Wednesday, August 08, 2007

It's a Question of Perception

It's strange how a writer feels about a story that he revisits years after writing it! You find things and patterns and discover elements that you haven't noticed before. One thing I noticed while I was revising QuixotiQ was how the style of writing slighty altered throughout the story, I felt the first half of it was a little more disjointed, something that others have pointed out to me.

A couple of days ago I finally finished going over the novel. I did tweak some changes here and there, but they are so small and sparse that I'd doubt they'd be noticed. The biggest change and most notable is perhaps the first line of the beginning of QuixotiQ. I like the new line better and I feel that it instantly takes the reader into the heart of the story, especially into the world of our main protagonist Guy.


Another thing that bothered me a great deal was the cheesy cover, I mean, come on, seriously, it was cheesy. Don't be nice about it! I've designed one that I feel reflects the story much better, and, as someone who I showed it to said, looks much more like a 'real' thriller novel!

I give you an exclusive first peak of the new cover of QuixotiQ, which I hope will be published soon. It's just a matter of finding a publisher now, isn’t it always the case? Ah well.

4 comments:

amal said...

hi ali, unrelated note: is there an email i can contact you on?

June said...

I cannot believe you wouldn't change anything. Usually if I even write a sentence and leave it overnight, I cringe the next day and feel the structure is all wrong and everything must be changed.

Good to see confidence reigns supreme.

Unknown said...

wow! the new cover is certainly the right one for the story. The first was more for 'The Alchemist' than for Guy's journey!
It'll be published inshallah:)

Ali Al Saeed said...

Hi June, I know what you mean, and I did make many changes, but they are very subtle. Some sentences sounded silly and needed a tweak, I changes some words, reformed some sentences etc. What I meant is that I didn't make any major changes on the story itself, plot wise and such.

Thank you moonlight, I think you are right, I'm liking this cover a whole lot better and i think it convery the chaos, violence and darkness in the story.