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I planned on getting out of the house today. I was going to go to a coffee shop and work. I need to get out of the house because I am turning into a hermit.
Instead I ended up not sleeping very well last night. I was dreaming I sent off query letters for the novel and before I got the responses back my son woke me up. GAH!
So I ended up coming home after dropping him off for school and sneaking back into bed for a nap and hopefully a continuation of my dream. Alas, much like the dream I had with LL Cool J, I couldn’t get it back. darn it. I wanted this one much more than the LL dream too. but shhhhh, don’t tell him I said so.
It’s okay. I think it means I am getting so much closer to sending them out. I read the query letter again last night and liked it. So I am letting it stew for a few more weeks, then whipping it out to see if I still like it.
Don’t worry. I won’t send it out until the book is complete. But it will be nice to know that part is finished- then I can work on the dreaded synopsis. gulp.
I was reading a third book of a series yesterday. It had been a while since I had read the first two books. Yes, the book explained a little about what happened in the first two, but there were some parts I was totally lost. The book had way too much conflict to follow along. There was the main conflict which was needed for the story, then there was also other problems that needed solving and worries leftover from the other two books.
It made it really hard to follow. Yes the book mentioned that the character had faced the twinkie demon in the first book and defeated it by joining the ho-ho alliance and becoming the leaders mate. (yeah, I totally made that up). But then it went into the complications from that because it upset the pretzel cartel who was lead by a sister to the character. It spiraled down from there to where it distracted me from the main conflict of fighting the Krispy Kreme cult. It was way too much conflict to digest. (get it? digest. I kill me.)
On the other hand, not having enough conflict isn’t much of a story. It’s like watching a reality show with one average person going about their daily lives. Boring. Why would you want to read about it if you can look around in your daily life and see the same thing?
How does this relate to me and editing my novel for publication?
I am working on my query letter to hopefully snag an agent as I edit the book. This has me struggling with putting enough conflict in the query but not too much that it is too hard to follow. Yes, I am putting in the main problem… Karie needs to get her body back or she will die. (If you haven’t read my teaser about the book, please check it out here. ) But while resolving that conflict she uncovers an even bigger problem. Along the way her allies have conflicts they need to deal with also.
Which ones do I mention? Which do I leave out? Also, I can’t mention all the characters. But boy I feel like I am picking favorites when I decide who goes into the query letter. But pick I must.
I am constantly learning- constantly trying to improve my craft. I hope this never changes. After reading this book-which is a successful urban fantasy series- I learned not to make conflicts too complicated and abundant that they overshadow the plot of the book.
I also learned not to write blog posts when I am hungry or I make a lot of junk food references. The digest thing still cracks me up though.
