Posts tagged ‘MELANGE BOOKS’
Every journey down that rocky road of writing is different, unique, influenced by our past and drawing on the writer’s experiences. My first career was that of a scientist, 34 years’ worth, and that experience helps shape my approach to publishing and the hesitation to self-publish.
Let me explain.
In science, once you have completed a project which has merit and contributes knowledge to your field, you set out to publish a paper describing your work. I am coauthor on more than 40 papers. I didn’t do any of the writing but performed most of the experiments that went into them and am familiar with the process of publishing these papers.
When you want to publish your work there is an accepted process. No valid scientist takes it upon himself to publish his results. Rather, you seek-out a peer-reviewed journal which publishes in your field. The process involves your work being reviewed by, usually three, scientists working in your field and familiar with the techniques you used. After reading your work they may either accept it, suggest further experiments or reject it. Do you see the parallel with accept, rewrite or reject? Having spent my entire working life under this mindset, I find it has now carried over into my writing career. Perhaps it is a flaw, perhaps not, but with my fiction I do not feel comfortable with just putting it out there. I need confirmation from someone knowledgeable in my genre and able to judge the quality of my work. This need for approval does not make for an easy writing career, but I feel the rewards are well worth the effort.
So far I have published on novel, a novella and more than 25 short stories, all accepted by a publisher, in some cases by multiple publishers. To go this route is time-consuming and requires a thick skin. It’s not easy to send your baby out there and find no one sees its value.
Let me share with you the history of my novel, New Moon Rising, in finding a publisher. I began this effort in December, 2006, and in March, 2010 Melange Books asked to see the entire manuscript and decided to publish my book. During that interval, I contacted 28 agents and publishers. One reason this endeavor took so long was that I waited to hear back from each submission before submitting again. I won’t make that mistake again. But let me tell you. When a publisher says, ‘We’ll accept your work,’ that superb feeling cannot be matched.
So there you have my approach and reasons for taking the road I have chosen to getting my work published, and why I have not self-published – yet. My approach is not for everyone, but for better or for worse, that’s what it is.
Then you have to get someone to buy it.
June 12, 2014 at 6:59 pm
9. This would make a great series – have you considered writing the next adventure?
Glad you asked this one, it’s already written. Elmo’s Invention is a prequel to Elmo’s Sojourn. In Elmo’s Invention Elmo is working at Los Alamos and here sets out to build a time machine using an old iron lung, but things do not go as planned.
This novella is longer than Elmo’s Sojourn and still needs a lot of editing, and then out it goes. I’m sure there will be other stories fermenting in my brain, but they have yet come to the surface.
10. What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m doing a great deal of editing. I have two novels written but are in need of a rewrite.
The Beast Awaits is the most complete. It deals with a monster created through stem cell research. It escapes into the Everglades and its destruction leads to enhanced global warming. How’s that for ‘hot button’ issues?
Sweet Depression is a novel which is a cross between the work of James Patterson and Robin Cook, a very sinister thriller set in a pharmaceutical company.
11. In your point of view, what is the most difficult part of the writing life?
Imagining story ideas I find to be the easiest part. The writing can be difficult and the editing is, I find, even more difficult. But the part of writing I find the most difficult is trying to get the work published. I agonize over writing query letters.
12. Do you outline your stories before you sit down to write?
For short stories, I mull over the plot before I put pen to paper. I write all my first drafts by hand. So when I begin writing the story, it’s already fully formed in my mind.
For novels I use an outline but keep it fluid. In a steno pad, for each novel, I form an outline to include scenes and dialog when the characters start talking.
13. What plans do you have for your writing going into the future?
If I can publish Sweet Depression I have plans to write at least one sequel.
I’ve also published a short story, Martian Rebirth, which I want to develop into a novel.
And of course, my brain keeps on cranking out short story ideas.
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/elmossojourn.html
March 14, 2014 at 7:30 pm
5. Your time machine seemed very well thought out – is it based on something in theoretical science.
The time machine is a product of my imagination.
While I was in college, there was a guy in the dorm who built a tesla coil. You could pull something like a quarter million volts to your finger, but since the amperage was low, you survived. I had to get that thing into a story.
6. How do you personally relate to your main character in your story?
I was a scientist for 34 years, but a biologist not a physicist. I love science and the opportunity it gives you to discover something new, when all the parts of a puzzle suddenly come together. I share the wonder Elmo has for science.
7. How challenging was it to build your alien landscapes and creatures?
I have a very active imagination so it was really quite easy. But the creatures changed along the way. The first creature that comes through Elmo’s machine was going to be the dominant creature on Roth, but of course that changed. Then Valmid was going to be a sinister being and that changed. Since I needed some conflict, Gylex came into being and I could just picture what it looked like.
8. What theme do you want to convey to your readers?
I think, as with most science fiction, I want to create adventure and the wonder of the unknown.
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/elmossojourn.html
March 12, 2014 at 7:09 pm
A few weeks ago Jill Bisker was kind enough, through Melange Books, to ask me questions about my eBook, Elmo’s Sojourn.
I posted a link to those questions, but in case you missed them, I thought I’d post the questions directly to my blog.
I’m also posting the link to buy Elmo’s Sojourn with the hopes that this will cause my sales to skyrocket.
Yes, even at my advance age, I still dream.
1. Please tell me a little about yourself – Where you come from? What led you to writing?
I was born and raised in Newark, NJ, but since then lived in the Midwest, LA, Miami and now in Pennsylvania.
I’ve always been an avid reader, feel naked if there is not a book close by. I began writing poetry in college and pursued that for about thirty years while I pursued a career in science. About 14 years ago I began writing fiction.
2. What books and authors influenced your career?
I’ve read a great deal of science fiction by Arthur C. Clark, Asimov, Ray Bradbury among a host of others.
For horror I’ve read H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King and Algernon Blackwood.
3. Your story, Elmo’s Sojourn, is a space jumping sci-fi story. Do you write other genres?
I also write horror and the occasional poem.
4. How did you come up with the premise of your story?
I belong to a writers group, The Wordwrights, and one of the members writes children’s books. She told us she had to write a story beginning with someone yelling that they have a problem. Couple that with a Far Side cartoon where a wife is looking from a door down into a cellar. In the cellar is her husband with the head of a fly. She’s yelling, “Lunch. Are you still a fly?”
With that in mind I had intended to write a story, Cellar Science, but enjoyed the story so much that I continued and the result was the novella, Elmo’s Sojourn.
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/index.html
March 10, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Here is a link for an interview I did for Melange Books.
You might learn a little more about me (lucky you) and about Elmo’s Sojourn.
Enjoy.
http://www.melange-books.com/blog/
March 3, 2014 at 8:22 pm
Yes!!! Elmo’s Sojourn is now for sale as an ebook. You can buy it for your Kindle. If you don’t have an eReader you can get a PDF copy for your computer. Give Elmo a shot and tell me what you think. Here’s a link where you can make your purchase. http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/elmossojourn.html
February 14, 2014 at 8:08 pm
My eBook, Elmo’s Sojourn will be published by Melange Books on February 10th.
Here’s the cover.
January 26, 2014 at 8:39 pm
Next month my novella, Elmo’s Sojourn, is due to come out as an eBook published by Melange Books.
I’ve been working with Melange on the cover and after some back and forth I think we have the final version. If possible, I’ll post it when I am sure the version is a firm choice.
In the meantime, here’s the blurb to peak your interest.
Elmo, a retired Los Alamos scientist, travels through a wormhole in this science fiction story to the planet Roth where he meets Valmid and his wife Cal. All appears tranquil on the planet but there is disaster visiting the planet which Valmid hopes Elmo would have the answer of how to end. Roth’s females are being abducted and taken to the planet Gylex. Unknown to the inhabitants of Earth, the creatures have also abducted human females in the past, but suddenly stopped their raids. Valmid hopes Elmo can discover why the raids stopped on Earth and help Roth.
January 12, 2014 at 7:49 pm
An underwater volcano off the Japanese coast has just risen up and formed an island. The second island the Ring of Fire has created through volcanic activity in just weeks. The Ring of Fire is active once again.
In my novel, New Moon Rising, unknown volcanoes on the ocean’s floor build on their eruptions and make their way to the surface forming islands, unleashing massive destruction.
Volcanic and seismic activity leads the world to an event unparalleled in geologic history.
New Moon Rising is also a love story between two brothers caught up in the maelstrom and the women in their lives. Finally, the story is the love of a Hawaiian and his land, a land he refuses to leave no matter what the consequences.
Read New Moon Rising and see the future?
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/index.html
Also available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.
November 22, 2013 at 6:32 pm
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