Current Project: Below Freezing RS
Status: Just finished revisions a la Eli
Status: Just finished revisions a la Eli
Yesterday Lisa admitted to giving up on a book and moving on. A difficult act. I thought I'd given up on one particular suspense. I'd queried it around a bit and got a few bites but eventually received the big Rs. I'd never been completely in love with the story.
In 2008 I pitched it at nationals and received a request for a partial. I sent it off and sat back to wait. And wait. I followed up and didn't hear back. I assumed it was a pass. This summer I pitched it to an editor at the same house. This fact didn't click in my brain. I'd put last year's pitches out of my mind. Again I received a request for the same partial and promptly sent it off.
A week later, I received an email from the 2008 editor. She asked the status of my project and apologized profusely for the long wait. CLICK. (beat head on desk) I informed her that a different editor had the new and improved partial on his desk. She said she'd follow up. A few days later she requested the full.
Suddenly my manuscript had new life. Here is where I thank Elisabeth. She did a read and pointed out some problems. Thankfully there wasn't a wide range of issues. One consistent BIG issue presented itself over and over that directly affected the pace. No wonder I'd received the Rs.
Has anyone ever pointed out that you've always misspelled a particular word? That is how I felt. Suddenly the issue is obvious. Blatantly obvious.
As a writer, when do the light bulbs stop? In the beginning, there were countless things I didn't know about writing a book. I slowly learned the hard way, mentally tucking away the lessons. I thought I was getting a grip on this whole writing thing.
What are memorable lessons you've learned along the path to publishing?
9 comments:
Im beginning to feel bad that I always seem to answer first. Does this make me attentive or pathetic? Or maybe I just spend way too much time beating myself to a pulp in front of the computer screen.
Anyway, Kendra, no, I don't think the light bulbs ever stop going off. The learning never ends. It never seems to be get easier because the more you do, the more you want to do, the more you push in small ways someone else may not even recognize.
This is great news about your book. I'll be sending positive energy your way. And how nice of Eli to help you turn on the lights!
Alice, you answer first because the rest of us wait for your words of wisdom before we jump in. :) By the way, no beating up of self allowed!
Alice's words of wisdom this time: "I don't think the light bulbs ever stop going off." I agree wholeheartedly. If we're learning, our writing is getting better and better.
I discovered a good way to see how you've improved as a writer is to revise a manuscript you drafted several years ago. I recently did this and ay-yi-yi! The old version was a head-hopping point-of-view nightmare, the motives of the hero weren't strong enough, and there was lots of telling instead of showing. In spite of that, I enjoyed the story and it will be published as part of an anthology in February 2010 by Rogue Phoenix Press. Thank goodness the learning process continues!
And congratulations on the "new life" for your manuscript, Kendra! This is wonderful news!
Alice, you only beat me because I vacuumed the upstairs before I sat down to the computer! LOL Otherwise it would have gone another day.
Kendra, I think a good writer never has the light bulb stop flashing. To improve your writing you are constantly learning and soaking up new ways and things to incorporate or enhance your writing. If you shut off the light bulb your writing would become stagnant.
The editor with my spirit book said we had a lot of repetition to cut. UGH! That has been one of my biggest problems. I think I have to keep repeating why a character behaves the way they do. Which after awhile to everyone but me it gets annoying! LOL I think I'm keeping it in the forefront of the reader's mind and I'm actually boring them to death!
Congrats on the request for the full! Fingers and toes crossed for you!
Egads, Paty, sounds as though you've had some light-bulb moments yourself.
I do the repeating motivation thing, too, btw. It's because I'm trying to reassure myself that enough got said, I'm trying to make sure I understand it. I weed the repetitions out as I go along, but sometimes they get past me. If they make it into print, I feel like an idiot.
I have had so many light bulb moments. Recently, someone wise (on this blog perhaps?? Not sure where!) said that whatever is most important to your hero(ine) when the story starts, by the end, they must give it up willingly. BING! This little nugget has helped me come up with a motto for my current WIP: RAISE THE STAKES. I have struggled with pacing in all of my books, and so I just keep repeating to myself RAISE THE STAKES.
Yay on finishing the revisions! It was a great book and I'm glad I could help. Fingers crossed for you with the request!!
I agree with Alice...a writer is always learning. I'm convinced this job only gets harder the more you write and the more you know. Successful authors are always trying to better themselves and make the next book the best book they've ever written.
And with that said...I need to go work on said book. ;)
Alice - it makes you attentive!
Kendra, great topic. Eli crit'd something for me a couple of years ago and something she found time and time again has stuck with me. It was a problem with signifying something that was past of the past tense with using more "hads." Like: When he was in high school, he had been busy a lot." Bad example, but it works.
Alice, you're simply an early bird. I think the rest of us sleep in.
Genene, I've done that with manuscripts. ACK! I still have the first book I ever wrote. Someday if I get the guts, I'll look again. (not)
Paty, that was one of my issues with this MS! I kept repeating because I wanted to make certain the reader understood.
Bethany, that was one of the rules I took from Donald Maass' book. Raise the stakes. And think of the worst thing that can happen to your character and do it.
Lisa, I won't tell you about my issues with past tense. Eli taught me too. It was ugly.
Eli, you rock!
Great topic, Kendra! I've had so many lightbulb moments--and continue to do so--that I sometimes picture myself surrounded by those light stands you see at football stadiums. LOL
Let's see, coming from writing documentation in the tech field, one of my early problems was with passive vs. active voice. It's funny, but working on that problem in my fiction also improved my work docs!
@Bethany -- that quote about your character giving up something willingly? Eli mentioned it during a discussion at one of the meetings. My notes say it's a quote she remembered from Chris York: "Think about your main character's goal. What do they want most? Got it? Now, make sure at the end of the book, they give that up. Freely."
It resonated so strongly for me that I put it on a post-it to have in front of me everytime I sit down to write. Hopefully I attributed it correctly!
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