In accordance with my first formal rejection for the ARK books , which, FYI, makes me a real author, I'm taking seriously the advice to not pitch a work exceeding 125,000 words in length. (One veteran speculative fiction agent said bluntly in panel at the Chicago Writing Workshop back in May, "I've never sold a sci-fi/fantasy book longer than 140,000 words.") FYI: I attended the crap out of that conference. The So-So News: I didn't feel like I was finished with An Autumn Veil after the first act, which is why I kept writing and revising for six years. But if I wanna sell, I've gotta play ball. Other So-So News: This means I have to break An Autumn Veil into two books, one 97k, words in length, the other 107k words in length. Book two will be called An Autumn Veil . Book one will now be called A Steel Horizon . Also, prologues are no longer "in vogue," and the same veteran agent who's never sold a book over 140k words recommended cuttin...
WRITING AND EDITING ADVICE / WORK IN PROGRESS / COMPLAINING ABOUT TV AND MOVIES