Work in progress

I'm about halfway through the last book in a series I'm writing in Norwegian. This is the 11th book, and I'm finding it quite the challenge. The last book should be as good as the first - of course they should all be good - but when the production time for each book is about 5-6 weeks, something has to give. Mostly it's the outstanding literary qualites, excellent language and well- thought out storyline.
So what's left? Well, that's a good question. 
Tempo for one thing. I don't have time try out different storylines and mostly have to go with whatever pops into my mind. Sometimes that gets me to places that keeps the story moving in a good tempo. Other times I have to backtrack and rewrite despite the frustrations and the quick sideglances at the calendar. It's excellent training for the imagination, by the way. Keeps the old brain alert and focused - often on the border of insanity - but it's good. I also have to trust my characters to move the story along. That's good too. Characters are funny people - they live their own lives so to speak, and I just have to trust I have done enough ground work to keep the flow going. The trick is not to have too many characters, otherwise you are bound to forget someone ...
The series has been a joy to write. Yes, I've been moaning about the short deadlines, I've battled "keyboard elbow", and sometimes I've just been sitting in front of my computer, staring at the blank screen for hours. But the truth be told, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I had no idea I would be capable of writing a book in such short time. Now I know because since January I've written 6 books! Once you know that, there's no holding back.
Natalie

A good day ...

This is a good day.
 Every day a manuscript leaves the house on it's way to the editor, is a good day. I love the feeling. Of course I immediately start to worry about what she'll say, but that's just ... static.
I have a very good feeling - the story is good, the plot works, the words are all in the right place, and I love our characters. It should be fine.
She'll love it.
I hope.
To quote Dorothy Parker: I hate writing. I love having written.
I know exactly what she meant ...
This manuscript is the third horror story for children, age 9-12. Working title: The Park.

On the subject of rewriting

We are in the final stages of our new children's book. The story is in place and working very nicely. It's a horror book, so it has to be dark and spooky - which it is. It can be difficult to know how far we can go before giving the readers scars for life, but at the same time, children are different. Some children love to get spooked, and these books are for just those children. The books a popular with boys, so that's a good thing.
But back to rewriting.
It's a double-edged sword, isn't it? You want your story to be the best it can be, and at the same time you really don't want to go back into it. When I've finished one of my stories, I really don't want to start on page one and start hacking at it. I just want to start on a new story!
Since we are two writers on one story, we have different approaches to this. Anan attacks every word, he doesn't let anything slip away, and uses an hour on one page. I have no patience for that. I run through it, tired from the writing, and I miss the finer points.
I know rewriting is necessary and important. There's only so much time an editor has to use on one manuscript and so it's the writers job to do the best job he/she can do. The rewriting is easily the most important job - apart from writing the story, of course. Otherwise it would be like using a lot of energy on digging out the diamond, and then not bother to cut it.
I totally get that. I just lack the patience. Lucky for my, my wiriting buddy loves words and he loves polishing them until it sounds perfect.
It takes longer and it's really exhausting, but when our manuscript is sent to an editor, there's not that much work left. Editors love that!
And then I can finally start on a new story  without having to stop because of editorial demands.

Summer ...

Oslo is hot and humid, inviting thunderstorms and heavy showers - and it's so difficult to write! My tempo slows down, it's like the keys on the keyboard are doused in syrup. I don't work well when it's too hot, I have to admit. I work, of course, but everythings seems to take so much more effort.
I have two manuscripts to finish this month, and although they are both progressing fairly okay, I would be happier if they progressed a lot more than fairly.
I need a new brain ...

Looking for inspiration ...

My newest project is driving me reasonably nuts. It's not a bad situation, the stress of getting the story together is a great tool for inspiration. I keep running story lines through my head, testing this solution and that angle, and sometimes they're bad, sometimes there's diamonds in the dust. The important thing is to keep the motivation going  when the mountain is very high and I've fallen down for the millionth time ...

Denmark!

Great news for us!

The Changeling has been picked up by Rosinante, a Danish publisher. That means that all three of our children's books are sold to Denmark. How cool is that?
The new one - also a horror story - lives under the working title of "The Park", (I know, not the best title, but I'm sure we'll come up with something better as we progress). We have a delivery date of August 2nd, so that it will get printed on February 1st next year - hopefully it will be accepted, and also sold to Denmark.
It's nice when this happens, gives us a boost and is really inspiring.

Keep it moving - the art of query letters ...

The most important thing to do - apart from actually writing manuscripts - is to keep the material moving. Sending our words out into the world and see what happens. So we have decided to do just that and the past few days we've spent time making a query letter. It's is difficult. We've done this quite a few times - anyone serious about their writing has to do this, and so there's much energy and agony over every word and phrasing.
The intention?
To get an agent or a publisher to ask toi see more of your stuff. So how do we do that? By being as straight forward and honest. No flippancy, no bragging, no overly self-praise. The material has to speak for itself, but you also need to convince the agent or publisher to want to read it. If the query letter is full of spelling mistakes (very important for us second language English speakers), or it's a "glory to us" letter, the person who reads it will most likely never make it to the second paragraph. In other words, the letter shouldn't sound to desperate, but not to "whatever" either.
Jeez - they should have classes in this ...
Anyway - the letter will be sent out this week, and then the wait for the phone call begins ...
Thankfully we are so busy with new and ongoing projects, we will (ha, ha) manage to put it out of our minds and be a bit que sera, sera about it.