Need we say more?
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Released today
Month: June 2015
Pirate moments
I remember the first time I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl. We hadn’t seen any shorts, we had no idea what to expect.
We came out of that movie laughing, feeling good.
We enjoyed the movie so much saw it six times more in the theatre and we’ve seen it on TV countless times since, but that first time was absolute magic.
The same week we saw Pirates of the Caribbean we also saw Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. It was the ten/twenty year revival of a stage show that had run first in the mid-1980s, and again in the 1990s. It had Jon English as the Pirate King, and Simon Gallaher as Frederick. We loved it so much we had already seen it a number of times in each of the two earlier incarnations, so we knew roughly what to expect.
We still came out of that show laughing and feeling good.
Ever since then we’ve used the term ‘pirate moment’ to describe an experience which makes you euphoric, on a high.
Our book comes out on Tuesday
There are a lot of pirate moments on the way to becoming an author.
They’re not always the moments you expect.
Getting an agent was a pirate moment. The first feedback you get from an editor—even if they’re saying no—is a pirate moment.
Selling the book—not so much. That took two years, and was more a relief than anything. But once the book has been sold, the first time you hear from your editor is a pirate moment.
When your agent, unexpectedly, emails you and says we have an offer for audio rights. That’s a pirate moment.
Getting a box of ARCs (advanced reader copies) was a pirate moment. We weren’t expecting them, and suddenly, here on the doorstep is a box of books with green covers. It’s a book! A real book.
We were expecting the final books when they arrived a month later.
Not that we’re unhappy about publishing contracts or seeing final copies of our book, because we love it. But the euphoric pirate moments come from the things you’re not expecting.
A five star rating of Linesman on Goodreads. A tiny mention in an article saying that your book is one this person looks forward to reading. An email from your local library asking if you want to do a book talk as part of their Emerging Writers series.
Happy book birthday to us
Our book comes out on Tuesday June 30. Happy book birthday to us
So far it’s not shaping up to be a pirate moment. Of course, you can’t tell until the actual day, but it’s one of those things you’ve been anticipating for so long that when you get to it, it’s almost anticlimactic.
It sounds ungrateful. It’s not. And there will be plenty more pirate moments to come. But right now neither of is really sure how we feel about Tuesday.
There’s plenty to keep us occupied in the meantime, anyway. We got the edits for book two (Alliance) back from Anne the other day, and we’re still not done on the first draft of book three.
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First world problems
As I write this I am waiting for delivery of our new washing machine. I haven’t looked forward to a delivery so much in a long time. (Except perhaps a certain box from Penguin Random House which is due soon too.)
We’ve a house full of dirty clothes and we’re both down to our last clean garments. If the washing machine wasn’t being delivered today, I know what we’d be doing tonight. Laundromat duty.
I have nothing against Laundromats, mind. The first ten years after I left home I washed my clothes at the local Laundromat. But once you get a washing machine in your home it’s hard to go back to packing your dirty laundry in a basket, collecting coins and soap powder—and a book to read—and making the trek down to the laundry.
It’s so convenient to come home at night, toss your clothes into the washer and have them in the dryer by the time you’re eating dinner.
We all know how indispensable a washing machine is. And a dryer.
Another modern convenience I never anticipated wanting was a dishwasher. I mean, who minds washing up? (We all do, I suppose, but it doesn’t take that long.)
This house had a dishwasher when we moved in. At first we only used it when we had a lot of dishes to wash, usually when we had visitors. After all, who wants to wash up when you’d rather be chatting to your guests? It didn’t take long before we were using it full time.
When the dishwasher finally broke down there wasn’t any question as to whether we would buy another one, just what sort. We bought a two-drawer that was more suited to the smaller loads. When that one gave up recently the only question was, “How soon can we get the replacement?”
Ah, first world problems.
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Over talking the story
I’ve always said there are … two kinds of writers. There are architects and gardeners. The architects do blueprints before they drive the first nail, they design the entire house, where the pipes are running, and how many rooms there are going to be, how high the roof will be. But the gardeners just dig a hole and plant the seed and see what comes up. I think all writers are partly architects and partly gardeners, but they tend to one side or another, and I am definitely more of a gardener.
A conversation with Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin. SMH, 2011
When you’re writing as a team talking to each other is part of the process. You talk about the story before you start writing, you talk about it while you’re writing, and once you’re done you talk about it again, looking for problems and ways to improve it.
We’re a long way into book three of LINESMAN now, and we’ve done a lot of talking so far. But we’re pantsers, too. Or, if you prefer, more gardeners than architects.
We can talk ourselves out, to the detriment of the story.
That is, we over-talk what happens.
The spontaneity that makes the story enjoyable to write dies. The writing stops. We have to backtrack and pick our way around what we know is going to happen. Sometimes we just unravel the boring bits a strand at a time and hope that by the end of the many drafts we have written, the lack of fire will have been covered.
Sometimes we have to ditch that section altogether and write a new scene.
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Sample chapter now available
We’ve added a sample chapter of LINESMAN. It’s here, if you want to read it.
This chapter comes from the advanced reader copy (ARC), which is the uncorrected proof. If you’re familiar with ARCs you’ll know there may be typos, or even some bad grammar. Hopefully we’ll have caught it by this stage, but you never know.
Is it just me, or is this the best time in years if you’re an Australian author and want to publish traditionally?
Back when we first started trying to sell our stories the major publishers weren’t open to non-agented submissions, they’d only deal with agents. As for agents, there only a handful and most of them had closed their books to new clients.
Nowadays, there seem to be a lot more agencies, and more of them are actively looking for new clients, although that seems to be swinging back the other way at the moment.
In Australia, having an agent is a choice not a necessity. Approximately 60% of books published in Australia are not represented by an agent, and many publishers have avenues available for manuscripts to be submitted directly by authors. Although having an agent will increase your manuscript’s chance of being meaningfully considered, it is not the only avenue.
Alex Adsett Publishing Services
Every major publisher now has a weekly or monthly slot where you can submit your story direct to the publisher. (Thank you, Louise Thurtell.) We have:
- Allen and Unwin: Friday Pitch
- Hachette: (no set day to submit)
- Harper Collins: Wednesday Post
- Pan Macmillan: Manuscript Monday and Momentum (eBooks): Momentum Mondays
- Penguin: Monthly Catch
Plus there are some good, big prizes that can lead to publication as well.
And that’s all before you even start looking overseas.