Horses in Fantasy

 Nothing more has happened on the querying front, so I have actually gotten back into writing the sequel. For a while there I was contemplating writing an entirely new book because it could be queried simultaneously once it's done, but I am so invested in these original characters that I want to finish their story before moving on.

Plus, I've been with these characters for so long and I know their personalities, histories, etc. so well that it is very overwhelming to contemplate going through that all again. I know exactly where I want the sequel to go and what the series of events should be, so it's only a matter of putting it down on paper. My only struggle is reverting back to writing for a first draft, when all I want to do is edit as I go. So I've adapted a method where I will just write for a while, then I go back and add in the description, make the dialogue more realistic, and do little touches.

I am now over 20,000 words in the sequel and it is coming along pretty nicely. I'm expecting it to be equal in length to the first book - KINGDOM OF SAND, but we shall see. I don't want to artificially drag it out, or condense it so that there is too much "telling" and not enough "showing".

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No matter how strange and unique a fantasy world, there are always horses. It's one of the easiest things to keep from our world, and how else are the characters supposed to get around if there aren't any cars, bicycles, airplanes and what have you?

One of my biggest hesitations in writing is when I have to describe something in which I have no experience, or one of my characters are an expert in something I have no knowledge in. So when it came to horses, sadly my first instinct was to write, "the brown horse" and the "the white horse", and leave it at that. But now that I am going through with edits, I need to make sure that I am actually describing these animals accurately, especially because the character from who's perspective I'm writing from would know more.

So I found this blog post which describes the colours of horses that I found particularly useful. Of course, as I expand my ability to feel comfortable in writing about horses I will have to increase my vocabulary and adjectives of them so that I am not always calling a horse "the pinto", which would become repetitive and boring. But for now, I am trying these out.

Another way to describe horses is by their gender. So here are a list of the ways to refer to horses based on age and gender:

Foal - young horse

Female: 
Mare - an adult horse (over the age of three), are known to be cranky or unwilling when they come into season
Filly - under the age of three
Broodmare - a mare used for breeding
Dram - a horse's mother

Male
Stallion - uncastrated adult male horse
Gelding - castrated horse, well mannered because they have little to no hormone-driven behaviour
Colt - young uncastrated male, usually under three years old

If I've made any mistakes in this, please feel free to let me know because this is only what scavenging on the internet has shown me.

How I Query (Part 2)

 May 8,
 I just got my first rejection from an agent in just under two weeks after it was sent. It's definitely hard because when you finish your book you think that there is nothing more you can do so either your writing at its best is not good enough, or your story isn't strong enough. But since it is polished to the best of my ability, there is nothing more I can do if someone doesn't like it.

The response I got was a form rejection since it was copied and pasted to whoever they rejected. That means that it didn't get any comments to your situation so the only reason you know why they didn't pick your manuscript was because they have so many coming through.

I still have four more that went out at the beginning of May so I am hoping to hear back from them in the next couple weeks. If they all reject my manuscript as well I will be looking to change my query letter to make it more appealing.

May 12,
I am now up to three rejections. The second was like the first, she did not say why she had rejected my book, only that she received hundreds of queries a week. Although, the third rejection added that they didn't connect emotionally with my characters so they didn't feel like they could connect emotionally with my story. I have slotted this criticism away in case all my queries get rejected and I'll have something to work on.

But I don't know how I would change it because the story only works because of who my characters are. If I change their personalities I cant' guarantee that they will behave the same way and there will be major editing involved. Plus, I love my characters the way they are so it would hurt me to have to dismantle them.

With three rejections under my belt I did momentarily consider self publishing. But before I consider any of that I really want to give this a go. I am planning on sending out five more queries at the end of May if the other two I sent out a few weeks ago also get rejected. If all of these queries are rejected without even a request to see a full manuscript, then I might consider self publishing more fully.

It's difficult to go through this process because now that I've typed out my entire process, if I fail it will be public. But that was a risk I took when I started this blog and it's only fair that I continue.

May 13,
At the moment I've decided to keep writing the sequel. I am now just over 20,000 words in my first draft. One thing I've learned from the first novel is that I should force myself to write every scene in order. I did a lot of jumping around before and it only caused the whole process to be longer and more confusing. But if I do get stuck somewhere, I won't hesitate to move ahead but not writing anything for an extended period of time is worse than writing ahead. 

How I Query (Part 1)

I started compiling a list of literary agents I wanted to query to even while I was finishing up my final draft. I would use this opportunity to take a break from writing and get excited about the future of my story. Also, I knew that if I left it until after the novel was completely finished I might not be as careful with taking the time to make sure that every literary agent I query is well suited for my novel. After all, I spent a lot of time writing this thing and I want to make sure that it is being considered by awesome people.

Even though I made the list before I finished writing my book, I want to make it clear that I didn't query until it was completed and I knew I wouldn't be touching it anymore. There is nothing more unprofessional than querying when the novel isn't complete, no matter how close you are to the end.

To begin compiling my list, I found successful books that I personally enjoyed in the same genre as my story. It is fairly easy to find their literary agents online. I made a spreadsheet in Word detailing the agencies they are a part of, what they want in a query letter, the email address they want it sent to, etc.

It used to be that queries were sent through snail mail, but it has become popular to send them by email. Many agents only want a query letter with the first five to ten pages sent at first. Their websites say that they will respond within a few weeks if they are interested in seeing more. Once the email it sent it just becomes a waiting game.

So now there is nothing more for me to do with my novel since it is all about waiting for someone to show interest in it. My strategy was sending it to five of the ten agents that I researched. If none of them show any interest by June I will assume that there is something that they didn't like either in my query letter or the beginning section of my story so I will revise that before sending it out again at the beginning of June to five more agents.

In the meantime there is nothing to do but write something else. I started to continue the second book and I have a descent start, but I've been debating, especially in these last couple days, if I want to start an entirely different story. It's the summer, so I have such a huge chunk of time before school starts again in the fall so I could finish a first draft if I stay committed. If I were to write the second book of this first story, I don't know whether it will have to be changed later on if I find that I need to modify the first book. Honestly, it feels like the best option is to start a new project.

Also, having a separate story would allow me to query that as well without having to rely on this first one since they are dependent of each other. That is certainly a strong incentive for me to start over. So while I might be leaning towards giving up the sequel to start a new book, I might decide not to because it does require brainstorming new characters and plot points. 

Spring update

Hi! It feels like a lifetime ago that I wrote anything on this blog. So now that school is over, my concentration can finally turn to writing once again.

However, even though I thought I wouldn't be able to get any writing done during classes, I did manage to finish the first draft mid-February. It was super exciting. I have been editing it on and off. The process was not as efficient as I would have liked because even as I was writing it I was polishing some parts more than others so there would be sections I would fly through and others that would drag on. I am just finishing up my final edits and should be done within a few days. This is mostly to go through and make sure that the small grammatical errors are fixed and I am not misusing any words.

Since my project is coming to a close, I am also looking at starting to query soon. That it where I send letters to agents to see if they will represent my book and help me get it published. It is so exciting to finish school and start this process at the same time. That way I can really concentrate on trying to get this published and start writing the second book. I have looked up some of the agents that I want to query first, and started a rough draft of my query letter. I will have posts up in coming weeks discussing how I went about doing this. I started looking up agents between rounds of editing as motivation to get through, and now I am grateful because I have a list on my computer so it's going to make the process so much quicker.

I am so nervous and excited for people to start reading it. This is the first time in my life that I am so proud of something that I have created. I love reading it myself, so I hope that others will have similar experiences. Since most of my friends are also in university this is the perfect time for them to read it now that classes and finals are over. So much is coming together, as well as with the sun shining brilliantly outside, that it is impossible not to be happy.

In April I did try to do the Camp Nanowrimo, but gave up as soon as my finals came around. I had three finals in three days so there was no time for anything else. After I finished studying I had no more energy. All I wanted to do was sleep. And eat. I think there is another round in June that I might try to do, but if I don't I won't be too bothered because I will write regardless.

There are some major changes I want to implement in the second book so anything I wrote while writing the first draft of the first book is going to be scavenged for pieces that still work and used as a rough outline when starting the second.

With summer kicking into gear and my first novel done, I could not be happier to finish my exams. I am expecting great things from the coming months.