I’m experimenting. I’m writing two novels at once and so far it’s toddling along okay. I’m editing ‘The Poisoned Apple’ and have started work on my next book ‘Church of the Vacant Lot’ and it’s my first YA – I’m kind of excited about that fact. Or rather, it’s my first intentional YA. My beta reader for ‘Theatre of Curious Acts’ thought it would work well as a YA and I’m thinking they may be right. At the moment ‘Theatre’ is out on query, I’ve had a partial request and if I don’t get a full request I might think about marketing it as a YA, it would certainly help the naff word length. Of course if I did try the agent approach with ‘Theatre’, I may find myself deleted from an awful lot of inboxes – I think it may be just a touch too bizarre.
Anyway, here is a first draft excerpt from ‘Church of the Vacant Lot’.
“The angels fell on a Sunday.
The angels fell when Christina Helene Banks sat on her bedroom floor surrounded by a dozen t-shirts. In the moment before thick clouds scurried across the sky only two things concerned her – whether she should go back to college in the autumn and Gregory Cooper. She picked a blue t-shirt illustrated with, ironically, a crooked halo above a cartoon stickman. It picked out the blue of her eyes and the blue of her mascara. She stood in front of the mirror and worried that the colour would remind Gregory of the Ice Queen, the girlfriend he had ditched a fortnight before. The thought resurrected an old fear – was she moving too fast? She had let the thought hinder her advance when he had split from Weeping Brooke Kendall and then she’d had to wait six months, two days, eleven hours for winter to defrost and go bad. The blue would have to do.”
Quite an opening paragraph. It showed a lot, while really setting a mood, A simple act of picking out a shirt to describe how she was doing. nice.
Awesome opening! It really makes me want to keep reading!
I've tried working on more than one book at once, but one of them always takes over at some point.
Thanks, Jamie.
KC, I'm cheating by working on Church at work and Apple at home. ;)
Oooo...I want more.
As for working on two at once, I knew there had to be a trick!
Don't tell the boss. :)
Man, I can't even put on my underwear and plan what socks I want at the same time.
That's a great opener, Cate. More!
er..please. ;)
Natalie, that's because your head is full of Hong Kong and wonderful plots.
Thanks, Jodi. :)
Its atomspheric and you manage this with very few words. Way to go!
Thanks, Bobbie.
Gnash gnash gnash.
That's the sound my teeth are making. They're envious at such a cool first paragraph and your ability to write more than one thing at the same time.
The rest of me is envious too.
It's a great opening. Working on two novels at once would do my head in though. It's bad enough working on the one novel with short story characters stomping around in my head trying to be heard.
Thanks for reading it girls. :D
Sounds very cool thusfar. And isn't it just awesome to know that you're working on 2 books at once???
I'm taking a leaf out of your book.