..:: Written .:. Off ::..

I have lots of stuff flying around my head since I finished my novel. I have never finished anything of this magnitude before and let me tell you, I am really excited. And terrified.

For the first time ever, I got a quick pang of fear when I thought about trying to get my book published. I have never experienced that before and I think that I dealt with it in a good way. I just let the thought go (props to Buddha for that trick). I didn’t start to feed it or dwell on it. There is really no time for that now. There is too much work to do.

First and foremost, I have to start editing. Like I said in my last post, I am coming up with some sort of plan to edit this monster. There are so many things that need to be fixed. There are plot holes that need filling, characters that need developing and lots of names that need to be changed. When you write fantasy, you have to make up everything: street names, city names, character names (elves named Frank don’t cut it) and different races. I think I am pretty safe in the character name department but my city names need work.

The next thing that I need to do is figure out a list of publishers who work with this sort of fiction. I will probably use Writers Market to at least assemble a list.

Then I will need an agent. I know that this will be just as tough as getting published. Finding someone who believes in my work and will push it is going to be hard. That’s why the editing process is so important. I can not even image the embarrassment of sending a less than perfect manuscript out to an agent or publisher. The creative side of writing is most important but if you skimp on the technical side one bit…excuse me for saying…but you are f**ked.

I personally do not trust my own eyes. I will edit my book. Have a friend or two look it over and then send it to professional. I worked too hard on this thing to get lazy now. I would urge you to do the same thing unless you are a copy editor.