So since my post a couple weeks ago about looking for beta readers, and after exploring Nathan Bransford's forums, I was fortunate enough to meet up with the perfect critique partner. And she is perfect. No you can't have her. She's my own, my precious (sorry Mes, Gollum slipped out there).
She's an intense line editor and just what I needed for my final overhaul of Bond of Darkness. Line edits are a bitch and so is she, and I mean that in the most gracious and thankful way possible. Those were her exact words to me. "Don't think I'm a bitch, but I crack down on line edits." I squealed with joy when she told me that.
So here's to you, Mesmerix! I hope we both have a long and successful beta read together for BoD and GEM, and more after. Thanks for everything so far.
Bye for now,
JWP
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Long, Hard Road
So, I recently read a blog post about writers becoming too attached to their manuscripts. There was a particular interview by a publisher on this blog post about the length it should take to craft a novel from planning to end line edits. The publisher went on to say whenever he gets an unsolicited query by a writer, often a new writer, and he happens to see a line that they have been working on the novel for 6+ years, it sends up a red flag. This means, he said, that the writer had become too attached to their manuscript and cannot bear for it to leave their side.
I know I have become one of these writers. My novel has been in planning, to the day, for a total of six years, but I have only been writing the actual manuscript for coming on 4 years. This 4 year length includes three full, hard edits -- including one massive overhaul to the entire structure of the world I created -- along with some character additions.
Does this mean that I would send up a red flag to this same publisher if I, a new unpublished writer, would send my unsolicited manuscript to him? Granted, I would never tell them the length I have been working on the manuscript, but they I hope they might be able to see the polish in it to make an assumption. They could think, "Hey this guy wrote a slam dunk of a novel."
So where is all of this leading? I believe that a writer can become attached to their manuscript, but why at any point should this be considered a weakness of the writer? Haven't I invested my time accordingly to build a world and story that is absolutely pertinent to what I am trying to sell to an agent or publisher?
There will be lines drawn on this matter and I suppose it is a place where most writers find themselves at some point in the writing process. As for me, I do not see this as a hindrance, attachment or even a weakness. I see this as just a deeper part of the discipline. When I find myself doing a hard edit, I ask myself if I truly need to go through all 400+ pages again and catch small things. Most often, they are not small things, but parts that I just see being stronger or more relevant. Even Fantasy has the ability to latch onto reality and draw out real-life lessons that can have people change the way they think or act.
I know I have become one of these writers. My novel has been in planning, to the day, for a total of six years, but I have only been writing the actual manuscript for coming on 4 years. This 4 year length includes three full, hard edits -- including one massive overhaul to the entire structure of the world I created -- along with some character additions.
Does this mean that I would send up a red flag to this same publisher if I, a new unpublished writer, would send my unsolicited manuscript to him? Granted, I would never tell them the length I have been working on the manuscript, but they I hope they might be able to see the polish in it to make an assumption. They could think, "Hey this guy wrote a slam dunk of a novel."
So where is all of this leading? I believe that a writer can become attached to their manuscript, but why at any point should this be considered a weakness of the writer? Haven't I invested my time accordingly to build a world and story that is absolutely pertinent to what I am trying to sell to an agent or publisher?
There will be lines drawn on this matter and I suppose it is a place where most writers find themselves at some point in the writing process. As for me, I do not see this as a hindrance, attachment or even a weakness. I see this as just a deeper part of the discipline. When I find myself doing a hard edit, I ask myself if I truly need to go through all 400+ pages again and catch small things. Most often, they are not small things, but parts that I just see being stronger or more relevant. Even Fantasy has the ability to latch onto reality and draw out real-life lessons that can have people change the way they think or act.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
New WiP
So I casually looked at my latest attempt at a WiP last night around 11. Why does it seem that this small piece of a chapter (only 4 pages so far) sounds so much better than my current manuscript material. Granted, it does not belong to the same genre so I guess there is an explanation in that.
I have to say that I never saw myself writing much else besides Fantasy. It has and always will be my first love. I have done small writings for my minor portfolio, some of which I hope to revisit later (ie: Mephistopheles).
So the current WiP is a long awaited project attempt with Tara (@SuiteMagic). We decided after she having written almost 3 full manuscripts of the YA Fantasy genre, and I bits and pieces of 2 Epic Fantasy manuscripts (3rd in planning), we needed to get away from Fantasy for a brief time.
So the project is historical fiction about Pirates and their involvement with the sacking of 17th century French ports. We wanted to add some form of magical-realism into it originally, and that was scrapped, but I want to revisit the idea and make the magical-realism element not as fantasy, and a little more on the explainable side. Yes, you are asking yourself how do you explain magical-realism anything in the context of 17th century Pirates and the Royal French Navy.
Alas, this is the challenge of a WiP. We plan to use the Catacombs of Paris in it, too, which is an amazing setting alone. I hope this project works out. It seems my writing is somewhat stronger here, but I digress. Tara and I agreed that this will be another project for us to work full-steam on once we move to Florida.
Thanks for reading and bye for now!
JWP
I have to say that I never saw myself writing much else besides Fantasy. It has and always will be my first love. I have done small writings for my minor portfolio, some of which I hope to revisit later (ie: Mephistopheles).
So the current WiP is a long awaited project attempt with Tara (@SuiteMagic). We decided after she having written almost 3 full manuscripts of the YA Fantasy genre, and I bits and pieces of 2 Epic Fantasy manuscripts (3rd in planning), we needed to get away from Fantasy for a brief time.
So the project is historical fiction about Pirates and their involvement with the sacking of 17th century French ports. We wanted to add some form of magical-realism into it originally, and that was scrapped, but I want to revisit the idea and make the magical-realism element not as fantasy, and a little more on the explainable side. Yes, you are asking yourself how do you explain magical-realism anything in the context of 17th century Pirates and the Royal French Navy.
Alas, this is the challenge of a WiP. We plan to use the Catacombs of Paris in it, too, which is an amazing setting alone. I hope this project works out. It seems my writing is somewhat stronger here, but I digress. Tara and I agreed that this will be another project for us to work full-steam on once we move to Florida.
Thanks for reading and bye for now!
JWP
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