Changing the tone of my books as a way to fix them.

Many years ago, I sent Deviltree to Del Rey publishing.

I got back a letter from Lester Del Rey, telling me that though he liked my book, the main character "murders" innocents in the first chapter and that didn't fit his imprint.  He went on to suggest some other things I might change.

I thought it was cool that I got a letter back from the man for whom the Ballantine imprint -- the biggest fantasy publisher at the time -- was named; but didn't really realize what a big deal that really was. (Apparently, they don't do this very often.)

Anyways, I rewrote the book based on his recommendations.

Later I sent it to another big publisher, and got a letter back from Susan Allison who was another big name in the S.F. publishing world, and she also said she liked the story, and gave me some suggestions for improvement.

So I rewrote it again.

Neither publisher took it.  I later read that editors rarely take books they have rejected, even if you improve them --- because they've already rejected you...

Anyway, I got thoroughly sick of Deviltree after rewriting it so many times.  It came really really close to getting published, even being accepted at one point, but never got there.

At this point, I sent my next book, Sometimes a Dragon, off only twice, (once to Susan Allison who said she liked it, but it was too "stylistic", heh.)  Then gave up  -- thinking it would be for only a few years.   I was nearly married and newly a store owner...

...and that was it for my writing career for the next few decades.


So here it is, years later.  I'm rereading Deviltree, and it's OK.  Has some good imagination, some good characters, some decent writing.  I think I could do better now.  It seems to be missing a little 'something.'

So, dealing with the horror publisher has got me thinking. 

I prefer Dark Fantasy.  Sorry Lester Del Rey, but sometimes violence happens. 

What would happen if I turned Deviltree into Dark Fantasy?  What would happen if I turned Sometimes a Dragon into Dark Fantasy? -- (It would probably take the title Sometimes a Gargoyle, which would be natural to the plot I have in mind.)

I like this idea because it gives me something to grab onto.  It gives me something to add to stories that are missing a little something.  I don't like rewriting unless there is something substantial I'm changing.

I've gotten pretty good lately at inserting secondary stories into already existing plots -- to make them more interesting and complex. 

For instance, if I approach Deviltree, for instance as a "dying world" (which I imply but don't really play up) it adds all kinds of opportunities for mood and scene. 

 Even The Reluctant Wizard has strong elements of Dark Fantasy -- I just haven't played them up.  (For instance, the bad guys are more or less based on Aztecs -- pretty dark right there.  Their main minions are what I call Witchweres -- which are flying dark shrouds who suck the life out of their victims.)

Part of this is motivation to get me to give each of these books another effort.  But part of it feels right, too.

So even just approaching this horror publisher, no matter what happens, has had an unintended beneficial consequence.  It's got me going in a direction that interests me -- and above all, I really need to feel interested to make the changes I need to make...