What’s that? What book has got you so excited, you ask?
Um. Well, my own. Just finished reading my single-spaced, double-sided printout (save those trees) of my young-adult, contemporary fantasy novel set in Dubuque, Iowa, entitled A Sudden Outbreak of Magic. I scribbled all over the pages, crossed out sentences, added notes in the margins, even drew a picture or two.
No, no Post-Its were harmed in the reading of this manuscript.
Well, not that many of ’em.
I was happy to note that as I hit the middle of the book, instead of getting caught up in that classic middle-of-the-book crud that many books have, I felt like my book just started to pick up speed.
I’m glad I spent all that time reworking that section especially — it’s a lot of fun. I’ve got stuff exploding and flying off into space, sonic booms, river hijinks, gamblers losing their cookies… What else could you want from a book?
Oh, and there’s a dragon, too. In Dubuque!
And best of all, my protagonist Kelley really came alive in this read-through, and I made all sorts of notes and tweaks that will really make her shine. Because when it all comes down to brass tacks and stuff like that, it’s all about her voice.
And now, after I bang out a cover letter and a synopsis… I’m thinking sequels.
Michael Jasper 
WOOOOO! Congratulations, Mike! I love how the first page looks all marked up like that. I do my revisions mostly on screen and they never look that cool!
N00b question here — you still do a query letter when you have an agent?
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Hey Jenn – thanks! I wish I did revisions on-screen for the final read-through, to save time and trees, but I miss stuff on the screen that I can catch on paper. Plus it’s nice to sit in my big chair and read vs. stare at the monitor some more…
I’m putting together a query/cover letter to help my agent when she puts together her pitch letter, which is more or less the same thing. I probably don’t have to, but I’m a bit of a control freak that way!
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I love how you can see pen marks not just on the page, but bleeding through the page. Awesome, dude. May your Iowan dragons soon be unleashed upon the world!
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Thanks, man! I think I only used up one whole pen in the process…
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Oh, and just one Iowan dragon in the book. Alas. Maybe I need to revise to add more??? 😉
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Awesome! Congrats. The book is going to rock! I do the same thing with my comic pages, actually– print them out and circle all the things I want to tweak visually.
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Thanks! I hope you’re right about the “rock” part. 🙂
I have printouts of a certain eight pages sitting right here on my desk — four different versions of ’em, actually!
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I’d say they’re over 90% done 🙂 I’m finishing up the sound effects now, and still have to do Bartamus’s magicky-world aura.
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Sweet news! (In response to Niki’s second post)
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That’s awesome — congratulations!
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Thanks, Jan! I’m hoping this will free up some time so I can read your stuff soon…
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THis is so exciting! Can’t wait to read this. Especially with the setting. Congratulations.
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Thanks, Mom — it was fun moving the setting from Chicago to Dubuque. Our trip to Iowa last year as good research.
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Another Jasper book! Awesome, man. All you dudes and dudettes, take notice. Dubuque will never be the same.
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It’s almost there, Sarah. Just need to plug in all these edits. Whew.
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You know we readers are waiting.
Catherine
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Hiya Catherine! Thanks for dropping by! Hope the book can find a publisher fast — I wanna do those sequels…
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Sounds excellent, man, 🙂 You go!
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Hey Mahesh — thanks! I hope all the hard work pays off. Thanks for stopping by, too!
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