This is what you do when your latest draft is 98% complete and you 'just need a few more days'. Particularly when the deadline is already as late as it can possibly be without throwing the release date off. Do you dare ask the editor for an extension?
I realised just four days ago that I needed another week to finish Hal 3 off properly. Yes, I'm a perfectionist and yes, I'm a procrastinator (never a good combination) So, I called my editor and she offered me another seven days before I could even start begging. Phew.
Anyway, the bits and pieces are flowing together nicely and I'm so-so-close to finishing this one off. I'm really looking forward to working on Hal 4, which will be the first new Hal novel without a previous version to work from. Alas, only the first three books are under contract, but if everyone buys Hal 3 when it comes out that state of affairs should change rapidly.
Technorati Tags: spacejock Writing Science Fiction Humour
Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)
Friday, June 30, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
Good luck, Socceroos
It's 32 years since our one and only appearance at the World Cup. 32 years ago I was a five-year-old cowering behind the sofa while Dr Who played out on our black and white telly. Tonight I'll be chewing my nails just as hard, but this time I'll be in front of the sofa.
So, lay on the munchies and the caffeine drip and fingers crossed for a good result!
Update:
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!
Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)
So, lay on the munchies and the caffeine drip and fingers crossed for a good result!
Update:
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!
Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)
Monday, June 05, 2006
Hal three: wheee!
Some of you may be aware that an early version of Hal Spacejock Just Desserts (Hal 3) was released under the Bowman Publishing imprint in 2003, but you may not realise that only 100 copies sold before Fremantle Arts took on the series. (Incidentally, if you spot one of these, grab it.)
Well, I've been rewriting Hal 3 for FACP since September last year, and over the past few weeks all that hard work has started to pay off. Any of the 100 people who read the Bowman edition would hardly recognise this book, since half the plot has been dumped along with two major characters. (Not Hal and Clunk!) I've
The problem was that the original book was a political satire, but it wasn't particularly satirical. The first character I chose to dump was a political leader with all the personality of ... a political leader. The other was his advisor, who if anything was even more boring.
Another problem was that while Hal and Clunk faced numerous challenges, none of them rated much higher than getting a puncture on the way to your own wedding.
I thought the book hung together pretty well, but each time I had a discussion with my editor I came up with ideas further and further from the original. Hence the lengthy rewrite, which has lasted 7 months on and off.
So, is it better? In a word, yes. The new major character only appeared in two chapters of the original, and even then they only have the name in common. (And I'm about to change the surname, too...) At least fifty percent of the plot is completely different, and I doubt many scenes will survive in their original form.
That's the beauty of rewrites, which is what this somewhat rambling post is all about. Yes, it's hard to hack into your cherished paragraphs, scenes and chapters, and it's doubly hard to lose gags and jokes you once laughed over. But the finished product is all that counts, and if you bear in mind I spent eight months writing the original, followed by three months editing, and have now spent seven or eight months stripping it down and doing it all over again, that's one hell of a lot of work for a book you'll probably devour in two days.
Remember that next time you're moaning an author got it all wrong ;-)
Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)
Well, I've been rewriting Hal 3 for FACP since September last year, and over the past few weeks all that hard work has started to pay off. Any of the 100 people who read the Bowman edition would hardly recognise this book, since half the plot has been dumped along with two major characters. (Not Hal and Clunk!) I've
The problem was that the original book was a political satire, but it wasn't particularly satirical. The first character I chose to dump was a political leader with all the personality of ... a political leader. The other was his advisor, who if anything was even more boring.
Another problem was that while Hal and Clunk faced numerous challenges, none of them rated much higher than getting a puncture on the way to your own wedding.
I thought the book hung together pretty well, but each time I had a discussion with my editor I came up with ideas further and further from the original. Hence the lengthy rewrite, which has lasted 7 months on and off.
So, is it better? In a word, yes. The new major character only appeared in two chapters of the original, and even then they only have the name in common. (And I'm about to change the surname, too...) At least fifty percent of the plot is completely different, and I doubt many scenes will survive in their original form.
That's the beauty of rewrites, which is what this somewhat rambling post is all about. Yes, it's hard to hack into your cherished paragraphs, scenes and chapters, and it's doubly hard to lose gags and jokes you once laughed over. But the finished product is all that counts, and if you bear in mind I spent eight months writing the original, followed by three months editing, and have now spent seven or eight months stripping it down and doing it all over again, that's one hell of a lot of work for a book you'll probably devour in two days.
Remember that next time you're moaning an author got it all wrong ;-)
Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)
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