Waffles

I have this killer waffle recipe which I'm not going to share today.

The waffle I'm talking about is the title for my fantasy novel.  For a long, long time it was Loremaster, and I like that title.  I liked the original novel, but I got some feedback from agents and others that my novel had too many traditional elements.  Guilty as charged.  Loremaster started out with wizards, elves, dwarves and giants, along with a myriad of other old fantasy standbys.

I took a long, hard look at the manuscript and made some changes.  Wizardry, with all its mysticism became Craftsmanship, with all of the hard work that the word implies.  Dwarves became a race of swarthy, hardy humans known as the Volkstamites.  The elves became a detached, almost ghostly race of outsiders called the Nitherec.  And the giants...well, there's only so much you can do.  The giants are still giants, and rightly so.

I'm happy with the changes made.  I'm glad I moved from preconceived notions of elves and dwarves etc and flavoured the world with my own creations.  I think these changes make the novel unique.

I also changed the title.  It went from Loremaster to The Edgeling.   "Edgeling" is the name that humans have given to the Nitherec people because of their tendency to stand at the fringes of the world and not become involved.

Why did I change the title?  Well, to be honest, after making various changes to the body of the novel, I wanted to approach some of the agents again with a revitalized manuscript.  I thought maintaining the title might stand against me, so I changed it.

But it bothered me.

All of the changes I made to the body of the story added to the novel.  Changing the title, I think, took away from it.  Loremaster, I feel, has more punch than The Edgeling.

And so - after lots of waffling and consultation with those familiar with the book - my fantasy novel is once again, Loremaster.

What is it about a synopsis?

So... In order to submit book length manuscripts to agents and publishers more often than not you need to supply a synopsis of the story.  The synopsis needs to run through all of the major threads of the story so that whoever ends up reviewing your submission will quickly know the gist of the tale and know whether it is the sort of thing they will want to develop or represent.

A synopsis shouldn't be that daunting.  For Gerry - my children's story about an orphaned giant - a synopsis is a straightforward affair because all of the action follows Gerry.  From the mountain top beginning to the reunion at the end, Gerry is the character we follow around.  With The Edgeling (formerly titled Loremaster) things are a little more complex.

You would think that having written the damn book, the synopsis would be easy.  Not so.

In The Edgeling there are eight major characters and the flow of the story goes from one character to the next as they all scramble off in varying directions.  Layer onto that a politically complex world and a smattering of racial bigotry, a Cain and Able sub-story, a resurrection and a gypsy-like band of travelling folk and a synopsis begins to get daunting.

At 502 revised pages and just over 163,000 words, The Edgeling is a long story.  Attempting to give a fair synopsis in the standard 5-10 page treatment is asking a lot.  Because of the novel's length and complexity, I'm afraid the synopsis may run as long as 15 pages which may in itself be a reason for an agent or publisher to reject the manuscript without reading a single word of the actual text. I am therefore trying to be brief, but it is difficult.

To compound the problem - the weather has been terrific.  Sunny days with mild temperatures have me wanting to be anywhere BUT the basement writing the synopsis.  The last few days I've brought the laptop into the front porch to take advantage of the sunshine and still work on the synopsis.  That's the plan, anyway.

Because I don't really want to write the synopsis, I am find a thousand little things to do other that get the damn thing typed and polished.  Things like dishes, laundry, yard clean up, winterizing the carport and ...well...updating this blog...

Okay - enough  - back to it.

Strange and wonderful...

It has been a week of strange and wonderful things.  I have been plodding ahead with a synopsis for The Edgeling and have been moving (slowly) forward on Gerry.

Something strange to begin with - it seems after twenty-two years good old Duffer (who lately has more than his fair share of "Bill the Cat" moments) has decided to stave off Alzheimer's by challenging himself with new skills.

He's decided to start with Beatrix Potter.  Good choice, Duff.

Now onto something wonderful.  My little time-consuming park project, BT Corner.  Most of the landscaping is done.  The wall is all but finished and the paving stones are in.  There are a few touches left for this autumn, but then I can take a break from the park (for the most part) until Spring when there will be planting and benches and information plaques to contend with.  Here's how the Corner looks today:

I especially love that red maple.

Something else wonderful - this:

Is that?  Could that be?  No....no one would ever-

Yes.  That's Nature's Perfect Food, right there.  Bacon, and lots of it.  That is a bacon, potato and cheddar tart, my friends.  I wish I could take credit for this flavour treat/ heart attack on a plate but that honour goes to PEI chef, Michael Smith.

Here's what it looks like inside:

Trust me - all you need with this is the salad (and maybe a defibrillator).

Now on to strange and wonderful.

I love my town.  We are blessed with hundreds of heritage homes built from local limestone by the skilled hands of masons long dead.  One of these buildings is our own Carnegie Library.  It is a stately building and last night, as I waited for my daughter to finish her piano lesson, I snapped this shot - just in time for Hallowe'en.

This really is the only way to light a building like this.

And speaking of lights...Remember Trixie, the albino black cat.  Well here she is, mounted and lit, just in time for Hallowe'en.