Editing The Reluctant Messiah.

I'm not sure what the word is for 

Husband had said he will do an edit for my latest manuscript.

Trust?
Stupidity?
Love? 

Rhinoedit : to take editorial criticism with a thick skin.
Edito-lishous: to only listen to the praise.
Egoedit: to think an edit is not necessary.
Hrumpedit: to get defensive of an edit.

The Reluctant Messiah FINISHED.

I have just finished my novel.

It came out at 60k which is a little shorter than I suspected. So is it a short novel, a novella, a light novel or just a jolly good read?

Now I will let it sit and work on

1. my query letter, 
2. my short synopsis, 
3. my telephone synopsis, 
4. my three minute pitch, 
5. my long synopsis, 
6. my outline, 
7. my three chapter format
8. my book promo,           and the list goes on.

who said writing was easy.

The Reluctant Messiah, novel by Christmas, getting ready for the pay off.

When writing a humorous novel there is no fun if there isn't a pay off. So I'm on schedule at 45,000 words and all the threads are coming together.
People who have had chapters to themselves are now interacting, little hints are growing bigger so that when the payoff comes we are ready and the suspense is building as we get closer to everyone's goals.

If the book didn't have the set up for the joke/fall then there would be no need to call it humorous.
This time around I'm playing with language a lot more and my stock in trade ~ the long sentence.

All of the above doesn't just happen, but had been planned out chapter by chapter. I find it is the only way to keep track of what is going to happen. The dialogue is seat of my pants writing, but I KNOW why they need to say what they say.

At the end everyone's a winner, as it should be with a lighthearted humorous novel. I just hope the publisher sees it the same way.

The Reluctant Messiah Novel by Christmas...excerpt.

This is from chapter 7. Douglas Doolan II is a fading Hollywood heart throb who is past his use by date.

...He turned off the television and slumped down in his easy chair and thought of James Caldecott, a nobody, a person with a couple of miracles up his sleeve, a person who lived in the suburbs getting all the attention.

"Be nice," he spat. "ppffffh." Doolan wallowed for a bit then the beetroot juice kicked in and he frowned. 

He sat and thought a bit more. He twisted his lips into a grin of sorts. If the director has seen it he might well have called cut and put that take on the cutting room floor. Douglas Doolan II had a ugly sneer even seen from his best side.

"If the mountain won't come to Mozambique then Mohammad will go to the mountain." Douglas Doolan II might have been a great actor in his day, but his general knowledge was a shocker and his attempts at metaphor and simile even worse

. 

..."Mr Doolan, if we could just get a photograph?" Ruth butted in. At the mere mention of a photograph Doolan bucked up and once more sucked in his gut. Like the hair shampoo ad, it didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. His stomach seemed to have a life of its own and you can only suck so much before the gravitation pull and physics have a way of levelling life's excesses. He gave it his best shot then flashed a smile. Scotty moved in and took one shot.

"Only one?"

"Yup."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

Doolan deflated like painted reed frog who had to stay at home because of a sore throat.

The Reluctant Messiah ~ novel by Christmas promo critique.

Here is the critique I received for my book pitch which came in the top ten.

Congratulations, again for making it into the top ten of the Pitch Your Book Australia Competition!

This year’s publisher, PanteraPress has kindly given feedback on each of the pitches. Please see the publisher’s comments about your pitch below:

The Reluctant Messiah:

This presentation was a great combination of voice over, musical track and images. It all worked well and was very complimentary. I think this video would make a great promotion for the book, not just a pitch.

The book concept itself was a very clever concept. This is quite a humorous take and it would be great to get an idea if the humour comes through in the writing of the book or if it is just the idea.

The Reluctant Messiah ~ novel by Christmas

I have found the only disciplined way to write for me is to guarantee to write 1000 words a night.

 I have all the chapters mapped out and as I write I put the outline  for the particular chapter under the work in progress. When I have written the scene I delete the outline. That way I know where I am heading. 
It doesn't always turn out that way but I never have the feeling that I don't know what to write, because my goal is there underneath.

ie..reporter goes into the back yard and tells Roger about her burning ambition... to be a writer. Also her other motive to bring James down..smokes? Roger now has important information to tell James...beware

So now my work in progress...The reluctant Messiah is 16,000 words. Tomorrow is the beginning of chapter 6.

I'm aiming for 70k which should be the second week of December. Allowing for days off I think Christmas will work out fine.

The Reluctant Messiah, Novel by Christmas teaser

So, he took a deep breath and opened the front door.

The rush was later described as a tsunami of believers. Someone shouted,

"There he is," and it was like the start of the Sydney marathon. 

People jostled for pole position and as the front gate could only accommodate one person at a time it gave up after three tried to squeeze through and then just threw in the towel ending up in the wisteria bush. Beverly's lemonade stand went down without a fight and the crowd rushed to the front door.

"It's him," a man shouted. 

The reluctant Messiah ~ book promo

My book promo was voted by the judges in the first round. I'm in the top ten. Now fingers crossed for the winners podium.
here is the link to the other contenders
Tropical Writers Wrap up link

The Reluctant Messiah ~ Novel by Christmas

This is a short piece from my novel which is a Work in Progress and hopefully finished by Christmas. A good omen considering the subject matter.

It was four in the afternoon when Pilbeam had put the finishing touches to his story. It ran for five columns with the photograph. He looked over the mock-up he had asked for from the boys in composite and thought it might just have been his best work yet. The three inch question mark at the top of the page, he thought, was a stroke of genius. The by-line ran just two words and whole effect had Pilbeam smiling. He could see a Magnate award for reporting excellence with his name on it.

                                               ?

                A MIRACLE

The photograph that accompanied the story showed James at the centre of the sausage sizzle table with a paper plate in each hand.  There were six volunteers each side of him, some sitting others standing and James had a tea towel draped over his shoulder and that smudge. It had an uncanny resemblance to another picture depicting a meal, but which was painted a long time ago in the late 15th century.

Pilbeam sat back and studied the copy. It was good, but he felt it needed something.

"Scotty, It's Nick here. Can I see you?" Pilbeam left a message on the answering machine. It wasn't long before Scotty picked up and then made his last stop for the day at Pilbeam's desk.

"What's up?" Scotty plopped down on the spare chair as the chair held its breath and braced for a mammoth show of strength.

"Just take a good look at this photo will you. What do you see?" Pilbeam watched as Scotty studied the sausage sizzle. "Be honest, Scotty." The photographer knew it wasn't one of his best and decided to take it on the chin, all three of them.

"Well it has too much contrast over here and the dpi could do with..." He was interrupted by Pilbeam,

"Not the quality. The composition."

"Oh."

"Take a look and tell me...does it ring any bells?" Scotty frowned and tilted his head to one side. He pursed his lips. He squished up his eyes and bit his lip. Nothing came to mind.

"Nothing yet." Pilbeam tried again.

"What about a famous painting?"

"Nope."

"Leonardo  Da Vinci perhaps?"

"Nada, zippo." Scotty hated to be shown up as uneducated and shifted on the chair.

"Wait..." Pilbeam fired up his search engine and found the painting he had been searching for.

"Does it look familiar?" Scotty's eyes widened as he took in the scene. "See what I mean?"

"So this guy Leonardo painted this picture before the sausage sizzle?"

Pilbeam rolled his eyes skyward and wondered if the younger generation went to school at all.

"About the late 15th century is all."

"Oh. Pretty spooky eh?"

"Scotty?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever go to Sunday school?"

"Nah. We kinda didn't bother with all that sort of stuff." Pilbeam closed his eyes and shook his head.

"This," he said pointing to the the Da Vinci, "is the last supper. Jesus Christ for God's sake."

"Well there is no need to get shirty. Not everyone went to
Sunday school you know." Scotty fished about in his photographic bag for a munchie.

"No. I mean this is Jesus Christ and the last supper."

"Yeah." Scotty began to catch on.

"So our Mr Cribbs," and here Pilbeam pointed to the mock-up, "well he seems to be life imitating art, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Scotty smiled and finally got the picture.

"And you think if we printed this picture along with this one," he pointed to the mock-up page, "Do you think others will be as wide eyed as you?" Scotty looked from one JPG to the other. There was a canny resemblance.