to do something when I am slumping on Serve Me Now.

I’m not really big into supernatural fiction (although one of my favorite Stephen King books is IT), but this idea I had really says something to me. I might be able to put in some humor into it, maybe make it into a dark comedy. I don’t want to get too much into it here as I am still fleshing out some things.

One would think that getting rejected would have done something negative to my writing, but it’s not. I’m getting feisty about it. I’m doubling down on things. I am not going to let this get me down. I am pressing on somehow.

There is not much else going on right now. I just need to get more queries out this Saturday, try to edit down Alien Voices and maybe get that looked at by agents. Also, do laundry and go to the gym. An action-packed Saturday for me. I love it!

The Six Hundred and Sixty-Third Post: The One Where I Don’t Hear No Bell…

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Well, I’ve been rejected twice by agents. I didn’t get a nice letter, but a simple ‘this isn’t a good fit for me’ sentence. I am still querying, with the first wave getting six queries and so far only two responses. Am I going to give up? No. I think after thirty, I’ll have a good idea if this should be self-published or not.

Has this affected my output? Not really. I am putting them out of my mind when I sit down and write. I know there is an agent out there for me, and I’m not going to find them sitting on my duff and doing nothing. I need to sit on my duff and do something. This Saturday, I am going to go for round two through Querytracker. I might even dust off one of the novel and publisher guides I have (I think it’s only two years out of date) to look through that. Maybe I should look for a small-time publisher to build up with.

Speaking of output, I am still working on Serve Me Now, and it’s coming along a little better than what I had initially expected. I read another book called Trad-Wife which I really recommend. That book is an influence. I really need to amp up my description a lot, especially of the main characters. I know what they look like, but I have to remind myself that my readers don’t.

There’s not much else going on. I did get an idea from the Internet for another comedy/horror novel that I really need to flesh out. I am looking towards my next book after Serve Me Now is finished – Forever Junkie. I am not going to let two rejections dissuade me. Not two. Not twenty. Not two hundred. Onward!

The Six Hundred and Sixty-Second Post: The One Where I Am Pinching More Than an Inch On My Waist!

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I’ve got several stories that are in the ending stages of getting done, and I need to do something with them. I don’t want to self-publish them because that seems to be the death knell for them. I am considering finishing them up as quickly as possible in between working on Serve Me Now, which is going into a bit of a lull.

Tribal is the leading contender for self-publishing. While it has a good political message, I don’t think it’s going to do well with the readers in general. I think the message might be a little too buried under the fangs and fur of being a werewolf. I already have a cover for it, so it just needs to be finished (now that I know how to end it), line edited and maybe beta read again.

Alien Voices, I think is going to be a better candidate for trad publishing. It can sit well with other books in the genre, and psychopaths are always going to be a go-to in horror. I am doing a line edit on it right now, and has already been looked over.

The aforementioned Serve Me Now is making me pull my hair out right now. I feel like the character is doing one of three things:

  1. Obsessing over her pregnancy scare.
  2. Eating
  3. Getting photographed

I need to think about other things she can be doing. I should write the scene in Victoria’s Secret, and maybe start the weight gain notice there, which would fuel her obsessing over her pregnancy scare…which might make her late on her period…which would cause her to stress eat…which is a good way to go with these things. Now, all I have to do is keep conscious enough to write all of this down.

My problem with this is that I am obsessing over the timeline. I don’t want this to be too fast. She’s not going to blow up as fast as a party balloon. She’s not going to really notice anything until it’s too late. I really wish I had more time to plan it out, but I need to get this done fast while I know there’s at leaat one agent interested in this.

Well – I just need to get things back on track, and thankfully I have a three-day weekend to do that in. Maybe I can do a little more research into weight gain. I did learn that it takes 10 pounds gained to be noticeable in the face. I now have a benchmark. I just need to look up how quickly weight can be gained.

Just – between me and you…I am not liking having to rush through this. I don’t think it’s going to be done in two months. Maybe three if I put my nose to the grindstone. I just wish I had more time to do an outline, build the timeline and do a little more poking around before starting. Oh, well. I’ve got to roll with the punches, I guess.

I think that’s all for now. I should get back to work while the plumber is gone. Yes, on top of all of this, I am having issues with the plumbing. At least that can get fixed in a hurry. Ta-ta for now.

The Six Hundred and Sixty-First Post: The One With an Update!

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Hello – I was on vacation last week so that’s why there was no update. I’m back now and ready to blog for love and money (Just kidding – there’s no money here).

The pitch didn’t got as expected, but it did manage to get something out of it. My first book pitch didn’t work because I didn’t have any comparable titles to it. When I off-handedly told the agent about Serve Me Now, she liked the idea. So now I am working on that and have gotten five chapters down. I’ve set up the name character of Sara, shown her relationship to both food and Oliver. In Chapter Six, I need to get down to the horror aspect of it. I need to ramp up the otherworldliness of the hunger.

The pace I have been writing has been a lot steadier than most other books I have written. I haven’t taken a big day off in a while. Even during the vacation, I still wrote and got 1800 words down. I might finish this one on deadline. Cross your fingers and hope that I didn’t just jinx myself.

This book is going to be an exercise on pacing for me, as much as it is going to be about creating atmosphere. I just hope to get everything right and get it out there to be published.

The Show Must Go On needs to get a couple more tweaks and I’m going to start sending it out. I’m going to give it a year. If it’s not picked up by someone in that time, I am going to self-publish it. I’ve got the cover, I’ve got the notes to make at least the first ten pages better. I just need to do it. This Saturday, I am going to throw myself into getting it done.

There isn’t a whole lot going on this week beyond working on getting stuff together for publishing. I’m feeling pretty good about both books. I hope they entertain someone when they are released into the wild.

Well, I do have to get back to work, so I thought I would drop a quick update. Still writing, still editing and hoping for a release somewhere. Good luck to the rest of you. Ta-ta for now.