Thursday, March 12, 2009

Jam and Jug's Marine Oddsey

"She waits for him. In the murk. In the dark and cold. Her prince."

On the advice of my agent, I've switched gears from writing a sequel, to developing a new project. This picture has to do with my latest concept, which, in all honesty, is pretty goofy.

It properly executed, it could turn out to be quirky and surprising and original. If not, then I'm a hack with stupid story ideas.

21 comments:

Madison said...

I'm interested to see where this new idea takes you, V. Don't give up hope! I know you'll come up with something great! :D

PS: In chapter five of the story you sent me. I'm really enjoying it so far! :D

Anita said...

I can't wait to hear how this shapes up!

Kelly Polark said...

So, it's set in the desert?
Just kidding!
Good luck with your new manuscript. Change can be good!

Debra Lynn Shelton said...

I wouldn't wait for anyone in the murk, dark OR cold. Especially not in the cold. Most certainly not in the murk. And probably not in the dark. She must be one tough cookie. My prince would be waiting for me on the beach in St. Lucia. Best of luck with the new endeavor. How's the first submission going? (She asked hopefully...)

Mary O. Paddock said...

I'm curious? Why did she suggest you write something else?

shortensweet said...

Looks interesting.

I figured you were writing since you haven't replied to my email yet...jerk.

Ray Veen said...

Madison - Oooo, I forgot I did that. I'm glad you're liking it so far. Be sure to tell me what you think when you're done.

Anita - It is weird, though. I'll probably blog more about it at some point.

Debra - How's the first submission going? Nothing but rejection so far, but it's freaking awesome to think that aquisitions editors at all the most prime, most prestigious publishing houses are reading my book. The feedback is great.

Kelly - Can't fool you, can I? Actually, maybe only the first scene will take place above the surface of the ocean.

Mary - I guess it's better strategy to not write a sequel until the first book sells. That way, if it never sells, I'll have something else to market. Actually, I'm thrilled to have the freedom to dream up a new world and new plot convolutions.

Ray Veen said...

Hi Jamie, I'm not ignoring you. You're just so hard to see sometimes, what with the whole 'being-below-the-level-of-a-grownup's-normal-visual-range' thing.

I'm headed over to Gmail now.

VeeFlower said...

I can't wait to find out what the other dozen or so publishers think of FB! Meanwhile, you've gotten a great big official nod as an up-and-coming writer, so write away on something new and we'll see where it goes!

Keri Mikulski said...

Best of luck! :)

Jewel Allen said...

That is the coolest cover though (for Solhades). Was that a photo you stole from somewhere??

Madison said...

Don't worry, V! I'll shoot you an e-mail when I'm done! :D

Danielle said...

I've never managed a sequel... I just like starting from scratch too much. Have fun with it!

Carrie Harris said...

Woot! Good luck with the new projectness. Can't wait to hear more about it!

Ray Veen said...

Vee -

Keri - Thanks. I can always count on you for well wishes.

Pink - I love to steal photos from Flickr and whatnot. They inspire me.

Madison - I'll be waiting.

Danielle - I've written sequels to a few of my books -- they're hard work. I truly hope you have the same problem some day.

Carrie - Um, yeah. I think I'm gonna scrap it. Nobody's 'getting' it.

Ray Veen said...

Oooh -- I just shunned my mom. Sorry, Mom -- total accident.

So yeah, thanks for the enthusiasm, and I sure hope it's well-placed.

J.R. Johansson said...

Okay so I love your blog... and your description of first drafts was like hearing myself speak. I'm currently working on a first draft and LOVING it. It's addictive and incredible so I'm happy to know other people are out there enjoying it as much as I am. Let's all sit back and enjoy some tasty plot juice. :) Or maybe just stew in it until our fingers get all pruney.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, it's great to meet you!

Tracey said...

So will you pull Solhades back out of the drawer when Fiersome's Brood becomes a crazy best seller?

Ray Veen said...

Jenn - At first I was like, 'ew -- pruney fingers from sticking them in plot juice'. Then I realized that, yeah, that's kind of what you have to do.

Well said.

(You're all blog-rolled and followed and everything, so 'welcome' to you, too).

Tracey - Yes. Yes I will. To tell you the truth, I'm tempted to keep working on it cuz my "other projects" aren't really exciting me right now.

Anonymous said...

I'D SAY GET THE FIRST DRAFT OF SOLHADES DONE; THEN HAVE A COLD DRAFT OF GUINNESS! PERHAPS THEN, YOU'D LIKE TO TACKLE OTHER PROJECTS & WON'T HAVE TO RUSH INTO SOLHADES WHEN YOUR AGENT AND PUBLISHER WANT THE SEQUEL "DONE LAST WEEK!" (BG)

Anonymous said...

HEY RAY! I JUST FOUND 30 WRITING TIPS AT ONE OF MY FAVORITE WEBSITES: WWW.PUNPUNPUN.COM AND THEY ARE:

DECEMBER 19, 2008

More writing tips Posted by: "Lee Bradley"

1. Always avoid alliteration.

2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.) 4. Watch out for mispelled words.

5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

7. It ought to always be considered wrong to ever split an infinitive.

8. Contractions aren't necessary.

9. Foreign words and phrases are not a propos. Consider them "«betes noires".

10. One should never generalize.

11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what 'you' know."

12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

13. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.

14. Be more or less specific.

15. Understatement is always best.

16. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

17. One-word sentences? Bah! Eliminate.

18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

19. The passive voice is to be avoided.

20. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

21. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

22. Who needs rhetorical questions?

23. While a transcendent vocabulary is laudable, one must nevertheless keep incessant surveillance against such quacious, effusive, voluble verbosity that the calculated objective of communication becomes ensconced in obscurity.

24. In a sentence, the nouns has to match the verbs.

25. Don't use no double negatives.

26. In writing, few things are, so to speak, more infuriating, than, say, commas, at least when there are too many of them, or when they should be, say, semicolons.

27. Proofread your work, so you don't leave some out or forget to finish 28. Run-on sentences are really bad because the reader saturates and what you really should be doing is using commas and semicolons and even periods to break the sentence up into more digestible chunks.

29. To have been using excessively complex verb constructions, is to have been showing off.

30. A friend I spoken with recently told me he been forgetting his helper verbs, so doesn't be letting that happened to you.