Secret Agent Results

It is official. I can't stop grinning. The secret agent chose Noah Zarc as one of the runners up in the Secret Agent contest. How cool is that? The prize: Literary Agent Kate Testerman, has agreed to read the first five chapters of the book. Yikes! That means I have to put an end to my continual editing. I need to say "It is finished" and send it out. That's kind of scary in and of itself.

She also asks for a synopsis of the whole story. I haven't written one of those yet, so I'll have to get crackin'. I did just reread the first five chapters (making yet a few more edits) and am pretty excited about it. Chapter five ends with a pretty cool cliff hanger so hopefully it'll get her to want to read even more.

I know it is a very, very long shot that I would ever land an agent on my first try, but still it is cool. And it is still worth getting excited about.

Secret Agent Part Deux

I'm pretty excited... The secret agent commented on my opening, and he/she liked it.

"Secret Agent said... Tension, action, introduction of characters: all in all, a good set-up to a possibly intriguing story. I'd be happy to read more.

Although -- Sam and Ham as matching names bothers me a bit."

It's not that I place agents on a higher pedestal than the average reader... okay, that's a lie. There seems to be this almost mythological view of agents by many unpublished authors. And I can certainly understand, and relate to it. They are the gatekeepers of sorts. If you want to be take seriously by most main stream publishers you have to have an agent. So those few words from the secret agent carry a great deal of weight. I really wonder if most agents understand the power they have. Even our secret agent had some pretty harsh words for some of the other entries... I'm sure she is a nice person and certainly has no desire to hurt anyone, but if I'm this excited about the good things she said, imagine what I would have felt to have her say she "hated" it.

I'm kind of rambling here, but I'm just trying to put into perspective how I feel about the whole experience thus far. There is some guilt for the shadenfreudian thoughts I had when I counted up the nos compared to the yeses (was she hooked?) Hoping that there weren't many yeses giving me a higher chance at winning. But at the same time, that is really how the game works. Agents receive by some accounts a hundred queries a day. As a writer you want your query to stand out above all the others. But that means you want 99 people to be hurt by the rejection, so you can be seen.

Boy, maybe I'm not cut out for this. This started as an I'm excited entry, now I'm feeling a bit down.

Well, if I happen to be one of the ones who wins on Monday, I'm sure I'll get back to excited right quick.

Noah Zarc Query Letter

While I wait for feedback from my Noah Zarc beta readers, I'm working on writing a query letter. This is the first thing prospective literary agents will see. Here is version one.

Dear Ms. Agent:

I have been following your blog for years, and always find your comments helpful and encouraging. I hope you will be interested in representing my novel.

NOAH ZARC is middle-grade, science fiction, complete at 50,000 words.

JJ couldn’t imagine life without spending his days piloting spaceships through time, visiting ancient worlds and rescuing the Earth’s animals from extinction. Sure not every kid had to dodge killer robot drones, rescue their parents from the Ice Age, and save the Earth from being destroyed – again – but not every kid was a Zarc.

Nearly a thousand years in the future, humanity has moved to other worlds. The Earth, once uninhabitable, is coming back to life thanks to the efforts of the ARC Foundation. Noah Zarc, his wife Hannah and their three kids, Ham, Sam and JJ, have been given the task of traveling back in time to retrieve pairs of now extinct animals to repopulate the planet.

However dissention has arisen between supporters of the ARC Foundation who live on Mars, and those on Venus who think the Earth should be reopened to human population. The Venetian leader, Haon, has vowed to stop the Zarcs, even if it means destroying the very thing he is fighting to reclaim.

NOAH ZARC shows the power of family to overcome insurmountable obstacles, while not losing sight of what is most important, standing up for the helpless.

I am the owner of a website development company with a degree in graphic design and illustration. This is my first novel.

If you would like to see sample chapters, or the full manuscript, please respond via email at drobert@drobertpease.com, or at xxx.xxx.xxxx. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
D. Robert Pease

Beta Readers

Editing has been progressing slowly but surely. I think I'm to the point where both of my current projects are ready for beta readers. I've sent off Noah Zarc to a few readers, and look forward to their thoughts. I'm in the process of trying to line up some for Crimson Swarm too.

My goal (I know I've said that before) is to have them both ready to go in the next couple of months. I'm itching to start submitting them to potential agents. I think I've learned about all I can, at this point, about the process and I'm ready to hit the ground running.

50,007 Words!

November is drawing to a close, and I did it. I just typed the last word. Crossed the last digital T, and dotted the final proverbial I.

It was a great experience, and taught me a lot about perseverance. Writing when I just didn't feel like it. I am certain I would have given up if it wasn't for my son reading along. Every day he would read what I wrote the day before. Tonight I even caught him reading on my screen. He is already talking sequel.

The biggest struggle I had finishing it up was I got to about 48,500 words, and finished the story. So I had to go back and add in another 1,500 words. I'm not sure what will make the cut when it comes to editing, but it was fun getting to the end.

So now it is to bed. As a bonus, here is a photo of what it looks like to write 5o,000 words in a single month.

Coming Down the Home Stretch

Well, less than a week to go, and I think I'm going to make it. I wrote like a madman this weekend and I got back on track. 38,390 words. I can finally see the end of the story, and I think everything I have yet left in my head will fill the last 11,610 words. It is kind of amazing to me that I really think I'll have a complete story beginning to end in almost exactly 50,000 words. (Well I guess I shouldn't count my chickens...)

I guess another week will tell. It's been a ball so far.

3/5ths of the way

Well it took a marathon writing session tonight, but I caught back up. 30,120 words. So I am feeling really good. For the longest time I couldn't figure out how I was going to finish the novel and use up the whole 50K. It just seemed like I was moving way too fast in the story. But now that I am at 30K words it feels like I am in exactly the right spot.

As always my son has been the best encourager. Today I asked him why he wasn't reading the latest Ink Spell book. He usually devours books in just a few days, but this one has been sitting on the table in the livingroom for a couple weeks. I asked him if it wasn't very good. He said, "It's alright, but it isn't as good as your story. I can't read anything until I find out what happens."

Warmed the cockles of my heart. Cockles I tell you!!

Half Way There!

Well, I just passed the halfway mark, and am now starting to think this is doable. I'm at 25,201. I am just a day behind, since it is the 16th, but that should be easy to catch up.

I actually got behind because I played poker on Friday night, and then couldn't sleep in on Saturday because we got a new cat. The Dog wouldn't leave her alone, so I didn't get my usuall "sleep until noon" Saturday. But I made up for it this afternoon.

I'm still a little unsure about how I'm going to write another 25,000 words. I've already accomplished nearly everything in the book I wanted to before the final climax of the story. But if I get to the end and don't have the words, I have no doubt I can go back and add some in.

I'm ready for a bit of an ego boost, so I think I'll print out what I've written so far. My son hasn't read anything in a few days. The grin on his face as he reads gets me pumped for another couple late nights pretty easily.

Lucky 13

Well, after struggling for a few days, the words finally flowed again. I had fun tonight writing in a new character. Adina is now going to be an integral part of the story, and I didn't even know she existed until this evening.

How cool is a 10 year old cave girl going to be in the 31st century.

I passed today's goal by about 200 words. Which is good, because I want to get tomorrow's word count done before I will allow myself to go play poker with they guys.

Today's count: 21,828. Almost half way there!

Update. Day 11.

Well I got a bit behind on my NaNo story. I blame it on Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo. He posted a goal of finishing 15,ooo words by the end of the day yesterday. And I did that with no problem. Unfortunately by the end of the day today I should actually be at over 18,000 words. So... considering the fact that the final table for the World Series of Poker was on tonight. I feel pretty good about writing about 1800 words today. So 16,842 is the current count.

Speaking of poker, I now have the goal of being ahead by 1,600 words by Friday, so I can go play poker with my buddies and not feel guilty.

One other note. I have discovered that it is indeed getting a bit harder to get the words down. Getting to that mid story doldrums. One thing that is keeping me going though is the fact that my son is reading as I go. He is really eager to see what happens next (as am I). And what dad wants to his son to see him fail? So suddenly this has turned into a lesson in finishing what you've started. What have I gotten myself into?