Two bits of news about Servant of a Dark God. I received the proofs for the paperback version in the mail this week as you see below. The cat is used because he deserves a cameo. This is Panther giving us either his “Sigh, whatever, I’ll submit to your weird human ways” or “Umm, scratches” looks. He’s the last of the original eleven cats we inherited when we moved to Laketown back in 2003 (nine of them were black, one was a gray tabby, another a sort of tortoise color). Dutchess, the one who liked to tear open our bread bags while we weren’t looking and eat the bread, got run over. Three others, including our talker Tabby, we think were stolen by a woman looking for “stray” cats because, golly, the rattlers keep getting all hers. Ours were obviously strays because we live in 2.5 acres surrounds by dozens and dozens of acres of open land around us and we let them roam the hills! A few were shot, we think, by a kid who came to visit his grandfather who lived 1/2 a mile down the road. We think coyotes might have gotten the rest. So Panther is the last survivor. 7 years old. We love the old man.
I have just a few days to go through the proofs and find any typos and punctuation errors and get it back. The paperback version is scheduled right now to be released in November. And here’s the cover the publisher is using on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can see the difference between it and the hardcover by comparing it to the image in the sidebar.
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As for Curse of a Dark God, I typed the last word of the final battle and climax on Saturday. As it now stands, the final battle required 34,429 words to write. Holy schnitzel! Again, many adult novels average around 90,000 – 110,000 words total. So this is a significant sequence. For those of you who like to think in pages, it’s going to be anywhere from 100 – 140 pages depending on how the publisher configures the book. I have one more short chapter to write and the draft is finished. Well, I have a few things to seed into earlier chapters so that the ending etc. works, but that’s small stuff. The next step is to have a few readers go through this draft. Make any necessary edits. Then get it out to my agent as quickly as possible. Once my editor accepts it, we’ll be able to set a release date. And I might feel the sword of editoral doom lift just a little from my head.
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Finally, just wanted to give folks a heads up about the following events I’ve committed to.
| Date |
What |
Area |
Details |
| Saturday, September 18, 1-4 PM |
Book signing |
Orem, UT |
The Orem, UT Barnes & Noble is having an authorpalooza. Come meet a boatload of authors.More details here: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2626 University Crossings Barnes & Noble
330 East 1300 South
Orem, UT 84058
801-229-1611 |
| Saturday, October 9, 2010, all day |
Writers conference |
American Fork, UT |
The American Fork Arts Council writers workshops have become so popular that they’ve decided to start holding one conference in the spring and one in the fall. These conferences focus on giving concrete advice and encouragement to aspiring writers. I’ll be giving a keynote speech and participating in some breakout sessions. I was really happy to be invited back since I had to bow out of the last one two days before it was scheduled to run because of a death in the family. |
I’m very pleased to announce that Podium Publishing, the folks producing the audio versions of the Dark God books, has cast Alex Wyndham as the narrator for the Dark God series. Production is scheduled to take place in March and April.
Finally! Ive been anxiously awaiting this since I put down Servant of a Dark God over a year ago. Glad you could work it all out! I do have a question, what do you mean by “story problem”? Is it the overall problem you try to solve in a book, or can there be multiple story problems in a book? I really like to come up with plots to books Id like to write, and I seem to be good at coming up with a big problem Id like my characters to solve, but I struggle with the details. When I say the details I mean the little things in between that get the dominoes to fall so to speak. Im interested in how you get going, because I seem to just get frustrated. I really like to write, but Id like to not butt heads with myself every time I try to plot things out.
I am so excited. For the last few months my wife and I have been having this conversation.
Me: Have you pre-ordered CoaDG yet?
Wife: No.
Me: Why not?
Wife: I don’t know let’s look it up on Amazon.
Me: Huh? I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
Wife: Oh yeah, remember on his blog he said it was going to be a massive rewrite?
Me: Oh, I guess we will have to check next month.
I expect we will continue having this conversation monthly until we get the book. Then our conversation will be . . .
Me: Have you pre-ordered CoaDG yet?
Wife: We got it last week and you’ve read it twice already.
Me: Sorry, just force of habit. So, Have you pre-ordered DGG yet?
YEA!
Now get writing.
;P
@ Matt, It’s nice to know I’ve been included in your monthly routine. First step to world domination–check (grin)
@ Mike, it’s a good question. It’s true stories can and do have tons of “problems.” I’m talking about the main story problem, the premise. Go on over to the On Writing section and read the first essay in the Suspense series for all the details of what I’m talking about.
@ Jon, hope all is well up north.
Excellent! Look forward to hearing more good news as you progress. All the best,
Gray
Great!Christmas list item, S
Congrats! I can’t wait follow the soon-to-be steady stream of good news. As the red bar starts moving (red, of course, representing all your blood, sweat and typing) I’m looking forward to priming the pump and rereading Servant.
Taylor Finch
Taylor,
Ha! I knew there was a subliminal reason why I made that red! Now I know 🙂