Friday, December 2, 2016

Make the Most of Your opportunities!


New and aspiring writers often ask how they can get noticed by publishers.

My advice is to write often, and always submit your work. No sense in letting your writing wither in a desk drawer. If you don’t send it out I can almost guarantee you will never be noticed.

When your submission is rejected, and it probably will be, at least in the beginning, read any comments or suggestions for improvement, and send it out again.

Referring to short stories, I read advice once that said to write one submission a week and send it out. If it comes back, send it out again. After two years of this hard work you will either be published, or at the least, a much better writer.

I was fortunate to enter an international short story contest and win first place. That gave my confidence a badly-needed boost.

I got my start by sending short stories to anthologies and magazines. One perceptive editor told me on two separate occasions that my short stories sounded like they should be novels. I thanked her at a recent writer’s conference when she was one of the featured guests. Now the shortest project I work on is a novella at about 30,000 words. I prefer the longer projects.

One of my short stories was “almost chosen.” Made the second to last cut for an anthology. However, the editor liked my writing and asked me to submit for her next project. My story was accepted, and when I met my current publisher, I could at least point to something in print and the fact that I’d help launch that anthology in my hometown.

I attended conferences and took every opportunity to appear before publishers and agents in person. Be prepared for the unexpected question. Have your novel proposal down so you can tell the story in a few short sentences. Surviving a face-to-face with a book publisher who didn’t follow the meeting rules got my first novels published.

The bottom line is you are guaranteed never to be published if you never write anything. So get busy now!

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Apologies for Being a Day Late


I was supposed to have this written and posted for the 2nd. But I have excuses, a whole pile of them.

I spent last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, working a book table at a Comic Con. Long days and few sales. Sixty thousand people there to look but not to buy. Sold half as many books as I did the year before. But it was interesting and I re-connected with a few old contacts.

Then, besides re-connecting with my wife, I had to get ready for last night. It was the monthly meeting of our writer’s workshop. Three readings plus the critiques. If you have never belonged to a workshop you should join one. Just be prepared to take the comments on your work with a grain of thought. I belong to a group where I’m the only fantasy writer. I bounce scenes off of them, I wouldn’t try and run an entire novel past them.

But they do buy my books.

Today I’m waiting to hear from a contractor who is supposed to look at replacing a section of eaves trough before winter clamps down on us. Expecting a cold one this year. And I have to get ready to take part in a literary festival next month an hour’s drive from here. Want to launch my latest book there that just made it into print, Alex in Wanderland.  But first I have to lay hands on a few copies.

I also suspect the wife is getting anxious to have some action on that list she has of things I keep putting off.

Must go now.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Say It Isn't So!


You’ve just finished spending long hours on your manuscript and you’ve typed in, “The End.” You are now ready to send your beauty off the publisher and become famous.

Not so fast!

I must now whisper a hated word to you. Proofread!

This is one of the final steps before you send your baby away. Yes, an editor will proofread your manuscript once it has been accepted, and horrors, get back to you with recommended changes. But before you send it away you want to make certain you have done everything you can to bring it to perfection. This means proofreading it again one final time.

On the positive, a properly proofread manuscript probably has a far better chance to be accepted by a publisher.  And no, you still won’t catch every one of your errors at this stage.

Proofreading comes after you have made your own editorial changes. You’ve cleaned up the plot holes so the story makes sense, now you are on the lookout for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. Even though you may use a spell and grammar checker as you write, these little devils still can slip through. If you have the stamina at this stage you can watch out for those items you know an editor will pounce on. You will probably get lists of these once you have an accepted manuscript and an assigned editor.

Watch out for run-on sentences, passive sentences, and over-used words that editors hate such as, had or that.

Tricks to help you proofread:

I increase the size of the page when I proofread and often when I’m in the creating mode to the 120% to 125% range. It must feel comfortable for you.

Some like complete silence when they proof, others swear by background music.

Don’t try to do the entire manuscript all at once and remember to take frequent breaks to ease the strain on tired backs and re-focus eyes on longer distances.

When in doubt, look it up. You may have to refer to an actual paper reference such as a large dictionary or thesaurus.

This morning I was doing my final proofreading of the eighth novella in my Housetrap Chronicles fantasy detective series. This project has been bouncing around for several months as I wrapped up other projects and it was with some relief I sat down today with the intent of doing the final proof.

Horrors! I’ve already discovered serious formatting errors due to the time elapsed between some segments, not to mention some plot holes, and an entire scene I intended to write that I omitted, leaving a character dangling.

I think I’d better take a deep breath, lay this project aside, and wait for a rainy day. Too many other things to do before fall turns to snow.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

Friday, September 2, 2016

A Murder Mystery


Yesterday I was finally able to get back to wrestling with one of my Housetrap Chronicles fantasy detective tales I had to set aside while working on other recent priority projects. This one has a murder mystery as part of the tale.

Unlike a lot of writers I don’t plot everything out to the last detail. Where I left off several months ago was at the start of the investigation into the murder. I realized now I had no idea at the time who done it, or why. As the detective is now interrogating the prime suspects I have to just follow along.

Was it the wife? She is pleading innocence, but we did find the gun under her mattress. At least we think it’s the murder weapon. Too obvious?

Was it the public relations guy? Is he having an affair with the wife? Probably. They are sort of alibiing each other at this stage.

Are they too simple a solution? Maybe it should be some highly convoluted plot with shadowy figures in the background. How about the train security officer who is assisting with the investigation? Could she be working with someone higher up?

This is one reason why I enjoy writing. I get to stick my characters into complicated situations and then sit back and watch while they try to figure out what is going on. I think I know which way I’m leaning as to the guilty party, but as usual, I could be in for a surprise.

Of course, just as I’m getting back into the swing of things with this tale, this morning I get the galleys of a manuscript back with a ten day deadline as to read and re-read for any errors. Getting close to going to press on this one. The detective is going to have to figure this case out on his own. I won’t be able to assist him for several days.

Darn. Now I’ll have to wait to find out if the wife really did it.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Another Trilogy Done in DRaft

This morning I just finished the first draft of a trilogy. (My third trilogy, if you like numbers.)

The first two volumes of this epic have made it through editing and now I’m just waiting for the publishing schedules. I promised to have the final volume done in draft by the end of August. Looks like I will have time to give it a polishing run-through before sending it in to my editor and then sitting on pins and needles to see if she approves.

The trouble with telling a story in three parts is you have to keep each volume interesting so you don’t lose the audience, while still leaving something for the end. Then the question arises, do you wrap up every last detail, or leave something hanging? I tend to leave a bit for the reader’s imagination to fill in, even in the final volume.

What I find I have to avoid is leaving all the excitement to the end of the third book. The reader has to be encouraged to find their way through volumes one and two. You usually have multiple plot lines. By the end of the trilogy most should be neatly tied up. Of course, those loose ends could provide you with more plots in the future, perhaps following the adventures of some of the minor players in the first books. When I finished the Dark Lady Trilogy I had enough interesting characters still running loose in that fantasy world to keep me busy for the next ten years, if I wanted to follow them.

Do readers prefer stand-alone novels or multiple tales like the trilogy or series format? I suspect they may be becoming more popular. The problem for the author is to find enough interesting plot material to sustain the pace through more than one volume.

I know I have read some books in a series where you suspect the author has finally run out of ideas. I hope someone will take the time to warn me if I ever do.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas

Coming events later in 2016/17: Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

Saturday, July 2, 2016

What Have I Been up to Lately?


I thought I’d give you some idea of what a typical month can be like in my writing world.

You have to do a certain amount of promotion, unless you are constantly on the New York Best Selling lists. So a month ago I spent three long days at a convention. I lugged several boxes of books from the inconvenient garage where I parked the car, to an elevator and up 12 floors to the dealer’s room. There I was one among many tables selling everything from handmade jewelry to books. For three days I talked about writing and sold a few books. In another month I will be off to another convention two provinces away, When Words Collide, where I’m on three panel discussions. I get to sit on an autograph session but don’t have to stand behind a table and sell books. One of my publishers is there with their full line so that is one less chore. This week I sat down with my web mistress. We’re finally up-dating my website and there is still a lot of work to do there.

I’ve been making sure my Goodreads and Amazon Author pages are up to date. I blog on a couple of websites other than my own. Been catching up my writing duties there, today. Been posting new covers on my author’s Facebook page.

On the actual writing side I’ve been busy with the line edits (final round!) on the last book in The Queen’s Pawn trilogy. The Queen’s Game is being released August 2nd in both print and ebook versions. I’m also wrestling with another trilogy through my second publisher. The first book, Toltec Dawn, has completed the round of edits, the second book, Toltec Khan, cluttered up my desk for a week as we went around again in depth. Both of these should be out this year. All this has meant that my work on the third book of the Toltec trilogy, as yet untitled, is only halfway finished. I did say I would complete the first draft by the end of August. That may be a tight squeeze.

Yesterday I came up with an idea for a new novel I would like to write someday.

Will it ever end? I hope not.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Coming events later in 2016/17: Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

Thursday, June 2, 2016

How do You Stay on Track?


I’m working on the third book of my Toltec Trilogy. As a pantser I didn’t have a detailed plot set out when I began this project.

The first two books were relatively easy. My publisher looked at the original, rather long manuscript, liked it, and told me to cut it in half into two books, and write a third volume to finish the story, so here I am.

I had a vague idea where I was going when I started the final book. In this trilogy I decided to tell the story from three different points of view. It is a what-if alternate history. The basic plot idea that triggered this epic was that the Toltec Empire of Mexico has discovered Europe and arrived there with superior weaponry. Sort of a discovery of the New World, in reverse. My three narrators are: a young Irishman in the service of a Toltec god, a Toltec captain in charge of a fort near London England, and a young Saxon girl on the run. I alternate their stories and POV throughout the tale  set in 1215 AD.

I’m currently 46,000 words into book three. The problem I’m finding, with so many characters, and stories I could possibly tell, how do I stay on the straight and narrow and wrap up all my ideas by the 100,000 word mark? Then there is the research. I find it so easy to stop what I’m doing to look up some obscure fact. But those obscure facts help to flesh out the tale.

This is where the plotter may have an advantage over the pantser. They’d do all of this preliminary work before they even start.

On the other hand, I’m finding characters and angles I would never have thought of if I didn’t allow my three subjects to run amuck. I know in the grand scheme of where I finally want to get to. I’m finding the path getting there interesting, frustrating, and exciting. I’ve been known to say I write so I find out how the story will end.

I don’t even have a title yet for book three. Nothing I’ve come up with so far gets the juices flowing.

Of course, I also gave myself a deadline when I said I would have the first draft completed. I have three months left from here to my target. Guess I’d better set this blurb aside and do some serious creative writing.

The main thing is, enjoy whatever you are writing, or reading. I know I am.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Coming events in 2016: Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

 

Monday, May 2, 2016

How Much Does the Story Change?


Because my style of writing is “pantser” (I write a novel by the seat of my pants) I don’t have several detailed pages of character and plot when I begin. A dedicated “plotter” will have everything laid out, often by chapter and scene. I usually have a beginning, and with any luck, an ending. Sometimes I have a single scene, sometimes I just have an interesting character. And then I begin to write my tale.

Take “The Dark Lady” for example. That began with me trying to answer the question rattling around in my head of: How do Evil Queens get their bad reputations? By the time I set fingertips to keyboard, I was dealing with a ten year old princess who had just woken up to discover her parents dead and three scheming uncles after her throne. While I tried to stick to the Evil Queen theme, I wandered off thinking more about a situation like what Queen Elizabeth the First found herself in as a teenage girl surrounded by scheming courtiers (some of whom might well have been murderous.) I went off on this tangent instead, following my heroine’s story through three novels, all coming out of the single idea I had at the beginning. There is some hope for my original idea though, I suppose. A friend of mine who read and enjoyed the series said he expected the male protagonist would probably fling himself from a tall tower if he had to experience living through another novel with my exasperating young lady.

Maybe I should write that one, plenty of time for her to show her really evil side, instead of just several different shades of darkness.

Now, the second novel I had published, “The Queen’s Pawn,” (that also turned into a trilogy) had a completely different birth and a much lighter tone. I had a single scene in my head, a burning city falling to a besieging army. This time my character was an innocent young man, a farm boy studying at the seminary in the city. I had no idea where I was going when I started. I soon found out: a mistaken identity, a mysterious wizard, a trapped, scatterbrained queen, (more on her later) and an unbearably bratty teenage princess. And the tale is off and running with the refugees fleeing the city pursued by assorted villains. To amuse myself, I had an assortment of lusty ladies throw themselves at the very confused lad. When I write this way I often discover things about the characters I didn’t know when I started. How was I to know that the queen was definitely not scatterbrained, but extremely clever and slightly manipulative? With three novels, (the last book, “The Queen’s Game,” will be out later this year.) all the characters have had a chance to grow, and change, and continue to surprise me.

When I completed the first book, I had no idea they would continue to gallop on in such good fun, and much heavy breathing, for several hundred more pages.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Coming events in 2016: Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Do Readers Care?


Do readers care if an author they have decided to follow goes off on a tangent? Wondering about this, I recently took a look at some of my own writings. The Dark Lady, my first published novel, would probably be categorized as a European-style medieval high fantasy. Queen=s Pawn and Knight=s Bridge would fall into the same broad category, although none of the three take place in the same location, and probably not in the same universe. There is a different slant to each tale, as to how seriously I treat the subject, with Knight=s Bridge, then Dark Lady trilogy, at one end of the spectrum, and the Queen=s Pawn trilogy at the other end with more of a tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek approach.

Then I leap away from the medieval and into the world of the Housetrap series. If forced to describe those novellas, the best I can come up with is a sort of a semi-modern urban fantasy world filled with just about anything, with touches of steampunk and science fiction. Oh yes, they are also detective stories, sort of. I see nothing wrong with having a goblin play the part of a flight attendant on a spaceship. Someone who picked these tales up because they enjoyed the medieval stuff might get thrown for a bumpy curve at the start.

When I rooted around some of my later projects I came up with two novels that are leaning toward science fiction and one with more of a historical what-if epic. One of the two sci fi manuscripts has definite fantasy elements to it. Do readers get upset if you mix genres together? I do this just because I can, and because I think the story elements fit well together to make a better tale.

Trends come and go and I fear I pay slight attention. Besides, by the time I have plotted out a tale, set it down, convinced the publisher and gone to press, the trend has probably sunk without a trace or left dregs of over usage floating on the literary pond. Because of this, I may feel free to throw vampires into a science fiction short, or turn zombies loose in Hounds of Basalt Ville but only give them bit-part status instead of feature time on the page.

The bottom line, in my world, is I write what I enjoy, and sometimes just to see how the story will turn out. I like surprises. Do the readers really care if an author changes hats, changes or mixes genres, wanders from treating a subject seriously, to poking fun, as long as the final product is hopefully well-written?

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
Coming events in 2016: We’re Not in Kansas and Toltec Dawn

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Whatever You Do as a Writer, Make Lots of Notes!


I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. While editing one of my first published stories I discovered I’d changed the spelling of one of the main character’s names. Fortunately I caught the error before it went to print, but it was close. Then there is the case where I’ve forgotten the color of a character’s eyes or hair. Do you want to have to re-read your entire manuscript to find out what you originally said? Make notes!

Now I set up a file for each novel as I go along. Because I’m not a plotter, I don’t start off with loads of details on the characters or the story I’m writing. My “notes” file contains things like a list of characters, locations, maybe even some hints on where I’m going. As I describe the character, whether it is physical, mode of dress, speech patterns, I add these to the file under their name. When I create my fantasy world, I make notes under a separate section each time a country, city, mountain or the like gets created. I have been known to draw a map of the countryside, or the castle, so I know which way we are going. When I forget a spelling, or am not certain, I go back to my notes. The description and spelling in the note is what I consider as gospel.

This becomes particularly important when your publisher asks for a sequel. Given the choice of making notes, or having to re-read the original novel to find out the name of an inn where the hero met the heroine, I know which route I’d choose. Sometimes you plan to create a series when you start out, sometimes you are faced with turning what you thought was a stand-alone novel into a trilogy. When you finish a manuscript it is a good idea to write down any ideas you might have about: “What happens next?” It gives you a head start.

What form the notes can take is up to you under the: “what works best for you” philosophy. I use a separate Word file so I can call it up and refer to it while I am working. Some people like paper or card files. The format doesn’t matter as long as it works for you.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady, Dark Days, Dark Knights (a trilogy)
The Queen’s Pawn, The Queen’s Man, (The Queen’s Game in 2016/17) (a trilogy)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volumes 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Toltec Dawn (in 2016) (Toltec Khan in 2016/17) (Vol 3 is a work in progress)(a trilogy)

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Every Writer Needs a Quiet Place or Maybe Two


When you picture a writer at work you often think of someone crouched over a computer, pounding away at the keyboard. They may be working by a window, hiding in a basement, or lounging on a boat. But it is their private writing place where the mind is free to create.

My den is in the lower level, and relatively quiet except at the cat’s feeding time. I used to write with music playing in the background, usually something that related to the sort of story I was working on. I seem to have gotten away from the habit of music and settled on quiet. Whatever works best for you is the way to go.

The second part of my writing world is where the ideas and the little details often come from. I like to take a walk before breakfast. Strolling through familiar surroundings I can work out scenes, dialogue, and how to solve up-coming problems, like how to save the hero/heroine from certain death, or get them into the peril in the first place.

I’m a pantser. I often start a story with little more than the beginning, or the ending, and maybe a character, but often nothing in between. Those morning walks are my other quiet place, where inspiration strikes.

What works best for me, when doing the actual creating and writing, is having as few interruptions as possible. I’ve tried writing in the garden, on the boat, and in a curling rink. Nothing else works as well as my two quiet places above, my cluttered den, and my morning walk.

Find your quiet place and get down to writing!

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1) (volume 2 &3, The Queen’s Man, due in 2016, The Queen’s Game ?)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volumes 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas (due in March 2016)

Saturday, January 2, 2016

How I don’t Recommend You Start Your First Novel

I don’t always have the next book or two in mind when I start a novel. Sometimes it is a single story idea. By the time I have finished the project I may have a glimpse of what happens next, but not always.

I confess to being a “pantser,” that is, a writer who usually creates by the seat of his/her pants. Unlike the alternate method, the “plotter,” I don’t set out in great detail the world, the characters, and what is going to happen. This works well enough for me when creating a single novel, for a continuing series it can cause headaches.

For example, when I wrote The Queen’s Pawn it was pretty much a stand-alone project. My world building consisted of the narrow strip of land the characters fled through, and I designed the landscape as I wrote. I didn’t even bother to give the burning city they fled from a name. It wasn’t important to the tale I was weaving. When I finished, I wrote down two sentences as to what might happen next, if I ever found myself writing sequels. Number one was: The queen is getting married and everyone tries to stop the wedding. The second sentence was similar: The princess is getting married and everyone is tries to stop the wedding. That’s it, my entire notes regarding plotting for any possible sequels. Of course, after The Queen’s Pawn was finished I was asked to write two sequels.

A plotter would have taken the time to build their world before they began. What is the geography like? What are the surrounding countries, the politics, the history, the religion? Who are the main players? The plotter knows their characters and their backstories before starting on the manuscript and has a good idea of the plotline through to the end, may have even designed certain scenes and laid out the chapters. That is the recommended way to write.

I have learned from bad experience to make several notes as I write. Important stuff like describing the characters as I create them, names, places. It would be so much simpler if I did this ahead of time, but unfortunately that’s not my style. Now I have to expand the geography, expand the cast, and decide what nonsense the characters are going to get up to. In the case of the sequels, The Queen’s Man and The Queen’s Game, I had my main cast assembled and the villains still alive and hiding in the woodwork. I let the actors do the hard part and simply described how they would react to given situations.

One advantage for me to my method is I can jump right into the story without always knowing where I’m headed. It becomes a voyage of discovery. Keeps me interested, and sometimes surprised by what happens. At least in the above examples I knew the intended endings, two weddings.

It is the journey of discovery that keeps me amused and eager to continue writing.

R.J.Hore
www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)
The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1) (volume 2 &3, The Queen’s Man, due in 2016, The Queen’s Game ?)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volumes 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas (due in March 2016)