Final Destination.... for now

Well here we are, and to be honest, I am happy for the fact that I reached the end of this semester, not because of my creative writing class.  No, my reason for being happy with the end of this spring semester has more to do with the amount of stress that I am under and no way to really vent at the moment, at least nothing that is constructive.

So as my final blog of this class I have to answer a few questions concerning what I have experienced during my time in this class.  So without further a due.

Will I keep blogging?
I probably will, but the thing is now I don't have a schedule to keep up with so there is going to be something I like to call a break.  My days are going to be a bit lazy until I have to return to my engineering regime.

How was the workshopping process?
I found that it was actually helpful and fun.  To be honest I never thought of working with a group of people on my writing, then again I never really considered being a writer for living before.  The feedback was useful and folks were helpful, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing what people thought and what they thought was coming next.  It also helped to me understand that some of the things that I took for granted as knowing was not so easily understood by others.

Will you send out a query letter for real?
Yes, but not right now.  I need to finish my re-write and I got some editing to do.

Was it hard to find an agent/publisher for the query letter?
I thought it was going to be but to tell you the truth, the first agent I came across was the one that was the most interesting to me, despite the fact that I searched twelve different agents.  Imagine that, my first choice was the one who fit me the best.

Would I self-publish Create Space?
Yes.  I mean I like the idea of having an agent and what have you and so on and so forth, but if I did not fit into a genre, which is what I figure is really going to happen, then I would most certainly consider self-publishing.

Okay so that is it for now.  I imagine that there are going to be questions in the future, because you know, I am such an awesome author and what have you.  But for now, I am out.

Until that time and place, I will see you wandering the halls of our imaginations.

Wanderlust and the writers block

So almost two weeks ago I posed a question: Would you be interested in keeping up with each others progress on stories or just remain friendly after class was over?  Didn't get much of an answer, but I decided I would create a forum any way.

Here it is: http://thewritersblock.yuku.com/

My User name is Uncle Big Bad, and it is a Yuku board, so it is free, but there are advertisements on it.  I am not sure what they are because I usually have that stuff blocked.  I am more than happy to give administrative rights on the board.  That way you could create you own forum string inside the board , change the layout of it and delete and edit as you choose. 

I liked the idea of having a writing group and I could not think of any I would like better than my classmates who I have gotten to know.

Like I said nothing would need to be mandatory, and I think that it might be something fun to do when time allowed. Now there is no way to attach documents in this thing, once again it is a free site and to have that option would require spending money and that stuff comes in a limited supply.

Just post in the Introduce yourself forum(i.e.: I am Bob from Creative writing 2.  And I will pass out the admin rights.

Until that time and that place,
Later

So the mind was wandering and wondering

So a few weeks back I started wondering, if I wanted to keep reading some of these stories and see how they would turn out, how would I do it when the class was over.  To tell you the truth I am very interested in seeing how everyone's stories turn out.  Even if some people choose not to pursue the goal of getting published.

I like the class and I find my classmates to be enjoyable.  Sure we don't all have the same taste in what we like to read.  I mean I read books on math, engineering and physics (I am pretty dull at times I know).  But the truth is I like doing the peer reviews, and I enjoy reading other styles of writing, and I actually enjoy other peoples input into what I am doing.  I mean I still may not take the advice, but it is nice to know what others might think and see how they react to the things I put to text.

So I put up a poll to see who would be interested in keeping up with each other once the class was over.  And I thought that maybe since posting it in a public forum would not be the wisest of ideas, I thought a private free forum would be a good way to go.  Like a yuku board or something.

I imagine that most everyone would appreciate not having a set schedule of when to post things, as it is not a class, and let's face it, we all got real world shit to deal with.  Time is a valuable commodity and once we use it, we never get it back.  So I would say an informal environment would be in some order and what have you, but that would only be if anyone else was interested in doing it.

Tell me what you think.

Wandering through a Random House with Grant and them

As I wander along on the path of the King of the night

I look to my left, with nothing there and so I look to my right.

Oh my, oh my, do you see what I see?

It is a Random House with a tree.

At first I sought a penguin, because I think they are cool,

But this Random House, has a grill and a big ass pool.

 

Yeah I did it, I made a poem.  Nothing cutting edge, but it did make me smile and giggle as I wrote it.  Alright so I have been tasked in my ongoing misadventures of trying to discover my inner writer, to find a publishing house that I might consider a good fit for me.  Besides I couldn't choose Little Brown and Company.  They went against my ethics.

 

Truth is that I am fearful of most publishers simply because I do not want to change the nature or the makeup of my story.  I want to keep my diversity of people, cultures, and beings.  I do not want to change my world just because someone says it will sell better if I make my genre a little more traditional.

But I looked through a list of Publishers, and I couldn’t decide.  So I picked an author who interested me in the fact that not only did he write a little non-traditional genres, but he kind of set the model for things that are now considered traditional.  Stephen King was my choice in who I would follow to make my decision.

In truth I might have said no to this one, but I thought that maybe, if I chose someone big, and if I got lucky, I might be able to do something for others, that I never seemed to get as a kid who wanted to read.  I wanted to give them a hero who was not a traditional cookie cutter type.  Not the asshole anti-hero type, but a character who was like them in some way. 

Random house is huge, and get to a large audience, so my heroes could have a large stage to prance around on, and show the world that the mold for the hero does not require a magic formula of how they should be, but the formula of how people can look at them and their struggles.

I write what my mind tells me and I say what my heart says to say. I spent so much time trying to find a place to fit in in my life that I forgot at times what it meant to be me.  I know not the comical ending to the post that you might expect but it is the truth.  I wrote a world of many different cultures, ethnicities, genders and even races.  Not everyone is human in my world, nor are all the humans the good guys by default, nor are they all evil by their human nature.  Checks and Balances like the government are what I threw in.

So if I had a book published, I would want it on a big scale, so that everyone could find a character to love and say, you know that character is my hero! He/she was awesome and the world is cool.  It is big and drags me in so much so, I wished I lived in a world like that.

As I said before, I think that people should be allowed to fail or succeed based on their own merit, not because of their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, traditions, or religious practices.  I wrote characters in the story who are from all walks of life, and threw in what I thought to be some interesting twists that causes them to asks uncomfortable questions of themselves.

For my dream cast of characters, I want a big stage.  I think that Random house could be that stage, but then again I might be happy with something small like Donald M. Grant Publisher, who is a smaller company, but also has Stephen King as a writer in their ranks.  They Published the Dark Tower Series, which is an alternate look at a world of science fiction, and fantasy with some spaghetti western thrown in there.

I wrote a world that will not completely fit into any genre all on its own, but I hope that one day I can watch it either succeed as a change of the normal pace or genres.  Right now I am just dreaming and the world of being a successful writer is not the closest thing on my mind at the moment.  But I know I would be quite overjoyed if I were to see my work in a hardcover print run.  I might be so happy I would stand up and slap your momma.  Because my momma was a saint, and she owned a .357 magnum hand cannon.  I don’t know your mom, so yeah, no guilt.

Agents in my sights.

Ah yes, I have recently been asked to look into literary agents that I might find interesting or feel comfortable with using.  It is kind of like asking someone to decide who will be the first to behead you or sing your praise throughout the centuries.  If you happen to be Joan of Arc, you get both.

 

Every time I have thought about this particular part of the being published process, I try to be optimistic.  I imagine that my future agent comes in from a dreadful commute to the office.  It is raining, or snowing, or whatever bad weather outside.  They sit down at their desk and see my query letter.  They take a deep sigh and, just wanting to get the pain of the day over with, they open up my first ten pages and start to read.  The angel sing, the clouds part and rainbows fill the sky.  They smile as the words flow from the pages painting a beautiful picture in my mind.

 

But then there is my realist side that imagines it going a lot more like this

Then, if they do read it, they look something like this:

I am sure that my plight has been felt by many aspiring authors.  Of courseI may be thinking a little on the dramatic side fo things(or perhapsI am underestimating the true reaction of hysterical laughing and plots of my demise).

So I guess the plan that should be taken is go with the one who best fits what you think you aare going for (or be close personal friends with Stephen King and ask him to put a good word in for you.)With that said I have chosen three agents that have me interested.  Let's see if they are itnerested in me one day.

Jennifer Jackson:

Jennifer Jackson is the VP at Donald Maass Literary Agency in NYC.  She is particularly fond of Science Fiction and Fantasy pieces and one of her clients is Jim Butcher, the author of the Dresden Files.  Since she started working as DMLA she has workedto build the company and spread their interest into other genres of literature.  She seems like a good fit because it sounds like she is an open minded agent who likes to see more than the typical story roll across her desk.

Russell Galen:

Russell Galen of Scovil, Galen, and Ghosh Literary Agency is my second choice.  In his write up he mentioned that he enjoys reading Fantasy stories that take him to places he can't get to via a car, and I kind of feel like this is the way I like to right.  He represents Terry Goodkind and Mercedes Lackey, two authors who write in the genre I currently and interested in.  He has 37years of experience and he apparently likes to represent his clients for a good long time.

Eddie Schneider

Finally Eddie Schneider of Awful Agents.  Okay to be honest, this guy fits my style like a glove.  He seems very passionate about Sci-Fi and Fantasy books, as well as non-fiction science, which by the way, is my bag also.  He also stated that he is willing to fight for an author who wishes to keep their stories true to their visions and takes a stand against those authors who have been discrimnated against based on their sex, ethnicity or political views.  In truth I am sometimes worried about the so called "white washing" of my characters as I believe in a world filled with many people of different origins, ethnicities, sexes and race.  If I write something I want to be put in the book section I wrote it for.

Okay, so there is my stance on agents.  To be honest, I really wouldlike for people to wander by, see my book, pick it up on a whim and read it and put it down and say, "That was a good story."  Money is not my biggest thought when I write something.  It being a good story is however.

From the one who meanders through life trying to find his way, I am out.