Alright! I've finally finished my novel. It's 165,000 words of pure genius. (right? right?) I take a minute to celebrate, take two minutes even. Hastily I write a quick query letter and send it out to the first publisher I find that accepts fantasy. I printed the manuscript out exactly how their submission requirements stated. I went through the whole process line by line to make sure I was giving them exactly what they asked for. I ignore the needle slowly sneaking up behind me. Yay! Hooray! More celebration, the query's in the mail. They're going to love it of course, why wouldn't they? A couple weeks later the publisher's reply arrives in the mail. I rip the envelope open and... *pop* rejection letter.
I've heard countless stories of people just like me who rush into sending their novel to publishers before they've really taken the time polish their entire novel, not to mention their query letter. It astounds me even more the stories I hear about people submitting their manuscripts WITHOUT READING THE FREAKIN MANUAL. By manual I mean the submission requirements that every agent/publisher posts on their website. I'll rant about this more in the future I'm sure, but let me tell you right now, there's this big thing in both publishers' and agents' offices called a slush pile. That's where your piece of art gets dumped along with every other submission that comes to them. It's going to be very, very tempting to try and make your query, envelope, whatever, stand out. I urge you, resist the temptation to give your submission that 'little something extra'. Publisher's don't want something extra, they want what they ask for. I digress on this topic for now. More to come.
December 31, 2006
June 30, 2006
Where's The Plot
By this time I've been writing a LOT. I have tons of chapters, about 100,000 words, and no end in sight. Time to take a step back.
For reference sake I'll share the title I eventually settled on, which is 1ST AWAKENINGS (I'm capitalizing it because that's what's expected in query letters, I'll get to that later).
I don't know if I'd call it a mistake, but the approach I took to writing 1ST AWAKENINGS was that of 'just write'. I'm 100,000 words into it and I have no ending, a beginning that will undoubtedly need to be rewritten, but *in my opinion* contains some interesting inner plot lines. I would highly recommend getting to this point much sooner in the writing process than I did. Now is the time to do the following:
1) Settle on an ending.
2) Make sure the time-line makes sense. Weed out all the contradictions.
3) Get outside myself (maybe even bring in outside help) and really evaluate the motives, personalities, decisions, etc of all of the protagonists, antagonists and yes even the sub-characters. An unbelievable decision by a character can leave a reader feeling robbed.
Now it's time to write again. If you didn't already have an ending in mind, or haven't written it yet, now's the time to do so.
For reference sake I'll share the title I eventually settled on, which is 1ST AWAKENINGS (I'm capitalizing it because that's what's expected in query letters, I'll get to that later).
I don't know if I'd call it a mistake, but the approach I took to writing 1ST AWAKENINGS was that of 'just write'. I'm 100,000 words into it and I have no ending, a beginning that will undoubtedly need to be rewritten, but *in my opinion* contains some interesting inner plot lines. I would highly recommend getting to this point much sooner in the writing process than I did. Now is the time to do the following:
1) Settle on an ending.
2) Make sure the time-line makes sense. Weed out all the contradictions.
3) Get outside myself (maybe even bring in outside help) and really evaluate the motives, personalities, decisions, etc of all of the protagonists, antagonists and yes even the sub-characters. An unbelievable decision by a character can leave a reader feeling robbed.
Now it's time to write again. If you didn't already have an ending in mind, or haven't written it yet, now's the time to do so.
January 2, 2006
A Wannabe Emerges
Ok, I've decided I want to write something. Now what?
There are two ways to go here.
1) Start writing. It doesn't matter what, or for how long. Just get something on paper.
2) Take notes. Create the world I want to write about before I actually begin writing about it.
The common thread between these two paths is that I'm getting started. For the longest time I thought about the stories I wanted to write, but it wasn't until I put my ideas down on paper that the ideas went from being 1-dimensional to something more. With a foundation to build on I was able to grow from a cool idea to a tangible plot.
I stayed in this stage for several months just writing. I didn't know where I was heading or what I was doing, and neither did the characters in my story. They just lived the story I was writing for them and as they did so their personalities began to take shape. Eventually I went back and completely rewrote everything that happened to them in the beginning, but by that time I had a good sense of who they were and what they brought to the table.
There are two ways to go here.
1) Start writing. It doesn't matter what, or for how long. Just get something on paper.
2) Take notes. Create the world I want to write about before I actually begin writing about it.
The common thread between these two paths is that I'm getting started. For the longest time I thought about the stories I wanted to write, but it wasn't until I put my ideas down on paper that the ideas went from being 1-dimensional to something more. With a foundation to build on I was able to grow from a cool idea to a tangible plot.
I stayed in this stage for several months just writing. I didn't know where I was heading or what I was doing, and neither did the characters in my story. They just lived the story I was writing for them and as they did so their personalities began to take shape. Eventually I went back and completely rewrote everything that happened to them in the beginning, but by that time I had a good sense of who they were and what they brought to the table.
January 1, 2006
The Reason For This Blog
I, like many hopeful writers, dream of one day publishing my work and earning the title "Author". If sharing my story in this blog can help even one person out in their journey then it is worth it. To be honest I'm also hoping it will help keep me accountable and moving forward. If you read this blog you'll see that I fell victim to many of the pitfalls that starting writers fall into, and I'm sure I'll fall into more along the way.
(For instance I just used the word 'that' twice in one sentence where it wasn't needed. Doesn't this sound better? "If you read this blog you'll see I fell victim to many of the pitfalls starting writers fall into...". One of many little lessons I learned along the way. I'll post them as I come across them.)
At the writing of this post I am an unsuccessful self-published author without an agent (Ouch, that kinda hurt to admit).
I know the date of this entry says differently, but I'm starting this blog on January 30th, 2011. I'm putting this entry first because I want it to act as an introduction and to let readers know entries leading up to today are estimated dates and are going off of what I remember. Entries after today are posted shortly after they happen, hopefully, if I can keep up the blog that is. I've fallen away from writing in the past, let's hope it doesn't happen again.
(For instance I just used the word 'that' twice in one sentence where it wasn't needed. Doesn't this sound better? "If you read this blog you'll see I fell victim to many of the pitfalls starting writers fall into...". One of many little lessons I learned along the way. I'll post them as I come across them.)
At the writing of this post I am an unsuccessful self-published author without an agent (Ouch, that kinda hurt to admit).
I know the date of this entry says differently, but I'm starting this blog on January 30th, 2011. I'm putting this entry first because I want it to act as an introduction and to let readers know entries leading up to today are estimated dates and are going off of what I remember. Entries after today are posted shortly after they happen, hopefully, if I can keep up the blog that is. I've fallen away from writing in the past, let's hope it doesn't happen again.
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