First with something old. The Greenfells continues on its query journey! Or more aptly, I continue to learn more about the literary query process. Following some great advice and a scouring of the internet I came to the conclusion that I needed to take a breather and re-assess my agent query approach–and thank God I did. The result of a couple months of work is a new baseline understanding of the query process, a new query, a new revision of my book, a new synopsis, and all of it bent towards positioning The Greenfells within the fantasy market.
The summation of all that work was a true “ah-hah” moment for me. It seems somewhat embarrassingly obvious in hindsight, but the act of forcing myself to pitch my book (in the query letter, in the synopsis, etc) in a concise and marketable framework gave me a new lens by which to understand the book itself. A painful, and sometimes, maddening lens (how does one distill ~120,000 words to a sentence?)–but an invaluable lens never the less, and one that has shaped a revision of this story that has no fluff. That is streamlined and clean. That is (perhaps?) the final revision. And damnit, I think I’m really proud of it.
So of course there is a new chapter one. And it might change again, so for the time being I’m just going to simply call it a “sample.” We’ll see if that changes again.
And now for something new. I recently received some irreplaceable advice from the wonderful Ellen Won Steil (amazing author and human–check her out!) to keep writing. The advice was born out of her question to me: “Do you have another story?” To which I responded enthusiastically: “Yes!”
So that brings me to my next project–another book is in the works! I’ll keep most of it close to the vest for now, but I’ll tease a little. It is a cosmic horror novel. It takes place in Old West Wyoming in 1893. It is a story that dances in the liminal parts of the world and the margins of society.
And I’ll give you one name–one I hope you’ll all come to know well one day.
Mr. Oberon Wake.
You Wonder How These Things Begin 