I started generating ideas for what I hope will be a follow-up book to my recently finished fantasy novel, but I've discovered that it wants to be written in the first person, while the first book is written in the third person. I fear that it might cause a serious problem unless I adapt my ideas to the third person, while they are still in the process of being developed, which is getting more and more difficult the longer I think about the story that is slowly unfolding at the back of my mind. By the way, you can follow my fantasy novel inspiration board on Pinterest.

Harry Potter Moment of the Week

Favourite editions of the books

I'm a bit late to start this whole meme thing, previously having no idea that something like that has been going on, but being a huge Harry Potter fan I decided to do it anyway. This is a Harry Potter meme hosted by Uncorked Thoughts. Today I have to share my favourite Harry Potter editions.

There are great many covers out there and I like and love many of them (including the mismatched set that I own), but I guess if I ever buy a new edition of the books (something that I'm dying to do), I would go for the covers created by Jonny Duddle for Bloomsbury, because besides the cover art that I love (I have a particularly soft spot for book 1 and 4), the books include the map of Hogwarts in the beginning and other Potter- and J.K. Rowling-related tidbits at the end of each volume.

This is my own faithful set. The first three are adult covers and the rest are children covers. These were the only editions that I could find back then in my country and I've been reading and rereading them ever since I bought them in the early 2000s.

Also, I always wanted to have this anniversary edition, so if anyone knows where I can get it - do tell me! I just love this cover. There's something so sweet and poignant about it. I love the way Harry looks here and I think the colours are lovely.

I always feel a kind of nervous excitement and I'm all jittery and restless when I finish writing something. For the last two weeks I've been rewriting and expanding an old fairy-tale of mine. I didn't want to start anything new and big that would require massive amounts of research, brainstorming and inspiration right after I completed such a long and laborious work on my fantasy novel but I found that I simply can't NOT write. So I decided to dust off my ideas for fairy-tales and short stories in the meantime. Now that I've finished the fairy-tale, I'm going to attempt writing a romantic short story set in Victorian London, which is something that I've never done before. I also have an idea for a short story set in Regency, so maybe I'll write it down after this one.

I'm afraid that my style is too complicated and old-fashioned for a fairy-tale for children, though. I should have been born in Regency or Victorian eras. I would fit just fine there. I wouldn't even have to curl my hair, because it curls naturally into perfect locks - I kid you not! Anyway... I learned that if I try restraining myself to simple words and short sentences, I start suffering from literary constipation. I do think that it would make for a nice picture book, because the imagery is quite fine, but I'm afraid that if I try finding a publisher for it, I will be asked to make it not as wordy and convoluted, which will definitely kill the spark and render the story dry and uninteresting. On the other hand, maybe they will want me to expand it some more and write a short chaptered book instead? I think I'd love that.

I believe this stage of revision is complete. He-he. Judging by the time of this blog post I managed to do it by the end of the week. In truth, it's already the 4th in my country :D

This week I'm planning to finish revision, sent off copies of the book to my beta readers and (finally!) start sending out submissions. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: I've gone through 120 pages out of 219 of the book by now. I didn't count on excessive heat and the fact that it seriously impairs my productivity but I still have three days till the end of the week to reach my goal!  I've also sent out my first query for the book. Just now. I'm quite excited about it, of course. It feels like I've never done it before. But it's a new book and a new opportunity!

Is it just me or does writing advice dumbs down books?

Maybe it's just me but when I read writing advice like "cut it short so that the reader's attention doesn't drift" and "make it simple" and "show don't tell" it all sounds to me like "readers are so stupid - you have to spell it out for them or they won't understand". It's like we have to dumb down our books for readers to get them. But isn't it a bit insulting? Don't we underestimate the readers when we do it? And what's wrong with adverbs, anyway? Can't people paint their own picture in their mind of what the character is doing if we use them instead of spelling out everything? They're not stupid. If anything, I think we should make it more challenging. I, for one, love a book that challenges me. I like adverbs. I like passive voice. I like long, complicated sentences. My favourite (world-famous, best-selling, loved, admired, worshipped) authors love them too and their readers and legions of fans don't have problems with any of it, because, in the end, it's The. Story. That. Counts.

Revision progress report

I was on a roll last week. I revised a very big piece and added a number of new pieces too. In fact, I'd written so much I couldn't read out the whole thing to my CP, because we ran out of time. I did stumble eventually at one particular part that I have reservations about, though I was quite happy with it upon writing it. But there's something off about it and I'll have to work on it to find out what exactly, because I can't put my finger on it at the moment, and make it right. A couple of days ago I had a sudden itch to start querying agents with my fantasy novel and the only thing that managed to stop me from rushing unprepared headlong into the process was the necessity to compose a synopsis as it is required by one of the agents on my list I want to query first. Thankfully. I promised myself that I wouldn't rush into anything with this book. This is it. The real thing and I want it to work. I want to make it right. But I do get occasionally fidgety and itchy, because I just want to give it a shot and see how it goes. Will it work? Will it at happen at last? Will I get an agent? Funnily enough, you almost believe in the possibility until you open your mailbox, skim through the email and feel your heart drop to your feet when you see that they will just have to pass on. The good thing is that I did write a synopsis! But my first attempt was quite deplorable and I didn't dare send it off for fear of ruining my chances.