Monday, March 11, 2013

Query-Go-Round


Those that have spent any time reading my blog know that I’ve queried a time or two.  Nothing very serious, though.  Why?  Well, because as much fun as FAERIE BAD LUCK was, it’s a series.  There’s no way I could cut the major plot arc down to anything fewer than six books, and for a debut author, I’ll be lucky if I get a contract for three.

Then there’s the fact that, as much as I enjoy Nym and her world, I’m not really in love with it.  If I had to, I could probably produce a book a year, but it’s not what I really want to work on.

What I really want to work on is Jacky and Kassidy.  Two very different heroines in two very different worlds.  But, Jacky is like Nym.  Her story can’t be told in three books or less.

Kassidy, though…Oh, Kassidy.

Kassidy is the current love of my life.  The first book can stand on its own.  It doesn’t have the most satisfactory ending, but it ends well.  That’s a good thing for a debut author to have.  But more then that, I can fit a smaller series arc quite nicely into three books.  In fact, those three books are plotted, and I’m well into the first draft of book two.  

My goal is to get books two and three drafted this year, before I start querying book one.

Why?  

Partly for the satisfaction of being able to say “SPELL AND BULLET is complete at X-number of words, and the first of a planned trilogy.  Which is also complete.”  Because anyone can write one book, but finishing a trilogy?  That right there, that’s impressive, and shows a dedication to my craft.  A dedication that says “I’m in this for the long haul, and willing to work my ass off.”

But it’s mostly because I can.  And because I want to.  Kassidy and her motley crew keep me entertained, and that’s half the point of writing fiction.