Thursday, November 03, 2011

I Need Your Help to Finish My Novel!

The first thing is I need to decide which novel to finish.

I have talked with Mrs. Prop and we decided that instead of writing another NaNoWriMo novel at a break neck pace and with no regard to quality.  I know I can do that and it doesn't really get me any further to becoming a published author at this point.

I need to take the next step.

I have tried to edit these novels before, but I have run into problems.  I think what I need to do it dedicate the same amount of time I would have to write a new novel, to fixing one of these.  I've given myself to the end of the year and since I don't have to meet NaNo's deadline of 30 November, I can start later as well.

For the next week I'll leave a poll on the blog where I'm begging you to vote.  Which novel should I finish?

Here they are with some comments:

Eve's Christmas Eve Adventure
A children's Christmas novel in 12 chapters designed to be read one chapter a night around Christmas.  It was the first one I did.  Ultimately I'd like to record CDs of this and hand them out as Christmas presents.

Reach Out
This is a YA (young adult) SciFi novel.  It was the first one I wrote for NaNoWriMo.  It has a very truncated ending.

Guya Principal
This was the second "finished" NaNo novel.  It is a SciFi comedy and it's sort of aimed at teen to adults.  It too has a truncated ending.  I think I want to change the ending though.

Boys of Saint Leonard's
Mystery novel.  This is not finished, but it is probably the best written so far.  I really love these characters and I'm dying to write a mystery, but I'm not sure I really well equiped for it.

Seekretya
I finished this NaNo last year.  Like all my NaNo novels it's ending is truncated, but it's further along than the others.  It is a YA Fantasy novel and in addition to the novel I did a lot of world building for this one.  All that world building can be found here on this blog.  This was also the novel I tried to edit last March, but I never really got through a complete critical reading of it.

PLEASE vote on the poll on right, and comment on this post.

6 comments:

jenn said...

Bill, do Boys first: the fact that you're really invested in the characters will help you stay involved during the less-fun editing process.

And I know what I'm talking about: I have many first drafts taking up space on my flash drives and no previous pulication experience. Good luck!

Brownie41542 said...

Hey Bill...I say Evee first. I love the 12 chapters, one each night before Christmas. Being a teacher and having little kids who believe in magic makes me want to read each chapter to them. Traditionally, we read Twas the Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve together...I can see families making the Eve book a tradition as well! Good luck!

Inner Prop said...

I got this comment emailed to me from CHL:
"I agree w/Jenn, sweetie. Finish the novel YOU want to work on. I tried to post a comment, but it didn’t take. “L love you"

I hope I haven't given the wrong impression. Like children, I like all of these which is why I'm having such a hard time deciding which to do.

One thing to note is that Boys of St. Leonard's isn't finished at all. Eve is completely finished and the others have a less than satisfactory ending.

Don't take my word for which is best to do, read the excerpts, let me know what YOU would like to see completed. What book would YOU like to walk into a bookstore and ask me to sign?

Monica Casper said...

Boys of Saint Leonard's. I'm a mystery fan, and you seem enthusiastic about the characters.

LTC John said...

Reach Out - God knows we need some good YA SF out there.

Inner Prop said...

I was looking back on past posts about novels and found this.

In the end, last Christmas I did edit Eve's Christmas Eve Adventure and printed up copies for my young nieces and nephews.

I'm still not satisfied with it, but it is much further along than the others.

I am going to do NaNoWriMo 2013 and I'm going to try yet another genre. I'm going to figure out what comes out the smoothest. Maybe I haven't found my niche/genre yet.