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Got all the feedback and glorious red marks back from the editor a few weeks ago, and I have to say, I can definitely see where my money is going, she is marvelous and her changes have only made my novel all the more better.

But one of the major suggestions she has made is that I shouldn’t call it Zombie? like I originally was going to.  I do agree with her.  It’s too obvious a title when really it is more of a mystery about what is happening to this group of people.

I’ve been playing around with a few other titles and one I think I’m going to stick with now is Rabbit Farm.  It’s a kind of weird title on its own, but makes perfect sense for this novel.  But since the title is rather ambiguous that means I have to nail the cover so that you can see at a glance what the book is about.

I’ve already talked this over with my designer who will be starting the cover design very soon, and in the meantime I’ll be implementing some of the changes from my editor into the book so it will be super polished by the time it’s published.

I really thought I’d have it ready by now, but this publishing game takes a lot longer than I anticipated.  I definitely will have it out by Christmas though.  Pinky swear.

In the meantime, I thought you’d like to hear some of the feedback from my editor:

I have to say, it’s unlike anything I’ve read before! I’m not exactly sure of what I think of it… it was certainly very graphic and disturbing in ways, although what bothered me most was certainly [spoiler removed]. I do love the sick, twisted, and dark story that this novel envelopes.

Cool huh!  Couldn’t have asked for a better comment if you ask me (considering it is a horror story and not a light romance – lol).

Now it’s not all good, I still need to work a bit on the main character and tighten up the ending but all in all I can’t wait until it’s out for people to read finally.

Here’s to hoping it’ll be sooner than I think.

Trista.

P.S. Just waiting on the cover design.  Designer has had some good ideas, but I haven’t seen anything concrete yet.

 

Last night I high fived myself (harder than it sounds) because I finally finished Zombie? and was really excited.  The rest of the family thought I had gone bonkers, but surely they knew I already was?

I have to admit that finishing a new novel always makes me feel really good.  I think it’s because you’ve spent three months on the one project, so when it’s finally done, it’s a real sense of accomplishment.  I mean how many people can say they’ve written a novel?  (Okay, so probably lots.  But still …)

Anyway it’s currently with my beta reader (husband) and so far he thinks its good.  He did say some of the early parts were a little slow (he’s only just got up to the part where the woman attacks one of the crew members and bites him on the face), but I think the story needed that to introduce the characters and they got there.

I guess once he finishes it he’ll let me know how the rest of it goes, but unless he comes up with some major issues, I won’t be changing it though.  (I may change how I write the next story however).

For now I’m looking forward to a week of two of rest before I start NaNoWriMo with another pen name.  Then I’ll be back as Trista, writing that killer Mommy & Me story that is buzzing around my head.

Next week Zombie? is off to the editor, and then it will be published on Amazon.  I can’t wait to see how it goes.

trista 🙂

My second draft is going much better than I thought it would, and I’m already about a third through the book fixing it up.

I’ve booked the editor, which means I have to finish the manuscript within two weeks.  It should be enough time, as long as my beta reader *cough, husband* doesn’t take more than a week to read and comment on the bits that are slow or unclear.

If the editor takes about two weeks, and my cover designer is also fast and efficient, it could mean that Zombie? will be up just in time for Halloween.  Oh goodness me, I hope so.  That’s the date I’m shooting for at any rate.

But what is the title?  Oh I’m glad you asked.  I was going to name it Zombie?  (yes the question mark is supposed to be there, I think it sounds more interesting given that this isn’t your typical Hollywood zombie).  But is the title too obvious?  Should it be something more intriguing?

It’s another thing thing that I”ll discuss with hubby when he reads it because I’ll need the title ready to give the cover designer.

I’ve already started thinking about my next book of course.  Although to be fair, I probably wouldn’t be able to do any more than draft it out before I start NaNoWriMo.  My other alter ego pen name will be writing for NaNo, and she writes in a far different genre than I do (he, he).  Then my real namesake has to do a non fiction book, so me, Trista, won’t be able to start my next scary book until next year.

Well never mind.  At least it will give me lots of time to come up with some cool twists for my plot by then.

But first things first, and that’s getting Zombie? finished.

Fun times.

So I’ve finally got around to setting up my author blog.  My publisher has been telling me that I need to do it for a while, but I’ve been so busy actually writing books that I haven’t had a chance.

But since the first draft of my novel is only a fingertip away I thought I’d take a break and get this thing set up.

To be honest, I don’t actually know what I’ll be using this blog for.  What do other authors use their blogs for?  I don’t have a fan base (yet) so I can’t see why anyone even remotely interested would come and see what I’m up to.

But I guess that’s not for me to decide.  It’s for other’s to come along and decide for themselves if they’d like to read it or not.  Oh look at me – I’m rambling about nonsense already and I’m only on the fourth paragraph.  Silly me.

Well I guess the first thing to do is to introduce myself.  My name is Trista Frank and I (currently) write stories and books about creepy stuff.

My first official novel (which is due to be released in December 2012) is a zombie horror novel.  As I mentioned above, I’ve just about finished the first draft.  After that I’ve got to go and fix it up (right now it’s a bit of a mess) but that’s the fun part for me.  Making it goooood.  I like doing revisions – it’s what I do best.

Then I get to send it off to my publisher who’ll get it edited and get a cool cover design.  I have no idea what design they’ll think suits it.  Obviously something creepy, but since I’m only ‘slightly’ artsy, it’s not something I’d be ever able to do on my own.

Finally it’ll be up for sale.

For the first three months, it will be in ebook version only, and exclusive to Amazon.  After that they’ll start sending it to the other retailers.

If it goes well (fingers crossed) they said they’d also do a print version.  I really hope so, because as a writer there is nothing better than holding a book that you’ve written in your hands.  It is very trippy.

I don’t know how much they’ll be marketing it at.  They are pretty cool though, and we both believe in keeping prices low for readers, so I can’t see it’ll be for too much.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I need to finish it first before I can even think about people buying it.

So that’s what I plan on doing right now, getting back to finishing the first rough draft so that I can start on making it the best novel I can make it.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading my first post.

All the best,
T. Frank.