I finished Project: Scenic Route yesterday, and there was much rejoicing. Well, more a mild state of ebullience, but it's basically the same thing. The completed draft, likely the first of several, has been sent off to the editor for safekeeping and my gelid eye has turned to other pursuits.
Interestingly, my first novel for Black Library, Knight of the Blazing Sun, took me roughly six months to write. My second, Neferata, took me seven weeks, give or take a day. This one, however, took me less than six weeks. I think there's room for improvement, however. Six weeks is a mug's game. If I could cut it down to a cool five weeks, that'd be something to crow about, don't you think?
I spent the morning editing "Nestor Burma Goes West", which has also been dutifully sent off to the appropriate editor, though for Black Coat Press rather than Black Library. This afternoon was spent with old friends as I began to go over the final type-set of Neferata, which will likely take me a few days at most. After that, it's polishing off a few pitches and finishing up "The Gotterdammerung Gavotte".
After that's done, I think I might try my hand at submissions for the forthcoming Urban Green Man anthology, as well as the Airships & Automatons anthology and Nightmare Magazine. It's good to have goals, right? Heck, why stop there...I've been meaning to get to work on Project: Never Sleep, so now's as good a time as any.
Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that issue 21 of Hammer & Bolter is out, and that for those of you interested in such things, there's a contest.
2 comments:
Joshua,
Re: the completed new novel - what's the editing process like from here. Have you sent BL a 1st draft, or have you been editing as you go along. Will there be lots of back and forth, or is it a bit more structured? Curious to see how BL work.
That's if you're allowed to say...
I think it's okay to talk about that, as it's not all that different from any other publisher's editing process...basically, they'll read the draft and suggest changes. I've made edits as I've been writing, but it really requires a second eye to catch the inevitable mistakes. Essentially, there are *always* going to be changes to be made.
Now, these might be small changes or substantial re-writes, depending on a number of factors, such as changing fluff or story flow.
Generally there's lots of back and forth in structured bursts. If the first set of changes work, then all I have to worry about are the line-edits, which are a final pass over the type-set manuscript before it goes to print.
If the first set of edits reveal new problems, you get another round of the red pen and so on and so forth until it's all to the editor's satisfaction.
A lot of it comes down to how much you're willing to argue with an editor. When you get past punctuation, spelling and phrasing, and get into the meat of the story and changes thereof, you could *theoretically* have a lot of back and forth as you and your editor try to come to a compromise about proposed changes.
Frankly, I don't argue. If they request changes in the story or the structure, I make the changes on the assumption that BL editors know better than I what BL readers and GW Marketing want.
All told, the process is as long and as painful as you make it. If you make your edits as soon as possible, the process is relatively smooth. Like ripping off a band-aid.
Hope that answered your question!
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