So, it’s been a while.  The gap between updates unusually long.  In my defence, I have been away to a part of the world (Northumberland) void of 4G/3G or indeed any sort of ‘G’.  Mobile communications with the world, as normally enjoyed, denied.  Not that I’d been idle while away, I hadn’t.  We’ve moved forward to some 60,000 words, taken the tale of Amy (part 2) into a very dark place, witnessed some abject cruelty, and some redemption. 

People ask what are you typing, I tell them ‘a book’, they say great ‘what’s it about?’, I tell them, and then I am asked if there was any kind of connection between my state of mind, and my writing about suffering; am I writing from experience, or indeed from a desire to inflict such pain? 

Flip, that’s a weird one.   My answer was, and remains, that I have an imagination, nothing more, nothing less.  I imagine scenarios, and I describe them how I see them, not how I want them to be, or indeed out of some repressed memory bank – it is my imagination and nothing more.  

So, Amy has moved forward, the story has progressed, we have discussed (but not answered) the morality of prostitution, and we have explored the desires of majority of people for that simple life of happiness, the Eliza Dolittle (of Pygmalion fame) “room somewhere, far away from the cold night air…”

So, I haven’t been idle, the project is still live, we are moving forward, and copies will be sent to the usual suspects for review/critique in due course.

Oh, and I’ve had two rejections this week….  Bugger. 

The Gordian Knot, the unique selling point…

The ‘pick me’ enigma…

It’s a difficult thing to do (or its definitely one I’m struggling with).

How do you make your CV survive the 30-second scan, and how do you transfer that survival ability onto your synopsis?

How do you stand out from the hundreds of other hopeful scripts earnestly being promoted by their authors?

For whatever reason we have received positive reviews from the women who’ve read the book – is it a ‘woman’s’ book (whatever that is), I don’t know. It was never written with a specific audience in mind – although it is definitely an ‘Adult’ story, outside of that I think the parameters are very broad.

Yes, I think Amy Grace is a good character, yes I think that ‘Thomas Payne’ is a good story, but how do I make a good pitch?

We have a young Irish Woman who is a strong female character – that’s got to tick a box?

We have, with this tale, a very sympathetic story exploring the lasting legacy that sexual assault leaves.

We explore the emotional trauma that continues long after the bruises have faded from view; we travel in some desolate shoes, some depths of despair…

But, and it is a big BUT, but, we find strength, find courage, find inner power to overcome, to refuse to drowned by the enormity of the event.

We also have a rip roaring Victorian adventure, we have Amy in the Sudan, The North West Frontier and the Wild West. We have a flying machine that allows her to move from place to place, adventure to adventure.

She fights bad people, she takes on near impossible odds, she channels the Irish Warrior Priestess of Badb (Celtic mythology anyone?), she punches way above her (slight) weight – but we don’t have cartoon violence, we have realism, we have injuries, and we suffer for our victories.

But it’s not a book of doom and gloom. We have light moments, we have humour, we have hope.

We do have a very bad guy. We have Thomas Payne, we have a fully rounded bad guy, but even as evil as he can be (and he can) we also have a man of depth and feeling (all be it only about what he wants) who avoids the moustache twirling caricature of the villain, and presents the reader with a man capable of love and loss.

Is the above a good pitch?

I suppose until someone takes a punt and prints the book I’ll be forever refining and correcting my sales pitch, and forever looking to cleave that knot in two!

Oh, well, back to writing the story, to telling the tale.

Its job application time again.

Sitting down reading biographies, looking at what the agent specialises in, debating, cogitating, gambling – will they like my submission? 

Will they like it enough to call me back, to write back with an offer, or to write back with a polite rejection? 

Much like the empty room into which I’m currently speaking, so too is the whole application process a shot into the darkness. 

Although it is a shot, with an echo, that takes about eight weeks to reply! 

So, four ‘lucky’ prospective agents selected, we have pinged off our synopsis, chapters one-three and our snappy pitch as to why a book about a young woman who is viciously attacked and who wakes up in a brothel will sell, will make them money…