Reaching for the stars

Way back when Elisa, Sandy, and I decided to write this anthology, Elisa contacted her editor who was really excited about the project. We were doubly excited that we actually had an editor interested before the thing was even written!

Then, lo and behold, Elisa's editor moved on.

A lot of emails flew back and forth. What are we going to do? Who else to you think would be interested? Should we try my editor or Elisa's new editor?

And then Sandy threw in a possibility that had us all pausing. Why not reach for the stars? Why not try the BIG publishers? New York? Could we do it? Should we?

Why not?

We have a great premise. We're all three great writers (yeah, I know, I'm tooting our horns).

So, change in plan. We're now trying for the big guns and you know what? I really think we can do this.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

New Beginnings...

When Elisa, Sharon, and I started this anthology, I thought, how hard could 20k words be? I mean, I'd completed a 90k ms. So, 20k should be a piece of cake. HA!

It wasn't until I started my 20k novella, the first in the Soul Reavers Anthology, that I began to understand just how hard it would be to write. It has a lot to do with my standards, I know. I can't abide a weak romance, with weak conflicts, and weak plot. The problem was, I didn't know how to make my story strong and believable (well, believable for a paranormal, that is.) in so few words. I need my love story to call to me. To make me, as a reader, truly believe that my hero and heroine have fallen in love by the last page. I need that happily-ever-after. But, I need to feel it. Believe it. What I needed, was about 70k more words to do it in.

Writing a good novella is NOT EASY! I applaud the numerous authors at Ellora's Cave, Changeling & Samhain, just to name a few. These talented authors continuously produce loving, intense, believable romances in less than 50k. Some even as short as 12k.

Well, after a long bout of writer's block with Tori's story, I finally realized I needed to re-plot the entire thing. It was weak and I just couldn't get past chapter 4. In the end, as painful as it was, I threw out more than 5k words (Ummm, that would be all of what I'd already written.) and started from scratch. New plot, new scenes, new everything. Only now, I think I might be able to get this done in 20k. I think it works now. We'll see what my critique partners think when I'm done. ;-)

Sandy :-)
www.sandra.barkevich.com
*February 24, 2007 at Sandra's Goings On - Guest Blogger, Terri Garey - Dead Girls are Easy