Excellent Day!

Worked on Eternal Knight for several hours today. It was great! I am on the final stretch and heading for the finish line.

What's left to do? Not much...

1) Complete the read-through. Wonderful and terrifying. No, I'm not describing the book--I'm describing my emotions. I really, really feel good about the novel. It reads like a "real" novel. This is where the terrifying comes in. What if I am utterly delusional? What if Eternal Knight isn't the book I think it is? Well, we'll find out soon.
2) Touch up my query. My query is definitely not incompetent. It won't be laughed at and instantly rejected. But is it good? I dunno. I have no prior writing accomplishments to boast of. Will the query land the hook?
3) Fix up synopsis. Ugh. Writing this was the worst.

I've gained several new blog readers recently. Welcome to Eternal Knight! If you're interested in learning a little bit more about the story you can...

Read chapter one. I am always looking for feedback on this chapter. If I can get the agent to page 50 I know I will have them for the entire journey. But they won't get to page 50 if they don't get through chapter one.

Read my query letter. Spoiler alert! My query gives away the conclusion and major plot points of the novel.

Read my synopsis. Same spoiler alert as above, but even more so.

Please feel free to comment on any of the above. I am happy to get any help I can find.

Have a great one!

Don't be an akinos!

About half way through my novel you start hearing of a character named Akinos--a figure of legendary evil. Unfortunately, as my critique partners pointed out, it was a little late in the novel to first hear of him. Couldn't I introduce him earlier?

But how? An info dump of ancient world history didn't exactly fit into the storyline. And when I say it didn't fit in...it didn't fit in at all.

Akinos' legendary evil came as a result of his murder of his own brother. It was an act of betrayal that brought ruin to the world. Akinos disappeared immediately after the murder and his name became synonymous with treachery and evil.

Several hundred years have passed since Akinos' disappearance, and what's the first thing that comes to someone's lips when they are mistreated?

"Don't be an akinos."

By the time the reader reaches the half way point of Eternal Knight they have heard those words (in one form or another) on three different occasons. And now, when they read of Akinos the Betrayer, they should have an ahh-haa moment. They've read that word before, and always in a negative context. No info dump needed. The reader already knows that Akinos is infamous, important, and bad.

And a few chapters later, the reader learns that legends are legends and the truth isn't necessarily the truth.

Wargame Preparations

I've taken a few days off from writing to prepare for Cold Wars, a historical wargaming conventions I go to every March. I've mentioned my wargaming before. This year I am teaming up with Matt Iverson for the 1000 point Field of Glory doubles tournament. I've faced off against Matt a few times in tournaments before, but this year we will be partners. This works out well for me as he is one of the best wargamers in the country (and he always beats me).

What does this have to do with writing? A lot, actually. I really strive for historical, technological, and military realism in my writing. You won't find any Conan-like warriors single-handedly wading through an army of goblins in my novel. The action in Eternal Knight is gritty and realistic. The armies behave like real armies would on a battlefield.

Anyway, I'm off to finish painting some generals.

Contest

I've never entered a contest before, but I'm going to give this one a shot. It is sponsored by the Guide to Literary Agents blog (one of my favorites). I have to submit the first 150 to 200 words of my full length (Middle Grade or Young Adult) novel. Due to the recent changes in my manuscript, Eternal Knight now fits in the YA category.

Here's a look at my entry:

Hadde crouched behind the rotting trunk of a fallen tree. Ahead of her the Kiremi raiding party crept deeper into the forest. She counted a score of them--more than enough to destroy Long Meadow. And the Kiremi weren't alone. Strange warriors in fur cloaks marched with them.

She flexed her fingers against the cold wind and gripped her bow tighter. Dromost take them! Isn't the Wasting enough?

Dry leaves crunched behind her. Startled, she ducked and turned, but it was only Belor and Calen. "Danger, close," she hunter-signed. "Stay low."

Belor nodded and the two hunters crouched lower as they made their way toward her. Hadde was about to turn back to the raiders when a gust of wind sent a wave of dead leaves washing over them. Nearby, a Wasting-weakened tree branch cracked and fell crashing to the forest floor.

Suddenly, three arrows whipped into the forest, one embedding itself into a tree just strides from Hadde. Belor and Calen snatched arrows from their quivers.


...and wish me luck! First prize is a critique of 25 pages of the manuscript, a query critique, and two books from the Guide to Literary Agents.

Kemp Sweep Complete!

Whooohooo! I just completed the "Kemp Sweep" of Eternal Knight. This sweep was based on a comprehensive critique of the novel by my friend Kemp. Someday, after the novel has been published, I'll share his critique with you. I cannot emphasize enough how important good critique partners are to the writing process.

What's next? Right now my wife is reading the novel. I'll call this the Wife Sweep. Helen is looking for copy editing errors and areas where a reader might want more clarity. The Wife Sweep will not take long and will result in a very clean final manuscript.

All done? Not quite. I've decided to make one significant (but not awfully difficult) change to the manuscript. I'm gong to change Hadde's (my protagonist) age from twenty-four to seventeen. Why make such a change?

1) It will add more tension to the novel. Hadde will go from experienced veteran to young adult. When she makes it to Salador the culture clash will be much greater due to her youth. She will also not have the veteran confidence to deal with some of the conflicts she finds herself in.

2) It will allow me to promote the book as a young adult fantasy novel. I have become convinced that a YA fantasy with a strong female protagonist will be a stronger sell than a straight forward fantasy.

How long will these revisions take? Not long. Perphaps two weeks to make revisions, a week to do one final sweep, and one week to prep my queries and launch them into the world. It's getting close!

Just Arrived

My friend Christian Cameron's latest novel just came out in England. [For some crazy reason he hasn't been picked up by a US publisher yet.] Christian writes fantastic historical fiction. The Tyrant novels are set in the ancient Hellenistic world and follow the adventures of Kineas (an Athenian mercenary commander), and in this novel, his children. The latest novel, Funeral Games, is the most action packed of the three novel. I enjoyed it greatly, and highly recommend the entire series. The earlier novels are available in the United States.

Excuses and Apple iTablet

Soooo..... I haven't blogged much lately. Only a few tweets as well. Why? I'm too frakking busy! But it's a good kind of busy. I'm on Chapter 22 (out of 29) in my "final sweep" of edits on Eternal Knight. I should actually call this the "Kemp Sweep," as the edits are 80% based on the advice my friend Kemp gave me in a wonderful critique of the manuscript. After the Kemp Sweep I will do a very quick Wife Sweep. Helen is a very careful reader and will catch all the little stuff that I have missed in my 20 trips through the manuscript. After the Wife Sweep comes Query Launch.

Projected Query Launch Date: February 24th.

Apple iTablet Prediction: I think Apple is going to sell books through iTunes for very low prices. I think they will try to undercut Amazon. Can't wait to see what they come out with.

*edit*
Seems I had my information wrong on the iTunes book pricing. It looks like books will be more expensive, but will have additional content not available on a Kindle device. I am sort of baffled why publishers are so upset at the $9 price for ebooks. I would imagine marginal costs for production of electronic "copies" are very low. Even at $9 I would think profits would be very high.

The iPad pricing seemed pretty competitive. I won't be getting one any time soon, but it looks pretty cool.

A New Year

Thanks for all the comments on my Heifer International post. I donated $32 to the cause. Next year (when I'm a big-deal soon-to-be-published author) we'll have a lot more hits and a lot more money going to charity.

2009 was a very good year. My wife and daughter are both doing very well and I made some breakthroughs. Topping my list:

1) I really dove into editing Eternal Knight and am very happy with the way things are going. I have to give particular thanks to my friends Kemp Brinson and Mike Shultz for their help. Kemp read the entire novel fresh and gave some fabulous feedback (and encouragement). Mike and I have been critique partners for several years and he has been a great writing mentor to me.
2) I went back to studying martial arts. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I spent most of my thirties getting out of shape and putting on a few extra pounds. Five months of training under Sensei Marchand and Joshu Billings has put me back in fighting form. Not only has it helped me get back into shape, but it has improved my focus, discipline, and attitude.

I'm looking forward to a great 2010. My biggest goals:
1) Be the best father and husband I can be.
2) Find and agent and a publisher for Eternal Knight. Still hoping for a query launch in January. However, the queries won't go out until I am 100% satisfied with the novel. As long as I'm making solid progress I won't worry too much about dates.
3) Earn the right to be re-awarded my black belt. (I turned my black belt in to Sensei Marchand when I returned to my studies. My goal is to earn it back this year.)

I wish you all the best in 2010!

Heifer International

Nathan Bransford has offered to donate $1 to Heifer International for each comment left on his blog today. Heifer International is a wonderful charity that helps promote sustainable growth and alleviation of poverty. Please visit their site and check them out.

Nathan also encouraged his readers to make similar offers. Well, I'm throwing my hat into the ring. I'll donate $1 to Heifer International for each comment left on this blog entry today. Nathan has very generously offered to donate up to $1000 dollars. Someday I'll boldly match him. I'm going to cap my contribution at $150.

If you're a writer, please tell us about your book/manuscript and leave a link to your site.

All the best!

Matt

*edit* I've decided to extend this until December 30th. Keep the comments coming!

Drive-by Hi

I'd really love to give you a nice long blog post.

But I'm not going to. Every minute I spend on a blog post is a minute I'm not editing my novel. Last week was a bad week for editing. So this is going to be a drive-by, "Hi!"

I'm off to edit. See ya later!