A.C. is off to agents. Out of 10 so far, 3 have sent rejections—2 form and 1 that was brief but seemed much more personal. I still have another 15 on the first round of agents to send off to and am planning sending out to about 5 a week until the whole first round list is taken care of. Then I'll wait until all those are back in before I start working on y second round choices.
In the meantime, I'm working on Blood Charms, my first attempt at something with an urban bent. I say an urban "bent" because I'm actually playing around with it to blend in another genre. This will hopefully do two things for me: one, make it easier for me to write since I find the strict urban setting/genre too restrictive for the kinds of stories I like to write, and two, give me something different and more interesting to present to agents when I'm done. I've been going through and revising my building draft, which is actually the draft before the rough in my usual process, but it's actually working nicely as a rough draft for this particular novel. At the same time, I'm still in a very flexible space with what I'm doing with it, which is nice.
I'm still working on the second book in the A.C. trilogy on the weekends, but it won't be a priority until/unless A.C. sells. As much as I love the world setting and my critters want to see the next book, I'm still trying to find that sweet spot for me in a publishing atmosphere that's not as wide open as it once was, especially where epic fantasy is concerned. A.C. is a beautiful book, and I think it would have a better chance at an agent if epic weren't a genre that now appears to be pretty much on the "outs" in general. A few things get published, but not a whole lot. And to keep writing in that series until I see how it does doesn't help me, especially since I have other ideas that might have a better chance.
This is something I'm quite fortunate in right now: I have LOTS of ideas, most with a foundation paragraph written somewhere so I won't forget it. And writers wanting to be published can't just rest on the finished novel; they have to move on while they shop the finished novel. Writing is a job. You don't stop doing it just because one book is done. You keep doing it. The process changes a little once you have a contract, from what I gather, but the one thing you always do is write.
I'm enjoying Charms, but still working on my vision of the world and getting to know the characters. It's much harder when you haven't been working on the novel for years, like I did with A.C. But the NPB process still worked, thank goodness. As long as I have an idea on my main characters and a plot, it seems to work by me. I still have some things to work out that might make changes to the book, but it's okay. There were major changes in A.C. even in mid to late revisions, so I'm not too worried about it. One thing I will be doing differently is outlining what I have when I'm done with this round so I can see what I need to add and where. I'm not much used tot he "mystery" aspect of urban fantasy, and I'm hoping the outline will help me figure out how to make it work.
Which actually supports something someone said on a journal entry awhile back: every novel is a different and ends up needing a different process. NPB may be my foundation, but I'm having to be flexible with it. The one thing I always need: to know how the novel ends. Otherwise I stall trying to get there. A basic road map for the middle helps too, but there's where I have to be ready to change things when I need to.
One thing about writing: as long as you're spreading your wings, it's never boring. :)
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