Word count can play an important part in getting an agent or scaring them off. My first version of New Zigon came in over 139,000 words. After doing some research I learned that is way too big. Established authors can get away with it, but not a newbie like me without any prior publishing credentials. So, I have been combing through my novel trying to trim it down a bit.
My first step is to pick "the low hanging fruit" as the expression goes. I am doing word smithing to tell the same story with fewer words. For instance those "he said" "she said" words can be left out if there are only two people speaking or where the speaker is obvious. This step also includes trimming unnecessary descriptions. Have you ever found yourself skimming a paragraph describing the scenery to get to the "good stuff"? I have. Trying to read your own writing to pick out boring parts is difficult, let me tell you! Lastly this step holds the basic rewording task. Looking at a sentence or paragraph, can it be said with fewer words?
Here's an example of a wordy sentence:
He made a formidable silhouette, his tall and muscular form dressed in dark hunter’s leather, lurking in the shadows of the trees.
How would you trim this down?
Here's a first pass:
He made a formidable silhouette, tall and muscular in dark hunter’s leather, lurking in the shadows of the trees.
Here are two more options:
His formidable form lurked in the shadow of the trees, tall and muscular.
His tall, muscular form lurking in the shadow of the trees made a formidable silhouette.
This is the one I went with because I wanted the lurking to be the last point:
His tall, muscular form made a formidable silhouette as he lurked in the shadow of the trees.
Bingo!
In my research on how to get my novel published I came across a post on how to write a sentence. Granted, my beginning sentences are not as bad as the one in the example used in the post, but it is interesting to follow the editor's thoughts in whittling down the writing to get to the best economy of words. If you want to check it out, be wary; there are several f-bombs sprinkled throughout:
http://www.sfwa.org/2012/08/guest-post-how-to-write-a-sentence/
Lots of fun, eh?
I'm 3/5 through my novel and have cut the words down to under 136,300. When I'm finished with this run through I'll do another read-through to catch spelling and grammar errors since I've changed so many words. Then the really tough part begins; do I start cutting scenes?
Stay tuned!
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Book Summary - What do you think?
Book summaries are critical! They can help you get an agent and can entice someone to buy your book. Which book summary do you like best? Which one makes you want to know more about the story? "Neither' is an acceptable answer, just leave your comments here or in Facebook. Cast your vote by 'like'-ing your favorite in Facebook!
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Here are the two versions of the summary:
Summary 1
John, a 14 year old boy, lives a hard yet sheltered life on a Pennsylvania farm.
Diana, the child prodigy of her race, is frozen in stone for hundreds of years.
Their paths cross on a routine class field trip and their lives irrevocably change. Can she return to her race and save her homeland from extinction? Can he find the time and strength to help her while hiding the truth from his austere parents? They must use every resource they have available to them to uncover centuries’ old secrets as lives hang in the balance. Portals, amulets, power crystals, an ancient city, and the ability to influence the world around you down to the tiniest particle are some of the magical things John must embrace to help Diana, but as Diana would tell you, “It’s science, not magic!”
Travel with John and Diana and a diverse cast of characters through an adventure of discovery, loss, and rebirth as friendships are forged and old debts are revisited in this tale where “mind over matter” has a whole new meaning.
Summary 2
Have you ever done something without thinking and have it change your life forever? That’s what happened to 14 year old John Brown on his eighth grade field trip. He slid his steel toed work book out a mere six inches. That’s all he did. It just so happened to slide in front of a classmate, a very large classmate, with large friends. Have you ever tried to hide out in a museum exhibition room? If you are Scooby Doo you could put on a costume and find an empty pedestal, or if you are John Brown you could climb over a priceless statue and drop into the small corner hidey hole behind it.
Hopefully you would have the grace not to trip and kick the statue when leaving said hidey hole unlike poor John. John ended up obliterating half the statue, revealing a very dusty Diana. John’s solution? Sneak the girl home to his farm before the other half of the statue broke and freed the not so friendly looking man it depicted.
It turns out Diana is no ordinary girl. Centuries ago she lived in an isolated pocket of space removed from reality called New Zigon. She has abilities to manipulate the world around her with the help of an amulet she hides under her skin.
John enlists the help of two of his eleven sisters and his neighbor the widow McNeally to take care of Diana but the real adventures begin as Diana drags John with her to New Zigon and then on a rescue mission to free the man in the statue, Michael, from a psychiatric institute. When the widow is kidnapped, to save her they must find a crystal stolen centuries ago. They face off against a skeletal old woman in New Zigon and an amazingly youthful looking Lord Vito Dragotta, Michael’s cousin from the fourteenth century. Throughout all this John has to hide everything from his strict adoptive parents and still manage to get his chores done on time.
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Here are the two versions of the summary:
Summary 1
John, a 14 year old boy, lives a hard yet sheltered life on a Pennsylvania farm.
Diana, the child prodigy of her race, is frozen in stone for hundreds of years.
Their paths cross on a routine class field trip and their lives irrevocably change. Can she return to her race and save her homeland from extinction? Can he find the time and strength to help her while hiding the truth from his austere parents? They must use every resource they have available to them to uncover centuries’ old secrets as lives hang in the balance. Portals, amulets, power crystals, an ancient city, and the ability to influence the world around you down to the tiniest particle are some of the magical things John must embrace to help Diana, but as Diana would tell you, “It’s science, not magic!”
Travel with John and Diana and a diverse cast of characters through an adventure of discovery, loss, and rebirth as friendships are forged and old debts are revisited in this tale where “mind over matter” has a whole new meaning.
Summary 2
Have you ever done something without thinking and have it change your life forever? That’s what happened to 14 year old John Brown on his eighth grade field trip. He slid his steel toed work book out a mere six inches. That’s all he did. It just so happened to slide in front of a classmate, a very large classmate, with large friends. Have you ever tried to hide out in a museum exhibition room? If you are Scooby Doo you could put on a costume and find an empty pedestal, or if you are John Brown you could climb over a priceless statue and drop into the small corner hidey hole behind it.
Hopefully you would have the grace not to trip and kick the statue when leaving said hidey hole unlike poor John. John ended up obliterating half the statue, revealing a very dusty Diana. John’s solution? Sneak the girl home to his farm before the other half of the statue broke and freed the not so friendly looking man it depicted.
It turns out Diana is no ordinary girl. Centuries ago she lived in an isolated pocket of space removed from reality called New Zigon. She has abilities to manipulate the world around her with the help of an amulet she hides under her skin.
John enlists the help of two of his eleven sisters and his neighbor the widow McNeally to take care of Diana but the real adventures begin as Diana drags John with her to New Zigon and then on a rescue mission to free the man in the statue, Michael, from a psychiatric institute. When the widow is kidnapped, to save her they must find a crystal stolen centuries ago. They face off against a skeletal old woman in New Zigon and an amazingly youthful looking Lord Vito Dragotta, Michael’s cousin from the fourteenth century. Throughout all this John has to hide everything from his strict adoptive parents and still manage to get his chores done on time.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Dear Lucky Agent contest by Writer's Digest
I am entering the first 150 to 200 words of New Zigon - The Founder's Curse to a free online contest sponsored by Writer's Digest. 'Dear Lucky Agent' is a recurring contest where actual agents judge submissions. Agents have signed on contestants in the past.
The top three winners get:
1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work, by your agent judge.
2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)!
Two hundred words sound like a lot but it only covers the first paragraph of my prologue!
Here's the link if you want more info: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/15th-free-dear-lucky-agent-contest-young-adult-fiction
Wish me luck!
The top three winners get:
1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work, by your agent judge.
2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)!
Two hundred words sound like a lot but it only covers the first paragraph of my prologue!
Here's the link if you want more info: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/15th-free-dear-lucky-agent-contest-young-adult-fiction
Wish me luck!
Monday, March 24, 2014
Welcome!
Welcome to the new Zigon blog! This is where I will share fun facts and news about my new book, Zigon: The Founder's Curse.
Check out my pages:
Zigon Mythos Explained: The science fiction of Zigon is explained with pictures and descriptions as well as pronunciation of new terminology.
The Brown Family: Find out the names of all eleven of John's sisters, their nicknames and ages at the beginning of the The Founder's Curse.
Prologue - The Capture: Read the book's prologue describing the scene in which Diana gets trapped in stone back in 1349 A.D.
The Founder's Curse, Chapter 1: The first chapter takes place present day in a museum in Pittsburgh. Find out how John Brown's field trip goes horribly wrong.
Fairy Tale History as told by Gina: SPOILER ALERT This is an excerpt from The Founder's Curse explaining how New Zigon was created.
Check out my pages:
Zigon Mythos Explained: The science fiction of Zigon is explained with pictures and descriptions as well as pronunciation of new terminology.
The Brown Family: Find out the names of all eleven of John's sisters, their nicknames and ages at the beginning of the The Founder's Curse.
Prologue - The Capture: Read the book's prologue describing the scene in which Diana gets trapped in stone back in 1349 A.D.
The Founder's Curse, Chapter 1: The first chapter takes place present day in a museum in Pittsburgh. Find out how John Brown's field trip goes horribly wrong.
Fairy Tale History as told by Gina: SPOILER ALERT This is an excerpt from The Founder's Curse explaining how New Zigon was created.
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