The Austin Files

The "If Only" Project:

Students of the course Editing The Novel, given by Bonnee Pierson, editor at the e-publisher Dreams-Unlimited.com should read and study the "If Only" Project -- a set of documents culminating in a novel published by Awe-Struck E-Books in summer 2000 titled WYSIWYG.

"If Only" is a Contemporary Romance structured around an online email love affair. If you dislike Romance genre, this is a good book to study -- you will have more clinical distance on the material.

Read the (ARC) (one-file, 3-4 minute download at 28,800) of the novel entitled If Only by Rennee Austin. It was distributed by the publisher, Awe-Struck E-Books to reviewer Jacqueline Lichtenberg for her column in the Monthly Aspectarian. With the permission of the author and publisher, this rough draft has been made available here for free reading (only until July 30th, 2000 -- watch WorldCrafters-l newsletter for announcement of when that original draft may be restored) as part of WorldCrafters Guild's program of free textbooks. It does not closely resemble the published version which is longer.
Read the Review of the ARC by Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Read the reply to that review by the author of the novel If Only.
Go to Awe-Struck E-Books and buy a copy of the completed, published novel, WYSIWYG from the Awe-Struck Ennoble line. (e-books are not expensive) The book was rewritten to take Lichtenberg's editorial commentary into account. Compare the ARC, the comments, and the completed product.
Watch writers-l and WorldCrafters-L for further postings regarding the "If Only" Project.
Students Registered in WorldCrafters Guild may post commentary on this project to simegen@simegen.com for possible posting here. If you apply what you've learned to a novel of your own in progress, we'd like to know about it.
The "If Only Project" will become part of the course on Re-Writing to Editorial Suggestion, so if you buy the e-book, be sure to save it for that course. We hope to build a similar presentation around the Dreams-Unlimited.com publication Born of Fire by Sherrilyn Kenyon, one of the homework assignments for the Editing course on the techniques of World Building in sf/f.