What's Going On?

I've been slacking on the blog again.  My bad!

Mainly because for past month or so I've been completely focused on two things.  One, working on the sequel to my novel, Behind the Mask.  And second, trying to decide on a paperback cover for it.  

It's been crazy and frustrating at the same time.  The cover not the sequel.

The sequel is progressing very nicely and I'm hoping the first draft will be completed sometime in the next few months if not sooner. But of course a first draft is a VERY rough draft.  And would be nowhere near ready to publish. But considering it took me many years to complete Behind the Mask, I'm WAY ahead of the game with this one.  

Now about the paperback cover.  When I decided to self-publish, for some reason I was dead set on using 'eyes' on the cover.  But over time I've realized it's not really what I want to go with.  So after much debate, I've finally decided on something else.  That said, putting it all together hasn't been easy.  

But hopefully in the next week or so I will have it finalized and make the paperback available as soon as possible.

Keeping the fingers crossed!

- Heather Carnassale aka the Delusional Novelist

To Sequel or Not to Sequel?

In researching first-time novels, one of the biggest points I apparently missed was that a first-time novel should stand alone.  Meaning it should have a conclusion that wraps up a story.  No loose ends.

Well mine does that...sort of.  My novel can absolutely stand alone.  Leaving the reader to use his/her imagination on what happens next.  But pretty much from the get go, I always knew how I was going to end the story, and wanted to leave it open for a possible sequel.  Mind you, when I first began writing it, I was only writing it for fun.  Never thinking I'd actually ever try to do anything with it.

So without spoiling the ending, I felt there was more story tell, but can't really go into specifics for those that haven't read the novel.

Some people have suggested I write an entire different story and either nix the sequel or go back to it.  But what if my novel gets published, regardless if I do it myself or a publisher does, I would prefer having the sequel ready to go as well.  Just in case.

Guess I will add it to the list of how clueless I am in regards to writing novels.  But I'm learning as I go along.


- The Delusional Novelist

In Search of a Literary Agent - Part 1

After I finally had a completed novel and edited it a couple times, the next step was to seek a literary agent.  Because from what I've learned is that publishers do not want you sending them anything directly, you basically need a middle person, hence an agent.

So I signed up for Writersmarket.com which lists and updates numerous agents around the country/world.  It also informs on what each agent is looking for from an author.  For example, some request a synopsis while others want to read the first chapter or two.

And when I say synopsis, they don't want a two sentence description like one would find on the back of a book, they want a full blown "spoil the story" kind of detailing.  And they want roughly anywhere from three to ten pages.  Which when I first sat down to work on the synopsis, I had no idea just how difficult this action was going to be.  But was relieved to find out that many famous authors loathe this process, so that made me feel somewhat better.

Anyway, it took awhile but I managed to explain my entire story in 10-pages. Which in all honesty I think was too long but I couldn't decided what to take out so I just rolled with it.

Agents also request a query letter, which basically gives a brief description of your book, along with some information about you.  Since I'm a first time author with limited writing experience, my query wasn't exactly going to light the world on fire but I figured it wasn't too bad considering I was figuring this out on my own.

WritersWrite1.wordpress.com

So at the end of June, I mailed my synopsis, along with a query letter, and a self-addressed stamped envelope to 20 potential agents.

I crossed my fingers and waited for the responses.  

- The Delusional Novelist



 

Been a Long Time!

I haven't updated this blog since January which is really sad.

But over the past year I fell into a social media funk.  I got to where I had no desire to be on the internet other than to look up stuff and read news.  I stopped tweeting on Twitter, cut way back on Facebook, and obviously neglected this blog.  Not sure what caused the funk, but I think I'm slowly getting out of it.

For starters, I finally tweeted after not doing so for over a year.  And I didn't say anything remotely interesting, but I just needed to break the ice and put myself back out there.

I noticed I lost a lot of followers which was expected.  Who the heck wants to follow someone who never tweets?  What would be the point?  But I perused twitter and started following some people that I wasn't following before, and some decided to follow me back.  Which in a way has now put the pressure on me to actually keep tweeting regularly.

Which is exactly what I plan to do.

I'm also going to update this blog more regularly.  And post on some significant things that have happened since January including where I'm at in regards to trying to get my novel published and what I've learned in that process.  *sigh*

So, my goal is to put myself out there and hope for the best!

-  The Delusional Novelist