The Next Circle of Hell, Vol. 2

RaggyCat said:

Thanks, Elle. Analysing a synopsis and assessing a creative idea probably requires more input than my agent is able to give at this time, so I'd much rather wait for her to be on better form and able to consider the idea properly, even though it does suck a bit. I hope she's OK. I know she broadly likes the idea for New Shiny, in bigger picture terms, but I'm hesitant to carry on with it in case she thinks my angle is wrong. I probably won't approach the other agent what she thinks as it feels like quite a personal thing...

I might instead use the time she's away to develop something completely different - I've had an Adult crime series idea for a while which is very commercial, and I'd quite like to try.

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That adult crime sounds like a good idea. Good luck with that! Crime series are always very popular so a good bet.

Elle. said:

Sonya — what kind of research do you need to do? Anything interesting?

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At the moment? Sheep farming and 1880s accounting. I'm bored out of my mind.

I have two more weeks to finish my edits, but I plan to have them done much sooner. I was asked to add a scene, which should be pretty straightforward (and this editor always marks a few places in the manuscript where she thinks it might work, so I have options), but because it's historical I need to do a whole lot of research for a couple of sentences. I'm kind of procrastinating on that.

Hayley - another historical writer to share my pain with!

Raggy - everyone seems to have hit a wall at the moment. It's weird because it's people subbing all over the world who are suddenly having behind-the-scenes problems and really long waits. I think it does help to have multiple projects to work on, so when you're feeling deflated about one there's something else to give you some inspiration. But I know some writers like to only work on one thing at a time ...

Hey everyone! I hope all of you are doing okay. I'm reading a lot of stuff about countries reopening and it's a really weird thought to have.

Welcome to all the new peeps!

Raggy - Oh no, I'm sorry to hear about your agent. I hope she's doing okay...it's such a stressful time to, well, just be a human right now. Adult crime sounds really promising. I think it's a great idea to focus on that while your agent is out of office (or rather, away from keyboard).

Sonya - Wow, you'll be done with your edits so soon! I am definitely not envying the amount of research you need to do. Hopefully the scene comes out relatively effortlessly!

I'm about 1/3 of the way into my sequel. It was going well, very steadily, up until a few days ago, when I got derailed by something else. Now that that's over and done with, I can't wait to get back to writing. I'm always terrified that when I pause in the middle of drafting it'll kill all my momentum and the story will perish. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen here...

Putputt said:

I'm about 1/3 of the way into my sequel. It was going well, very steadily, up until a few days ago, when I got derailed by something else. Now that that's over and done with, I can't wait to get back to writing. I'm always terrified that when I pause in the middle of drafting it'll kill all my momentum and the story will perish. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen here...

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Hopefully distractions make you think of even better plot points! Some of my best ideas come when I set something aside for a bit.

I'm at the stage of my edits where I'm checking for overused words. I wish someone would put more words in the thesaurus. I'm trying to find an alternate to "shrug" and one of the options thesaurus.com gives me is "body language". She body languaged isn't exactly a good sentence!

Sonya - what do you mean bored? Those sound like riveting subjects!

Putputt - 1/3 through already! Feels like you only started yesterday. I know what you mean about the fear of losing the momentum. I sometimes worry about that too, if I take too long of a break it will be harder to ease back into it.

Elle. said:

Sonya - what do you mean bored? Those sound like riveting subjects!

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Oh, yes!!

Everybody has disappeared, I'm guessing there's not a lot of news at the moment.

I'm sort of finished with my edits, but I had so much trouble writing this book I actually think I'm dangerous when I look at my manuscript now - I want to delete everything and start again. I think I just need to trust the editors' opinions and leave it as it is. It's time to let this one go.

I still have no news about my other book. I'm so starved for information from my publisher that I got crazy-fangirl excited when they followed me on Instagram yesterday. It'd be sort of nice if authors and editors were forced to switch jobs for six months. I think it would make editors realise how tough it is on our side, and help authors realise how run off their feet editors are.

I have news but nothing I can't go into details at the moment...

OMG, news! That’s so exciting.

My book got a second starred review (Booklist), but it has few reviews on Goodreads, aside from the ones from you wonderful people. It can be requested on NetGalley right now, so if anyone’s into deadly video games and creepiness, hint hint!

My sister’s friend suggested I hire an independent publicist, but that’s a big expense to incur at a precarious economic time, so I’m doing it the old-fashioned way (using my own contacts, bugging people). Of course I’ll always wonder if I could have made it take off with a big enough investment. The wondering is one of the many tough parts of this business.

Elle. said:

I have news but nothing I can't go into details at the moment...

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waiting......

I got my editorial letter from the agents! It's mostly what we discussed but in more detail. I had a really bad experience with my last agent - I didn't quite get what she was going for and she made up an excuse and dropped me - and so they put a really sweet note in saying that they're aware of that and happy to go back and forth on these as much as is needed. Thankfully it all seems to make sense to me, and it's nice to be able to get started.

I don't have much to report. My book promotion is slowly ongoing as we navigate the trashfire that is 2020. I do have a couple of irons in the fire as far as new projects go, one which is nearly ready to submit to my agent, and is probably well-timed in terms of themes about race and politics considering what's going on right now.

i'm on sub as of today guys! i'm being a really bad lurker i've read everything but i don't really have anything to say lol

Fuchsia Groan - congrats on the new review and how exciting that it is up on NetGalley. I agree that hiring an independent publicist sounds like a big expense.

mccardey - all I can say at the moment is that editors are still buying books.

Shoeless - good luck with the new projects

S. Eli - good luck with the sub process! You'll have to stop lurking to keep us updated!

S. Eli said:

i'm on sub as of today guys! i'm being a really bad lurker i've read everything but i don't really have anything to say lol

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Considering everything going on the in world right now, it's fair to want to just sit in a hole and lurk. I've been playing Persona 5 Royal and that's been absolutely CATHARTIC. A bunch of teenagers hopping into the hearts of evil, corrupt, powerful adults and forcing a change of heart so they confess their crimes? My God, I really need to live in that world right now...

Yay, Elle! Can't wait to hear your news.

Fuchsia Groan said:

My sister’s friend suggested I hire an independent publicist, but that’s a big expense to incur at a precarious economic time, so I’m doing it the old-fashioned way (using my own contacts, bugging people). Of course I’ll always wonder if I could have made it take off with a big enough investment. The wondering is one of the many tough parts of this business.

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I actually just read an article about doing that (the article recommended not doing it, but I'm going to guess how effective it is differs a lot from book to book), so who knows what to believe?

Congratulations on the review!

I basically said screw it and pulled an all-nighter to get my edits finished. Now I'm sitting here at 10:30am all spaced-out, but the book is back with the editor. I just hope I sent the right version. It wouldn't be the first time I sent my publisher the wrong document. Once I sent one I'd written personal notes to myself in!

Nothing happening here, mostly playing computer games to distract from low mood.
Congratulations Elle and good luck on sub to S.Eli.

Ugh, I want to vent somewhere, and a public forum seems like a great place to do it.

Some crazy lady just went through my personal Facebook page (not my author page) and spewed all this crazy, abusive crap about Trump etc. everywhere because she saw me make a comment to someone else about Fox News. And then she told me that, as an author, I have to let people say whatever they want in my private space.

I've seen, in the past, people say they write to or email authors to tell them why they didn't like their books, and that authors should expect abuse, but ... wow.

I know I could set my profile to private, but most of my readers friend me rather than "like" my author page. This might just change my mind. I'm a little worried she's unhinged enough to one-star my books - which is much easier to do now Amazon doesn't require you to write a review.

Let me at her, Sonya.

Helix said:

Let me at her, Sonya.

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Watch out, Dawn from Facebook, there's a disgruntled bird coming after you.

This has not been my favourite week ...

Sonya Heaney said:

Ugh, I want to vent somewhere, and a public forum seems like a great place to do it.

Some crazy lady just went through my personal Facebook page (not my author page) and spewed all this crazy, abusive crap about Trump etc. everywhere because she saw me make a comment to someone else about Fox News. And then she told me that, as an author, I have to let people say whatever they want in my private space.

I've seen, in the past, people say they write to or email authors to tell them why they didn't like their books, and that authors should expect abuse, but ... wow.

I know I could set my profile to private, but most of my readers friend me rather than "like" my author page. This might just change my mind. I'm a little worried she's unhinged enough to one-star my books - which is much easier to do now Amazon doesn't require you to write a review.

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Bloody cheek!

Helix said:

Let me at her, Sonya.

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As an author, you have a lot of friends with Facebook access who know how to write. So. Ya know.

That said, Block her. And start directing readers to your author page. And explain that it's because of Dawn from Facebook.

It's really important right from the start to separate you online presence between Work you as author, and Life, you as person. Separate email too.

Don't, for heaven's sake, use something like Author in your email address, either. Let the writing speak for itself.

I had almost completely stopped using Facebook until my publisher told me I had to have an author page. Because I publish under my real name, and was involved in the book world years before I was published, I've had some pretty blurred lines between Sonya, person and Sonya, author.

Ugh. I don't think Facebook helps sell books in the slightest. Most people just mass invite their personal friends to "like" their page, and I'm not sure how that helps at all.

I've stopped accepting a lot of friend requests (especially all those fake profile men claiming to be Special Forces soldiers!). Dawn was blocked the minute she started attacking me.

You don't have to use, post, or do anything with a author Facebook account or page, but you DO need to own your namespace, so no one can pretend to be you.

AW Admin said:

You don't have to use, post, or do anything with a author Facebook account or page, but you DO need to own your namespace, so no one can pretend to be you.

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Yep, you're right. I actually reserved my name on everything (except a Facebook author page!) back in 2012, and I didn't submit anything to a publisher until October of 2018. I was that cowardly that - even after finishing a creative writing degree - it took me about fifteen years to submit a manuscript to anyone.

Ugh, sorry to hear that Sonya I have a Facebook, but I only use it for the author side of things. I've found certain groups on there useful, but otherwise I don't use it terribly much.