I'm not sure if I'm doing this in the right place or not - I'm too used to the Authonomy Forum I s'pose... ah well, here goes nothing!
I've just posted the first 10k or so of my YA Novel "The Angel's Crown". As it is the first book in the series that is "The Secret of Arking Down" I thought I ought to try and get it perfect before I start querying with it.
The original concept came to me while I was walking through my home village. There is one house there that everyone seems to want (not that it's for sale), a massive red brick place that overlooks the Bristol Channel and has a lovely big garden behind it.
I'd often daydream about meeting the owner (he's an elderly man) and him taking me on a tour of the house. At the end, he asks me if I like it. When I say that I love it, he smiles and says "Good. It's yours then."
When NaNoWriMo 2009 came up, the daydream blossomed into a concept for a YA novel. "The Secret of Arking Down" was born. I duly wrote my 70k words and got the winners badge. Then it sat there for a bit. I put it up on Authonomy to get a bit of useful feedback, then I took it down and started to edit it.
As with all things writerly, I drew a few maps to help me with the edit (make sure I quoted my descriptions correctly) and the maps got bigger and more complicated. As I made my way through the story, several of the other characters began to clamour for more attention and a bigger part.
The way I dealt with that was to write them into short stories. I miscalculated - as the stories developed and the characters grew, another concept started poking at my brain. I mapped out a series of seven books. Each one with a different main character, a different story, but carrying the main series storyline - the answer to the question: "What is the Secret of Arking Down?"
After that, it was easy to get on with my re-write (for that was what it had become) of "The Angels Crown". And now I lay the initial stages before you, on bended knee... asking that you stop by my Manuscript and read what is there. Tell me honestly what you think of my effort, spare no rod for otherwise my child shall be spoiled...
The Angel's Crown
I thank you for your forbearance.
