THUD!

That's the sound of the brick hitting the floor.

I have been asked to send in a FULL manuscript! I can't believe it!!

OK, deep breaths. There. Whew.

If I get no farther, this tells me a few things:
1) Your story needs to start off with a bang. Make sure you write a good, sharp hook.
2) Your query is important. It's your foot in the door. Make it as good as anything else you write.
3) A synopsis is a must. Some ask for it, some don't. Write it anyway, weed out the crap, and by all means include the ending.

Oh man, this is getting good.

Partial sent.

Partial what? What are you talking about? Have you gone insane? Finish your sentence, man!

Partial manuscript sent. And a synopsis. This is make or break time. Now I find out if I can cut the mustard. If my prospective agent likes what they read, they'll ask for a full manuscript. That would be a very good sign. But for now, we'll see.

Writing a novel synopsis, I found, is very hard. You need to achieve a delicate balance between brevity and completeness. You can't drone on and on about all the little details in your story. You have to keep it as briefe as possible (agents are people with time they don't want burgled), while relaying all of the important events and character descriptions. But the hardest part, by far, is revealing the ending. You must resist the urge to wow them with your irresistible cliffhangar, suck it up and spill the beans. Agents don't want to waste their time wading through your crap, just to find a crappier ending.

So it's all sent, synopsis and first 40 or so pages. The brickshitting will commence in a few days or so, when I know it's been received and under evaluation. Listen for the thud.

Yes!!

After checking publishersmarketplace.com, I saw that I sent the query to the wrong address. It seems that Ms. McCarthy's office is always swamped with submissions for Realms of Fantasy, so she employs another person to handle her novel queries. I sent a quick email query to the right person and...

they're interested!!!

Now, I need to send in the first three chapters or so and a synopsis! One hurdle down!

In the mean time...

Got a chance to do some reading over the past few weeks. I'm not one to read the latest trendy novels, mostly because I just don't care enough. There are lots of classics that I never read, so I usually choose them first.

This time around I read 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne. From what I've read, this story has been butchered through the last century and a half. It seems there was a bad translation, making Mr. Verne's descriptions and predictions egregiously incorrect. Also, the older translations were missing nearly a quarter of the original story. I read the Signet Classic version, which seems to have been translated correctly and in full.

While reading through the story, I was amazed at how the concepts and technical details remained true to today's standards. His design for a steel submarine, his ideas of travelling under the ice caps, the technique of submerging underwater to weather a hurricane - all of these things came true after the writing of this story. I can't even begin to comprehend the vision Verne had. And the details of the undersea flora and fauna were so rich and exhausting you would have thought he spent decades as a marine biologist. Simply amazing.

Besides the technical wonderment of the story, the characters and main storyline were gripping in their own right. I'm thoroughly convinced that characters make the story, and this one doesn't disappoint. Arronax, the learned professor, has no qualms about remaining imprisoned undersea for months at a time, as long as he's rewarded with the opportunity to view the depths of the sea not attainable by any human (other than his shipmates). Conseil, the loyal servant to Arronax, intrigued me by his unwavering devotion to his master. I identified with the harpooner Ned, who appreciated the view and the scrumptious seafood, but wanted nothing more than to be free from his imprisonment.

If you've never read this book, shame on you. If you have, make sure you read the proper version. This needs to be made into a modern movie-era film. I haven't seen the 50's version yet, but I think if a little care is taken, this could be a great epic. As long as Hollywood doesn't try to show off by adding unnecessary computer-generated thrills, and stays true to Verne's story, I would actually pay to see the movie. And I don't do that very often.