Fables on hold; Novel progress continues

As I tried to write the “Great Freeze” Fable, it felt more like a distraction from the novel than anything that added to the overall story or the Poguri universe. I found myself using similar themes – particularly the spreading of some worldwide condition. The “Freeze” in the fable felt a lot like the “Blight” in the novel. So I scrapped it. I still think that the idea of Nou Fables is a good one, and I do intend to work on something along those lines soon, but for now, the novel has returned to top priority.

For my upcoming Jabberwocky meeting I completely reworked Maddie’s introduction chapter, taking all of the feedback I received from various sources into consideration. I feel good about this version. Like before, it is available for everyone to view on the website.

Maddie’s Introduction
http://www.poguri.com/maddie.html

I even threw some pictures in to break up all the text. I figured that would also be more reflective of the final product, since “Land of Nou” is intended to be an illustrated novel. I hope you all like the rewrite, and whether you love it, hate it, or don’t feel one way or the other, I encourage you to leave me any feedback that comes to mind.

Thanks!

Poguri is now on Facebook!

There are two things – the Poguri “Celebrity” page, and the Poguri profile. Feel free to add him as a friend, or to become a fan of the book (even though it’s not published yet!). Show your support! Please?

Reality Check

One of the reasons I was aiming to complete the book by the end of the year was so that it coincided with the start of an MFA in Creative Writing Program in which I planned to enroll. However, a reality check flew in with the subtlety of a brick when I was rejected by not one, but two separate MFA programs.

At worst I could see these rejections as evidence that I am not a good writer, and at best…well, frankly, there is no silver lining. I am wrestling with the possibility that I am not a writer, but rather a “conceptualizer” – the guy who comes up with good ideas, but may not be so great at delivering them.

On the other hand, I am aware that if the idea is good enough, the writing doesn’t have to be, as long as it doesn’t “get in the way” of the idea. I can think of at least one popular book series for which this seems to be true, although I wouldn’t really say the idea for that series is too good, either. While the rejections dampened my enthusiasm towards this project for several days, I’ve decided to forge ahead. I am now determined to spite these two schools by writing the “next great children’s novel”. Whether or not I can achieve that, of course, remains to be seen…