Being an author - first thoughts

I'm an author: there, I've said it.  I get the feeling that saying it - or writing it - takes you at least half way there.  I've finished 2 novels now, and I'm looking for an agent for the first one: "Hacking the Dragon".  The other one ("Big Brother's Little Sister") is currently resting - in the way of chronically-under-employed acting types - before I come back to it and edit it up. 

Hacking the Dragon has been through two re-visits, and now feels ready to face some agents.  I got some very good feedback on it just as I was starting BB'sLS, but was too far into that to risk working on Hacking the Dragon.  I'm glad I waited: BB'sLS was flowing very well, and I think interrupting that wouldn't have been good for it.  Equally, more time to let Hacking the Dragon stew in my unconscious let me come to terms with the suggestions, and give it a bit more space.

So - what's it about?  Well, it's probably fair to call it light cyberpunk science fiction for young adults.  That sounds awfully clinical, though.  Maybe best to explain who it's for.  To be frank, it's for my eldest daughter - let's call her J.  When she started to get really into reading, I looked around, and couldn't see the sort of thing that I like reading, but for children.  Particularly for girls.  That felt awful: my two daughters - J and M - enjoy science and watching geeky programmes on TV, and I was pretty sure they'd enjoy reading about it, too.  It turned out I was right.

I started writing it partly as an exercise in introducing the girls to Linux and geekery.  Which was a terrible, terrible idea.  I then carried on writing it because I thought that the plot was quite cool.  Which was better, but still a pretty bad plan.  I finished writing it because I'd grown interested in the characters, and how they were going to cope with what was going on around them.  The plot unfurled round them.  That was a significant improvement.

I'll save a synopsis for another post, but what I wanted to write about on this blog was the process of writing.  I really enjoy writing, and I find it fascinating.  I know that I've got better at the craft of writing between Hacking the Dragon (now around 65,000 words) and BB'sLS (currently around 115,000 words), and I wanted a place to reflect on the process of writing, and to get comments and feedback.

There may not be much in this post that merits comment yet, but if there's anything you're interested to say, or hear about, get in touch.  More will, as they say, follow.