Author In Progress

[Mikolicious]

Welcome, Dan.  I'm inclined the same way - planning out a story before writing it never really caught on for me as a workable technique.  I just throw words at the page and whatever sticks is what I edit later. 

haha!!! that is EXACTLY how I roll!! Although, I find that I write better when I have my headphones on with the radio blasting into my ears.

[saskatoonistan]

My name is Sean Cummings. I live in Saskatoon where, as of today (December 29, 2008) igloos might offer some measure of warmth because it is frikin' cold outside. (-30 Celsius)

I'm a comic book geek of the highest order and self-described nerd. I've been writing since 1978 (as a means of liberating my "inner nerd") and at the ripe old age of forty-one, I can honestly say it's taken me thirty years to get a book published. My first book, Unseen World, comes out on March 2, 2009. Here's the back o' the book for any who might be interested.

Someone is murdering the good people of Greenfield, and there's talk of a serial killer on the loose. Finding him should be an easy task for a guy with super-powers: too bad he falls out of the sky.

If Marshall Conrad has any hope of ending the killing spree, he'll need a little help from a morbidly obese shop keeper who just happens to be a witch, and a hard drinking senior citizen with a penchant for lifting heavy objects... like automobiles. Corrupt cops, Ogres, thirty six-year-old Siamese cats, and of course, the netherworld. Some days it just pays to stay in bed.

[Kristine]

My name is Sean Cummings. I live in Saskatoon where, as of today (December 29, 2008) igloos might offer some measure of warmth because it is frikin' cold outside. (-30 Celsius)

I'm a comic book geek of the highest order and self-described nerd. I've been writing since 1978 (as a means of liberating my "inner nerd") and at the ripe old age of forty-one, I can honestly say it's taken me thirty years to get a book published. My first book, Unseen World, comes out on March 2, 2009. Here's the back o' the book for any who might be interested.

CONGRATS!! 

I can't see the publisher well - will it be in bookstores or on line?  Both?

[saskatoonistan]

My publisher is Lyrical Press and it will come out as an e-book first, then in print if people like it enough. I doubt it would be stocked at your local bookstore though, you'd probably have to order it.

[meg_evonne]

"he'll need a little help from a morbidly obese shop keeper who just happens to be a witch, and a hard drinking senior citizen with a penchant for lifting heavy objects... like automobiles. Corrupt cops, Ogres, thirty six-year-old Siamese cats, and of course, the netherworld."

what's not to like with a mix like that!

[saskatoonistan]

Well my protagonist is a bit of a grumpy jerk - this is likely due to the fact that he must walk his overweight Siamese cat around the block whilst the cat is adorned in a flaming pink harness.

[Lisa™]

haha!!! that is EXACTLY how I roll!! Although, I find that I write better when I have my headphones on with the radio blasting into my ears.

iTunes FTW! 

My publisher is Lyrical Press and it will come out as an e-book first, then in print if people like it enough. I doubt it would be stocked at your local bookstore though, you'd probably have to order it.

I'll keep an eye out for it. 

[Kahlan]

Hey,
I must say that I am delighted I found this site.  I just picked up three much needed books for some lazy reading at the weekend yesterday and I have read two of the codex alera already and am on the third, absolutely and totally hooked!  I decided, I must check this guy out, Jim Butcher, and looked him up and saw that not only is he a talented writer but he actually cares for the (hopefully) up and comers as well!!  A rare find! 

I am a writer before I am anything and I do everything with the aim of giving myself the time and the space to write.  I worked on a ship,(week on/week off) I lived on the dole (everyday off)  and now I am in my fourth year of teacher training (just so I can get the three months off every summer to write!)  I have finished one book which I have never shown anyone in entirety and is sitting on an old laptop that will no longer turn on!  I write short stories and poetry and enter every competition I hear of - and won a few too!  (Yes, I know, I am also annoyingly enthusiastic)  But on the bright side, knowing that this site is in existence has put a smile on my face in the middle of teaching practice and may I say - that in itself is a feat of epic proportions.

Anyway, I really couldn't contain myself, so good luck to you all, and hopefully we can spur each other on to grand heights in the future!

xxxxxx

[Wizwad]

OK, since Lisa's mentioned her writing, I suppose I'll own up as well...

Crazy Gerbil Lady and I have just finished the first draft of our first novel, which is in the trusty hands of our beta readers.  It's book 1 of a trilogy, and we have another trilogy waiting in the wings.  We hope to be published sometime soon, once the book is ready to be submitted.

We're also writing short stories.

I'm sure you have beta readers coming out of your ears, but if you ever feel you need another one...!

[The Dread Pharaoh Roberts]

We're definitely well-supplied...but we'll keep ya in mind!  We may need fresh eyes to look at the next version...once beta changes are made.

[Ping Bannon]

Hi,
I've always wanted to write a novel, ever since I was reading comics and RPG-ing as a kid.
I'd written a few short stories in college (even won a prize for one) and loved that, too.

I finally wrote a novel because I had time every day (I commute by train to downtown chicago for a total of 2 hours a day) and found I completely loved it.
I had about - and when I say "about", I guess I mean "exactly" - seventeen "beta" readers who gave a lot of brutal feedback as well as compliments, but they all said essentially three things:

• They were sucked in almost immediately
• It was too short  (though it's just north of 130,000 words)
• Why don't I get it published?

Since I had the money, I self-published it at booksurge (you can check out my book here : http://www.amazon.com/Out-Black-Lee-Doty/dp/1419696858) mostly to give the betas a nice bound copy as thanks.  I mean really, some of these nuts read it up to four times as I revised it, so I owed them.

Finally I'm listening to the betas and taking time out from writing my second novel to try to find an agent and get my first book published.

So, here's my problem: I've never had any interaction with the literary world. (I know the martial arts world, the gaming world, the comic book world, the software engineering world, and even the investment banking world, but I have NO IDEA what landmines or dens of hungry weasels await me on the literary landscape.

Do any of you have any advice on the agent-finding process?  I've got a query, I've got a synopsis, I've got a fairly polished manuscript... but what don't I know that will potentially kill me?  What should I know to attract a helpful, engaged agent?

BTW: My first novel is a thriller that starts out as a near-future crime drama but deepens into an urban fantasy, complete with a secret world of wizards and monsters.  Mine's set in chicago, too, but that's because I live here.  It's funny that I didn't pick up (and then voraciously devour) the dresden files until after probably my sixth revision.

Great minds think alike?  Well, that's how I flatter myself, anyway... butcher is probably the best author I've ever read... and I'm pretty widely read... 2 hour train commute, remember? 

[The Dread Pharaoh Roberts]

Best advice I've been given is: Don't talk to any agent who doesn't brag about the authors they represent.  If you can't find obvious lists of their clients...then they probably either haven't had much success, or they're gonna scam you.

[LizW65]

Ping:  Preditors and Editors and Writer Beware are two good sites to help you weed out the scam artists.

[The Dread Pharaoh Roberts]

Yes!  Those were the two I was trying to remember.

[Danny-boy]

Ping:  Preditors and Editors and Writer Beware are two good sites to help you weed out the scam artists.

WOW! Those are great sites! Thanks!