The learning curve…

I’ve been going back through my manuscript and looking at anything that isn’t quite right.  I’ve been really picky, sometimes changing just one or two words, sometimes changing paragraphs.  I’ve realized something as I’ve gone through that I think is critical in the writing process:  It’s good to put down your manuscript and come back to it later. 

I’ve seen so many things I never saw before.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve decided to cut a scene altogether, or to combine it with another one.  The first few times through I was just getting the story in.  I wrote everything that came to my mind — scenes that were just fun, conversations I imagined had happened, everything.  This time, I’ve really wanted to make sure everything has a reason, that everything moves the story forward in some way.  Sometimes it’s hard.  There have been scenes I loved that I cut.  They just weren’t necessary.  And as hard as that is sometimes, it’s part of the process, and it makes the manuscript better and tighter.

Progress…finally!

I made a decision a few weeks ago to rewrite the first section of my book.  I took it from 80 pages to 50 pages.  I’m really excited about it and think it’s tons better.

Along those lines, I was reading a blog the other day, and I can’t even remember where, and the author was answering the question “What do you do when you get stuck, or what you put out there is horrible, or you just can’t find the right image or words?”  Her answer was that she writes something, terrible or not, and then moves on.  Later, after a break, she goes back and fixes those moments where things just didn’t fall into place.

I found myself doing exactly that as I rewrote this first section.  There are parts that are so rough I probably wouldn’t even want to let someone read them.  There are other parts that I probably won’t change a bit (inspiration does actually come sometimes).  I’m going to let them sit for a week or so and then revisit the rough patches and see what needs to be done with them.  Sometimes when somethings sits in my brain for a while, the right answer just comes — I decide on the right image or words.  We’ll see.  My goal is to submit this at the end of the summer or early fall.  Here’s keeping my fingers crossed.

Starting a novel in the wrong place…or why partials get rejected.

The title for this blog entry came from litaray agent Kristin Nelson.  Back in May, she blogged about the two biggest reasons partials aren’t turned into fulls.  And since she was someone who requested a partial for me but didn’t request the full, I really read this closely.  The first reason was that the novel started in the wrong place.  When I sent my partial to Ms. Nelson, it did start in the wrong place.  It took me a long time to realize that and to recognize where the right place was.  And I wasn’t totally wrong.  The scene I started with is still the scene I start with, just at a different point in that scene.

The second reason Ms. Nelson lists for a rejection is minutiae.  In trying to get the story going, the author gives all details of characters, their interactions, everything about them…you get the idea.  The story isn’t really moving forward.  Instead, scenes are created for the sole purpose of character development.  She reminds that relevant character details should be “seamlessly woven” into scenes that move the story forward.  In my case, I’ve never been satisfied with my second chapter.  I always felt like it stalled, but there was information in there that needed to be there.  When I read this from Ms. Nelson, I realized that minutiae is exactly my problem with some of my early chapters.  I start with the story and then kind of take a break to develop things before going back to the story.

I thought long and hard about what to do and (eventually) had an epiphany.  I needed to move my current chapter five or six to chapter 2.  The other details I need to work into the story.  Now we just need to see if I can do it well.

The dreaded query…

For any of you writers out there, you know how frustrating writing a query letter can be.  My first round of submissions (about a year ago) garnered a couple of partial requests but no fulls.  I’m polishing up the manuscript, especially the beginning, and hopefully will be submitting again by the end of the summer.  So….I’ve rewritten my query letter.  It has been a completely frustrating process but I think it’s finally getting somewhere.  I think what I have now will be much better than what I had before.

Last time I wrote a query, I posted it in the “Query Letter Hell” section on Absolute Write.  I had suggestions and it got to the point where it was ok, but it wasn’t great.  I’ve gone through this same process again, posting on Absolute Write, getting responses, and making changes accordingly.  I’m finally to the point where people are actually liking the query letter.  I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s at least garnering more positive than negative responese.  A huge improvement over last time.

Hopefully a year from now I’ve had success in getting published.  The query letter is a huge part of that, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Book Review: Aprilynne Pike’s “Spells”

I know this book has been out for a few weeks, but I finally got to read it.  I had read “Wings” which is the first book in this series and had liked it a lot.  I liked “Spells” even better.  I think most of that centered around the fact that there was so much more inner conflict in Laurel’s life, especially on the romance side.  I loved getting to know the two different guys in her life so much better.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have an early opinion on who I think Laurel should end up with, but it’s not as set in stone as my opinion regarding “that other series” (you know which one I mean).  And I loved the last scene.  It left me wondering what exactly was going on and how that might affect Laurel’s future decisions.  I would recommend this series to anyone, not just young adults.  It’s a really fun read and leaves you wanting more.