A Long Slog to the Finish Line

After much procrastinating, I finally completed the final (I hope) edits to my suspense, woman-in-jeopardy novel, tentatively titled In Flight.   An editor friend had kindly gone through the supposedly final copy, and then I cut 3,000 words (sigh), and went through yet another series of edits, and voila!  The final word count in 111,000 and I have decided that I can't really cut anymore without eviscerating the book.   I like to read big meaty books and that's also what I usually write.  No novellas for Grapeshot, no indeed.

It was hard to step out of a series, where I knew most of the characters and start from scratch.  In fact I never would have, but this woman leaned over my shoulder and started telling me her story, and then her antagonist stepped up and began telling me his.  This lasted for quite a while and then in mid-book, they both stopped, as if to say, well, you figure the rest out. 

And I had to do just that.


I had also never done a book in 3rd person or with two points of view.  The novel has some elements of the picaresque tradition, and is both a journey and a quest.  How do you like them apples?

Now I have to write a query letter, my least favorite task, and a synopsis, my even leaster favorite task.  I know.  I know.  Leaster?

I wrote about South Florida and the Reno area, also suburban Boston, places I know well.  Even took a trip to Miami, Boca Raton and Key West to get some more local color.  A trip to Reno solidified the story.  Does anyone still write picaresque?  Do you even know this word?  Here is the wikipedia entry: The Picaresque Novel
Interesting that I come upon this word having just come from Spain and an immersion in Spanish history and culture and even a visit to Don Quixote's famous windmills.

Are my main character's flawed?  Oh my yes, but of course it's hard to them to realize this.  The heroine talks about the "bad angel" on her shoulder who has way too much influence. 

This is my last crime fiction novel, at least for a while.  I am preparing to format The Shadow Warriors for the Nook and other e-readers besides Kindle using Smashwords. Then World of Mirrors will get the Kindle/Smashwords treatment, too.   I have to figure out what to do with my so-far unsold series novels.   We'll see how the World of Mirrors fares. And I've started my 1928 California novel, Such Stuff As Dreams.  Winter will fly by in a flurry of writing and publishing.

Publishers, agents and editors are running scared.  And authors know what self-publishing is no longer a shameful option.  It's a whole new world out there.  How Do you like them apples?  Are we in a new garden of Eden and if so, who is the snake?

Grapeshot