Friday 13 April 2012

Three months and still kicking!

You guys! I just realised what today is (a little slow of me, I know).

Black Friday. As in, Friday the 13th. Which makes it EXACTLY three months since I started my humble, little blog.

Black Fridays don't come around very often, but when they do, they're always pretty good to me. That's kind of why I started my blog on a Black Friday in the first place.

So, for this mini-milestone, I'm going to open up a question to you all that I've been stewing over for the last week. It's been uni holidays so I've actually been thinking about my writing. And that's allowed, okay.

I've just finished rewriting my first book (again) and now I need to give it some time to before I edit and write the dreaded query. Once I finally start querying again, I'll keep an updated tally just for shiz and giggles but until then, I'm left with the question;

What do I write?


There's four stories I have vying for my attention, and each of the characters and plot lines are at varying stages of development so below, I'll give you guys a brief overview of what I have. These are all young adult novels FYI, cos I'm kind of addicted to that shiz.

First is Addy. She's an Ellerwoman that works for the Court of Last Chances. It's her job to hunt down the humans the Court wants and deliver them safely. Most humans think the Court is a Utopia so she's never had a problem getting them there before. But then she meets Noah, who refuses, and the Court makes her choose between her life or his. This one would be an urban fantasy.

Second is Corvette. This one would be completing a rewrite that is long overdue. Corvette is a Banshee who finds out how to get into 'Death'. She hangs with the deathlings there, believing it is safer than being around humans. Then, a bunch of deathlings die and even though she's warned away from looking into it, she doesn't stop. So they take both the guy she likes and her best friend, and Corvette is left to chose which one she is going to save. This is paranormal/fantasy.

Third is Ebony. She's a witch. Jonathan is a Nephilim. The Nephilim (if you've read any of their history) believe the only way they can die and move on to heaven is to rid the world of witch's black magic. Ebony and Jonathan have been in love through the years but each time they meet, Jonathan makes her erase his memory of her. As you'd assume there's a lot of hunting both sides and fighting each other in this one. I'd say this would be paranormal. Probably.

And fourth is my newest idea. Jasmine and Jeremy are high school sweethearts but one day Jeremy disappears. No one hears from him except Jasmine. He shows up at her house whenever she's alone and every time she tries to follow him he disappears. The memory of the last time she saw him is woven throughout as she struggles to remember. There's lots of red herrings and mystery in this one. This would be my try at a thriller/mystery type of thing.

So what do you all think? Any of these ideas sound like something you've already read? Any of them grab your attention? Or are any of them just plain boring?

Please tell me even if you just hate the ideas because that will steer me off towards one of the hundreds of ideas floating around unestablished.

And happy Black Friday!

14 comments:

  1. Hi!!! Well i'm not really a paranormal reader s i cant really judge the first three..i'll get a paranormal addict to do that!..BUT I do love the idea of the last one..:) I'd read it! :)

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  2. These all sound really great! I'd read all of them!
    Hmmm...but if I HAD to pick, I think the first one would be my favourite.
    Happy writing :)

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  3. They all sound really good, but the one with Ebony is probably be my favourite. There are stories where two lovers keep meeting over and over again, but yours has an interesting spin in which we get to see the side of the person who remembers (if I interpreted that correctly).

    Question - which one have you finished? And as the person before me wrote, happy writing!

    - May :)

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  4. Thanks guys! Hmm... three different choices. I'll admit, didn't see that coming. At least I can leave Corvette aside for now and not feel so guilty about it.

    I think I'll wait and see what I'm mood I'm in. Ebony = silly and happy. Jasmine = sad and depressed. And Addy = kick arse an cynical. We'll see.

    And May, I've just about finished my Jenna rewrites. My mind is still pretty 'in' the story, so it's hard to give an overview, but a very rough one would be; Jenna is a majesty who is learning to use her power to protect the norms from the 'evil' Cordels. Her majesty is the only thing that will keep her alive, but it's also sending her crazy.

    Or something like that.

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  5. I think the Addy one sounds the most unique. Kick arse heroines are always fun to read about. Are they all set in our world? (I mean, other than Corvette hanging around in Death)

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    1. That's sort of a difficult question lol. I guess they're mostly set it our world however I've created completely fictional places for them. Mostly, they're set in a couple of locations that are a society within a society. I hope that makes sense...

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    2. Yep! Makes sense. :-)

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  6. Oooh, Heather, I'm genuinely fascinated by all of them... and it truly sounds like you have what a lot of books lack... even once they're written: plot.

    I THINK I've... not read, but HEARD of a book with a similar premise (NOT storyline/plot) before... a girlw ith powers working for the Fae court tracking down others... hummm... it's not a Rachel Caine adult... or even Richelle Mead, is it?

    I give up...

    Honestly, though... that's the one that intrigues me the most... and when I say intrigues me the most, I mean maybe... 28% to the others' 24%. They're ALL fantastic. I am NOT lying, I'd read ANY of these... I love PNR/UF, though... so maybe the first 3 are my preferences, #1 coming in first.

    Ooooh, I envy you your imagination.

    CONGRATS on finishing the re-write, m'dear! And good luck querying! Hey, can I ask a question? Do you plan on querying US agents, or local ones? I've always been intrigued by this... AU agents just don't seem to be as.... hmm... accessible, approachable, queryable as those in NYC... and I wonder if they have the reach and... influence, maybe?

    ANYWAY. CONGRATS! On finishing the latest draft, on your blogoversary, on nearing querying, and OH MY GOODNESS! ON YOUR UPCOMING WEDDING! Can't wait to hear what you decide to do xx

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  7. Thanks Sarah! Wedding sure is stressful but it's going well.

    The few queries I've sent out before have been to US agents. I guess my reasoning for this is there are so many more of them, and they really are more accessible. There's a few AUS agents out there however they're a lot harder to find, and some of them are still on the snail mail train! Crazy!

    The only drawback I can really see is that books don't always translate to the international market. I think my books are okay, and I trial out a couple of chapters with American Betas. I guess at the end of the day, if it's written well they'll take it.

    The UK market is a completely different ball park.

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    1. I know what you mean about Aussie agents. There's so few to begin with, and then you cross of the ones that specify "no fantasy and sci-fi" and you really only need one hand to count off the ones that are left. I tried one Australian agent (and got a rejection), and have actually just started submitting to UK agents. I haven't lived there for years, but I am half-English, and it's always been an option to move back.

      The other thing that made me lean towards overseas agents is that so many books that get published here take a couple of years to get published in the USA and UK - if they ever do. Like Jessica Shirvington's Violet Eden books, and Cath Crowley's Graffiti Moon.
      Much as I love Australian readers, I want the whole world reading my books! Big dreams!

      You're right - the writing should speak for itself. You know though, I'd have thought that any Australian references might almost be a bonus... most Americans seem to be fascinated by Australia!
      But GOOD LUCK with it! I'd LOVE to hear how it goes!

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    2. Thanks Alessandra! You too!

      I've so far queried ONE Australian agent (way too early) and got a form rejection on my 21st birthday. Woohoo!

      Since then I've probably queried about seven US ones for a separate book. I get frustrated very easily with my work so if I get a few rejections, I generally set it aside until I can be bothered with a complete rewrite.

      How are you finding UK agents? I've heard of a few issues people have had querying to them if they're not from the UK themselves. Of course, they're just stories, and people talk more about bad experiences than good ones.

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    3. Yeah, I'd be querying US for the same reason both you and Alexandra described... it's, well, ultimately it's a business decision, too. I remember looking at AU agents a couple of years ago, and the number I could find I could count on fingers, and then they were either closed to submissions, or didn't accept genre fiction or YA. Dissapointing...

      US, just, yeah... I know NOTHING about querying UK agents. Seriously intrigued.

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  8. When I looked into it (about a year ago), hardly any of them required a query letter. Most of them asked for a synopsis and business plan. And they always put international queries second to UK ones; some actually stated this in their guidelines.
    Another reason is, it's incredibly hard to take an international book and make it sound 'English', they just have a whole other level of language over there!

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    1. VERY true about language. Oooh, a business plan? That is strange :S

      I know that US agents ask for business plans when submitting non fiction, but I wonder how that works... interesting :D

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