R.C. Hancock's Blog, page 4

First 5 pages of Sleeping Fatty

I’m sorta going stir crazy waiting to get started on my BLUE edits. While I sit, I’ve been working on two other novels.

I polled my FB followers and asked which premise they found more interesting. Sleeping Fatty won out over The Best Man so I’ve decided to pull that out, revise it, and post it on my website for feedback. (And so we can have something to do until December 9th!) I’m also working feverishly on my Sci-fi, but I’ll keep that private for now.

So to begin, here are the first five pages of my Paranormal YA Mystery. If you have a minute, tell me what you think and anything you like or would change. As long as at least one person is interested in reading on, I’ll keep revising and posting the next installment. If no one gets into it, I guess that tells me all I need to know about this one and I’ll stick it in the circular file.

THANKS!

SLEEPING FATTY

BY

RC HANCOCK

A pair of young maidens shared nothing at all.

There lives were as different as big is from small.

But each of the maidens, both the wide and the slim.

Could on one thing agree; what they wanted was him.

Two lessons were learned, and the importance thereof:

Love brings about death, while death brings about love.

PROLOGUE

FIVE YEARS AGO

The ringing exploded in Sara’s head, ripping through her dreams like a rusty fishhook. In a single zombified movement she jolted up in bed and sent her hands fumbling along the dresser.

“Hello, Hainsworth residence.”

If she hadn’t been half-asleep she might have thought better of her greeting. Past midnight you can answer calls with whatever swearword comes first to mind and not be considered unreasonable.

But as a ten-year-old, Sara Hainsworth didn’t have a lot of practice in swearing. She was, however, trained in the art of etiquette, courtesy, and knee-to-crotch self-defense. And while being awoken in the middle of the night did put her in a mood to injure someone, she was relieved that her wait was finally over.

“It’s about time you called,” Sara whispered. She brushed her golden hair back from her face with a slender hand. Her cheeks felt stiff with dried tears. Stupid boys.

“Are you there?” she said louder, her voice bouncing off the shadowy walls of her bedroom.

No answer. He must be getting to a place where he could talk without being overheard.

Sara didn’t have to worry about such things–her father could sleep through an explosion. And it was just as well. He was still mad at her for running off. He’d be even more upset if he knew who she was talking to.

She pulled the covers over her head, anxious to hear the boy’s voice. But she’d been waiting so long already. Why wasn’t he saying anything? She could almost hear him breathing into the phone. A chill ran through her. Even with her limited phone experience, she knew this wasn’t normal.

“Quincy is that you?”

The line went dead.

If it hadn’t surprised her so much, she might have been angry. She’d fallen asleep waiting for him to call, hoping for some explanation as to why he’d left her standing in the cold for three hours. Instead, all she got was a few seconds of breathing into the receiver.

If he was tired of being her boyfriend, or whatever, she could handle that. He should just tell her. But to wake her up just to hang up on her–that was cowardly.

She emerged from her blankets and set the phone in the charger. Now she was more confused than ever. How was she supposed to act when she saw him at school? Despite all his boy-stupidity, part of her still wanted to run into his arms and apologize for whatever it was that she might have done. But would that fix anything?

She knew what her friends would say, “Just pretend he’s invisible–boys hate that!” Maybe she should. At least then he’d know he couldn’t treat her like this. So what if he was a year older than her. A sixth grader–big deal.

Sara lay down, pulled the thick comforter up to her chin, and began discussing the issue with her wallpaper. She imagined the bears in tutus were giving her advice. One said to ditch the bum, another suggested she write a note in which he could express his feelings by checking the corresponding box. Most of the bears seemed just as indecisive as she was.

Soon her eyelids began to droop. Just before sleep overtook her, Sara tentatively decided on the cold shoulder approach. Of course she would open up to him eventually, but he’d have to work for it. And he had better have a darn good excuse for standing her up.

 

CHAPTER ZERO

THE NAMING OF THE SHREW

With a name like Phoenix Ivory Wack you’re just asking to get made fun of. Although shortening it to Nix made it marginally less freakish, the poor girl had no idea what her parents had been thinking at the hospital fifteen years ago. Maybe they had hoped she

would turn out attractive and charming, and that a crazy name would somehow add to her uniqueness.

Well it added all right. But the only thing it emphasized was her weight problem. To a class of freshman, the name Ivory alone was more than enough material to last the school year. Dumbo, Elephant Woman, and the Belly Mammoth were a few of the more popular.

But if Nix resented any of these, it was nothing to how she felt about her first name. Girls should not be named after mythological poultry, as she often said to anybody who would listen (i.e. her cat).

At the beginning of every year Nix could pinpoint the exact moment the teachers’ eyes fell on her name in the roll. Their brows would furrow, making sure they’d read it correctly, then they’d try unsuccessfully to suppress a smile. Most didn’t seem to know which gender they were looking for. A few would read the name loudly as if daring someone to raise their hand and claim such an atrocity.

Phoenix Ivory Wack. It sounded like someone hacking on a fish bone. Of course Nix couldn’t really blame her parents for the last name. The whole family was stuck with Wack. And it fit them perfectly–short, coarse, and odd.

By high school Nix had given up trying to fit in. Achieving popularity was hard enough without being shackled to six syllables of post-modern poetry. Nor did obesity and general awkwardness help much in the friend department.

So it may not come as a surprise that Nix had only one real friend. And since lately, even he seemed to be losing interest, Nix fully expected to begin her sophomore year as a friendless pariah.

But the summer wasn’t quite over. And before she gave up completely and resigned herself to a life of solitary overeating, Nix determined to make one last ditch effort to steal back her best friend.

And that meant crashing Sara Hainsworth’s party.

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My Publishing Journey

For those of you who don’t follow my old Story Surgeon blog, I decided to reposted the full story of how I signed a publishing contract for An Uncommon Blue.

If you’re wondering what the Story Surgeon was all about, it was going to be a like Clearplay for eBooks. (Allow the user to take out or change things they didn’t like in a novel.) Even though the Kickstarter campaign didn’t raise the amount needed to fund my eBook Editing App, it did cause quite a stir in the blogging world.

Because of all the controversy and resulting articles, I was made aware of a similar company, who is also just starting out. (Except they have more resources and marketing know-how.) I contacted them, we had a few meetings, and we’ve decided to merge our efforts! They’ve put me in charge of their social media and blog.

So before I go into the story of my writing success, I’ll introduce you to:





I’m ecstatic to be working with these guys. They’re talented programmers and have great business sense. They’ll be focusing more on hiding specific content of eBooks rather than adding your personal notes/edits, but the fan fiction aspect is definitely on the the agenda for the future. Please check it out and share with your reader friends.


And now for the long-winded version of “how I got a book deal”:
I’m thrilled to be 

 

How it Happened (from the beginning)
My second grade teacher, Mrs. Thuftedal told my mother I was going to be a writer, but it wasn’t until after college that I thought it sounded like fun.

In 2004 I’d recently finished Half-Blood Prince and several Roald Dahl books and was suddenly filled with the desire to write my own story. I wanted to touch other people’s lives as Rowling and Dahl had mine. So I started on THE EXITOR, a story of an overweight girl who learns to stop her heart and send her soul out to spy on the neighbors. It was slow going. I didn’t know how to write and usually ended up playing video games instead.

Meanwhile, life happened. I got married and had a couple kids. Still, I plodded away on my story. I got some books on writing and devoured them. (Most helpful were Story by Robert McKee and Character and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card.) I learned many things I’d been doing wrong and a few that I’d been doing right.

 

My wife Jaida read most of my work and loved it. (She claimed that had my writing been crap, she would’ve discouraged me at the start.) It was mostly because of her support (and because of the overwhelming urge to create) that I kept going. Several years later I’d finally finished my 200,000-word mammoth of a novel.

I queried the heck out of SLEEPING FATTY – Book 1 the EXITOR SERIES. Over a hundred agents. I received a few partials and one even liked the partial and requested the full, but in the end I was nursing my injured pride and trying to think what I could do to fix the manuscript. Jaida suggested I put my paranormal epic on hold and revisit a story I had written a few months back. (I had thrown together a couple shorts for publishing credit, but Cricket Magazine didn’t want them.)

So I started on AN UNCOMMON BLUE, turning the 2,000 word story into another whopper of a novel. (Over 100K words.) This time, however, I was a little more savvy with social media, I’d made a few friends in the Query Tracker forums, and heard mention of a pitch contest. That was the first I’d heard of blogger query/pitch contests and I was immediately hooked. In addition to my querying, I submitted my baby to tons of contests and received all kinds of great feedback. Here are a few of the entries I was able to find cluttering up cyber space.

Surprise Agent Invasion March 2012
Pitch Madness March 2012
America’s Next Author 2012
Writer’s Voice May 2012
Wilde’s Fire Editor Judged Contest May 2012
Entangle an Editor July 2012 (I entered both my stories in this one.)
Teen Eyes Contest August 2012
YAtopia September 2012
Operation Awesome Mystery Editor   September 2012
An Agent’s Inbox September 2012
Backspace Writer’s Conference Scholarship Contest 2013 (My entry is at the very bottom with 4 votes.)
Adventures in YA Publishing February 2013
Query Combat May 2013
First Page Friday (Query Critique) July 2013
Miss Snark’s Secret Agent January 2014





I know there are more, but I have to finish this blog post sometime before Christmas.

During these contests/critiques I received tons of feedback that helped to reshape the pitch, query, and first page. With each contest, my story grew stronger. The most notable contests, ironically, were some of the first ones I entered (the first two on the list), because an R&R (Revise and Resubmit) resulted from both of them. Both Sara Sciuto and Gina Panettieri helped me identify problems with my manuscript and were extremely helpful in fixing them. I owe them both so much! If it hadn’t been for the time they took to help out an amateur, my story would probably be shelved, collecting dust. The Wilde’s Fire contest was also exciting because it resulted in an offer of publication from Curiosity Quills Press! I wanted to accept the offer right away but the agents I was working with at the time (Louise Fury gave me some great advice) said I should get an agent first and then they could decide which publishing company would be best for my career. So I declined the publishing offer (CQ was very gracious and said the offer stands) and continued to query.

Meanwhile I reconnected with Mrs. Thuftedal, who was pleased to learn of my writing goals and quickly fell in love with An Uncommon Blue. She even wrote an incredible letter to Ellen Degeneres in an effort to get me on her show. (I shared her letter here.)

Sara eventually passed on the project, but Gina stuck with me. In fact, since that contest in March 2012, I’ve been in regular contact with her at Talcott Notch and she’s been awesome! At one point I thought I’d snagged her (when she set up a time for a phone call) but we just talked about how she’d liked my changes and how I needed to solidify my world by getting the history down as well as a series outline. Because Gina was such an awesome (and experienced) agent she was exceptionally busy. At times I wondered if my submissions had gotten lost in the shuffle. Curiosity Quills was still anxious to publish me, and I was torn between waiting for Gina and starting the process with the small press.

That’s where I was last month when my wife’s friend Candace told me Cedar Fort was looking for submissions. Candace goes to our church and is a producer for Frame 7 Productions as well as a talent manager. Before she’d even told me about the call for submissions, she’d contacted her friend at Cedar Fort and told her about my book.

I submitted An Uncommon Blue, and a week later received an offer of publication! Now I had some seriously hard decisions to make.
I had two publication offers (actually three, but one seemed suspicious) and an awesome agent (Gina) who I assumed would eventually take me on. But at the moment it was Candace who had naturally fallen into the agent role. She seemed as excited about the offer as I was, and with her contacts at Cedar Fort, was already finding out specifics about the contract and what it would mean to sign with them.
 
After thinking and praying about what to do, I decided I’d rather have an inexperienced agent with loads of enthusiasm and time for me. I asked Candace if she would consider being my literary agent. After doing a little research, she agreed, and that is how I ended up signing two contracts in one day. Candace has been an awesome help getting my social media up and running and Cedar will have AN UNCOMMON BLUE out on Dec 9th 2014, just in time for Christmas!

(And I’m super excited for to show my cover off…it’s amazing!  The stick figure is one of my own make and definitely not what we’ll be using. I’ll be revealing Cedar Fort’s cover pretty soon.)

 
I will forever be grateful to Curiosity Quills, Gina, and all the other professionals and bloggers that took the time to help me along my journey. I’m especially grateful to my second grade teacher, who–a quarter century ago–knew what was in store for this shrimpy little blond kid.
 



 
 

 

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Cover Contest Announcement

Post Revised 3/25 – The Cover Art Contest is now the Fan Art Contest and entries will no longer be considered for the cover. (Turns out Cedar Fort’s design of my cover was ready today and I need to have it approved this week.) I will still post the fan art entries to be voted on, and the winner will still receive a signed copy of my book, but the details have changed somewhat. The post below will reflect these changes. Oh, and the good news? THE COVER THEY DID FOR ME IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! I love it so much and I hope you will too!

R. Greenwood, my Web Manager at Cedar Fort did an awesome job setting up my cyber home, don’t you think? THANK YOU!! I’ll be making all my big announcements here first, so make sure to subscribe or check back often.

To celebrate the launching of my official author website, I’m having a Fan Art Contest.

So listen up artists, graphic designers, and photographers–this is your chance to win a signed copy of AN UNCOMMON BLUE and show off your work on the author FB page.

So take some cool photos, or draw some colorful pictures. I want to see your vision of Bruno and Telesphore. The entries will be posted on the facebook author page and all users will “like” the ones they like best. The art with the most likes will receive a signed copy of my novel and a shout out in the acknowledgments.

So here are the rules:
The contest begins March 25th. I will accept entries until Halloween. (So take your time and make it good.) All entries must be emailed to me at rchancock at hotmail dot com. Put “Blue Art Contest” in the subject heading. On Monday, November 3rd, the entries will go up on the RC Hancock Author Facebook Page to be “liked” and commented on. The art with the most likes will be declared winner. Depending on how many entries there are, we may give runner up prizes.  The book will be delivered (International okay!) as soon as I get my advance copies and sign one.
Artists can submit more than one cover design, but I may choose to display only one design per artist. Designs can be sent in pdf, jpeg, or whatever crazy file you want, as long as it can be uploaded to Facebook.
You don’t have to make a cover. A scene from the story, or a main character will work. Even just a hand with a glowing palm.
When you submit your entry, you retain all rights to your art and allow me to display it on my site for the duration of the contest, after which time you can choose to have it taken down, or allow it to remain in the page photos for the world to admire.
But in order to make a design you need to know something about the book, right?
Below are a few facts that will help get your creative juices flowing. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments sections. I’m sure I’ve missed something.

In Télesphore, the glowing color of a person’s palm determines their place in society, and touching hands with another mixes the colors permanently. For the first sixteen years of his life, rugby star Bruno Nazaire hasn’t had any trouble keeping his hands to himself. But when a Green boy sneaks into Blue Campus to get Bruno’s autograph and is attacked by a guard, Bruno falls into defense mode. And kills the guard. Whether or not the slaying was accidental, the rule of law has not been challenged in fifty years and the Steward is determined to make an example of Bruno. That is, if he can catch him. Bruno’s only chance at survival is to become someone else. That means a haircut, a change of wardrobe, and most important, getting rid of his once cherished Blue. Now he’s visiting parts of town he never knew existed, and making friends with people he would’ve crossed the street to avoid only weeks ago. But the officials hunting him are getting smarter, and in a city enclosed by jagged iron fences, there are only so many places to hide. At the last minute, Bruno’s parents arrange a deal to clear his name and get some semblance of his life back. All Bruno has to do is abandon those in the Red slums that look to him as a leader and let a familiar Green boy die in his place.

Main Character: Bruno Nazaire. 16 yrs old, brown hair, blue eyes, wide build, jock body (plays right winger on Rugby team). His right palm glows blue.

Up close, the actual “fire” should look like something like a slightly raised blister covering the entire palm of the right hand. Underneath the skin, a dim colored light shines. I’d love to see some creative photography with light coming out of palms. Just remember not to make it too bright or flashy. It shouldn’t be like a flashlight, more like a soft glow.

The love interest: Veronique DeGrave. 16 yrs old, shoulder-length black hair, tan or slightly freckled, super attractive short, thin, caramel colored eyes, red glowing palm.

The Green Boy: Baptiste Rexer, ten yrs old, short, chubby, curly blond hair, blue-green palm

If you’d like any more details about the world or characters before you begin, let me know in the comments.
Now go make some art!

 

Thanks http://www.52kitchenadventures.com/20... for the crayon pic!
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