A Very Confused Writer

[jezelf]

I'm in the process of starting too. I've been reading a pretty good book that helps with all aspects of writing your first novel including advice on agents/publishers/going it alone (the advice is to get an agent, but there are examples of people who havent).

I expect the same information to be reapeated here, but worth checking out..

How to Write & Sell Your First Novel (Paperback)
by Oscar Collier (Author), Frances Spatz Leighton (Author)

[jezelf]

Re: A Very Confused Writer
Hi - I've just started on my novel (well writing short stories as background histories to my charcters in my novel to be) I recently read a book that helps with just the whole 'first novel' subject in most aspects, and I'll recommend it.

How to Write & Sell Your First Novel (Paperback) by Oscar Collier covers a lot of interesting areas for your book, including agents. I learnt a lot from it. worth checking out.

Im sure this site has the infomation in the right places, too.
( I would have posted a link, but Ive just joined the site and it's forbidden for newbies)

Jez

[SpaceShip]

Loads of lovely info here. Hello jezelf - nice to meet you. Why don't you introduce yourself in the introductions thread and let us all know a bit about yourself.

[Interference]

Circus Cranium (gotta love a name like that) says "let it cool for at least a month" and I think it's an underestimate.

In a month, the story with all its complexities and clever twists is still circulating fresh around your head and the logical connexions from step to step are still logical to you. In this time, this mulling month, you might make occasional additions or subtractions, but the point is you're still in the zone and you can recognise all its landmarks.

I went back to my first ms after a year of thinking about plenty of other things (you know, having a life, that sort of thing) and on reappraising it from a visitor's perspective, I found the need for a whole new sub-plot - and I stress 'need' - and the redundancy (in its current context) of one that was there - which will be far better used as the jumping-off point for another book.

I spotted chronology flaws and errors that I couldn't have seen before without this fresh perspective; points I'd intended to enlarge upon but had forgotten to, or failed to, develop sufficiently. And there were a few scenes, that contributed nothing more than a smile that found themselves relegated to my "Re-use a Line" folder, cos there was a good joke in it, just that now wasn't the time.

I find that giving myself time to forget all about the project allows me to approach it again, if not with an entirely fresh eye then at least with a freshly appraising one. After all, if I've been keeping in practice, I'll have improved, won't I?

It's now been two years since I dropped the last dot on the last page of that first book and I'm still concerned about bits - mostly involving its commerciality, I have to confess. But it's out there in a less raw (embarrassing?) state than it would otherwise have been. And in the meantime, the second book has been written, re-written and kicked into shape, and is standing by for final polishing, which I probably won't tackle until after I've got through first-drafting the third.

I'm also putting my mind, though not yet my typing finger, to some magazine-friendly short stories that might get me the 'In' that I still lack.

I suppose, what I'm saying is that writing is an ongoing process (and, yes, you can quote me). It's a demandingly creative process that needs to be fed, regardless of and separate from the agent/publisher hunt that it wants for dessert.

Seeking acceptance can be a demeaning, depressing and arduous task. Telling a story is only a Create New Document away and has the benefit of reminding you what's important.

[Interference]

Originally Posted by Leisha

it might be worth checking whether you're are making some common errors

Ummm ... Touche?


(anybody know how to do an accented 'e'?)

[Leisha]

Oops! Yes, you caught me there. Touché!



(Alt Gr+ e)

[JDP]

é alt-e

[Circus Cranium]

(Circus Cranium (gotta love a name like that) says "let it cool for at least a month" and I think it's an underestimate.)

And I agree with you--when it comes to my own writing, I wait longer than that. I've come across so many shattered looks of anxiety when you suggest someone put their newly completed work in a drawer for a while, even from published authors. But you really do need time away to see it with fresh eyes.

I know an author who claims he 'edits as he goes', so he doesn't need to do any final edits. I told him everyone edits as they go, but you STILL need SEVERAL final edits, after taking your eyes off the book for a while. He disagrees. And while he's a decent writer, I find myself mentally editing his books as I read them.

[Teresa Edgerton]

I am totally with Circus Cranium on this one.

When someone says they edit as they go and never need to go back and do another draft, I always want to ask, "How would you know?"

A book may be readable after a single draft, it may be publishable-- it may even be that your writing is better after one draft than somebody else's second or third draft -- but does it represent your best work? If you've never had a second draft to compare with one of your first drafts, how could you know whether or not there are still things to be learned or gained, improvements you could make, plot points you could rethink? I agree that after a writer reaches a certain level of experience that a first draft, carefully crafted, may be good enough -- but is "good enough" as high as you want to rise?

[Daniel Ionson]

The best advice I ever got came from this book: Amazon.com: Writing on Both Sides of the Brain: Breakthrough Techniques for People Who Write: Books: Henriette A. Klauser

I'm a nutball perfectionist, and so was critiquing as I was writing... crippling myself for the race. She taught me to let go of my editing side while using my creative side. I can't imagine reverting to doing both simultaneously.