Child Prodigy, nucleus of novel

[jan]

In November, 2010, I entered the NaNoWriMo madness of trying to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days time. I have since changed the original 50,000 word novel into a first draft called Child Prodigy which I this morning placed on the Alexander-Macedon group for members there to find available to read. It is under files.

I will explain a bit that I was addressing this book to the students who I had taught in Michigan, Arizona, and California in their adolescent years. I have wanted to make it a readable and interesting book to engage the interests of adolescents. I do use the theme of birthdays to show the aging process of Alexander as he moves from birth to his adolescent years. As a teenager, Alexander is quite extraordinary and I found many gifted students in my classes equally as extraordinary in many ways.

This is not for college academics but for teenagers who may suffer many of the same problems that Alexander had done as a teenager.

In Ohio, when I was a teenager, we could drop out of school at age 16 and assume a role as a laborer if necessary. At age 16 Alexander is quite competent enough to lead an army. So I am directing my attention to those teenagers who would drop out of school when I think that they should stay in school.

Jan

[Alexias]

Again, could you please provide a link to where your novel is posted?

[jan]

I am sorry it took so long for me to respond to this. It is located at yahoo discussion groups. Alexander-Macedon@yahoo.com. It is under files, dated Dec 22, 2011 title is Child Prodigy. It is in office org odt form. It is in raw state, cut and pasted it together as I wrote it in stages, and my cut and paste job is faulty at the end of the narrative. It is relatively short, but it is a combination of both the write under pressure of NaNoWriMo and some later changes.

[jan]

This is what I can give you in the way of a link: http:groups.yahoo.com/group/Alexander-Macedon/files

[ScottOden]

Jan,

Unfortunately, it will only let you view the files section of that group if you're a member. Could you load it up on Google Docs, instead?

Best,

Scott

[marcus]

Jan,

Unfortunately, it will only let you view the files section of that group if you're a member. Could you load it up on Google Docs, instead?

Best,

Scott

That is true. I had to go through all the hassle of joining the group (and I can tell you that I came very close to abandoning it, it was so much trouble) in order to download it.

[ScottOden]

I had to go through all the hassle of joining the group (and I can tell you that I came very close to abandoning it, it was so much trouble) in order to download it.

Indeed, I belong to enough Yahoo groups and they are tend to be a gigantic pain in the a$$. I rarely post, and only keep my memberships because I'm too lazy to go and cancel them. I hate Yahoo like Kassandros hated Alexander . . .

Google Docs is a great way to share writing over the internet; you can limit who can see it by being vigilant over where you post the URL to the file (if you have plagiarism concerns). It also is a good way to store a copy online in case something befalls your hard drive.

Scott

[marcus]

Google Docs is a great way to share writing over the internet; you can limit who can see it by being vigilant over where you post the URL to the file (if you have plagiarism concerns). It also is a good way to store a copy online in case something befalls your hard drive.

I haven't had any reason/opportunity to try out Google Docs, Scott. I shall have to give it a go at some point. Thanks for the suggestion!

ATB

[chris_taylor]

I've had a long-standing interest in the theory of narrative structure and would have commented on those aspects (leaving the experts here to study it for factual accuracy on Alexander's life).

But I can't come by the document, neither.

If you don't want to use Google, just ask for everyone prepared to read it to message you privately for an emailed copy.

Chris.

[jan]

Hi Chris, Scott, and Marcus, Thank you for your interest in the novel. I just now deleted the file from the file section at the discussion group. I did not know about google documents. I will see if I can upload it there. Yes, i am concerned about plagiarism since I have learned that all one has to do is simply copy a page. The membership at Alexander-Macedon is moderated. However, I did not want to leave the document on at that site for any too long length of time. I have seen how a book review that I wrote years ago which was posted here at Pothos became copied so that i eventually found a perverted copy of it coming from India. That is why I deleted the file, knowing that I cannot control each and every nation in the world. This is the world wide web and there are no real laws that can protect anyone against someone's simply taking it as their own. Yahoo had already taught me that at the discussion groups long time ago when they actually switched the names of the writers on the various discussions.

My individual entries are dated on my documents file but that computer on which I am keeping this has been corrupted so many times that I have to keep monitoring it and updating it all the time to keep it secure. For Chris's point of the narrative, I did paraphrase many historical biographers, some are rather obvious, and I followed the history as much as is possible as I prefer to keep things historically accurate as much as possible. Many pieces of dialogue are also paraphrased and taken from actual historical biographies. Some parts of it are my imagination and are purely fictional and I do not distinguish one from the other.

I will see if I can use the google document correctly and will let you know. Thanks, Marcus, for not abandoning the novel. Thanks, again, everyone.

[ScottOden]

Not a commentary on the structure or quality, here, but allow me to post a little perspective: based on trying to get my agent interested in another (non-pothosian) author's manuscript of an Alexander the Great novel, if you're hoping for commercial publication you're going to have to make your book unique. You'll need an angle no one has thought of, yet. And you'll need a strong narrative voice. Simply paraphrasing history isn't going to cut it on the commercial front. Mary Renault remains the gold standard, and the yardstick by which most editors and agents will judge your work (commercial publication means reaching the widest possible audience, not simply the niche of pre-existing Alexander-o-philes, thus it must be accessible, engaging, dramatic, and written in such a way as to make it readily understood). Pressfield's duology and Manfredi's trilogy are also good examples of the difficulty in breaking the Renault mold in the mind of the average historical reader. Not to mention Nicastro's Empire of Ashes, which does have quite a cult following.

Of course, the self and E-publishing markets have grown in reputation and do not hold any of the negative stigma they did just a couple years ago. There are rumors that Amazon will start policing the quality of texts published to Kindle, but there's still quite a bit of debate about exactly how they will do this. No matter which direction you choose, though, just know that you need to bring your A-game. Find a hook that will set it apart from what's come before.

Good luck!

Scott


PS: My own Memnon remains my favorite way to approach Alexander in fiction: from the angle of someone other than Alexander. It's done respectably well in the UK market, though less so in the US.

[marcus]

PS: My own Memnon remains my favorite way to approach Alexander in fiction: from the angle of someone other than Alexander. It's done respectably well in the UK market, though less so in the US.

Glad to know that Memnon has been good for you - in the UK at least. I must read it again, actually!

BTW, I must push you for comments on the chapter I sent you of my book! LOL!

[ScottOden]

Glad to know that Memnon has been good for you - in the UK at least. I must read it again, actually!

BTW, I must push you for comments on the chapter I sent you of my book! LOL!

My UK publisher, Transworld, has been very good to me. They got both Memnon and Men of Bronze out into every bookstore that would carry them, in shopping kiosks at train stations and the like, and tried flogging them to anyone who might possibly carry a book for retail sale. If ever I go through with my threat and flee the US for the UK, I hope to be set

With all the stuff that happened during 2011, I've been less attentive to reading than I should be (for those not on facebook, I lost both my parents this year: my Dad in April to non-Alzheimer's Dementia and my Mom in October to a stroke following a broken hip -- I'd been their primary caregiver and their loss has sent me into some serious depression). But, I'm back to writing and ready to read! If you need a quote to use for marketing your fantasy novels, just let me know!

Best,

Scott

[derek]

Jan,

Yes, we’d all like to be picked up by the traditional publisher, but it’s a crowded market and an unknown author has little to no chance, and the failure of the Oliver Stone movie has killed any interest publishers may have had in Alexander. But if you love your book, think it’s good, and think it deserves to be in print – self publish.

You hear horror stories about self-publishing, so should you be interested in that route, can I recommend a company called Xlibris. I’ve published three books through them and have been very satisfied. The books look very professional, are readily available to the public on Amazon and elsewhere, and belong to you, ie you hold the copyright. I’ve only ever bought the basic package which produces paperback copies, but they also do hardback and picture books etc. The basic package costs about $400 and that is as much as you need to spend, though I have also bought their ebook option, $250 a book, and surprisingly that does seem to have made a difference to sales; my last quarterly royalty check from them was for $92.

But be aware. Don’t expect to become rich and famous. No matter how good your novel, it can’t succeed without publicity and even established authors struggle with that; you have to be the likes of Steven King or John Grisham before publishers are willing to pay for advertising. Self published novels as good as don’t exist, and Alexander novels are a niche market to start with. So think of writing your Alexander novel as a hobby, and of self publishing it as part of that hobby.

Good luck!

Derek

[marcus]

Good luck!

Derek

I agree with a lot of what you say, Derek.

What are your books, by the way?

ATB