Apologies for Being a Day Late

I was supposed to have this written and posted for the 2^nd. 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)

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)

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)

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)

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 2^nd 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)

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)

 

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)