The start

This isn’t actually my first blog. I’ve had a couple before and always found them to be hard to keep up. However, I decided that I would write another book. This time, I took the Steampunk Fiction route as it is something that I love reading about, love dressing up in the clothing of Steampunk and thought it would be a challenge.

The first few chapters I wrote on my PC and in emails as I walked to – and from – work. I was then lucky enough to be given an iPod by a close friend and started to write using that.

I can honestly say I didn’t look back. I was able to get an average of 2,000 words a day down down on the iPod using Notes and had a 75,000 word first draft done in around 30 days.

The next step I took was to put 7 chapters onto http://www.authonomy.com/books/32130/shattered-lands-torquemaster-rising/ and see what people said. I also sent it on to a number of close – but not sycophantic – friends to see what they thought.

As non-professionals they loved the story, as did a number of the people that read the draft chapters and left comments. That’s when I started to get  … overconfident. Not cocky, but definitely overconfident.

I honestly thought I was ready to start submitting to agents. So I did. Fortunately I got a rejection pretty much straight away. It was great getting that rejection as I felt I needed one to get over the rejection hurdle and start looking at becoming a proper writer.

So I went out and hunted for all the agents of the writers whose books I read and liked and built up a list of agents I liked the look of. Whilst I was doing this, I came across John Jarrold who was not only the agent for Stephen Hunt – author of Iron Moon – but a publisher with many years of experience.

I now have a frank, honest and professional editorial document that has left me in no doubt as to just how much of a re-write I have, how to change things for the better, and good examples of POV. I can’t wait to get my teeth into this project to make the world of Shattered Lands one of the best steampunk settings there are.