Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Happy New Year's everyone....The wave of the future.

I'm back America.

My Christmas was pretty good. The only probelm in that department is the food will still have in the fridge after all of it is over. Anyways, I've decided that my blog entry is going to be a little bit different today so instead of talking about how my story is progressing, I want to talk about something else that has been on my mind this holiday season that kind of makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Electronic books or 'e-books' are they are called nowadays.

Why is this making me happy and sad at the same time? Well, I'll tell you.

The good news about e-books: You can download as close to a thousand books or more on one little electronic gadget without turning pages or scrambling to put the book cover back on whenever you're trying to read it. Also, a person can't physically carry a thousand books everywhere they go (If they do, good luck with the back pain you're gonna need it). Not only can it download books, it can download newspaers as well. Overall, a great buy for someone who's sick and tired of carrying books everywhere they go right?

The bad news about e-books: If it keeps evovling, bookstores will keep disappearing which means that thousands of people will be without jobs. Whenever you like a book on your e-reader and want to have it as a keepsake for your own collection, you won't be able to get it in a paperback or hardcopy edition. All you can do is save it on a fileon your e-reader.

How reliable is that huh?

For the people that think I'm blowing this way out of portportion, I would like you to consider the technology that's going on right now. Look at how e-mail and online shopping has changed the revolution at how people shop and communicate. The post office is now in trouble because of the drama surrounding the internet. Everyone can pay their bills online. People are buying gifts from Amazon instead of physically shopping in stores and buying them. Even communicating to the outside world has been replaced by people joining facebook and myspace.

Overall, things are changing. The world that was once filled with analog TVs, Nintendo, and going out to meet people has been replaced by the digital converter box, Nitendo Wii, and Twitter and in some ways, it just makes me sad. Five or ten years from now, I wouldn't be surprised if everything went digital and the good old days I have known since I was little girl fades out into the background...

Until that day comes, I will cherish these days of having paperback and hardcover books as long as possible...

See ya next time.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Happy Holidays to you...

Hello, everyone.

My blog is going to be really short today because it's the holidays and I really don't have very much to say right now. Yesterday, I was checking out the blogs of two literary agents who I have paid close attention to this past year: Nathan Bransford and Kirstin Nelson. On both of their blogs, I found out a lot if useful information on how they go about their daily lives when it comes to them offering representation. I also found posts about how each writer goes through their writing process when they are finished with thier first draft (Nathan's) or what the new agnets are expecting once that manuscript sparkles and shines like nobody's business.

You can find them both here and here

Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

All about YA, A failed attempt at writing a short story and depression...again!

This weekend was not a very good weeked for me (I know, I know...How many times are you going to say this? Why can't you think of anything new? Go out a get a life for christ sakes!

But you have to understand why I'm complaining like this.

I recently read something that caught my attention stating that in order to promote your writing, you have to at least post some sort of short stories so the readers can read your work and if they like it, they will go out and buy your book whenever you can find a literary agent and a publisher who loves your book so much that it deserves reconigiton (with a few revisions of course).

Well, this weekend I tried to write a short story that was based on a very popular theme: Christmas. The short story was going to be called The Voodoo Elves and it was supposed to be about the main characters in The Electric eel Bandit going back to the U.S. to stop a bunch of elves from killing children and taking all of their christmas presents for themselves. Pretty Cool idea right?

I thought so too...but then I wrote the first page and tore it up into pieces.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to make a second attempt at this but I don't think that I'm going to do the story based on a theme, especially one that involves 'the christmas spirit' since Christmas is just around the corner. I think that it's too much pressure for me to handle at this point.

Anyways, I came up with two new short story ideas (That could possibly turn into books if people are interested) that both fall in the YA category. Since I've shared way too much information with my failed idea of writing a short story, I'm going to keep those two to myself.

In other news, please don't be afraid of what I put up in the title of my entry today. I'm not thinking about harming myself in any way, shape or form. The reason why I'm going into a state of SLIGHT depression is because I'm confused about what to expect from all of the agents blogs I've been reading lately. There are so many things to be expected from an author. I just don't know what to do with myself.

Until next time.

Monday, December 7, 2009

A new way to rewriting my manuscript, More on Ideas and word count

Today, is not a great day for me. Why? Because I have not finished the latest version of my draft yet and I already thinking about how to rewrite it...again.

Lord, help me.

The only good thing that came out of the idea of rewriting my manuscript is trying to rewrite the story in a different way. No, not in the regular maunscript form that I have always been doing but something that is a totally different medium altogehter.

My brain has decided that since I have already done the rewriting process chapter by chapter, I should try write it scene by scene like a screenplay.

Yup, you heard me. I should write a screenplay.

I'm not totally crazy right? Who knows, maybe the best thing for me to do is write it out in screenplay form so I can get a sense of where I want the story to go. I could also write it out in a screenplay format to check out what's missing from the story that I might have missed in my manuscript. But I have to admit that this is just an idea that I haven't totally considered yet and told myself that I'm not going to make any sudden moves until I finish rewriting the latest draft of my novel.

Why? Because when you start something, you should always finish it.

In other news, my head is buzzing with all sorts of ideas not only for the Truson S.E.T. book series itself but for other books as well. One of them just so happens to be a erotic sci-fi romance about a heroine who lives on the moon and is surrounded with nothing but other women that came from Earth (Which is extinct). She gets sick of being around them and expresses her desire to have sex with men. Eventually, they end up bringing a new kind of species to the moon that ends up turning the heroine's world upside down...aliens. I don't know where the idea goes from there but it's something I'm thinking about doing considering I want to write in the two fields I love to read the most: YA and Romance.

Finally, I'm still thinking about that article I found the other day about YA word count. I might have another idea for another YA that is probably going to be shorter than the book I have now. Again, I'm going to focus on my first YA novel now and write down whatever ideas come to me.

Until next time writng world!

Dominique

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Word count and Ancient Egypt

Hey everybody, I'm back. I know I was supposed to put a blog entry up on Saturady but by the time I was able to get to it, The weekend had already passed. There's plenty of things that I want to talk about today (Even though I'm supposed to be sitting down reading twilight and working on chapter nineteen of my lastest draft of my novel).

Time to move on.

I was recently browsing the internet for something that was related to the young adult category and came across a website that had an article about word count when it came to YA novels. The article was so interesting that I decided to print it out and read what some of the literary agents, authors, and librarians said about what YA represents and how many pages a YA novel should have.

According to MiG's article on thier website MG vs. YA fiction what's the difference?
Here what one qoute said:

"The word round the agency blogosphere is that these books tend to trend longer, saying that you can top in the 80K. However, when it gets into the 70's you may be all right - but you have to have a reason for going that high. Again, higher word counts usually mean that the writer does not know how to edit themselves. A good reason to have a longer YA novel that tops out at the high end of the scale is if it's science fiction or fanstasy. Once again, these categories are expected to be a little longer because of the world-building."

"Concerning the low end, below 55k could be all right but I wouldn't drop much below 47k."

Interesting.

Well, I just recently checked the number of pages on my manuscript and come to find out, it's between 450 and 500 pages.

I'm in trouble.

The truth? I had forgotten all about the word count when it came to YA. I just got lost within the story, not knowing that there was a word limit to how much I could write without going overboard. I have to admit that when I read this article, I ended up being in a state of panic. Then, panic turned into depression...

For those who are thinking about writing a novel, ANY kind of novel...let me tell you: If you think that writing the first draft of your novel is the easiest thing in the world, you're right.

But rewriting the novel over and over again...That's the hardest part in the entire galaxy.

Once I finally got over my little episode of feeling sorry for myself, I got back up on my feet and ended up creating a chart (Well, it's supposed to be a chart but right now it's just a bunch of huge sentences all smashed together on a sheet of paper) about the history of Truson, The animan three-hundred (A blue chemical used throughout the story to create the shapeshifters in the first place) and eventually I'll end up creating a character worksheeet (I know I know, I should have done that in the first place what was I thinking? ) for all ten characters that will appear in the upcoming series of manuscripts that I intend on doing starting in 2010.

Who knows? Maybe I won't make any of the mistakes in the second manuscript of the series like I did in the first one. Hint of Advice: ALWAYS LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.

Meanwhile, I'm also doing the first outline of the second novel in the series but I promised myself that I wasn't going to start on the novel until I finished the latest draft of my novel first.

Moving on...

While I was filling out the history of the Animan three-hundred, I actually did some reasearch on ancient Egypt and found out how much I really liked it. Did you know that ancient egyptians used a plant called a papryus to scribble their writings and roll them up so that they could take it with them everywhere they went? Did you know that the people who went to learn how to read and write mostly came from wealthy families while the peasants stayed at home and helped their mom out with the chores?

If you already know this stuff then good for you. If not, well consider it to be a lesson for the day.

I have to admit, I like doing this so-called chart because it's taking me back to where ancient civilization began...Egypt.

Okay, gotta go. I think I said WAY MORE then I was supposed to. See ya.

*Note: I'm having some probelms with my facebook page so please don't contact me there. If you want to say something about my blog, please post your comments below. Also, You can check out all of their posts here. Look up their previous post on thier website and I'm sure you'll be able to find it.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Well...I did it!

This might be a short entry today because...I'm just tired sorry!

Today, I did something that I thought I wasn't going to do at this time...I sent out the first 240-word pitch to the YA novel discovery contest. It's sponsored by writingclasses.com and Serendipity Literary Agency. The grand prize winner will receive an opportunity to submit an entire manuscript to Regina Brooks and receive a ten-week writing course for free at www.writingclasses.com. The deadline is November 30th at 11:59 ET.

The reason why I thought I would never do it? The deadline ends on January 29th, 2010 and I won't be able to see if I won or not until February 2nd, 2010.

Oh well, I guess you have to be patient when it comes to this kind of stuff. Wish me luck!

P.S. I'll probably do another blog entry tomorrow. Have a lot more to say but can't say it right now.

Friday, November 20, 2009

One crazy Day

My mission: To talk about where I'm headed in my writing.

Where am I?: I'm almost finished with rewriting my latest draft of The electric eel bandit. I have to admit that I'm starting to get a little lost in the rewriting process. My mind has become very foggy on what I should and shouldn't rewrite which is why I began to work on my outline of my second book 'A Dolphin's Dilemma'. I worked on it for the last two days so that I could allow my brain to refresh my creative juices. I think that every once in a while people need a break from what they're working on so that when they get back to it, they can see what mistakes have been made with a fresh pair of eyes.

Don't worry, just because I'm working on an outline for the next book in the Truson S.E.T. series doesn't mean that I'm not going to get back to rewriting the first one. I plan on continuing the rewriting process all the way to the end....starting tomorrow.

And finally: In my last post, I mentioned that I was going to put up a few sample pages of what I'm working on. Well, here it is. Hope you will enjoy it.

By the way, Happy Thanksgiving (in case my next blog is on Friday)

Sample Pages of The Electric eel Bandit:

Prologue

I have to figure out why I died five years ago.

Yes, it’s true that I have a second chance at life, a new beginning to figure out what my next mission is now that I was one of the ten members of the Truson Super Elite Team. I know I have a loving and caring microbiologist who has also been my second mom ever since she brought me back to life when she saw me and my parents washed up on the shores of Hawaii. That was five years ago. Why Dr. Madison decided to save me instead of them is still a mystery I haven’t solved. For the last five years, I was told that my parents (as well as myself) died in a boating accident, end of story.

But for some reason, I knew different.

I knew that the boating accident was no accident. I knew the boat that we originally got on (Me and my parents) blew up and sent me overboard while my parents were killed on impact by the explosion. I knew I tried to swim to shore to save my own life but ended up drowning instead.

Most of all, I know who’s behind it. The question is what am I going to do about it?

My name is Bradford Mayfield and I’m on a mission to find out the truth and will do whatever it takes in order to get it.

Chapter One

I checked to see if I had packed everything I needed before I zipped up the two suitcases that laid in front of me. After I packed up, I stared at the ten faces I was leaving behind and told myself I was coming back no matter what and that no one could ever take me away from the friends I had staring back at me. But there was a mission that had to be done and that mission was to take down the man whom I thought was responsible for killing me and my parents in the first place.

“Do you really have to go all the way to New Jersey in order to solve this stupid murder Bradford? Why can’t you solve the case from here? I heard my professor/microbiologist Dr. Courtney Madison asked as she gently patted my short blond locks on my head. She eventually went from patting them to running her fingers through it before I walked back to grab one of my suitcases.

“Because I need to investigate what went down in Vemmit City and to see if the suspect is a shape shifter or not. C’mon Dr. Madison, you know how this works. I have been doing this for five years, you should become use to it by now,” I said as the rest of the members moved out of my way so I could carry my suitcase towards the door of my guesthouse. “I’m part of the Truson Super Elite Team remember?” Dr. Madison rolled her eyes.

“Yes of course I remember. I was the one who brought you guys back to life!” She pointed her bony little finger at the ten people that were in the room before she adjusted her black-rimmed glasses from falling off of her nose completely. “When I saw some of you people, I didn’t think I could ever bring you guys back from some of the disasters you guys went through, especially you Bradford Mayfield.” I chuckled at the stern but playful tone she gave me as I went back inside my bedroom and grabbed my last suitcase and went towards the door.

“It’s not like I’m bailing out on you guys.” I put my hand on Gabriel’s shoulder as I spoke. “I’m just going to be gone for six months, it’s no big deal.”

“It is when you’re being secretive about a case in which it requires you staying in a new city for six months without any direct contact. Usually when one of us is on the verge of solving a case, we can always call or e-mail each other just to say hello and when the case is over, we rush back to Truson so we could be around people who has our backs twenty-four-seven chico,” Gabriel piped in as he playfully punched me in the arm. I smiled. I knew deep down I could trust these guys with me life but I also knew that I had to do this on my own.

Friday, November 13, 2009

My Introduction

Hello everyone. My name is Dominique Gibson and I'm a woman on a mission.

My goal: To finish up the latest draft of my novel and send it out to Literary Agents and Publishers around the country.

My Dream: To write full-time and to have the opportunity for my Young Adult and eventually my romance reading fans to read my work and become insipred by it.

What I'm working on now: I'm working on a 100,000-word YA paranormal novel called The Electric eel Bandit'. It's about a thirteen-year-old boy who's on a mission of his own: To find the man that's responsible for killing him and his parents in a boating accident. While he's on his mission, He runs into a lot of trouble along the way invovling love, enemies, and even his mentor and second mom Dr. Madison.

What I may be leaving out: That my main character is a shapeshifter who came back to life by a science experiment that goes back thousands of years and that Dr. Madison is the woman who brought him back to life after she found him washed up on the shore.

A little bit about Me: I'm a college Graduate who has a B.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago. When I'm not writing, I spend way too much time watching soap operas, The vampire diaries, and reading about vampires (Twilight anyone?). I have been writing ever since I was eight-years-old.

My mission for this post: To reach out not only to aspiring writers who are trying to get published like I am, but to reach out to everyone who has a mission of their own. I would love for people post what their on goals and missions are on achieveing their dreams whether it's writing, fashion design, computers, etc. I would love to hear from you.

Sincerely,
Dominique Gibson

P.S. , I will have the opportunity to post my sample chapter of my novel in the next few days.