As I continue to explore new revenue streams for the upcoming year, I’m trying to add a bit more in the way of editing, since it’s one of the things I really enjoy doing, and which feels in some ways like an extension of the fiction.
So here’s my “Completed Nano? What Now?” package.
I will read your lump of words. And then I will give you feedback that includes:
What sort of novel I think it is, along with possible markets
A rough roadmap of what you need to think about in order to turn it into something you could submit to a publisher (or self-publish, which more and more people seem to be turning to)
What you’re doing right – your writing strengths and how you might capitalize on them
What you’re not quite doing right – your writing weaknesses and how you might address them
People writing in the same vein that you might look to when thinking about agents and publishers
Identifying pieces that might make short stories
Pricing:
Sign up by midnight PST, Friday, December 9 and get the special price: $79, which you can also claim if you’re a past or current student. Otherwise it’s $99. Contact me at spezzatura AT gmail.com
When would we need to give you the lump of words, if we were interested? I’m hoping to get through a bit more revision on the things I know I want to change before handing it off to anyone else. 🙂
When your great ideas are stuck, it can help to have a deadline. If you sign up for a wrtiing class or critique you get the gift of an outside person expecting you to write and giving you a deadline. Or start a wrtiing group those deadlines work well, too. Best of luck!
Want access to a lively community of writers and readers, free writing classes, co-working sessions, special speakers, weekly writing games, random pictures and MORE for as little as $2? Check out Cat’s Patreon campaign.
Want to get some new fiction? Support my Patreon campaign.
"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
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NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 3
Also accomplished: organized some of the study bookshelves. Here we’ve got F&SF writing stuff plus podcasting equipment (top shelf); lingusitics and writing (middle shelf) and WMST and lit crit (bottom). It’s nice being able to find books when I want to refer to them.So far I’m cranking along. Part of the impetus is a Thanksgiving trip, which effectively means I’ve got 20 days, not 30, to finish. But I’m well on track so far, with over 6000 words banked so far. Here’s some of them, taken from Hearts of Tabat:
“I need your help,” Sebastiano told Letha, “but oh”¦” His breath caught at the thought of her seeing what he had seen. “It is too much to ask.”
She came down the steps as he spoke, reached out and took his hand.
“Tell me,” she said, looking up into his face and the sound of the love and worry in her voice undid him. He collapsed to his knees, burying his face in her skirts, and sobbed like a child of five whose worst nightmare has come true.
She held him without speaking, let him sob away all the horror and terror of those moments and the coppery stench of the blood and the horrible way its sheen changed as it dried. Finally he drew away and she released him. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, pressing hard on his eyeballs, as though to extract what he had seen.
“A murder,” he said. “No, a slaughter, really. And they think it was a Beast.”
“Beasts do not murder,” she said. “They may kill in the moment, but they do not plan and enact such acts.”
“This one did. I think. I don’t know.” In his head he ran through lists. “Are there any creatures that thrive on death?”
“There are the Mandrakes, which suffocate and then try to put their infants in place of the human child,” she said. “There are the fairies, which sting so many travelers, but they must be provoked or drawn by injury, usually. You mean a creature that is fed by killing. That is not a Beast, Sebastiano. That is sorcery.”
He knew the truth of her words the minute he heard them. How had he not realized that before? Perhaps some clouding spell had overlaid the house? A golem, constructed by sorcery, using Beasts. Was that possible?
He must have spoken his thoughts aloud, because Letha replied to them, her voice tart as a winter apple. “Of course it is. What else does Tabat do with Beasts but use them to fuel magic?”
I’m also finishing up edits for the story that will appear next year in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, “Red in Tooth and Cog.” A recent publication is As the Crow Flies, So Does the Road in GrendelSong.
I just sent my scheduler in to Bellevue College last week – I’ll be teaching the Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction class again this spring as well as the Blogging 101 class. I’ll post the dates for that when I have them in hand.
With both classes, I’ve gone through my notes, getting them together. With the blogging class I’ve been using a new online tool I saw mentioned during the great “Yahoo is getting rid of Delicious!” flak, Trailmeme.
WIth Trailmeme, the central metaphor is “trails” of links, which you can annotate. So I’ve used the outline from my Blogging class to collect my Delicious links on the topic. Here is the Blogging 101 “trail”. A cool feature of Trailmeme is the ability to discuss links – please feel free to make suggestions and/or forward the link to the trail along to people who might find it useful. I know a lot of those links are ones I’ve frequently referred to and often continue to use.
One of the reasons I’ve gone to that trouble is that I’m pushing a couple of consulting services next year, and one of them is a critique of your blog or website talking about its current structure and organization, its search ranking and strategy, how you might use it more effectively, how you might be using social networks, and directions you might want to take it in, based on what a student gets out of that class. For $100, you get a 500 word write-up. If you want to go more in-depth, contact me and I’ll give you an estimate.
4 Responses
When would we need to give you the lump of words, if we were interested? I’m hoping to get through a bit more revision on the things I know I want to change before handing it off to anyone else. 🙂
I’d say up to a month afterward? So by the last day of December.
When your great ideas are stuck, it can help to have a deadline. If you sign up for a wrtiing class or critique you get the gift of an outside person expecting you to write and giving you a deadline. Or start a wrtiing group those deadlines work well, too. Best of luck!