SMITING THE REWRITING

I love that word. SMITE. One of the more awesome words in the english language. Yes, I read an asston of Conan books growing up. (By the by, an ass ton is a load so large it would take a ton of asses to haul it.)

So NYTEBLADE: Deacon Chalk Occult Bounty-Hunter Book 1 is now called BLOOD AND BULLETS.

Simple, to the point, sums up the content of the book, can be spun into other titles for the more of the series. I have rewritten the opening chapter, making the entry tot he story much more accessible and dynamic. It hooks you now. Presently I am trolling thru the manuscript and making the changes the ripples from the rewrite demand.

It is a lot more than I originally thought. Plus I have tweaked some other things and explained even more things.

See I was querying this book. I got some good responses, from some top-tier agents, but ultimately everyone took a pass. Universally, they all said that while they liked my idea the writing just wasn’t as strong as they would have liked. To be honest, the beginning chapter had bugged me too, but I didn’t know a better way to get started. I loved the concept of it, but the execution was a bit to chew on. I have always felt that my book is a hard sell to an agent because 1) the title was so typical of cheesy urban fantasy, which fit the story, because the character named Nyteblade is a cheesy rip-off of a vampire hunter. But you had to read the book to know that. 2) The first chapter was not the strongest. There was good stuff in there, but it was like, “if I can just get them to chapter 2 then I will have them hooked in.”

So now, within two days of pondering the problems I had two seperate flashes of inspiration.

Throw out the first chapter and do a new idea for it, and change the title to BLOOD AND BULLETS.

Viola. I plan to finish the repolish on Christmas Eve since I do not get the kids until that evening as a Christmas present to myself. The new year will bring new queries. In the new queries will be the new pitch, and more emphasis on my accomplishments as a published tattoo artist. I was looking at Maggie Steifvaters querie that she posted a few weeks back, and that showed me that maybe I should put in the accomplishments I have made even if they don’t particularly adress my writing. I mean I am not on LA Ink, but I have had my tattoo work published in national and international tattoo magazines.

Plus I have a great quickie erotica I am going to write in January for submission to some e-publishers. And the Angel/human romance I started before the flash of inspiration on BLOOD AND BULLETS.

Get a helmet 2010….here I come.