Tate Hallaway's Blog, page 27
January 17, 2012
January 3, 2012
My Own Special Weird
One of the things I did over the holiday was read the page proofs for the mass-market paperback edition of Tall, Dark & Dead (my first Garnet Lacey book). My editor sent it as a .pdf, and so I mailed it to my partner's fancy new Kindle Fire, and spent a day reading my book on the Kindle. I found several typos, much to my surprise. The good news is that they'll be corrected in the paperback version. The other thing that was kind of awesome about that is that I discovered that one of my best selling books is also one of my quirkiest.
I don't know if you noticed, but Garnet is kind of a slut. There is a LOT of sex in that book, and sexiness. Sebastian is also surprisingly dark, and Parrish is... a total hustler, like literally, in that book. It's kind of amazing... and Garnet's friends are odd, a lot like my real friends, and the interactions in that books are very *me*.
Thus, one of the things that re-reading that book has done for me is made me a bit more confident about my quirkiness as a writer. You see, in most cases, I had no idea if my personal brand of weirdness was a plus or a minus to sales. The AngeLINK books, which are very *me*, are all out of print.
This "failure" has caused me to believe that maybe I had no idea how to write to a popular market. But, TD&D is going to mass-market. It's the only book I've had that's changing format like that. As a trade-size book, it's well into its sixth or seventh printing. I've easily made as much money in royalties from that book as they paid me in an advance, probably twice as much... if not more.
My point is, I can now say, with confidence, that my quirkiness is _not_ a detriment to sales. IN FACT, a person could make a pretty strong case that... maybe, just MAYBE I know what I'm doing.
Well, we probably shouldn't go THAT far. But, at least, it seems to be true that a book that has a lot of my extra special weirdness smeared all over it isn't automatically headed for the remainder pile.
This was kind of an epiphany... during the Epiphany and everything.
November 9, 2011
Characters on Board!
My science fiction alter ego was kindly asked to participate in one of SF Signal's Mind Meld questions. This time the question was: "What are the advantages of character driven science fiction stories over stories that emphasize technology and sense of wonder? Can you provide some examples of stories that deliver both in a satisfying way?"
My answer (and those of many other wonderful authors) was....
October 26, 2011
Order Now!
October 18, 2011
Precinct 13... Done (Kinda)
Last night, I typed my two favorite words in the English language: "The END." Of course, at this stage, the book is really not done in the least. My MVBR (most valuable beta reader), Naomi Kritzer, has yet to read and comment on all the stuff I skimmed over, my embarassingly stupid misspellings, the plot holes, and the bits I blatently left out. Naomi is also wicked awesome at uncovering emotional themes that I didn't entirely realize I had going and giving me ways to bring them more to the surface. So, when she's done, I'll have some work to do.
BUT I can haz a working draft. A book what has a beginning, middle and end. For me, the hardest part is over, as I'm one of those writers who really prefers revision to writing (in some ways. It's at least a place I feel a lot less PRESSURE.)
To be fair to this WiP, however,I actually really enjoyed putting words to the page this time around, thanks, in large part, to my mother's advice to simply "embrace the cheese."
I will have to say, however, that I am never again naming any project with a title that includes the number 13. This book has been totally cursed. This morning, I got frantic email from Naomi telling me that the version I emailed her seemed to end in the middle of a scene. I went back to my computer and it looked like I didn't save all the words I'd written that took the story from that scene to "The END." I started to FREAK. Then, I realized that through some really weird accident, the final version of the book got renamed (of all things) "Maybe." (Explain THAT one, Dr. Freud.)
This was not the first computer weirdness I've had since starting the book. I'm seriously looking on-line for an "uninstal gremlins" button for the Toshiba.
Anyway, that's a big YAY. Shawn looked at me this morning and asked, "So what are you going to do with all your free time?"
For one, I need to start writing up ideas for more book proposals. I also have a short story percoloating in the back of my mind that I'd like to get down on paper for an anthology I was considering submitting to.
So... uh, write, I guess. :-)
October 7, 2011
New Review!
October 3, 2011
Triskaidekaphobia
I'm officially overdue on my WiP (Precinct 13, see amazing cover art below.)
And, I'm beginning to wonder at my wisdom of naming it with such an inauspicious number in the title. After all, there have been a series of unfortunate events that have lead to to this book being late. My father has been ill on and off, quite seriously, which would be trauma enough... BUT, I also had a computer crash (literally, as I dropped the computer on its hard drive) which resulted in a complete loss of everything I'd written on the book to-date.
Coincidence?
September 30, 2011
OMG! OMG! Best Cover Art EVA
Here's the cover art for PRECINCT 13, my WiP. It's actually a bit overdue at the publisher, but I'm frantically writing and should have done soon. Because, DUDE, I so want to write a book as AWESOME as this cover!!!
What do you think?
September 29, 2011
MMP for TTD!
Use your decoder rings for the subject line! It means that there will be a mass-market paperback edition of Tall, Dark & Dead coming to a store near you in April of 2012 (or via Amazon.com pre-order today!)
If you're still scratching your head and asking, "Grandma, what's a mass-market paperback?" Well, honey, back in the late Jurassic, when your nana was young, MMPs were pocket-sized books you used to see on newstands. Most of nana's favorite books were mass-market paperbacks. In fact, nana is *so* old, we used to just call them "paperbacks," because there really weren't a heck of a lot of trade paperbacks to confuse them with.
Well, guess what? They still make 'em, and I'm super-psyched to be getting one!! And I hope they sell like HOTCAKES... no, child, I have no idea what a hotcake is or why it sells so well...
