Work attracts work - in the last week I have been working on two other people's books. One is a novel, written by my friend D. She asked me to transpose the first 6,000 words into past tense... I did, I think it's an improvement, although she could get away with the present tense occasionally for tension/immediacy. I think she's got a good story - although I haven't read the whole thing - and I think she has some lovely images, however, I find her writing a bit difficult to read - it seems to bounce ahead too fast - a tad more explication is required - things happen too suddenly. I was itching to do more editing on those 6,000 words - but contented myself with a couple of adjustments to the punctuation. I now understand what agents have meant when they described my writing as "smooth"... it connects and flows, and in places D's doesn't. Would like to offer some advice - but haven't got a positive suggestion, can't think exactly how she should put it right.
The other "job" is working on M's book Claudius' Elephants which is taking shape slowly - he wants to send 3 ch and a synopsis off to various editors. Apparently he can risk sending non-fiction direct to the publishers, but obviously we have to check their submissions policies, so a trawl of the websites will follow.
Originally I was going to co-author CE with him, but I couldn't get engaged with it; I think it's a great idea (because it was partly mine). He originally wanted to write about how Claudius used elephants in the invasion of Britain. I suggested that a wider-ranging look at elephants in the ancient world, how they were used and trained, with lots of anecdotes, would be much better... as it would broaden the readership from the history/archaeology/Roman invasion nuts to include elephant lovers (especially if lavishly illustrated).
I am also going to attempt to reprise my masterful introductory letter - much praised by Agent as an excellent example of a letter to an agent. I would sell it as a format - but the fact is, it isn't just the letter, it's the contents (my background and achievements to date) that can't be duplicated. That sounds rather pompous, but it isn't meant to be, just that I've got to a certain level - done my 10,000 hours and have already had something published.
The other "job" is working on M's book Claudius' Elephants which is taking shape slowly - he wants to send 3 ch and a synopsis off to various editors. Apparently he can risk sending non-fiction direct to the publishers, but obviously we have to check their submissions policies, so a trawl of the websites will follow.
Originally I was going to co-author CE with him, but I couldn't get engaged with it; I think it's a great idea (because it was partly mine). He originally wanted to write about how Claudius used elephants in the invasion of Britain. I suggested that a wider-ranging look at elephants in the ancient world, how they were used and trained, with lots of anecdotes, would be much better... as it would broaden the readership from the history/archaeology/Roman invasion nuts to include elephant lovers (especially if lavishly illustrated).
I am also going to attempt to reprise my masterful introductory letter - much praised by Agent as an excellent example of a letter to an agent. I would sell it as a format - but the fact is, it isn't just the letter, it's the contents (my background and achievements to date) that can't be duplicated. That sounds rather pompous, but it isn't meant to be, just that I've got to a certain level - done my 10,000 hours and have already had something published.
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