Aeryn Rudel's Blog, page 58

Writing Acts of War II – Week 4 Update

I’ve completed week four of the first draft of Acts of War II, and I’m well beyond the one-third mark. Here’s the details on week number four.

Progress: I wrote 11,185 words, completed act one, and ended in the middle of chapter seventeen. I’m pleased with this number, though it should have been closer to 15,000. I was hobbled a bit by my primary computer going down, which cost me about aday of work. Fortunately, I’m very diligent about backing up my work and no progress was lost in the melt...

Real-Time Rejection II: The 5th Rejection of “Story X1”

Well, we’ve hit the half-way point, and “Story X1” has received its 5th rejection. If you’d like to see the previousrejections,go here.

Without further ado, here’s rejection number five:

Thank you for submitting “Story X1” to XXX. We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, we don’t feel it is a good fit for us and we’re going to have to pass on it at this time.

Thanks again. Best of luck with this.

This is a standard form rejection from a pro market, one that’s in my top-ten list o...

Writing Acts of War II – Week 3 Update

Week three has come and gone, and the first draft of Acts of War II has passed the 30,000-word mark.Below is my progress report for the week.

Progress: I wrote 10,022 words for week three and made it to the end of chapter eleven and very nearly to the end of act three (one more chapter to go). That’s less raw words than the previous weeks, but with the holidays and another large project intruding on my writing time, I’m more than happy with this number. I’m still well on track to finish ahead...

2016: A Writing Rearview Review

And that’s a wrap on 2016, some might say mercifully so. As for how 2016 treated me and my writing career, I would rate the year as “not too shabby.”

Let us now turn to a whole bunch of stats because they are the super-duperest, most fun thing ever. Full disclosure: I love stats. It’s a personal failing, I know.

Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi Submissions

Total Submissions Sent: 54*

Better than last year but not nearly as many as I would have liked. The biggest reason I didn’t get as many short story...

Writing Acts of War II – Week 2 Update

Week two is in the books, and the first draft of Acts of War II is coming along. Here’s my writing report card for the week. If you missed last week’s update, you can find that right here.

Progress: I wrote 12,021 words for week two, slightly more than week one. I ended my writing for the week in the middle of chapter eight and pretty close to the end of act one (should have that wrapped up this week). That’s solid progress, and if I keep it up, I’ll finish the first draft well ahead of sched...

Writing Acts of War II – Week 1 Update

I’ve begun the writing the first draft for Acts of War II, and this is this first update on my progress. Before I get into the numbers and whatnot, let me tell you a bit about what these updates are going to look like.

First, I’ll give you my progress on the draft for the week prior, which will come in the form of how many words I’ve written and what chapter I’m on. Next, I’ll tell you one thing that was fun about writing that week and one thing that was a little challenging. Finally, I’ll gi...

Acts of War II Character Profile: Ashlynn d’Elyse

Time for the first character profile for Acts of War II, where I’ll give you some basic information on the major characters from the upcoming novel. If you’re a fan of the Iron Kingdomsand WARMACHINE,you’ll be very familiar with some of these characters (but not all of them). If you’re new to the land of steam and sorcery, these profiles will give you valuable information on the characters and the world they live in.

To kick things off, we’ll start with a character who’s new to the Acts of Wa...

Writing Acts of War II – A Novel Adventure

Hey, folks, I’ve been pretty transparent with my writing career here on the ol’ blog, what with all my rejections and over-analysis of said rejections, but let’s go all the way.

I’m going to start writing my next novel for Privateer Press, the sequel to Acts of War: Flashpoint. The working title for this book is Boiling Point, but that is very likely to change. Anyway, what I’m going to do (with Privateer’s kind permission) is document the entire process of writing the novel from first draft...

It Came From My Hard Drive Part 4 – “A Pointed Education”

Here’s another little vignette I wrote for a Dungeons & Dragonsupplement that never made it into print. This one would have been the introduction to a characterbuild focused on throwing weapons. It’s one of those piecesthat’s always left me wondering what happened to the characters, and maybe there’s a longer story in heresomewhere. Anyway, it’s called “A Pointed Education,” and like the rest of these, it’s high fantasy, dwarves and elves kind of stuff.

A Pointed Education

“Master, would it...

When Should You Reply to a Rejection Letter?

Should you reply to rejection letters? A good question, and 99.9 % of the time my personal opinionis a resounding NO. The most compelling reason is that many publishers will straight-up tell you not to reply to a rejection in their submission guidelines, and we always follow the submission guidelines, right? That said, here are some reasons writers sometimes DOreply to a rejection letter (and my opinion why they shouldn’t).

To say thank you for an encouraging, personal rejection. A nice thou...