(no subject)
Jan. 13th, 2012 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseLookie! New userpic. (ETA: Helps if I actually post the userpic?)
Lots happening in the real world (Joseph is smiling! For real, not for gas! {see above re: userpic; we were trying quite hard to photograph the smile, and got several out of him, but only one on film. Fortunately, it's an awesome one.} And growing! And drooling... Renos continue. Baby showers have happened, and more visits to more cool people. My mother-in-law is here, though only for a day longer.), and not much at all (Home with baby lots. Also not visiting as much as I used to, and missing some people. Some days that's all there is: home with baby). Hard to sum up. Though I guess I just did.
_________
Apparently there's a once-a-day for a month writing meme going about. I'm not going to do it quite that way, as I doubt I'd be able to post once a day, so I'll cover a few questions at a time. but I am going to try to answer all the questions I choose to answer at all (I'm not too keen on the especially spoilery ones) within a month's span. Thing is, I'm doing this for both the novel I'm shopping around and its sequel, as they really are parts of the same story.
So. First question:
1. Name of current project and backstory of the name
The novel being shopped around is the Serpent Prince. The title refers to Ketan, the main character, whose patron goddess, the Goddess of wisdom and strategy, has snakes as her emblem. And of course, he is royalty. This is the first title the whole thing had unless my memory is very messed up.
The novel being tweaked is Soldier of the Road. This also refers to Ketan, and the job he's doing while hiding in a foreign country and sorting through a number of, shall we say, issues. Soldiers of the Road are really glorified and government-subsidised caravan guards.
The blanket title I'm using for myself for the series is the Ginevre books. Ginevre in this case is an evergreen plant similar to but not identical to juniper, used in magic spells with the property that, regardless of the other intents of the spell, it binds the people involved in the spell closer together. For people who don't know each other well, this means they'll start running into each other a lot more. For friends, this means they'll become closer friends, etc. It's used in the first book by Ketan's wife, who's simultaneously very close to him (See above re: wife), and very distant (they don't actually meet before a third or more of the way into the book, as she uses the stuff..)
2. Genre(s) of the story explained in detail
It's traditional high fantasy, set in a fairly standard feudal-like setting, with kings and castles and tournaments and wizards. It doesn't really avoid the tropes; there's a small magical elf-like people living in the mountain forests. The second book involves assembling bands of companions, and going off trying to save the day with them. There's a werewolf (Kind of) and at least two vampires (Even more kind of). The gods get involved, albeit usually through human vessels. Though nobody is looking for macguffins of power or plot coupons.
None of these tropes are undermined, even the ones I find problematic. Nobody in this is trying to overthrow or question the power of the king or the nobility - even the revolt that happens is all about taking that power, not taking it away. However, I like to think that some of them are altered or freshened by what else is going on.
That's it for now.
3: Explain your PoV and Style of writing used
4: Describe your inspiration and what message you wish to bring across
5: Main Character Bio
6: Main Villain Bio
7: A third important characters Bio
8: Descriptions of all other important characters
9: Explain the main basis of the plot
10: Describe the world that the story happens in (use photos or graphics if you want)
11: All the Ships in your novel/ Story
12: Your favourite character to write about and why
13: Your least favourite character to write about and why
14: Which character you are most like
15: Your favourite part of the story
16: Describe any other books related to this one (eg. Prequel, sequel, follow up) or If it’s a stand alone, a sequel or prequel that you could write
17: Which published book it is most like
18: What stage of editing/ writing are you at?
19: Writing Playlist
20: If it were made into a movie, which Director would direct it and which band would make the soundtrack
21: Dream Cast (with pictures)
22: The Ten best things about your story
23: The ten things you could improve
24: Why are you going to do with it when it’s done?
25: What is the main twist/ plot point?
26: What is the most exciting scene/ chapter/ part
27: How often do you write it and in what environment?
28: Who else has read it? Or heard about it? Does anyone know you’re writing?
29: Pretend you’re a critic and give a fair but concise criticism of your project so far
30: Post a chapter or so for everyone to read and review
Lots happening in the real world (Joseph is smiling! For real, not for gas! {see above re: userpic; we were trying quite hard to photograph the smile, and got several out of him, but only one on film. Fortunately, it's an awesome one.} And growing! And drooling... Renos continue. Baby showers have happened, and more visits to more cool people. My mother-in-law is here, though only for a day longer.), and not much at all (Home with baby lots. Also not visiting as much as I used to, and missing some people. Some days that's all there is: home with baby). Hard to sum up. Though I guess I just did.
_________
Apparently there's a once-a-day for a month writing meme going about. I'm not going to do it quite that way, as I doubt I'd be able to post once a day, so I'll cover a few questions at a time. but I am going to try to answer all the questions I choose to answer at all (I'm not too keen on the especially spoilery ones) within a month's span. Thing is, I'm doing this for both the novel I'm shopping around and its sequel, as they really are parts of the same story.
So. First question:
1. Name of current project and backstory of the name
The novel being shopped around is the Serpent Prince. The title refers to Ketan, the main character, whose patron goddess, the Goddess of wisdom and strategy, has snakes as her emblem. And of course, he is royalty. This is the first title the whole thing had unless my memory is very messed up.
The novel being tweaked is Soldier of the Road. This also refers to Ketan, and the job he's doing while hiding in a foreign country and sorting through a number of, shall we say, issues. Soldiers of the Road are really glorified and government-subsidised caravan guards.
The blanket title I'm using for myself for the series is the Ginevre books. Ginevre in this case is an evergreen plant similar to but not identical to juniper, used in magic spells with the property that, regardless of the other intents of the spell, it binds the people involved in the spell closer together. For people who don't know each other well, this means they'll start running into each other a lot more. For friends, this means they'll become closer friends, etc. It's used in the first book by Ketan's wife, who's simultaneously very close to him (See above re: wife), and very distant (they don't actually meet before a third or more of the way into the book, as she uses the stuff..)
2. Genre(s) of the story explained in detail
It's traditional high fantasy, set in a fairly standard feudal-like setting, with kings and castles and tournaments and wizards. It doesn't really avoid the tropes; there's a small magical elf-like people living in the mountain forests. The second book involves assembling bands of companions, and going off trying to save the day with them. There's a werewolf (Kind of) and at least two vampires (Even more kind of). The gods get involved, albeit usually through human vessels. Though nobody is looking for macguffins of power or plot coupons.
None of these tropes are undermined, even the ones I find problematic. Nobody in this is trying to overthrow or question the power of the king or the nobility - even the revolt that happens is all about taking that power, not taking it away. However, I like to think that some of them are altered or freshened by what else is going on.
That's it for now.
3: Explain your PoV and Style of writing used
4: Describe your inspiration and what message you wish to bring across
5: Main Character Bio
6: Main Villain Bio
7: A third important characters Bio
8: Descriptions of all other important characters
9: Explain the main basis of the plot
10: Describe the world that the story happens in (use photos or graphics if you want)
11: All the Ships in your novel/ Story
12: Your favourite character to write about and why
13: Your least favourite character to write about and why
14: Which character you are most like
15: Your favourite part of the story
16: Describe any other books related to this one (eg. Prequel, sequel, follow up) or If it’s a stand alone, a sequel or prequel that you could write
17: Which published book it is most like
18: What stage of editing/ writing are you at?
19: Writing Playlist
20: If it were made into a movie, which Director would direct it and which band would make the soundtrack
21: Dream Cast (with pictures)
22: The Ten best things about your story
23: The ten things you could improve
24: Why are you going to do with it when it’s done?
25: What is the main twist/ plot point?
26: What is the most exciting scene/ chapter/ part
27: How often do you write it and in what environment?
28: Who else has read it? Or heard about it? Does anyone know you’re writing?
29: Pretend you’re a critic and give a fair but concise criticism of your project so far
30: Post a chapter or so for everyone to read and review
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 03:17 am (UTC)Oh! I meant to say for your last post: I'm glad that you, Colin and Joseph stayed the extra day at the cabin... It was so great to have more time.
"The novel being shopped around"?? Are you trying to sell it right now?? Also, do you need anyone to read stuff over?
I think I will steal your meme. Mwahahah.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 03:36 am (UTC)I'm looking for an agent for the Serpent Prince. Had one request for a partial, and one request for a full, and a bunch of nos and "no-reply"s. NOne of them resulted in anything. but I need to get more queries out.
Soldier of the Road isn't really in a state to need a reader yet, though it's the one I gave you an earlier draft of the opening section to read, to see if it made sense to someone who hadn't read the first. (I don't *think* the opening chunk has changed enough to make its older-draft state a big issue, but if I were to send you more later, I'd have to go back and check.)
BTW, as to your most recent post, or at least your most recent that I saw, I'd offer to read your novel, but my extreme slowness when it comes to getting more comments re: your short stories (At least I've read them!), and my general baby-busy-ness makes it unlikely I'd be a good pick. I don't doubt my critical faculties, I just admit my procrastination.
I could ask around in my circle, but a lot of the other writers are professionals, and thus either busy or unwilling to offer help to writers they don't know personally.
It's not my meme, but steal away.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 03:48 am (UTC)I'm so excited for you, by the way... You're like 5 steps ahead of me, so I enjoy hearing about what you're doing writing-wise and thinking, "One day that will be me."
=)
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 04:19 pm (UTC)Bravo!