All the gods cared about was their sacrifice; they were unthinking monsters, unable or unwilling to compromise.
—Mavelle, Song of the Prophecy
Tag Archives: Song of the Prophecy
Song of the Prophecy
For hundreds of years the gods have demanded exorbitant amounts of sacrifice from humanity, causing floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters when they don’t get what they want. Only the cantelli, women with power in their voices, are able to save sacrifice from the gods’ clutches and keep them from wreaking havoc.
A prophecy foretelling a time of blood and horror names the world’s hope for survival: the Spesa Unum, the only cantella who has the power to fight the coming darkness.
Mavelle, a powerful cantella, struggles to find acceptance and moments of joy after a terrible loss. When she is swept up in a myriad of forces beyond her control, she must decide if becoming the Spesa Unum is her destiny or if she should walk away from the cantelli, the gods and her song forever.
Sneak peek after the jump!
Perils and Pitfalls of Plot
It’s been a long time, but I’m back with a topic that I’m excited about. Plot.
Plot is essential for any book, even literary ones. But my novel (yes, I’m still working on it) isn’t literary, so it’s supposed to have a great plot. I think i started with a great concept and a plot that worked ok in my mind before I finished writing it, but somewhere between the middle and the end it died. And I was having a hard time figuring out how to fix it.
Enter a writing book. I’ve read lots of writing books, but not so many about plot. So, I bought Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell and it was great. It stimulated my imagination and I’ve worked through some issues in my book using the concepts that he laid out, and I think it’s much better. He has examples from both commercial and literary fiction, but the commercial side is heavy on the thriller/suspense/horror novel. That was the only fault I had with the book, I would have liked to see examples from a wider range of genres.
Bell’s book helped me figure out that I had two main problems. First, there was nothing really compelling my protagonist to the climax, she was just going because I needed her to to finish the book. There were reasons, but nothing so essential that her choices felt like there was no other choice. Second, the conflict between my protagonist and my antagonist was not direct enough, not central enough to the story. It was there, but not at the forefront. So I redid my plot, scene by scene on notecards, changing things and hopefully making them better.
The core of Song of the Prophecy is still the same, but I was able to solidify and tighten everything–well that’s what I think will have happened when I finished my rewrite. I’m hoping to be able to send it out to agents in the fall and I now don’t think that’s an unrealistic goal!
Wish me luck!
QUESTION: James Scott Bell, says there are three types of plotters: outline people, no outline people and people who are somewhere in the middle. In the past I’ve been in the middle, but I think I may become a more pure outliner in the future. Which type are you?
Long weekend
So with the 4th of July coming up on a Tuesday, I think almost everyone I know (ok, at least several people) are taking a long weekend. So will I, except I will be working from home on Monday. Unless my parents’ condo gets rented in the next few hours, it looks like we will be going down to the beach.
Obviously, I will need to buy some more books to read on the actual beach because I like to keep my computer away from sun, water and especially sand whenever I can help it. =) I can write long-hand in notebooks, but I can’t even revise pages because of the wind. That’s ok. I need some time to relax and do what I want (which right now includes reading and playing sudoku–both addictive activities).
However, I’m hoping over this five day stretch I can also get a good start on the revision of both my books. Maybe it’s good that I have two to work on. They’re very different, after all, so I shouldn’t confuse them in my mind or anything like that. Then, if I get tired of working on one, I can switch to the other. I have a hard time doing that when actually writing because it requires a switch in voice and characters’ heads and stuff like that, but that shouldn’t be as much of a problem with revision. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. I hope I get a lot done!
GOALS:
Marla, Book One
- Finish list of changes to be made
- Start going through ms and making and/or marking these changes
Song of the Prophecy
- Finish writing down ideas for changes (which I really should have done already!)
- Write the new first chapter and see how it turns out
- Write/revise more!
Wish me luck!
ideas, ideas and more ideas
I have to admit that I was disappointed in the critiques I got from the contest. They weren’t as detailed as I would have liked and some of the advice completely missed the mark. But any critique is only a tool for a writer. The person reading your manuscript never knows as much about your story as you do. More so in this case when they were only reading the first twenty-five pages. Often a critique is more useful for identifying problem areas than for figuring out how to fix them. Or a problem they mention may not be the actual problem, but something else is. Anyway, it’s up to the author to figure all this out and make the book the best possible.
I found that even though I didn’t get a lot of applicable adivce from the critiques, they did identify some possible problem areas, which got me thinking. Hence, the name of this entry. =)
I was hoping not to have to rewrite the beginning again because I’ve already reworked it several times. However, I think I may have to. Right now, each of the first three chapters (disregarding the prologue) focuses on a major character and their situation. They don’t intersect until later (chapter 4 maybe?). Anyway, it’s possible that this is too slow a beginning, although I like the idea of concentrating on some character development. I thought of a way to introduce all three characters in the framework of the current first chapter. I’ll have to write it out and see how it works. It might be too much information and too many POV that early in the book. I wanted to have a big chunck of Mavelle right away because she’s my protagonist, but that may not be possible. Although I could possible introduce the other characters without using their POV, it would just be harder to write. Again, I’ll have to experiment some and see what works best.
I WON!
Remember that contest I entered my novel, Song of the Prophecy, in? Well, I won! I got first place in the science fiction & fantasy category. I have to say that I was thrilled. Now, I really have to finish editing the whole thing. They gave me a nice letter that I can include with my query letters that says I won the contest and that the judges thought I was great. I also got a certificate and $100.
More information about the contest and the group that sponsered it can be found at the Maryland Writer’s Association Web site.
I also go two critiques, but I haven’t read them yet because I’m a little afraid of what they might say. I glanced at them and saw some not so glowing comments. I have to remember that I won and not to take things so seriously.
I know it’s been awhile
since my last post, but I’ve been pretty distracted.
I’ve started rehearsals for Nine and singing the music is awesome! They’ve put me on 1st soprano and I’m singing really high basically the whole show. It reminds me some of what I did in college. Not quite as hard, of course, but more difficult than anything I’ve sung since then.
The blocking and the dancing rehearsals have not been as fun, but that’s only because they make me nervous. Really, I guess I’m not the stereotypical theater person. I took too long a break, that’s what it is. Our director is wonderful though, and I’m sure I’ll relax as I get to know people.
I’ve also been trying to revise my manuscript. I even joined the March Marathon organized by OWW. It hasn’t been going so well. I’ve just been so tired recently that I haven’t felt like doing anything after work, except going to rehearsal. But that’s a required thing, kinda like going to work. I wouldn’t go to work if I didn’t have to. Still, I’m almost through to the end of Part II (aprox. half-way). Which isn’t as impressive as it sounds because I didn’t really do anything to Part I. These are structural rewrites. BIG things. I’m hoping I can get through Part II by the end of the week (and the marathon) and then I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something.
I think I’ve been thinking about it the wrong way anyway. When I was finishing writing the damn book, I kept saying, “I can do it. I can do it.” And I did. Right now I’m thinking, “It’s too much. It’s too much. I don’t think I can do it.” Not the right attitude at all. Positive thinking!
I keep meaning to review all those books that I’ve read (that are on the side of my blog under “Reading,” but it’s been so long since I read some of them that I don’t think I could do them justice. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start that in the future.
Deadlines approach
Two deadlines are approaching and they’re both stressing me out. Next week, I’ll be auditioning for a show with local community theater. While I was in school, I didn’t have time to do any theater as the rehearsal conflicted with my class schedule, but now that I’ve graduated, I have time again. But it’s been about 2 yrs since I was in something. Auditions are stressful, and if I don’t get in, I expect that I’ll react badly.
The second is the post-mark deadline for the novel writing contest that I want to enter. The entry fee is $35 and the top prize is only $100. But they have a category for science fiction/fantasy/speculative and all entrants will apparently receive 2 judges critiques of their submissions. That’s why I’m doing it. And since a book entered cannot be under contract to a publisher or an agent, it will help keep me from submitting to agents until I’m ready.
To enter, I need to get ready:
1. The first 25 pages of my novel (easy, that probably won’t even include chapter 2)
2. A one-page DOUBLE SPACED synopsis (extremely difficult as my synopsis is 4 pages, double spaced, I’m afraid the story won’t make much sense in a page.)
3. Novel summary in 40 words of less (I think of this more as a hook or pitch rather than summary–I have some ideas.)
If I happened to tie or advance to the final round to compete for the grand prize, they would read the last 25 pages of my manuscript. This is the part that worries me because even though my book is complete from beginning to end, it’s not in final form and my # of pages will probably change. But they can’t fault a writer for submitting her best work, right? And if inspiration strikes (which I’m sure it will me, since I’m actively trying to get it to do so) they can’t blame her for changing the things that need changing?
Anyway, I doubt I have much of a chance to get that far. I really just want the critiques to help make my first pages and synopsis the best they can possibly be before I submit to agents.
I’ll know probably by the end of next week if I’m in the show. It will be June before I know the results of the contest. I say to myself, “Break a leg!”
Snowed In!
We got over a foot of snow! Down on my little cul-de-sac I doubt we’ll get plowed out by tonight at the earliest. Still don’t know if I’ll have to go to work tomorrow, but the public schools will probably be cancelled. The questions becomes if the colleges and universities will be as well?
Sadly, the terps lost their game yesterday. But they played with heart.
And I am very discouraged. No one likes my synopsis. And I feel very overwhelmed about my manuscript. I guess the difference between me now and when I revised my last book is that now I understand how much work it will be and I have a better concept of how much work it actually needs. And I haven’t even gotten to the really rough part yet!
School spoiled me, I guess. I could only realistically work on short chunks of my book and I wrote too many short stories. But as I learned writing IS revision. And I always like this part before. I’m thinking too much in terms of the big picture. I just need to get through his read through. Then I can start doing one thing at a time.
I can do this right? No matter what people think of my synopsis. I know the story is good; the world is even better. They both need to be excellent.
Mavelle (my main character) often says, “If I can just keeping singing…”
If I can just keep working…
Writing a synopsis sucks!
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Have you ever tried to sum up a novel that is 150,000 words in less than a page (about 500 words)? Well, it’s awful. Apparently I’ve cut so much out (including even mentioning 3 POV characters) that there doesn’t appear to be enough conflict to keep a novel going! That comment made me laugh in a kind of despairing way. There is certainly enough conflict to last for a whole novel (I wouldn’t have been able to write the whole thing if there hadn’t been, the problem is conveying that in such a limited space without overwhelming the reader (i.e. agent) with a list of confusing events.
Of course i could make the synopsis longer, but I really wanted to keep it below a page. And I’m entering a novel contest that requires a double-spaced synopsis of a page or less. Are they INSANE? That’s more like jacket cover copy. sigh.
So maybe I should readjust my thinking a allow myself two pages, at least for the synopsis that I’ll be sending out to agents. I have to get into more of Tavin’s motivation, and even some more of Mavelle’s, or otherwise the events don’t matter, right? But I also have to get in more about all the obstacles they face, which are plenty and I still have to keep at least information about the world. One person wanted more about the gods. And the Mother and the Destroyer are so hard to explain, especially since I don’t even know if I’m doing it well in the book!
It’s IMPOSSIBLE!!!
< /vent >
On a better note: i did start reading my manuscript over last night during and after the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. I’m just trying to refresh everything in my mind and spot major structural and/or tension problems. The good news is that the first part of the book still reads well to me (this is the part that was included in my book for school and has been gone over a lot) but since that’s the part I’m most familiar with, I may not be distant enough from it. But on the whole I think it’s tight and polished.
The second part is more troublesome. I have to rewrite the early Amaris scenes to reflect the change in the character. And there is a huge drop in tension between when Mavelle leaves Felice and when she gets to the next place she sings. HUGE HUGE drop in tension. So that obviously needs to be fixed. And that is where the two preti I may be including into one character are introduced so that all might need to be worked out as well. And that’s as far as I got. About 150 pages into the ms. Not bad.
We might get lots of snow here, so there is a slight possibility that I might get a day off on Monday, but that’s probably being too hopeful. It would be nice though to have another day to read it.
Maryland bball game today: GO TERPS!!! Show those Dukies they should FEAR THE TURTLE!
Ok, it’s a long shot to win, but it would be awesome.