Time for an update on my latest GANIP (Great American Novel in Progress).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I finished my first draft of World of the Blue Jasmine. So what’s next? I’m so glad you asked. Here’s what happens from here:

1. I send it off to five potential agents;
2. All of them gush over it and sends me an email the morning after staying up all night reading it, demanding to represent it. I choose one based on how many times they use the term, “awe-inspiring.”
3. All the major publishers fight among themselves to get the rights;
4. My agent “reluctantly” accepts an outrageously good offer and the marketing campaign begins while a minimum-wage copy editor cleans up the few minor errors in the text (which I deliberately put in there to make sure they’re doing their job).
5. I receive my advance check, buy the cats a Louis Vuitton upholstered chair to destroy, and get to work on the Next Great American Novel.
6. I wake up and remember I am not Stephen King.

Buster with a sample of his work. Post expensive reupholstering, naturally.

Okay, so until I reach that stage (one can hope!) here’s what I really did with this book. I got some editorial help.

For my first completed novel (college student goes to live with his quirky third grandfather) I paid for an editorial assessment, which is a high-level look at its elements – plot, structure, characters, flow, pacing, etc. The report was very encouraging, but there were some issues to resolve, including its length and need of a stronger plot and depth of main character to work through.

So I let it go for the moment and focused on my science fiction novel, a genre I am much more comfortable with. World of the Blue Jasmine is the result. This time I decided to go with a full development edit. This is the official AI-assisted description of what a developmental edit is:

A developmental edit is a comprehensive review of a manuscript focused on the big picture elements of a story, such as character development, plot, pacing, and overall structure. It aims to improve the manuscript’s core concepts and ensure the story’s coherence and effectiveness.

The key being “comprehensive,” which means page-level and even down to line-level examination. With a price to match, naturally, but with other novels in the queue it was time to make this kind of investment in my writing.

I shortlisted five editors on an editor matching website and sent a sample along with a request for quote. Claire Ashgrove stood out in particular. She’s an award-winning author in science fiction and romance, her quote was reasonable (for such things) and her best friend is an anthropologist (my main character’s profession). Not sure there’s a better fit for this work! So I hired her, and am awaiting her report and suggestions.

In the meantime I’m continuing to post samples of my work on Jericho Writers while reviewing the work of others. One of my fellow writers asked what I was thinking of in terms of book cover. I replied with this:

“Something appropriate for a scientist on a professional assignment to a faraway planet. You know, a Playboy model in a fur loincloth slipping off her shoulders, in the arms of a bare-chested blond-haired he-man, with an alien spaceship in the background setting things on fire.”

Well, I thought I’d have some fun with it, so I asked Chat GPT to come up with something along those lines. After tweaking the prompt to more accurately describe my protagonist and her love interest, it came up with this:

Not bad, although the guy needs to be older (they’re both in their forties) but cheesy enough to post here. Let me know what you think!

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(If you’d like to join my beta readers, or just see a sample chapter, reply to this post or email me (jeff (at) runbikethrow (dot) net, and I’ll hook you up.)