Should You Ever Scrap Your Book?

I’ve often heard authors say how thankful they were that their first attempts at novels had never seen the light of day, how happy they were that those books had been rejected again and again by publishers, how first novels should never be read by anyone. I find comments like these to be so curious. If a writer had the diligence and patience to finish a book, even a bad one, I can’t imagine why he or she wouldn’t want to see that book through to the end and have it reach an audience?

I mean, bad books can be fixed, made better, transformed. Can’t they?

And while once upon a time, writers had no choice but to give up on a book when the only pathways to publication were forged through agents and publishers, nowadays, with self-publishing, anyone can publish anything. Is there any reason to leave a book in a drawer?

When your manuscript is rejected — from agents, publishers, beta-readers, creative writing professors — you really have three choices:

1.Scrap it, and start something else.

2. Ignore the advice, and keep querying or self-publish.

3. Fix the book, and then either keep querying or self-publish.

In my mind, authors should always strive for #3. Listen to what agents and beta-readers and publishers have to say, They know their stuff. But YOU know your story. If you have to, chop the manuscript into pieces and put it back together in a new, more creative, more concise way. Don’t let their comments diminish your excitement. Don’t be afraid of some more hard work — and good editing can be the toughest work of all.

So often, publishing a book is compared to parenting: Would you ever give up on a child? Would anyone even THINK about telling you to leave that one behind and start from scratch with another child?

Don’t give up. Make it work, as Tim Gunn of Project Runway likes to say. Remember your passion. Keep it with you as you make the tough choices.

In the end, whatever happens, whether you’ve created a best seller or turned a one-star book into a three-star book, I have to believe it will have been worth it.

Meet Victor Giannini

Today’s featured debut author is Victor Giannini. His novel, Scott Too—which was inspired by events from Victor’s own life—was published in December and is available in paperback and as an eBook.

Name: Victor Giannini

Name of book: Scott Too

Book genre: Magical realism or speculative fiction, depending on your cup of tea.

Date published: December 2012

Publisher: Silverthought Press

What is your day job? The last few years, I’ve been teaching with YAWP, The Young American Writer’s Project.  They send me into schools, grade 7-12, to teach playwriting or creative writing for a semester.

What is your book about? Being in direct conflict with yourself. Being forced to look at your own lackluster life and take responsibility for it. Thirty is the new 20, and this odd decade of extended teenage years can be a curse, so what do you do when it goes wrong?  What do you do when another creature steals your life and lives it the way you wished you could?

Why did you want to write this book? I wanted to write a dark comedy for a novella class I was taking at the Stony Brook Southampton MFA in Writing and Literature. What started as a “multiplicity style wacky sitcom” with super violent jokes and gore quickly turned into an absolutely different project. I saw my generation around me, where our twenties are different than previous generations’. Scott Alvin became a representative for this new generation. So I pit him against himself, a more aggressive, bitter, unrestricted self, to see what would happen. I wasn’t sure, I wanted to find out. And I did! And in all honesty, as I got inside Scott’s head, it was not what I expected at all …

The Middle Malaise

As I wrote on my Facebook page the other day, I had been discouraged lately because I was having so much difficulty with my second novel, In the Red. What the heck? I mean, I’ve done this before, right? Baby Grand, yes? What gives?

Suddenly — and truly it was like one of those Aha Moments — I remembered that writing a novel IS hard and that I had to give myself a break. It’s kind of like parenting — you forget how hard it is until you’re back to stressful, sleepless nights. And, trust me, I’m stressed and sleepless.

So, faced with blank pages and lingering doubt and fear, I did what I always do: Just write. Sit down and do it. No excuses. Hard shmard. Go for it. Eye of the tiger.

And as I pushed myself to keep writing — and, trust me, there’s quite a bit of pushing — at some point, the writing got easier. I could feel the adrenaline starting to pump again, my excitement once again building, the words coming to me more readily, unlike the “pulling teeth” of weeks prior. And, boom, another Aha Moment. Could I have forgotten all about this too? A little something I like to call The Middle Malaise.

Writing the middle section of a book, at least for me, is the hardest. The beginning is easy. As I like to say: Anyone can start a novel (but not anyone can finish one). You’re full of excitement and inspiration and tons of energy, and then about a hundred pages in, all of that wanes. You question your motives, whether any of this is interesting, and you’re not exactly sure what the heck is going on now, who these characters really are, and whether any of it makes sense — even WITH an outline. Ah, The Middle Malaise. Gotta push through, push through. And, suddenly, everything becomes clear once again. You see how the ending of the book will come about, like the proverbial light at the end of a dark, dark tunnel. I found myself muttering, “Yes, that will work!” or “Oh, I can do this!” and the clouds cleared and narratives tied together and — lo and behold — writing was fun again.

So, for those of you who are out there in the middle of your manuscripts and faltering and stumbling and questioning your decision to write, remember: If you can get through that Middle Malaise — and remember that writing is hard — chances are that you’ll not only pass the finish line, but you’ll do it with a feeling of accomplishment that you will not believe.  Now, THAT I remember.

The Return to #1kaday

I’m in the middle of my two-week hiatus.

I wanted to take a break between finishing the final edit of Baby Grand and returning to the frenetic pace of writing 1,000 words a day for In the Red, my second novel-in-the-making, which I hope to have finished by year’s end. My plan is to return to In the Red on Monday, October 17. Funny, though, that while I may not be writing during this period, my mind still wanders over to my book. All. The. Time.

There is no escape.

All you cats who joined me for #1kaday in the spring are welcome to join me once again. And I just realized that my #1kaday will take place just as NaNoWriMo gets under way. So there will be lots of us writers out there pounding away at our keyboards.

Looking forward to the company.

Writing Tip #43

Expect the long haul. I sat down with my kids this morning to tell them that I needed to have the final edit completed on my book by the end of the month.

“Okay,” my 12-year-old daughter said. “So you’ll be writing 1,000 words a day again?”

“No,” I said, “the writing is done. I’m just reading through one more time and fixing it where it needs to be fixed.”

“Oh,” she said, confused.

“What’s the name of this one again?” my 14-year-old son asked.

Now I was confused. “It’s Baby Grand. You know, my book.”

“You’re STILL working on that one?” he exclaimed.

“Yes,” I said, probably a bit too defensively. “These things take time, you know…”

And they do — the stops, the starts, the endless writing sessions followed by the weeks without opening the manuscript (sometimes purposely). It’s all part of the process. My process, at least. So, yes, my children, I am finishing up a manuscript that was begun in February 2009, finished in August 2010, and edited two times since (and that’s not even counting the years since the idea for the book first came to me — 15 years ago!). Yes, I could self-publish, and I may one day (I have a whole blog post devoted to that topic here.) But I’d like to believe that good things do come to those who wait. Or at least to those who are willing to.

Writing Tip #10

Let the characters drive their story. Today, I am feverishly finishing up the revisions on Baby Grand (about 12 days later than I had hoped, but who’s counting…). When I began, I had some very definite ideas about what I wanted to do in this book, and, overall, I think I succeeded in created the work that I envisioned. But there were times, as there are today, when I stopped and asked myself, “Would he really do that? Would she really say that?” And sometimes the answer was no, and I sat back in my chair and groaned and reworked the scene, because certainly if I’m questioning the authenticity of something, the reader will too. As much as I’m all for wrapping things up neatly, it only works if I’m able to stay true to the motivations of the characters I’ve worked so hard to create. In other words, your characters will always know what do to and where to go in your story. Sometimes you just have to hand them the reins and enjoy the ride.

To check out all of my writing tips, click here.

Writing Tip #4

Set a daily word count. When I first started writing this blog, I committed to writing 2 pages a day of Baby Grand. However, on some days, that meant writing only about 300 words if there was a lot of dialogue, and I didn’t feel satisfied. In years past, I’d set aside a specific time, from 8 to 9 p.m., for example, in order to write, but more often than not, something would come up, and I’d have to change the time or go to bed disappointed. In June, I decided to commit to writing 1,000 words a day in order to finish Baby Grand and was able to write some 42,000 words in six weeks. In setting a daily word count, you know by the end of the day how much you’re written, and because there are no set hours, you have the whole day to do it — perfect for a mom like me whose days seem to be one big interruption. (BTW, National Novel Writing Month — NaNoWriMo — starts tomorrow, if you want to try writing a 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month’s time. If I weren’t spending November revising Baby Grand, I’d be right there with you.)

 

Writing Tip #1

Your audience will find you. I’ve come across people who tell me they’d love to write, but they don’t think anyone would find what they have to say interesting. I ask them if they find it interesting. And if the answer is yes (it always is), I tell them to go for it. If you write about what drives you, what makes you laugh, what you’re passionate about, what’s meaningful to you, the audience will find you.

Meet Author Alan Cass

Next up in my occasional series, Debut Author Q&A, is one of my favorite writer tweeps, Alan Cass, whom I affectionately call @alancass2010:

Name: Alan Cass

Name of book: My Name Is Death

Book genre: Supernatural thriller

Date Published: September 2010
Publisher: Authorhouse
What is your book about? It’s a modern-day reworking of the fabled Grim Reaper and focuses on the spiritual/psychic bond between twins — even after death.

Most challenging part of the writing process: Maintaining my motivation in the early stages. I’m a sprinter, not a long distance runner. Therefore, with no finishing line in sight, I struggled with self-discipline.

What motivates you to write? I HAVE to write, like waves have to crash. It’s my way of releasing emotionally. I see clearly who I am between the lines of my work, whereas my reflection in the mirror is merely the facade.

Did you experience writer’s block? If so, how did you overcome it? Occasionally, I did shut down and failed to generate even a simple line that I could stand by. Quite simply, I had to walk away on those occasions. “Block” is the mind’s way of telling you, “You’re trying to hard, dummy!”

How long did it take you to write this book? It took me two years to complete, but it’s a 15-year-old idea that was finally ready to have its silky veil removed.

What was your favorite aspect of the writing process for this book? My favorite part of this journey was the people I got to know between the pages. These characters come alive and, in a silly way, walking away from them is difficult. (Not silly at all, Alan!)

You chose to self-publish this work. Why? I chose to self-publish to get my work out immediately. I couldn’t bear the thought that my manuscript would sit in a publisher’s tray gathering dust when it should be taking off and gathering awards!

Biggest misconception about writing a book: That “anyone can write a book.” This is rubbish. No question. Whilst I do not doubt most people’s ability to place words on a screen, I do doubt their dedication to the years of self-sacrifice required to complete a book. If I had a penny for the number of people who informed me that they’re writing a book, “but just ain’t finished it…” It takes a certain type in my estimation.

Do you plan to do this again? I’m writing a sequel as we speak.