Growth
I'm re-reading Auroradawn right now. It's a young adult novel I sent to Random House Children's Books back in 2005 that got taken off the slush pile. The novel wasn't ultimately taken by them, and it's languished in its file in my cupboard ever since.
Now I've got it out to edit with a view to re-submitting it. And I'm realising how much richer my writing has become in the intervening years. Reading that first chapter, yes it has action, lots of it, but there isn't enough of a sense of place in the story. My heroine Arrien lives in a vast house called Mithras, but I hadn't even mentioned its name.
There was a massive failure of logic in that first chapter too. Auroradawn, the family's precious organic half-sentient soulship, had for some unfathomable reason, been left in a public shipyard by Arrien's mother. But later on I talk about the hangar attached to the house that the ship uses. So it's obvious that Auroradawn should be there in the first chapter.
The story was aimed at the young adult market. Back in 2005, that meant I had to make Arrien nineteen. But with the blurring of boundaries into New Gen, I can make her a little older, which is much more suitable for the Captain of a powerful Great Family. And young adult stories have become much harder-edged in the last decade. I need to sharpen up Arrien and her brother for the current market.
All of which means a total re-write of the novel, not the simple edit I thought I was into. But I'm quite excited at the idea. I've always loved the concept of the book, which is based around Arrien discovering the answers to riddles to prevent the re-creation of a deadly cyborg army.
The growth of me as a writer means I can now see the story in a way I couldn't before. And once I've done the changes the story will go out. It's time for my growth to find a home.
Now I've got it out to edit with a view to re-submitting it. And I'm realising how much richer my writing has become in the intervening years. Reading that first chapter, yes it has action, lots of it, but there isn't enough of a sense of place in the story. My heroine Arrien lives in a vast house called Mithras, but I hadn't even mentioned its name.
There was a massive failure of logic in that first chapter too. Auroradawn, the family's precious organic half-sentient soulship, had for some unfathomable reason, been left in a public shipyard by Arrien's mother. But later on I talk about the hangar attached to the house that the ship uses. So it's obvious that Auroradawn should be there in the first chapter.
The story was aimed at the young adult market. Back in 2005, that meant I had to make Arrien nineteen. But with the blurring of boundaries into New Gen, I can make her a little older, which is much more suitable for the Captain of a powerful Great Family. And young adult stories have become much harder-edged in the last decade. I need to sharpen up Arrien and her brother for the current market.
All of which means a total re-write of the novel, not the simple edit I thought I was into. But I'm quite excited at the idea. I've always loved the concept of the book, which is based around Arrien discovering the answers to riddles to prevent the re-creation of a deadly cyborg army.
The growth of me as a writer means I can now see the story in a way I couldn't before. And once I've done the changes the story will go out. It's time for my growth to find a home.
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