"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[SJAB]

Originally Posted by John Jarrold

It's something I say regularly to the new writers with whom I work editorially - know your market, know your genre. No one writes in a vacuum and you can't come in, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, assuming that what you are writing is brand new, if you don't know the genre well. That's naive, and naivety doesn't work in commercial publishing - or any other commercial enterprise.

I'd read SF and Fantasy avidly for over twenty years before I started publishing it, and attended SF conventions for fifteen years, where I'd met and spoken to authors, editors and agents. That experience was priceless...

I suppose I have well and truly lost my bright-eyed and bushy-tailed look these last two years.

At present I am re-editing a work I thought had a good chance. But now looking at it in the cold light of what I have learned about writing and the market that is out there, I know I have to trim it. I have make the beginning sharper, in fact cut back to a later scene in the story. I know that this story has something (One agent requested a sample from a query I had submitted) so I know it can catch someone's interest. I now have to make my product hold that interest. It is painful to do and accept, but it is something I had to find out about the hard way to make it sink in. If I can do it with this story, even if I don't eventually sell it, I hope I can apply the lesson to everything I write from here on in.

[John Jarrold]

Yep, that's it. Everything you learn informs your next novel...it's a long haul and you need to think strategically.

[Triceratops]

Very much the proper attitude. It's taken me 27 years to get things off to a proper start (beginning chapters). Have had agents and publishers skip the first two chapters or so and love the book. But they'd write back and say, "Hellava character dump you have upfront." If it wasn't that, it was an info dump, or backstory. After 17 books you'd think I'd learned my lesson. Just recently accomplished that goal. It just took a while for my synapses to weld together to get the point across. Gak.

Tri

[John Jarrold]

99.9% of books from unagented authors are turned down by publishers after they have read fewer than ten pages...so it's really worth working on that opening chapter!

[John Jarrold]

I think enthusiasm is a very important point to consider. I've always loved being involved in publishing and making authors successful. Now I have the pleasure of seeing finished copies of books I sell to publishers. Last month, THE COURT OF THE AIR by Stephen Hunt, from HarperCollins. This month, NIGHT OF KNIVES by Ian Cameron Esslemont, the first Malazan novel from the man who jointly-created the world with Steve Erikson, from Bantam. It feels like Christmas when these early copies arrive. Whoo-hoo (in my Homer Simpson voice)...!

Be businesslike, but never lose enthusiasm.

[Triceratops]

Be businesslike, but never lose enthusiasm.

This is very important and what keep us going, John. When we forget the love and fun that is involved with writing and telling stories, we've lost sight of our focus. Then when we do hit with publication, it's great to learn and experience the business aspect of it.

We as writers also have an obligation to support the industry that we intend to enter, by purchasing and reading the works of others, always on a quest to better our output and monitor the ever evolving changes.

Tri

[Wayne Blackhurst]

Originally Posted by John Jarrold

Be businesslike, but never lose enthusiasm.

Well said!

[Leisha]

but never lose enthusiasm.

Call me naive, but if an author truly loves their work and has faith in it, is it even possible to lose enthusiasm? Doesn't, in fact, your love of the story and the characters only grow with each year? Or am I still viewing the world with my rose-coloured glasses on?!

[AphroditeMSC]

I have found that I've lost enthusiasm for certain stories, and moved on to newer ones. And I had a book half done....got desperate block and left it for a while, only to be unable to get back into it once I found the time.

Sometimes, I guess life takes over for a while and our imaginary worlds suffer for it.

[Leisha]

I think I'm the opposite! When life gets hard, I deal with it by spending even more time in my imaginary world. I suppose it's a way of blanking out what you don't want to face.

[AphroditeMSC]

I wish I could do that. But the truth is... when you're a single parent to two small children, both under seven with no help from the dad, while trying to run a house, study, write, have a social life and find a new job..... life intrudes a LOT lmao.

[Leisha]

Well done for writing a story whilst coping with all that!

[AphroditeMSC]

Ah... it's trying to write a story while coping with all that! lol

[John Jarrold]

Originally Posted by Leisha

Call me naive, but if an author truly loves their work and has faith in it, is it even possible to lose enthusiasm? Doesn't, in fact, your love of the story and the characters only grow with each year? Or am I still viewing the world with my rose-coloured glasses on?!

I know a number of newer writers who have become disillusioned when their first book didn't sell quickly - and others who want commercial publication and move on when one book doesn't sell to another world, setting or sub-genre. So, as ever, writers are individuals and react as such!

[SJAB]

Originally Posted by Leisha

Call me naive, but if an author truly loves their work and has faith in it, is it even possible to lose enthusiasm? Doesn't, in fact, your love of the story and the characters only grow with each year? Or am I still viewing the world with my rose-coloured glasses on?!

For me there is a difference between love and faith with my work. I love the first novel I actually finished. I drag it out, still edit, polish, and pick it over. I even send it out to some poor agent/publisher now and then. But do I have any faith that it will sell? None at all. I know each of its faults, the patches of bad writing that no amount of editing will remove. Plot holes, characters that wander round and do nothing, its all there.

But I love it to death.

It proved to me I could actually write down the stories in my head. After writing it I knew writing, even badly, was not easy to do. I learned how to research, found out how much time and effort writing cost me on a personal level. I also realised that if I was not careful I missed out on "real life", something I don't do now.

I have what I call "writing time", which is sandwiched in between my life and my day job. I day dream that maybe one day I might be able to include the day dob into my writing time. But I am know enough about the business and the quality of my writing to realise that won't happen, but it is nice to think about it happening.

I have over the last twelve months learned to submit a good query letter and had a few bites. Even sold a couple of short stories. For me that is a lot further than I ever honestly thought I would get.