Stephen Cox – author, human, finishing Our Child of Two Worlds
I’ve just sent out an email newsletter with an update on the book progress, news about the launch date, and new short story set during the time of Our Child of the Stars but in the USSR.
This is the first of a number of short stories I’ll be sharing in the run up to the publication of Our Child of Two Worlds. You might like to subscribe, you can never guarantee seeing any post on social media! And I don’t write unless there is something new to say.
A quick note to say that Jo my editor has come back to me on Our Child of Two Worlds, she is very happy, and we are through to copyedits.
Thank heavens.
Publication pencilled in for November although slipping to January 2022 is not beyond the bounds of possibility. I know, I’m impatient too. The pandemic has thrown timetables awry.
Copyediting works at the level of scene, paragraph and sentence, not least as the draft has piled on the pounds as I worked on it. I’m looking forward to this, not least because it holds no fears – it is getting the book into shape, not arguing about what type of book it is and what exactly to focus.
I know so much more about writing a sequel now!
Editing is important feedback, and certainly made Our Child of the Stars a clearer, better paced, and more focused book. You don’t always agree with the editor’s edicts – so what do you do?
It reminds me of a quote which summed up the issue with feedback. Is feedback right, and what do you do about it?
There is good advice out there, but a writer must walk a knife’s edge. They must be humble and open minded enough to accept criticism and be willing to change. Yet, they must be confident enough in their own style to ignore bad advice. The problem is telling the two types of advice apart.
(Quote from Petewood – literally some random guy on the same writing bulletin board I use)
I think it goes broader than style but to intent. And it is not necessarily that advice / feedback is bad.
One of the crucial things I learned from writing groups is the necessity to accept feedback that you don’t like may be right – but also the possibility that some advice offered firmly may not be right for you, or this story. Some people hand down advice like they have tablets of stone on Mount Sinai.
That’s why in addition to tenancy, ability, and luck, I would always say ‘learn how to take feedback as dispassionately as you can, and know what to do with it’. You will also get contradictory feedback.
Jo and I agree what this book is trying to be. Therefore, pointed in the same direction, I can judge her notes as trying to get us down the road. Maybe her concerns will be met her way, or another way I will find, or maybe but not often, it will be a no.
Bring it on.
Cheery news. I am out in paperback in the States and Canada on Tuesday 2nd Feb. This is satisfying and marks the end of my debut life. The last launch of Our Child of The Stars. And if you’ve read the book, and its origin story, you’ll understand why being on sale in the States feels very right. (It has been out in hardback and ebook for ten months.)
It is on sale through Barnes and Noble, and Chapters Indigo (the biggest Canadian bookseller) and Amazon and Nook and so on. Of course people can order it and IndieBound.com helps you find indepedendent stores.
This combines usefully with my other cheery news. Which is that I sent Our Child of Two Worlds (Draft Four) back to my editor last week, some weeks ahead of schedule. It’s largely there and I hope on track for a launch August-to-autumn.
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My agent Rob is moving out of agenting. He’s sorry to go and I’m sorry to lose him. Perceptive and thoughtful, Rob picked my book from the slush-pile and got it to fly. Who knows if Cory would have been published without him? (At least not as quickly or as well.) He’s taught me a lot and I’m grateful.
It prompted some philosophical musings on publishing, but first the facts.
Fortunately, Rob can still give me his feedback on the next draft of Our Child of Two Worlds, so I will have that continuity. Check out his latest books, The Toymakers and Paris by Starlight.
Rob is not one to leave you in the lurch. I have a new agent, Alex Cochran of C&W, one of the larger agencies (and as it happens, the outfit who already partner Rob in handling my film rights). Alex was on my top agents to try list, both for my unpublished novel, and for Cory. He likes the book, and its cross-genre appeal. I’m optimistic Alex can help me navigate the strange waters ahead. Getting the second book finished is the priority and then, Next Big Thing.
And the moral of this is, that publishing is a rum old game. So many people assume that it’s all slog finishing that book and sending it out, but once you get the agent, all is plain sailing. A book a year and the fifth book will win the Booker, the Hugo, or be in the Richard and Judy Bookclub.
Real writing careers are more complicated. Famously George R R Martin wrote three books which were successes and the fourth, Armageddon Rag in the eighties, flopped. He moved into TV and editing anthologies for a decade.
Agents and editors move on, or fall out, there’s a merger or a start-up. That brilliant idea doesn’t come off, the sequel doesn’t come off, or indeed, there is suddenly a nasty little virus. Many old hands say it’s harder now to have a steady career than in their youth.
That’s why I guess three things for authors I’ve come to realise, catching up with the wisdom of more established writers.
Suanne is an American author who runs a regular author interview slot on her blog. It was fun to do. We covered a lot including message fiction, whether SFF has to be political, and what makes a good book.
Regardless of genre, what are the elements that you think make a great novel? Do you consciously ensure all of these are in place?
SC: Characters that leap off the page and that you care about, situations that do not feel contrived. For me a world which acknowledges the dark and unfair side of life but addresses it with hope and humour. Voice. The sort of writing that takes you by the hand and says, Trust me, this will make sense in the end. This will be worth the journey.
Odd how a virus can change things. I’ve been tied up fighting it, biologically, and at work. And I’m waiting for the feedback on the latest draft of OUR CHILD OF TWO WORLDS.
EdgeLit in Derby has moved its event to November, so that still may be happening.
Cymera (more here) is going online and I’ve just filled in a long questionaire about what I can do online. (No juggling on a unicycle, I’m afraid.)
I’ve just done an interview for an author’s blog and there might be a couple of other things. But really it’s about staying well, keeping up with the day job, and waiting for the notes…
And my writers group has gone online, using Zoom. I’m looking at trying to do some videos or Q+As because launching in the US in a pandemic obviously hasn’t been ideal.
More when I have it.
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Scotland has hosted the big science fiction and fantasy conventions including I believe a Worldcon. However it did not have a (big) annual convention of its own. Cymera which is relatively new tackles that.
And I’m going, to do a panel on ‘what makes us human’. I’ll be on the Sunday 2.45 7th June with Adrian J Walker, an Australian author new to me and whose intriguing book I have ordered, naturally.
The whole programme and how to get tickets (weekend passes look good value) can be found in their website.
This is wonderful to be asked, an excuse to visit Edinburgh, and I’ll post more thoughts as I have them.
And of course, quite a big likelihood it won’t happen because of The Virus. Certainly events are being cancelled all over the country and in the US.
I am strongly tempted to do something online with Adrian if not.
I am also at Edgelit in Derby, a friendly convention which I enjoyed last year, 11-12th July. Put in your diaries. It’s top secret but be naughty and tell your friends.
Nothing makes you a real writer except writing, but this certainly good to be asked.
Since the invite I have been thinking often of the great Alistair Gray and his ringing statement, “Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.” Words for England too.
Stephen
Having won rave reviews in the UK, Our Child of the Stars hits the US and Canada in paperback 2 Feb 2021. Already available as hardback, the three e-book formats, and audiobook! (BTW if your local shop doesn’t stock it, they can order it.)
Buying links – all find both hardback and paperback except Amazon
IndieBound finds independent bookshops
The LA Times loved it
“It’s 1969, the year of the moon landings, Woodstock and the ongoing Vietnam war. Against this backdrop, Gene and Molly Myers have been having a rough time since their child died some years before. [When] a meteor strikes their New England town… Molly is given the task of caring for the gravely ill survivor – an alien child called Cory.
Cory’s difference to others highlights the real messages that have been tenderly provided here – those of acceptance, warmth of human spirit along with parental love and sacrifice. It’s a wonderfully emotional, heart-warming journey of what it really means to be a parent and a reminder that at times it feels like society as a whole hasn’t really become any more accepting of those who are different since the 1960s.”
Edited for spoilers
UK praise here
A genie offers a writer a choice. Would they rather have a million pounds, or a million people read their first book but for no money at all?
It’s an interesting question. Do we write to be able to keep writing, or do we write because we want to share the story?
To write solely for financial security is a mugs game.
If you have faith in your book, a million people reading it will produce enthusiasts. Say 5% of people who read it become fans. (By which I mean only someone who is super likely to buy your next book.) 50,000 fans is an excellent base for a career, you might become established.
Conversely, a million pounds frees you to do only that work you want to do.
Of course, in the real world you are not offered this choice.
This was prompted by news that my publisher has remaindered some of my paperbacks to The Works, a company which runs 450 discount shops across the country. You can currently buy a copy of Our Child of the Stars at £2, less than a coffee. Three books for a fiver.
It’s a common sense move to shift copies you won’t sell otherwise. I hope the Works sell all these copies to build fans of my work.
Many people think this is the devil, and that my publisher should burn unsold copies in their furnaces. Many book people want to go back to prices fixed by the publisher. Another debate for another time.
When you look behind this, there are other considerations.
For example, WH Smiths, the Works, and the supermarkets can reach people who rarely use bookshops.
One of the little joys of authorhood is seeing your book in a library, and thinking of people taking it out. It’s also a good retort for those of your friends too mean to buy it. ‘Go to the library.’
I’m a fan of libraries. As a kid, my parents showed me the local library and for years I walked five old books back and took five new books out each Saturday. I was also tall for my age and allowed free range into the adult section rather too early. I couldn’t tell you everything I read, the SF selection tended to be collections, and a lot of Andre Norton. Peter Dickinson’s weird fantasy about a UK with apartheid against green skinned Celts. I’m not sure I remember much fantasy but there were some classics. (Our school library was also rather good.)
To be a writer is to approve of reading, and to believe that access to books is a good thing. But also, authors need to eat.
So the PLR scheme (like a number across Europe) pays each author the princely sum of 9p every time one of their books is taken out. What is more interesting is that it gives a rough idea of how many people borrowed your book – in the relevant period, around 500.
(I thought every book in every library was connected. In fact, they check a sample and scale up which makes sense.)
500 readers. And a little something in the bank next month. And yay for libraries.