Not So Bad After All

I completed the first draft of Galactic Empress several weeks ago and set it aside before tackling revisions. With the Willamette Writers Conference coming up I decided to pick it up again. I didn't sign up for one-on-one pitches at the conference this year, but in the past I've had informal chats with editors and agents. At this writers conference you need to be ready at any moment to discuss your work.

Once again I was surprised that the novel was better than I remembered. Not that it doesn't need considerable help. But it has promise.

Apparently some writers overwrite the first draft and need to eliminate a considerable amount of material in subsequent drafts. I tend to do the opposite. My first drafts are more like sketches that need material added. Kind of the reverse of peeling an onion. Instead of removing layers, I have to add them.

So -- I hope I pick up more great information from the conference workshops that will help me add the right sensory details and action that will improve the readability of Galactic Empress.

By the way -- the working title doesn't really reflect the story that actually ended up on paper. I'll keep it for now until I see how future drafts turn out. One option is The Adventure of the Emerald Helm.

My elevator pitch:  Galactic Empress/The Adventure of the Emerald Helm is a young adult space opera. It's Princess Leia meets Indiana Jones when two young adventurers hunting antiquities inadvertently rescue a young woman in the line of succession to rule a powerful galactic sovereignty.