I've got a dilemma, so I'm tossing this up here. I think Danita is still on Hiatus, but if she posts, I'll take this down.
When is it time to let go of a MS? I've been reading a lot of craft books recently, and it's slowly (okay, really it's taken a YEAR) dawned on me that this WIP that I'm currently revising isn't going to be the one to sell. (Yes, Alice, it's the funeral one). Don't get me wrong, it's still the book of my heart and all that, but I don't think it's THE book. I think even though I haven't written much in the last year, my understanding of the craft, especially conflict has grown, and I'm wondering what my next step should be.
Let's call this a multiple choice test:
1) withhold judgment and revise the whole thing. Complete gut level overhaul. Slash and burn, baby.
2) withhold judgment and continue with original revisions, pushing aside new doubts
2) Revise just enough to get a contest entry/GH entry out of it
3) Get out the mothballs. It's time to shelve it.
4) Start new project
Option four is easier said than done b/c I've got several starts in the last few months to choose from, and I'm having a bit of a hard time committing to one. Futhermore, I find I'm having a hard time accepting that MS #1 and #3 just won't see the light of day.
I know most of you have been here too. When is it time to say goodbye to a MS? When is it time to gut it? Have you shelved a MS only to come back to it years later? Does it make sense to keep circulating a MS that you're not sure is "The One"? How do you separate fear of failure, perfectionism, and instinct here? HELP!!!!
17 comments:
Multiple Choice! Great, that means in this case I have a one in five chance of being right (You have two #2)!!!
Pros and Cons, without taking into consideration your feelings as expressed further down in the blog:
1.) If the premise is solid and the idea is viable and marketable, this makes sense. Like you said, you've been accumulating knowledge and skills this last year (that''s why you are so compelled to read, in my modest opinion). This way you keep your idea and gut it, stuff it, and rehang it. Ick. Okay, con: Very hard to do this. That idea has been around long enough in your head and in different permutations on paper that you may find it hard to let go of certain assumptions about characters, goals, motivations. Plus, there's the danger of the material "feeling" old and stale.
2.) Writing with doubts is pretty much the definition of writing, period. I'm working on my what, my 37th book right now and doubt is not nipping at my heels, it's up at my knees and moving fast. I don't know any fiction writer who doesn't suffer doubt. The trick gets to be knowing when the doubt is your gut telling you there's a problem and knowing when it's your nemesis, the girls in the basement, making trouble. Those bimbos.
second 2.) I'm not qualified to respond to this. I have never entered a writing contest. Oh, that's not true, I entered one last year -- and lost. On the other hand, lots of other people love contests and if this appeals to you, this makes sense. That way you could get a "public" opinion on whether or not this idea appeals to a broad audience and suggestions for rewrites if that's what you want to do. Plus, it may be the most manageable thing for you to do with your current level of life commitments..
3.) This option has to come from your gut.
4.) This is what I would do. And if none of your false starts appeal to you, then dig deeper and find something that does. I think a writer has to know when an idea is an exercise. I usually struggle like this between books because I am so sure that after every contract, there will never be another one. So I panic and write a few pages of this and that and then -- something clicks and I'm off on a new idea and the other starts have been exercises and will never become books, at least not books written by me.
I have shelved manuscripts and then "borrowed" heavily from them down the road. As for how much sense it makes to keep circulating a manuscript? I guess that has to come down to your faith in the book, your belief in the book.
I believe fear of failure and perfectionism often go hand in hand. I also believe that gut instinct is one of a novelist's most important tools. But that's me and maybe you view it all different. If there's one thing this blog in general has shown me over the last two years is that we're all alike -- and all different. I wish I could help you more and if you want to talk, I'd be happy to take your call, just email me for the number.
Good luck, I'll be anxious to hear what everyone else as to say although I know Eli is in Hawaii by now. I also know she wrote two or three books she shelved before she wrote the one that sold and that somehow she knew from the get-go it was different.
Wavy,
I say shelf the book and move on to something new. You have grown and learned new things- put them to use in a new story that you can get excited about and not angst over the book that should have been.
I have SEVEN shelved books. Granted I will some day resurrect three of them when I run out of ideas, but the first two were definite shelvers and one won a love scene contest and the other was a contest finalist and got a full read from Cindy Hwang at Berkley- BUT they both have major structural problems that I didn't even know existed when I sent them out into the world. I've grown, my writing has grown, and my latest books surpass anything I've done before that finaled in contests.
I believe in taking what you learn and applying it to something new and exciting. I don't look back- never have. I'm always looking forward and that's why I jump into new projects and HATE editing! LOL
This last week, my editor has pushed me to the max with my edits on Miner and sweet, little Lori has become vicious in her critiquing and I love it because it is pushing me to do more than tell it story- it is pushing me to reveal the story.
BTW- Lori has been reworking her book and it 'feels' completely different and more fun- so, I guess it is all in the perseverance of the writer and just how much you love that story to totally tear it apart and make it something new and better.
As Alice said, it will be interesting to see what everyone has to say.
I think I'm wanting that "different" feeling that Eli got. I had that feeling with my YA, and that one I'll keep circulating until it sells b/c I believe in it that much.
I'm wondering if doing a complete gut and stuff is a bit like putting toothpaste back in the tube. I'm very much a plotter, and I'm feeling like going back and making motivational charts and lists of values and really getting in there isn't a bit like looking for the cap when the bathroom floor's all sticky . . . .
I've written FIVE different first chapters since finishing this WIP a year ago. Perhaps it's time to write #6???? Fickle . . fickle . . . fickle.
Thanks so much for your help! Are you on Chapter 6 now?
Thanks Paty! I do hope Lori chimes in, as I want to hear her perspective on this.
I think what you said about letting go of the book that might have been is exactly where I am right now. My mind knows it's time to go, and my heart is saying . . "But I LOVE that scene! And that one! And oh! That stretch of dialogue!"
Wavy, I am on Chapter Six thanks to the last line in Chapter Five when she woke up and realized she wasn't alone in the room. Until that line popped up, I had no where to go.
Poor Mom now has a gash on her cheekbone and her best friend is about to get -- well, better not go there...
I think you, your gut and Paty are all saying the same thing -- it's time to move on.
Bethany, so great to see you so active on the blog again, and writing away (or revising, same deal) on your own projects too. I'm sort of unofficially over my hiatus/maternity leave, but still having "baby brain damage" issues with remembering things like when it my day to blog, where did I put the check book, and where is the baby. You know, basic stuff like that.
Paty emailed and texted to remind me that today was my day to post, but we were away at a funeral -- one of Rick's friends father died -- so it's perfect that you threw something up here, Wavy. Are you still going by Wavy?
As far as what to do with your manuscripts, man am I the wrong person to ask. Yours are questions I seek answers to for myself!
There are authors like Paty and Eli who finish a book and move on. It seems to work well for them. They have both sold their new stuff. Don't believe either has revisited the old, shelved manuscripts.
There are people like our Alice who write books, sell most of them, and any that are completed and don't sell are peddled to a different publisher.
Then there are people like Genene (and I fall into this catagory too) who work on the same novel(s) for years, applying the craft secrets they've learned until the book is ready for a publisher.
I guess it is whatever works for each person, although most published authors will tell you to move on instead of doing endless revisions. I have a hard time with that, because the old books feel like unfinished projects to me and that drives me nuts.
Good luck with whatever choice you make, to perfect or to move on.
Wavy, I understand what you're going through. It's a tough decision to make. But one thing to always remember is that written words are timeless. The manuscript will wait for you to come back to it if you want to move on now. It's how you'll grow as a writer.
What are your goals? If your goal is to be published, and your gut tells you this isn't the one, move on. But if you're feeling the need to finish regardless, then that's what you should do.
With the manuscript that got me my agent, it started out as a very different book. I got 3/4 of the way done with it when I had a conversation with an agent at PNWA last year that made me realize how flawed the story was. It was as if a light switch flicked on and I knew what I had to do to make it right. I scrapped all but the first 3 chapters, which I basically rewrote anyway, and wrote an entirely different book. Same main character, just a different plot. I'll take some of what I had in that failed attempt and use it in book two. But I'm so glad I gutted and remade that project. It's certainly a viable option that worked for me. If you're up to it with yours, go for it. It's just like writing a new book anyway.
I do have a book I've shelved and plan to go back to someday. It's a paranormal mystery better suited for the YA market, so it needs significant work. But I know it will always be there waiting for me when I'm ready. Until then, I'll work on new stuff.
I agree with all the good advice I've read. Here's my experience during my career, if it helps at all.
I had one book that got rejected everywhere, and I shelved it. It sold about 7 years later, after editorial shifts at one house that had previously rejected it.
I had a different book that I ended up writing and rewriting over the span of 1 1/2 years, until it had an entirely different first one hundred pages, then an entirely different first three chapters, and then entirely different first one (twice.) Then I was okay with it. It sold. Only pieces of the original idea remained.
I have one ms I put away that got some rejections. Then it almost sold in a shortened form to one publisher, whose editor said she really liked it, but they were scrapping their line. I put it away. Took it out recently--I LOVE this book. Year I wrote it--1992. Will I sell it? I'm going to try. Really hard.
How did I know in each case what to do? Gut instinct. My reaction to it when I finished the draft.
About being "the one". I don't think in each case we can tell if our own work is "the one" or has "the magic". The story I'm working on now--I didn't think it had the magic, but now I do. One criteria to tell if it's women's fiction (I don't know about science fiction/fantasy/YA), does it affect you as you read it? Does it make you laugh, cry, etc? I'm doing final revisions for my current, unsold wip, and I'm still laughing at my hero and heroine's banter, even though I've read it before. I'm also worried sick the editor might not find it as adorable and emotionally wrenching as me. (Hero is tragic hero type, and he does not joke, but he's joking in the scene, and denying he's doing it. It affects me as oh, so good, but an editor? Don't know.) Back to you. Are you getting that kind of self reaction to the book? If not, that doesn't mean it's not worth working on, but if you are, it may well be.
I hope that helps in some way and doesn't frustrate. :-)
Flo
Wavy, Everyone has given such wonderful advice and shared great personal experiences that I have little to say or add.
Lead with your heart and follow your goals. If you need to finish this book because you're a perfectionist and like to see things to completion then stick with this book. If you have a great desire to see yourself published do what you need to do to make that happen. It doesn't mean you must dump this book and start another. Do you believe in this book? Does it evoke the emotions, drive and passion to writ, write, write?
Perhaps you want to put your book/s in storage for a time. Like baby clothes, you may find yourself excitedly digging them out again in the future.
You've graduated from the bottle to solid foods in your writing knowledge. If you're enjoying each new taste sensation and savoring the intensity of each delicious morsel you write then rest in peace, you're following your heart.
There is no right or wrong choice.
Leave it to Lori to be pithy -- and bring up valid points...
Lots of opinions on this one. I love Lori's line "You've graduated from the bottle to solid foods in your writing knowledge."
Very vivid.
I recently shelved a book on which I received six requests for fulls. No one wanted it, so I knew something was wrong. I fiddled with it for months. I loved this book and finally shelved it, telling myself I'd come back to it when my skills sharpened.
Last week at nationals I pitched my current project over breakfast with a MIRA editor. (Novak auction win--priceless!) She asked for a partial then asked what else I had. Unprepared, I took a deep breath and pitched last year's book. Her eyes lit up and she said, "Now that's the one I really want to see."
Guess what I've stripped to the bone and am now rewriting? And it is better. So much better. I feel like I have fresh eyes and can spot the glaring errors that must have had agents snorting in their coffee.
I've moved up a stage in the Gerber foods aisle.
That's my advice. Set it aside, promise yourself you won't touch it for a year. If you set a due date the MS won't haunt you each week. Start something fresh and give your brain a break.
That's awesome, Kendra! You da WOman! 8^)
Hi, Wavy!
You've received excellent suggestions. As Danita mentioned, I sold my first manuscript fourteen years after I started it, and rewrote it 6 or 8 times--major gut and stuff several of those times. But I loved the hero and heroine. However, I also worked on other projects during those years. During those years, I also struggled with with finishing projects, so ended up with several manuscripts in various stages of completion. However, all of those manuscripts have something special I love about them and I will go back to them and finish them when the time is right.
One thing that helped me move forward was an article I read (and I don't remember by what author) who talked about the garbage can test. She said in her mind she dumps the entire manuscript in the garbage can. Then she takes back out only what is absolutely essential.
In the end, just listen to your gut instinct, grasshopper! (Yep, save "advice" I gave yesterday.)
By the way, Kendra, congratulations on the wonderful meeting with the MIRA editor!
Wow, you guys were all so helpful!!! I'm so lucky to have you all.
Isn't it wonderful how we each have such different journeys. I love how Genene and Danita have applied each new lesson to their manuscripts--much like a painter adding more and more detail. And I like how Kendra and Karen have shelved things only to come back to them later.
You've given me a ton to think about!
Congrats, Alice on reaching chapter six!
And Congrats, Kendra on your request! That's AWESOME!!!
This is such a hard call.
I have a CP that just sold a project that was a 2005 GH finalist. I'm sure she's glad she stuck with that one. But generally, I think it's better to move on to another project. Our writing gets better with each project -- or at least it should.
Post a Comment