Oh my heck, y'all.

[agilebrit]

I'm still doing my read-through of the not!kkbb/im novelthing. It hangs together remarkably well for something that I never outlined and didn't have an endgame for until I was 70,000 words in. I should finish by tomorrow, and then y'all can have it. Still one slot open; if anyone not on the list wants it, sing out. Also, lady_moriel, I still need your email address.

I checked the guidelines at Baen's for book manuscripts, and they like lengths of 100K-130K, but "if your novel is really wonderful send it along regardless of length." They don't require an agent, and they want the full manuscript with a synopsis.

This, naturally, makes me wonder if I can pad the thing another 15,000 words or so. Is there a subplot I'm not exploring, something that needs expanding upon--a subplot I could possibly add?

AUGH.

Well. First, I need to finish this read-through. With its teeny tiny print. Nearly there...

In news of my mouth, the novocaine has worn off and 800mg of ibuprofen has taken care of the pain quite handily. Yay.

Comments

[vikkymouse.livejournal.com]

As I'm not to your journal, I'm not sure what the not!kkbb/im novelthing is about. Care to inform a newish reader?

As for the length, I wouldn't try to really push the length unless you have something really compelling to add to the story. More then likely if you do at 15k like that, and they accept it, they will ask you to cut it for being weak.

Just go with what you got, send them what they ask for and make sure your 'first 50 pages' end of a cliffhanger.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Hello, and welcome. :)

It began life as an Iron Man/Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (my two favorite Robert Downey, Jr., movies) crossover and has morphed into something new and unique. I was working on it at WorldCon, whining about not wanting to write fanfiction ever again, when some kind soul said "Don't you already have a universe of your own you can drop these characters into?" After facepalming for a moment, I realized that I did, and so I massively rewrote the first three thousand words and then it took off from there.

Understand that I'm not a natural novel writer; the short story is my chosen form and generally has been since Day One, even when I was writing fanfic. Also, I don't outline, so I had no idea where the thing would go from week to week, although I had a general idea. Mainly, I just let the characters carry the story--and boy, were they in fine form.

Basically, Tony Stark hires Gay Perry to look into some industrial espionage for him, and hijinks, as they say, ensue. Except that Tony Stark is now a pharmaceutical researcher and CEO rather than a weapons manufacturer, and Gay Perry is a woman played by Queen Latifah. We've got werewolves, vampires, and PTSD. I have a snippets tag, if you want to read tiny excerpts, or you can click on the not!kkbb/im tag to see the process from the start.

I won't pad it just to pad it, but if I can think of a subplot that fits, I'll for sure stick it in there. The other story in this universe began life as a straight romance with no speculative elements whatsoever, and then doubled in length when my Writing Buddy suggested making not!Pepper into a werewolf. So, it can be done, and done well, as evidenced by the fact that that story passed slush at Baen's and is sitting on Mike Resnick's desk right now.

Also, the conceit I use when referring to the characters is such that I refer to them as "not!" whatever character played them in the movies. So, Alex is not!Tony, Ben is not!Harry, etc. Because I'm strange. :)

[vikkymouse.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is very neat. I'll have check out the snippets. I've never heard of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I must now rent it!

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I'll warn you that it fully earns its R rating, but it's an entertaining ride. And it improves on multiple viewings. :)

[vikkymouse.livejournal.com]

I don't mind a full R, as long as it's not torture porn like Saw. My sister likes those, I just don't understand it.

One quick trip to Youtube, I remember seeing the trailer and thinking it would be a fun movie. It's right on the top of my netflix queue. :)

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

And then once you've watched it, you can let me know and I'll point you to the music video I made for it. :)

[vikkymouse.livejournal.com]

I just watched the movie and it was very very good. Funny and with a good amount of action. I would love to read the story when your finished with it, and the one you did to create the setting. It looks very interesting.

Thank you for pointing me to the movie.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Here's my KKBB music video. Daniel Powter's "Bad Day," because poor Harry had, like, the worst week EVER.

And of course, you have to understand that the characters in my stories bear very little resemblance to their original counterparts. Not!Harry is ex-Army and actually good at what he does, even while he suffers from PTSD and mad needle fear. Not!Perry is a woman played by Queen Latifah and voiced by Wanda Sykes. And not!Pepper is a werewolf. It's...morphed. As it was bound to do, because while the original characters inspired me, I had to twist them and make them my own because it wouldn't be salable otherwise.

[vikkymouse.livejournal.com]

That was nice. He really DID have a bad week. You know, I didn't count, did he kill 16 people at the end of the film? (Everything other comment about how they ended the book came true, so you know 16 people seems reasonable).

And not!Pepper is a werewolf? I really want to see that story now. :)

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Got it! Do you want me to screen this comment? And is .doc format okay?

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, probably might as well; don't want to get it picked up by spambots. Doc format is cool as long as it's not docx. (Seriously...Vista is evil.)

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

Never pad, but after people give you critique you may find there are places that need fleshing out.

[dragonflymuse.livejournal.com]

I think you should totally go for it and send it out when it is finished! What have you got to lose??

Woe for dental anguish. I hate the dentist. But it has been 18 months since my last hygienist appt, so I have to go :/