Here are some of the original stories I’ve been working on:
The Deal – contemporary fantasy set in the midwest. This is probably the closest thing I have to a publishable original novel. Still trying to get a publisher interested. I may just suck at writing summaries … the whole process seems … immodest, somehow. Yes, I’m aware of how lame that sounds.
The Journey – completed sequel to The Deal, following some of the same characters. A bit more character driven than plot-driven, in comparison to The Deal. Some loose ends get tied up, and some new ones introduced.
The Arena – Number three in the series. This one is still in the planning stages.
An Ogre’s Story – somewhat apocalyptic contemporary fantasy. In progress still, about 30-odd pages written. The outline for the latter two-thirds needs a little more punch before I will feel good about fleshing it out more.
The Harbinger’s Tale – I make a stab at more high-fantasy – with a twist. Very dark as well.
The Sorcerer’s Spaceship – Been kicking around some ideas for a story set in a far-future when Magic and Technology are commodities controlled by rival groups that provide services to the greater Body Politic. If I do it right, people will compare it to Dune with the Landsraat, Tleilaxu, Guild, Bene Gesserit, etc. If I do it wrong, people will stop reading twenty pages in with a headache.
Viridian Genesis – A re-working of my first novel. Parts of it really needed work, but those are pieces that I am still proud of. “The Tourney” is potentially part of the prologue to this novel.
The subscription ideas that people have been kicking around on the Viridian Dreams Yahoo Group were interesting, but the numbers from the survey don’t look very encouraging. From a financial point of view, anything released in any significant way on the net will be left almost unpublishable afterwards (as far as conventional publishers are concerned), so you’ll have to forgive me if I am hesitant to sink too much of my time into something with such a potentially low chance of generating a return.
So… what do you all think? Please add your comments below…
Either swallow your modesty, or let Lindsey write the summary Matt.
I’d really be interested in reading the Sorcerer’s Spaceship. Title in work as well? Since it sounds like a play off of Sorcerer’s Stone.
Well, that’s not the summary I used when pitching it. Just a general categorization. (And she did help when I was writing the cover letters.) I’d post a copy, but that hard drive is in Iowa right now.
And yes, Sorcerer’s Spaceship is just a working title for now.
I wrote the query letters and some of the summary material for the letters to several agents, so it’s not like Matthew was doing the “pitching” without help. Unfortunately, I’m not much better at summarizing a whole novel in three or four sentences.
I’d be willing to help. 😛 I could always use new reading material. But you’re right. Summary’s are hard. You can’t just give away the whole story with it, but you’ve gotta give people enough to want to read the whole thing.
The Deal sounds interesting. But I know I would never pay for serial writings. I like to read in bulk. Fan fiction is difficult for me because I’ve read most every story completed that I’m interested in, so now I have to wait for an update. When one comes out I tend to read at least the last three chapters over again.
As for summaries: to paraphrase Dale Carnegie, if you can’t fit your idea on the back of a business card then you don’t know what you are talking about.
It sounds like your problem is condensing the story. Have you tried practicing? Using the classics or any other book you’ve read? Moby Dick is truly about one man’s obsession….
Hmmm… if I did a serial thing, I would give people the option of buying back as many back chapters as they wanted – so you could wait until it was done and then get the whole thing.
Dave Willis did something similar with the premium strips for It’s Walky.