New to the Game

Since I call this blog my journey to publication, I think I'll continue to chronicle every step of the way. From writing the book and revising it, to querying, to finding interested publishers asking for partials and fulls, and onward to being accepted by Virtual Tales.

Well, lately, I've been working with the Marketing and Promotional Director at Virtual Tales. She's working on the news release of THE VASE, and getting everything ready for my introduction to the publishing world. You know, the author's bio. They need a photo for their website, and one for the book itself. What I didn't realize was the high standard of everything digital that is required for the printing press. It just goes to show how much I have to learn on that side of the road, and I will share it all right here for anyone who wants to take these steps with me.

I had already sent photos that I thought might make a good impression of me, but then I found out that there is a strict guideline for that. Photos for the printing press must be at least 300 dpi, which stands for dots per inch, (thank you answers.com,) and 1868 pixels wide and 3114 pixels high, which I learned was the equivalent of 3 inches by 5 inches. I've got nothing on my computer that matches that.

Looks like I'll have to mail her a photo the old fashioned way. I guess in some ways I'm still in the twentieth century. Just like Professor Weiss in THE VASE. But you'll learn about that when you read the book. Well, I hope you read it. That's all.

TV time - The Cape

Sometimes when their homework is done, and their rooms are clean, I'll sit down and watch a TV show with my two sons. We've started watching a new TV show called The Cape. It's a show about a superhero, like in the comics, and I thought it might be a good "Boy" show to watch with my boys.

Well, it's OK, but I was really astonished at all the holes in the plot, and the overall lazy writing. So what am I expecting? It's basically a Batman-like superhero, a regular guy (an ex-cop) with no special powers, who trains with some circus leader to use a special cape made out of spider silk. He was framed by the main villain, and presumed dead, and now fights crime as the latest "caped" crusader.

But when obvious holes are left in the plot to where you're asking what about this or what about that, it makes you wonder just where are they getting these writers? I've always been disappointed with Holywood's take on superheroes. I've always thought that the TV shows and movies would be so much better if they just went with the original stories from the comics.

I think it's arrogance really, is why they don't. Hollywood believes that comics writers are so beneath them, but imo, the opposite is true. If the movies went with the original stories as written in the comics, they would have been ten times better. So that tells me the comics writers are the superior writers. At least when it comes to their own characters. That's all.

Holidays and Super Bowls

I don't know which is worse. Holidays or Super Bowls. I have an interest in holidays, being a father and family man. I want my two sons to have a great childhood, and I want my wife to stay happy. So we celebrate holidays as a family and make the most of them. But when so much focus is drawn for the super bowl, it makes me wonder. I have little interest in these types of events. Make no mistake, I do like to watch a good football game, but for me it's not an all-encompassing event. I would much rather be sitting at my computer writing my newest book or revising my already written ones. That's all.

Book Covers

Because I’m an artist some people who know me think I should illustrate the cover to my own book. Well, I don’t want to do that. And the reason is because I don’t want my cover to be an illustration. I said before that I want a photo. A photo of a vase. Maybe even the same photo that I use here at the top of my blog. That will do. A simple black and white photo of a simple and plain vase. Of course, the caption is the key. I’ve changed the caption to my blog a few times in the short while that I’ve called it The Vase.

It’s got to be something catchy, and something that reveals the spirit of my story. I’m not sure the current caption does it. "Conquering armies and ultimate faith recorded in clay." Before it was "Three warring faiths and a thousand year conflict recorded in clay." Not sure which is better really.

Maybe some kind of combination would be good. Maybe "Timeless aggression and ultimate faith recorded in clay," or "Eternal conflict and the Son of God recorded in clay." I suppose I will leave it to the marketing and promotion director at Virtual Tales to weigh in on that. But it’s got to hook potential buyers. It’s got to be something that convinces browsers to buy the book, therefore, it has to send the message that this is a book you want to read.

So the question is, what will evoke interest from buyers? What do they want to read? Are they interested in conquering armies? A thousand year conflict? Warring faiths? Ultimate faith? What would make a buyer interested to read a novel about something recorded in an ancient vase? You'd think the Son of God might do it, no? But that might be giving too much away. Since no one but the Virtual Tales Board of Directors has read the story at this point, (with the exception of a couple beta readers,) I don’t want to give too much away by what’s on the cover. But if it makes people buy the book, maybe I do. This is serious, and I hope to figure it out.

Evoking Emotion

When you watch a movie or a TV show, and the actor or actress can evoke emotion from you, that's some good acting right there. Well, the same thing is true for writing. When I was rereading THE VASE last night, in my last ditch effort to prepare it for my editor, I reached a part where the professor was remembering the day his wife died. It's a flashback, and it recounted the events of that particular day. It brought tears to my eyes. Now I must have read this thing near fifty times already, and every time I find my eyes welling up when I read that part and one other part when one of the characters gets killed. If your writing can do that, then that's some good writing right there.

Keep Characters True

While revising the last portions of THE VASE last night, I came across a part where one of the main characters, the professor, made a statement that, when I first wrote it, I thought was an attempt on his part to be sarcastic. But when I reread it last night, I came to realize that it was really out of character for him, and especially during that moment, which was a pretty heavy duty moment.

As such, it would have been a time for seriousness, as the story was building to its climax, and so I rewrote it without the sarcasm. Besides, this guy was never sarcastic before, so why would he be sarcastic at that point, when the soberness of the situation called for crystal clear focus?

Just goes to show how important revisions are, and like I've said a million times already, every time you reread your work, it's going to result in a better story.

Community of Writers

As part of the Virtual Tales publishing experience, I was invited to join the Virtual Tales Contributors Group, which is sort of like a fraternity of authors, all of whom are published by Virtual Tales. It's really an exclusive membership, because if you are not contracted by Virtual Tales, as I understand it, you are not able to join.

Anyway, it's like a forum kind of setup, just like you have on the Absolute Write Water Cooler, which, btw, is one of the most helpful forums I have ever used. I've talked about it before, and I hope any author seeking representation or publication refers to it.

Now the Virtual Tales Contributors Group will be my source of information and advice, but I will still be dropping in on the Absolute Write Water Cooler now and then. It's the one site where anyone can go and feel like a writer, even if you're not published. Heck, you can go on there and feel like a writer, even if you never wrote anything. That's how great that site is.

As for the Virtual Tales Contributors Group, it's something that helps you along as a first time published author, like me, without feeling like an outsider. It's cool, especially since I've already made a connection with another author. Interestingly, it was from Absolute Write that we first made contact. Yes, authors really are some of the most helpful and honorable people with whom I have ever had the pleasure to know. Not once have any writers reduced themselves to petty behavior, in my experience. I think it's because we don't compete with each other. That's a great point.