So I Finished It

I was just getting in to the swing of blogging and then I was side swipped by inspiration and suddenly my book was finished!

It was a crazy fest of writing and staying up late and skipping the gym and it all paid off. Like holy shit almost 148,000 words! Go me!

After finishing and reading it through I wrote a query letter and a summary.  Did some cyber stalking on a few agents. And I sent out my query materials to Prospect Agency. I'm crossing my fingers and giving that a weeks head start before I query 2 more agents.

So now that I've finished and I feel confident and bad ass I have a ton of free time. Over the last 2 days I keep convincing myself that I need to add just one more chapter.  I've done this about 4 times now and it needed to stop. I moved my manuscript off my computers desk top away into it's own folder of cuteness. Now I can't look at it till I have an agent!

Which means I'll be catching up on all my blogs. I still have all the fun bits of my trip to get too. I'll also be picking up one of my old book projects and starting that up... I just don't know which one yet. 

So strap yourself in for some epic blogs... in the near future. 

Cheers,

Taylor

Done!!!

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything about my writing so I’ll kick a whole new round of writing related posts off with some awesome news. I finished the last round of edits on Entangled Fates yesterday. July 4th at 8:24pm.



Now this is quite a few years in the making. I started writing my series when I was in 7th grade which is 7 years ago now. As I read the last line of my book I thought about everything that I’d put into this to get to the point where I’m so much in love with it that I’m confident to send it out into the world. I don’t know how many hours I spent writing and editing it but I’d be willing to guess it’s been a couple hundred hours. There were a few times that I didn’t think it was going to be worth it but now… now it’s totally worth it!


I’m also quite tired of it… I hate to say it but I’m ready to stop reading it over and over. How could I possibly be tired of my precious book? Well it’s changed a lot and taken a lot of my brain power to work everything straight.


When I first started writing it all out in notebooks it was really going to be straightforward and rather cliché. It was also going to be one book. They were going to get all fours pieces and have a happy ending to boot all in one book. Back then it seemed like a brilliant idea to me. So I kept writing all through the 8th grade finishing a few notebooks in the process. Somewhere along the way I’d changed my mind and decided I wanted a series. I finished writing the first draft in notebooks and felt triumphant.


Then I realized that hand written material wasn’t acceptable to send to publishers. So I started typing it all up. When I reopened my first notebook I realized what I’d written was complete crap so I scanned the rest of the notebooks and realized the whole plot was shit.


That’s when I outlined a new series to write. I set aside my very first draft and kept in mind a few of my favorite parts as I started a new first draft. I don’t remember when I first started it but I finished it freshman year in college.


I started reading from the beginning and realized that once again it was shitty. I’d changed characters and the eventual ending so much that the beginning made no sense. So the first half of the book underwent extensive changes.


And now after three more rounds of edits I look at the finished manuscript and I picked out the things that were the same as my very first original story from 7th grade. Here’s the dismal list:


1) Neal’s name


2) Jamie’s name


3) Billy/Tantin’s name


4) Reuniting the Armlet


5) Exyel and Lawrence names and cities


And that’s all I could pin. It’s under gone a lot of work to get to the shinning gem it now is. Another thing that I love is the word count. I’ve done three rounds of edits from what’s saved on my laptop as the original. I had older copies but switching between computers they slipped between cracks somewhere never to be found. But check this out.


Original - 143.551 words


1st round - 127.792 words


2nd round - 129.808 words


Final - 123.823 words


I love that I cut so much. Most of it from the original to 1st round was plot lines I didn’t need, characters that were useless, and fluffy scenes that wasted time. And from the 2nd round to the final was simply word smithing, that’s a whole other post. In short I simply took out useless words and sentences and picked one word to replace two. Hard work but it makes everything flow easier and read faster which makes the effort worth it.


Now all that’s left is to write my cover letter and send the whole lot off to DAW books. Everyone cross your fingers that DAW picks me up. They’re pretty much my dream publishing house as the publish most of my favorite authors (like Pat Rothfuss).


Cheers,

Entangled Fates

I’m so fickle sometimes. So The Snowy Waste has had it’s title for seven years now. And this morning as I was doing my life coaching assignment for the week (which is to set goals) I realized as I was typing The Snowy Waste completion as one of my short term goals that the title no longer fits. Basically I’ve changed the plot so much that the title no longer fits with the whole story. I brainstormed two new titles. 1- Threads of Time and 2-Entangled Fates. Then I went to google books and googled to see if there were any books by the same or similar titles. This threw Threads of Time out the door. So The Snowy Waste is now entitled Entangled Fates. Cool right? And it’s not even one o’clock and I’m making such big changes!!



Laters,

P.S. Pat Rothfuss now has NOTW shirts! yay!

Teaser

So as part of my writing class final portfolio i wrote a tesaer for The Snowy Waste and i thought i'd post it here!! Enjoy

The thriving country of Exyel slips into civil war after their national treasure The Armlet of Exyel is broken apart. It’s only hope of ever finding peace again lays in the hands of the prophesized Quest Quartet. In the first decades after the outbreak of war people were hopeful that these Questers would arise. But after 30,000 years of bloody battles the Quest Quartet is nothing but a child’s tale. Yet this does not faze three motley friends from taking up the task. Jamie Stean of Vanton, Nealock Jordan of Flar and Billy Bones set out from the small vineyard town of Flar to seek the only thing that will save their dying country. Although each has their own motive Billy’s is the purist because he, Sir Tantin Exyel, will remain in the form of a skeleton until his country once again resides in peace. So he joins up in hopes of bringing Exyel back to the magnificence it knew when he was king. The three leave in hopes that the tale of The Quest Quartet will be like the ones told by bards where they fought valiantly and conquered evil with no effort. What they never expected was for them to get swept up into a power struggle between Darkness and Queen Zayden'Ash of the Dragons. They did not foresee one them leaving to accomplish good for the quest and giving her life for it. Zayden'Ash is the savior of the motley group but also the puppeteer of it. She has the power to make the search for The Armlet an easy task yet she with holds her power in hopes of making The Quest Quartet a story to be told for an eternity. When the Quest Quartet threatens to fall to pieces will someone step up and push them toward finding the second piece? Or will they all fall to Darkness?

Laters,

Drawings and Cards

Okay guys I’m sooo excited! I just had to post again. So my mum and aunt came to visit me at school today and we went out to dinner. My mum told me that my business cards came in!!!! weeee!!! And I was talking to my aunt and her boyfriend’s daughter draws anime and she’s willing to draw my characters for The Cycle of Zantor!!!! I have been trying to get this done for ages upon ages and I’m so happy. Plus it’s going to be anime style and incase you didn’t know I’m an uber anime freak!! So ya today just got even better!



Laters,

New Beginning

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

So I was writing yesterday and for some reason I decided that I was unhappy with the way that The Snowy Waste starts. So I was like okay I’ll think on it later I want to finish this scene first. Nope didn’t happen the beginning would not let me be so I decided to try and think around for ideas. It was a hard process so I started to pole all my friends on their favorite books and what they liked about the beginning. Out of everyone I asked three things popped up every time. (1) Fast paced (2) Foreshadowing and (3) personal touch (from a character). If you’ve read the excerpt I currently have up on my site you’ll know I’ve got 2 & 3. I naturally wanted to have all three so I tried to come up with how to make it awesome and lure in a reader because we all know that the beginning is very important. If the first ten pages are bad then no one is going to read it. As I sat in my dorm room staring at my computer screen waiting for an idea to pop in my head low and behold one did! It was fantastic I got so excited I had to explain it to my roommate and suitemate who were both chilling in the room and then I proceeded to make very happy noises and a little dance sort of thing…. Now I am quite sure they think I’m toughly insane… I will have to agree with them. Any how I got soo hyper and excited that it just made my day. so I typed during philosophy class and it was a good game. I’m so glad semester is nearly over because I hate my philosophy class it’s really boring and I’ve learned nothing… so I’m excited that I will be moving out in 8 days!! Yay! I’m just excited to go home and see the Christmas decorations, cause that’s pretty much my favorite part of the holiday is all the decorations! And I get to spend a whole month with my cute wiener dogs…. When I get a picture of ‘em I’ll post it.

Laters,
T.V.

New Exyel

Hey guys,

Okay so I have some exciting news. I spent about five or six hours remaking the map of Exyel. And I finally finished. I did it all in paint. Whoot for me. Now here’s the wicked sweet part of the map. I took a blank world map and manipulated it. I cut, pasted, rotated, enlarged, flipped, you name it I did it to the map to get Exyel so see how many places you can pick out in the map. I’ll give you one to start with. The peninsula below The Pleuteken Manor is the bottom of South America. Cool right?

Laters,
T.V.

Update....

Hi ya,

Okay so this is what’s been going down. I’ve been working my butt off at school. I had a midterm last week and I got an A on it. I was happy… and I only studied for five minutes. It was so nice to see I got a good grade. Plus I’ve been working on picking classes for next semester, I’m going to be having Fridays off next semester!! Yay! I’ve been working on perfecting my website so go check it out it’s pretty good so far. And I’ve totally been doing some GREAT writing. I’m just zooming through The Snowy Waste. And I’m still gathering some ideas for Crimson Clashed With Ivory, once I hard core start working on it it’s really going to come out good. And I don’t think I’ve posted this yet…. But I’m planning on sending The Snowy Waste out to publishers this spring and if I keep up this work then that’s really going to happen which makes me sooo excited! Any how I’m working on a very good scene now… I’d post it but it gives away a lot about the first half of the book, because yes I’m nearing the halfway mark on it!! YAY!!! Oh and I’m still looking for help on the FAQ sections of my website so please email ANY questions to me! Thanks! Have a good night all!!

Laters,
T.V.

Bye-Bye Writers Block

Hi ya,

 So awesome news!! I finally got over my writers block with The Snowy waste! Whoot! So I decided to honor my lack of writers block with an all night writing fest. So far it’s going great. I’ve been at it since midnight and I’ve typed almost 5,000 words. I’ve typed 11 pages manuscript style (one inch margins arial 10 double spaced). So I’m pretty proud of me. And I’m having a riot typing cause as I think I’ve mentioned I’ve chucked out most of what I had written in favor of some new plot twists and just general tweeks that will connect it and make it flow better. So I’ve been adjusting that tonight. I was so excited I added in two battle scenes…. Hehe I have such a bad addiction to those things. Over all in what I have typed for The Snowy Waste I’m fast approaching 100,000 words!! I’m at 81,000ish now so when I hit 100,000 words we’re having a party! Haha any how I just wanted to share that I’m working on the series again. I’m still coming up with ideas for my vampire book but I’m going to pass on typing. I just want to work on the series so I can finish The Snowy Waste! I’m just so excited that it’s my main focus again! Yay! So as a bonus for you all here’s a little tid bit of what I’ve typed tonight.

This is just some down time/kill time till it gets good. But basically they just left Vayger and they found out that Vayger wasn’t welcoming at all and they lost their horses there so they are on foot…. Which sucks for them…. a lot. So here you go!

 The air was crisp and cold when the five awoke later that day. Even though noon had passed the air was still freezing. Neal rubbed his hand together to try and bring some warmth into them. Jamie started a fire with nothing but magic and Billy helped her keep it up so they could all warm up and eat before they started their long walk north. It was going to be tough without the horses but they had to make it. Winter was upon The Waste but it had yet t snow and that made the questers a little apprehensive because it meant that the snow would come soon and there was a great possibility that they would be caught in that storm. If they were caught in that storm it would spell doom for the surely. So it was wise of them to get right back to walking after they were warm.

Muscles were sore from yesterdays fleeing but no one complained because they knew that they needed to do this. They needed to get to The Twin Talons before they were all caught and killed in a storm. As they trudged north not many words were exchanged for they knew it was easier to keep walking then to talk and waste precious energy. So one foot was paced in front of the other and they walked stride after stride north. When night fell they had covered good ground but not enough to bring them to The Talons on the next day. It would be at least another day if not more and the way the wind was blowing it felt like a snow storm was on it’s way. But they kept walking. It would have been easier with the horses and it would have been a nicer journey because they legs wouldn’t have been aching so much… but they could deal. They all knew what they had to do.

Sore legs was a small price to pay for the peace of Exyel. All of their struggles would work out for the better. Exyel needed them to finish this and they would even if they had to walk the whole way they would complete it. They would see this quest through till the end. It was this thought that kept them walking over the hard cold ground of the waste. It was this that made them pull their cloaks tight around them as they trudged on. Even with their gloves on their fingers froze and their hands shook from cold. Through two layers of socks and through their boots the cold seeped. They would stop periodically so Jamie and Billy could start a fire and warm them all before they continued on.

Day slipped into night and they stopped for rest. This time though they all had enough sense to make a fire to sleep by. After the fire was secured for the night and they had all eaten they fell asleep without much thought or talk. The days journey had taken a lot of energy and they were all anxious to get it back. So sleep blessed them all.

Hoped you liked it!!
 Laters,
T.V.

New Book and Other Info

Hey….

Sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been busyish. I’m trying to settle into the swing of college and stay ahead of my work which I’m doing really good at so far. And as for writing… I haven’t done an over abundance of it. I’ve typed maybe two pages in The Snowy Waste… it makes me sad but I’m just so stuck up on this one part and I don’t know how to change it or whatever. So I think I’m going to go back and start doing some edits on the first part and leave the second part for now.
On the whole upside of having writers block on the series I’ve come up with another writing tangent that I’m currently pursuing. I was bored Wednesday night after classes so I started doing one of my favorite things… researching vampires! Now let me tell you. I have sooo much information saved on my computer about Vampires. And not Stephanie Meyer’s pansy ass washed out vampires but real Vampires. Like the old school ones that can only come out at night and need to be decapitated and burned to be killed. The ones that are not good looking but are rather grotesque. And those are going to be the Vampires in my new book…. Which is yet to get a title. But basically the vamps in my book are old school. They must abide by The Six Traditions. So there are laws that they must follow and behaviors they must abide by. Okay so the basic jist of the book is the main character Cody Van Helsing (she’s a chick) and her clan of Vampire Hunters travel the world killing Vampires that are causing problems for towns. And the towns must have contacted her through mail for her help. She also deals with a few other paranormal sort of things during the book. So far it’s not going to be a series but there will be plenty of room for me to branch off and write other Cody Van Helsing books. Oh and she also uses come really cool Anti-Vampire weapons that she’s created. And ya… that’s basically all I’ve got so far.

So…. I think that’s just about all I’ve been up to writing wise lately. but just to give you some info on what I’ve been up to at school… well I’ve been adjusting to classes and it I totally love all my classes they’re actually surprisingly easy which is nice. I’m almost two weeks ahead in homework for most of my classes. And over all I’m having a good time. I’m finally making friends and what not. And I’m going home this weekend and I know I’m going to miss campus…. How weird is that. So ya anyway I’m going to hit up lunch now. I’ll try to post more often I’ve just been busy and a bit lazy!

Laters,
T.V.

Playlist And Vayger Scene

Greetings!


I moved in to my dorm yesterday. Yay! I’m officially a college student, how exciting! After I unpacked I sat down and did some hardcore writing. Yesterday I wrote almost ten pages! That’s pretty good for me because I usually get side tracked by whatever, but with just my roommate and I around there’s like nothing to distract me… except to pick out music. So I got this great idea to do a play list post. Basically this is the music that I’ve been listening to while I’ve been writing lately. It’s in my iTunes as my Inspiration play list…. Great name right. Any how I’ve decided to arrange them as the top 13 most played this time. And I’ll also include the scene I’ve been working on. Enjoy!

Scene: When the Quest Quartet first arrive in Vayger and don’t get quite the warm fuzzy greeting they’d expected.


1. The Call -- Regina Spektor
2. Love Song -- Taylor Swift
3. Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been [Acoustic] -- Relient K
4. Must Have Done Something Right -- Relient K
5. Legacy -- Sanctus Real
6. Until The Day I Die -- Story Of The Year
7. If It Means A Lot To You -- A Day To Remember
8. Waking The Demon -- Bullet For My Valentine
9. More Then It Seems -- Kutless
10. Overture -- Andrew Lloyd Webber (for Phantom of the Opera)
11. Just Another Star -- Bullet For My Valentine
12. Up and Up [Acoustic] -- Relient K
13. Forever and Always -- Bullet For My Valentine
Laters,
T.V.


Oh p.s. here’s a little snippit of the scene…..

Jamie did not have a chance to throw a retort at Billy before they came upon Vayger. Little Gnome children ran about barefoot in the street as older Gnomes gathered. Luke’s heart leapt into his throat as he saw so many familiar faces. Mounts were pulled to halts and the new comers dismounted. “Can that really be you Luke?” a Gnome asked in his native tongue.
“Yes.” Luke bowed.
“Well who is it that you’ve brought with you? Criminals? It seems like the stunt a no good Gnome like you would do.”
“What issue do you have with Luke?” Jamie asked in perfect Gnomish as she stepped forward.
“He is no good. He abandoned Vayger and everything we Gnomes stand for. Why should we let him back into our town?”
“You should allow him to enter because this is his home town and,”
“It don’t make a difference if this is his home town or not.” a Gnome said as he stepped forward brandishing a sword. Jamie’s hands flew to her sword hilts.
“Why do you draw a sword at us?”
“You’re likely to be some group of criminals come to hide out here. Or you might be a group that’s lookin’ to mooch off us good folk for the winter.” another Gnome came out of the crowd with a sickle.
“I assure you we are neither. All we wish if for a night’s stay, we can pay for food and lodging. There is no need for you all to be getting so defensive with us.”
“Jamie… just let it drop. We can go around. I know some paths we can take.” Luke said as he tugged at her sleeve but she did not budge.
“No Luke. I do not think that they are treating you fair. I will not tolerate people treating my friends this way.” Jamie’s legs bent slightly as she crouched into a battle ready stance. Behind her Jamie felt her friends tense and she knew they wanted a fight as little as she did.
“We cannot allow you to stay here if you all are renegades. It’ll be bad news for Vayger see.”
“Oh I understand where your false fears come from. But we are not renegades. You assume too much and on the pretext that we are traveling with Luke. That my friend is very closed minded of you.”
“If you are no band of marauders then why does your hand stray to your blade so fast?” a gnome in short trousers asked.
“Why do your fellows take up arms so fast?” Jamie quipped. As the gnome turned to look at his fellows he saw that many of them now had weapons out. They started to advance toward Jamie. “It would not be wise of you to attempt this.” she drew her sword halves out spun them with blinding accuracy and then connected them in a swift movement so she could spin windmill them in front of her. The Gnomes who had taken up arms faltered in their advance. Jamie smiled and checked her blade’s movement so it stopped in mid spin. “So is this how Vayger will be remembered for welcoming The Quest Quartet? You take out swords and sickles to greet us? Very odd… ” Jamie spun her double ended blade in another blinding display of moves. She vaulted over her moving blade and landed in a couch as she smacked her blade down on the dirt. Her gaze fixed on the gnomes and the closest ones took steps away from her.
“What do you all think you’re doing?” a voice chimed from the crowd. Everyone fell silent and a path was made for the speaker. A pretty little Gnome came through the crowd. She wore leather trousers and a green linen shirt, her brown hair was pulled back in a loose bun.

The Quest Quartet

Welcome back friends!

So here’s the post where I’m putting everything out there basically concerning my series. The Cycle of Zantor is actually a collection of series, four to be exact plus four books that tag along with tit. My series I mostly refer to is The Quest Quartet it’s going to be the first one published and it’s four books. I have the first book written all out in five notebooks and I’m only 220 pages into typing it. Sometimes I get quite sidetracked and start working on the second series I want published The Final Thread Trilogy, which is where all the Sh** goes down! Seriously soooo much happens and I’m in love with it as much as I’m in love with the quartet. Anywho…. Okay lets see I’ve been working on the Quartet since I was in seventh grade so I’ve got loads of information on the world I’ve created and the people who run it. I’ll be putting up some of that here. A few character profiles, maps, myths, and so on.
And here’s my two minute plug for The Quest Quartet::
Exyel has been plagued for thirty thousand years of civil war. But it’s all about to end now. A group of three unlikely friends leave Flar in search of The Armlet Of Exyel. The Armlet was the reason for the whole war and once it is reunited and worn by the true heir of Exyel then the land will be at peace again. But can these friends do it. A Human, Neal, tags along for the opportunity to leave the small vineyard town. A walking talking living skeleton Billy Bones goes to reclaim all his former glory that he had as King Tantin Exyel. As for Jamie she is not all that she appears to be and hides more then she shares. Yet she goes with her friends to find The Armlet. But how long will she be with the quest? On their path to reuniting Exyel the three find new allies and enemies that would see Exyel at war forever. With the saving hand of Samjedabar and Clewween the questers might just save their breaking land. But if they fail Darkness will sweep in and claim the land forever.

I’m quite picky about my names, because it takes a while to come up with proper ones to suit the characters so here’s some help with them…
Pronunciations::
Clewween ~ Clew (Rhymes with drew) - en
Exyel ~ x-yel (yel rhymes with peal)
Flar ~ fl-are
Neal ~ rhymes with peal
Samjedabar ~ some-jade-a-bar
Tantin ~ t-on-tin

I think that’ll be all for now…. Till next time!
Laters,
T.V.