This month’s update is a few days late because I wanted to wait until I could say I FINISHED THE REWRITE!
That’s the second complete rewrite, for those keeping track. This one changed the whole book from first person to third, focused on the quality of prose, and added lots of historical detail.
I’ve treated the last six months or so as a giant research project for the historical parts, reading, watching films, and interviewing people. The novel now stands at 115,416 words! The last draft was 90-something thousand, and the original manuscript I sent to Inkshares was 54k!
I’m letting the draft stand for a week before I go back and read the whole thing out loud to polish it and send it in. Please send me "take a break" vibes and also "don’t lose your mind while you’re waiting for feedback on this thing you’ve worked your ass off on for half a year" vibes.
Thank you, as always, for your support!
March 1!
I’m on chapter 30 of 42, and I am SO EXCITED about Jane’s story.
While much of Rock of Ages is a contemporary story, there are two other points of view. Cassidy’s mother, Paloma, meets her father in Prague just after the fall of communism. When she has trouble getting pregnant, the two move back to his hometown in West Virginia.
Cassidy’s grandmother, Jane, signs on as a Government Girl and moves from WV to Washington DC, where she classifies fingerprints for the FBI during WWII. This is the part I’m rewriting now and it is so, so fun. I’ve been nerding out big time with the research, watching old films, reading old books, looking at old comics, listening to old music. I’m kind of obsessed right now with the time period and with the craft of historical fiction writing. It’s all making me feel really close to my grandma, which is bittersweet.
I’ll post the first chapter of Jane’s story on the Inkshares story page after sending this so you can take a look! Let me know what you think. I hope you’re as excited as I am!
I hope by this time next month I’ll be VERY close to finishing this draft.
Thank you, as always, for your support and encouragement!
Update on Sleepwalkers by Christopher Henckel
Hi everyone. Thanks to all of you who’ve pre-ordered a copy of my book Sleepwalkers. I entered this book in the InkShare Mystery/Suspense contest which closed in December 2018. The judges at InkShare have recently finished reading and judging all submissions. (It takes quite a while to read 160 novels). Unfortunately, Sleepwalkers didn’t win.
So does this mean Sleepwalkers won’t be published?
Not necessarily. Sleepwalkers will not be published by InkShare. But I may choose to engage another publisher at a later date.
What about refunds?
For all of you who were kind enough to pre-order a copy of Sleepwalkers, Inkshare has made full refunds about two weeks ago. If you have any questions about your refund, please email hello@inkshares.com.
But I’m dying to read your stories, Chris. Do you have any others published?
Yes! So You Wanna Be a Desperado Demon Slayer is available in ebook from Amazon. Think of this story as Blazing Saddles as a heist.
Also, My short story, Cowboy for a day, is published in the Writing Bloc: Escape Anthology, available in ebook or paperback from Amazon. Think of this story as Don Quixote in the old west.
Any other forthcoming books and or stories?
Oh yeah! Bootlegger is a full length novel that is mostly finished. Think of this story as Dukes of Hazard meets Firefly.
Outlaws and Villains: City in the Sky is another one of my full length novels and is mostly finished. Think of this story as Stand by Me meets Stargate.
Temporal Keep is a completed novelette. It story won an Honourable Mention in the 2018 Writers of the Future Contest. I’ll publish this at some point in 2019. Think of this story as The Cell meets Shawshank Redemption.
The Illusionist is a short story I’m currently writing this year’s Writing Bloc Anthology. Think of this story as The Prestige meets Chocolate.
Wow, you’re awesome, Chris. I want to be like you when I grow up.
Stop it. I’m blushing.