Friday, September 4, 2015

Time of Death: Now

It’s always a sad day to close the lid on a novel. To admit to yourself (and to the world) that the thing you wrote and edited and loved just isn’t going to make it. And so I am sounding a solemn dirge today for novel 7. In fact, I actually declared it Over and Done on August 23, closing out the last lingering queries and shading its spreadsheet tracker to gray. But today I am finally taking the time to mourn that little guy, who I loved so much.

You were fantastic, novel 7!

Novel 7 was conceived on June 14, 2014. At least, that is the day I created a WikidPad file and began to type up some of the notes that were accumulating in my writing notebook. I sketched out characters and locations, developed mythical mythologies and pantheons. The plot bunnies that had been cavorting about my brain started to get corralled into an outline. The outline went through multiple iterations, as I attempted to decide whether I would use a multiple or single POV for the story. It seemed to cry out for single POV—it was truly the story of this one god—but I worried that it would be too slight in that form. I planned out a beefier multi-POV version, but it didn’t feel right. I settled on the single POV and wrote up a scene plan.

And so novel 7 was born on June 17, 2014, when I created the draft 1 file. It started that day with a modest 1k, but it quickly grew under my fingers. By the end of June 2014, it was almost 15k strong. It lived and breathed, begging to be developed. I wrote like a madwoman that July, spurred on by unemployment and loneliness in part, but mostly answering that siren’s call of creation. And on August 11, 2014, that first draft rested complete at barely 41k words.

Well, that wouldn’t do at all. It was novel 7, not novella 7! I let it rest while I turned my attentions to a doomed #PitchWars bid for novel 6. Eventually, I came back. I re-read, made notes. I wrote a new scene plan. On October 8, 2014, I started a second draft. It was difficult but rewarding to find the areas to tease out more story, to fill in some of the gaps my initial rush had missed. The second draft came to rest on December 13, 2014 at close to 58k.

Still, I knew it wasn’t enough. I went back through, armed with post-it notes and a dazzling array of colored pens. I sought critiques and beta readers. I vowed that I would do justice to this story that resonated through me. I wrestled with every scene, contemplated adding entire new storylines, and eventually settled on to a final version of novel 7. It was about 63k words.

I sent out the first query on February 2, 2015. I overhauled my query countless times. I worked on a synopsis, which I actually liked. I overhauled the query again. I queried more, and more, and more. I racked up rejections and non-responses, moped about it, and sent out more queries. I sent my 96th and last query on August 7, 2015. Overall, I had 2 partial requests (1 form rejected, 1 never heard from again) and 1 full request (polite rejection). Not the greatest track record. It was time to admit defeat.

I can’t say for sure what it was that did in novel 7. I did not receive a lot of personalized responses from the professionals, and the beta readers seemed to love it. I suspect it was the length, which at 63k for adult fantasy is LOW. I knew that going in, but I had told the story I wanted to tell. I still think it is the best piece I have ever written. (Disappointing, in fact, to know that novel 8 is so much worse and wonder if I peaked with an unpublishable novel.) Perhaps someday it will find a home, but for now, the coffin is closed and the nails driven. RIP, novel 7.

7 comments:

  1. Every writer has dozens and dozens of these. I'm a purger but I sure wish that I kept my notebooks from when I was younger. Don't nail that coffin shut. Be a scavenger. Or Dr. Frankenstein. Use it.

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    1. Oh yeah, this is the fourth completed MS I've had to trunk. It's also the one I felt the strongest about and pushed the furthest with, so it hurt a bit more than the previous ones. Onwards and upwards, though! I think this one may be a good candidate if I later want to do hybrid. And I definitely want to play around in that universe a lot (its basically a blank canvas, a multiverse with endless unique worlds/pantheons).

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  2. Hello, I came across your blog (I have one myself) and I was reading other blogs and came across this post.

    There's a company with Amazon.com I believe Shirley said was in Los Angeles area. If you pay like an x-amount (about $2,000) of money they have you books printed and you can sell them and Amazon will sell them. Well it better than nothing. There was someone I used be friends(We had a fall out over a box of 1 week old kittens I wanted to foster, yeah kind of lame and immature. I know I’m way over it now) with had that done, when no other publisher would publish her book The Secret Life of a Dog Catchers. There no publisher name or anything on book just her name "Shirley Zindler" and what she choose to put on it and in it! It's kind of popular book in the animal loving world and Animal Control. Still Zindler became well known to the point she was asked be part of a well known dog magazine called The Bark. Even if this is not way you want to go, maybe it would help you to get your foot in the publishing door. I don't remember Zindler's personal contact but she works for Sonoma County Animal Services you can call her at (707) 565-7100(This the number for The Animal Shelter she works for) and here's more about her online

    https://www.google.com/#q=shirley+zindler

    If you do make contact her, I won't mind if you mentioned me as the one that referred you. I’m pretty sure she would help you out. She is someone that willing to help out another.

    If she does not help you can email me at OfcKKeister@gmail.com and I see if I can find who this publisher is.

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    1. Thanks for the info! I am not really considering self-pub at this time (does not play to my strengths at all), but it is a potential option for the future if I want to go that way.

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    2. You are welcome. It's always something to keep in mind ;)

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  3. You may have thrown in the towel too soon. I can't remember how many queries I sent out but definitely in the 100's. After a year of querying I landed an agent - from New York. Hallelujah. Well, not so much. He tried to sell if for a year and finally gave up and we parted ways. I queried for another year (after the requisite sulking time) and a small publisher picked it up. Then, it was nominated for a young readers' choice award. Didn't win but it's still on high school reading lists (published in 2005). Sooooo, maybe you've given up too soon.

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    1. True, I wouldn't necessarily say that 96 is a drop dead number or anything. But in this case, I had reached the end of the query list I had put together (of about 110 agents, but several were closed to queries/etc) and had not received a very good response at all. Combine that with the fact that I knew going in the manuscript would be a hard sell at that length, and it did not seem viable to go out and find more agents to query at that point.

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