-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
Author: Writing your first novel-Some things you should know
Do You Have Goals?
I’ve been writing this blog for six years. It’s been my goal to do two posts a week. While I’ve been mostly faithful in my commitment, I must confess the last few months have been really hard for me.
I’ve had a lot more outside commitments that are occupying my time, but it feels like it’s more than that. Have you ever wanted to just stop doing everything and reset? Take a break from life and catch your breath? How did you motivate yourself to work through the lulls?
I have read a lot of information on the internet and in books on motivation and how to jump start your battery when it dies (my analogy). Maybe that’s a bit drastic of an example, but you get where I’m going.
I’ve also wondered if getting that full-manuscript request has taken some of the steam out of my boat, and I need to take a break and prepare for the next stage of the game. It’s not been easy. It’s required a lot of time and dedication on my part. I wasn’t an English major and literally had to learn how to write a publishable novel.
Every step I’ve taken so far seems to be the hardest step. I’m currently in the waiting game. My manuscript has been sent out as requested, but it’s been two months without a response. The ultimate goal is to get this work published. I’ve met a major milestone, but I can’t lose sight of my final destination.
The one thing that has motivated me and kept me moving forward, is setting goals for myself. I may be dragging my feet right now, but I know where I’m heading. With my eyes set on the finish line, I will get there.
Do you have goals set for your life or are you just wandering aimlessly hoping that things work out? You will never get to where you want to be without a plan in place to get you there. Set those goals! Work that plan! It could mean the difference between failure and success.
-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
Something to think about.
-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
Something to think about.
-Jan R
I’ve Sent Out My Full Manuscript – Now What?
A literary agent from one of the agencies I queried, stated that it was easy to get to the no. It takes only a couple of minutes for an agent to know something’s not going to work. It takes a long time, however, to evaluate the maybes.
Many of you know that I received a request for my full manuscript the end of February. It’s been almost a month and a half. I check my email constantly and answer every phone call that I receive.
I used to ignore numbers I didn’t recognize. They were all robo calls regarding my car warranty, my credit card that I don’t even have, or whatever new scam/spam that was going around. But what if it was the literary agent who has my manuscript? I can’t take the chance.
The wait is getting to me. I’ve been reading blogs and agent pages on the dos and don’ts when you receive a request for your full manuscript. Yes, there are rules you should follow to maintain a working relationship with your could-be agent. Remember no one wants to work with a high maintenance individual no matter how good they are.
Do
Write your next story while you’re waiting. Most agents don’t want a one-time wonder. They want a career.
Keep pitching your current project. You may choose to give the agent 2-3 months before sending out additional queries, but you can’t sit on the fence forever hoping.
Be nice. Agents are human. They have as many hours in the day as you have. Agents receive hundreds and sometimes thousands of queries monthly. Thus, the nice, thoughtful, form-letter rejection. Those who survive the cut, have to wait in line behind existing clients.
Don’t
Pin your hopes on an agent who has your full manuscript, because it could be a long wait. Unfortunately, even with a full request, they don’t always accept or get back with you.
Burn bridges.
Lock yourself into that one perfect agent that you just have to have. Because you’ve developed a crush on a particular person, doesn’t mean they will notice you.
There are other common sense rules to keep in mind. Don’t hound the agent or troll them. Give them their space. It’s okay to research but you probably should have done that before you sent them a query.
For now, I’ll keep writing and hoping :-).
-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
-Jan R
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night (Revisited)
When you hear the word setting, you think of a time period and place, but settings do so much more than that.
With sci-fi and historical novels, setting becomes an important part of the story. The setting doesn’t have to be real but it does have to be believable.
Writing historical novels, do your research and throw in some things that you would expect to see during the time period.
Writing Sci-Fi, you’re creating a world. Your setting needs to be detailed. Help your reader to visualize it. Draw them in.
Settings should be visceral and vivid and allow us to experience the world the author is building as if we are one of the characters within the narrative.
Settings evoke mood. In horror stories, your description of a haunted house should evoke fear in your readers. In a mystery your setting should evoke suspense and curiosity. In a comedy your setting should evoke laughter or an anticipated thrill.
Settings provide information about your characters. How does their home look? Is it messy, neat, compulsively organized? Do they surround themselves with darkness or light?
Settings can also be used to evoke the passage of time and movement. In one scene there is snow on the ground, and in the next there are fields covered in a multitude of wildflowers.
Who knew there was so much to writing. I hope this evoked thought and helped you better understand the use of settings in your novel
-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
Something to think about.
-Jan R
Don’t Put Them to Sleep – Revisited
When you’re writing, you need to mix things up. You don’t want to be the one that puts your reader to sleep.
You know what I’m talking about. We’ve all had teachers or sat through sermons that literally put us to sleep. How embarrassing! You can’t hide the little jerk of the head when you catch yourself and attempt to shake it off. You know what I’m talking about.
There are many different things you can do to add a little excitement and keep your reader’s attention, but one thing you have to avoid is monotony. Change those sentences up. Use structure and length for change of pace to slow down or speed up your prose.
WHAT NOT TO DO!
Suzie entered the boutique. She looked around for dresses. She walked over to the semi-formals. The store owner said hello. She picked the one she liked. She walked over to the counter. The owner rang her up. She handed her the money. She left with a smile.
Now there’s a lot of things wrong with this paragraph from the style perspective, but there are no grammatical or structural errors. I hope :-). It has strong verbs and nouns, which is a plus, but something isn’t quite right.
The paragraph I used as an example is a string of segregated sentences that can stand on their own. It’s also composed of sentences similar in length and cadence.
You need to vary the length. Change the beat every now and then. Seven to fourteen-word sentences are recommended, as they feel more natural. Nobody talks like that paragraph was written. Well, nobody except that boring teacher or preacher that put you to sleep 🙂
By the way, did you finish reading that short paragraph?
Something to think about 🙂
-Jan R
Are You Ready for This?
I hate waiting. The anticipation and anxiety of not knowing what is going to happen stresses me out. Unfortunately waiting is a part of the process when you submit your work to literary agents. Well, unless they are the ones who get back with you immediately after you submit your query, in which case you know they had an automatic rejection letter that went out, and they didn’t even look at your work.
I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on the automatic rejections. I know these agents receive hundreds of proposals weekly, and at least I have a response right away. I’m not sitting on the couch twiddling my thumbs and wondering what’s going on with those particular proposals.
If you have followed my blog, you know my first manuscript is intitled Always and Forever. I’ve worked on it off and on for about 10 years. Like many of you, I poured my heart into it, got my first round of rejections, and pushed it to the side for a while opting to work on something else.
After I got past the sting of the initial rejections, I took classes and read books on how to write fiction novels. I joined a critique group and heard from objective readers just what they thought of my work – what was working and what wasn’t. Something I should have started out with.
I spent another year or so revising and revising again trying to find the perfect balance. Once I was comfortable with my manuscript, I sent it out a second time, only to receive total and complete rejection. Needless to say, the work was shelved.
Throughout this process, I did have one agent to take the time to tell me why my work was rejected. While the premise was a good one, it wasn’t ready. She pointed out the head hopping, dragging dialogue, and numerous structural and grammatical errors that the agents couldn’t see past. While I was able to resolve the issue with head hopping and work on the dialogue, I’m not an editor. My friend’s aren’t either by the way. It’s not fair or realistic to expect your friends and family to read your manuscript and identify all the issues. Unless of course, they are editors.
Maybe your work isn’t as ready as you think it is. I finally hired that editor. She wasn’t cheap, but we came up with a plan that I could live with.
I just sent out proposals again and have received my first request for the full manuscript. I will keep you posted 🙂
-Jan R
Writing your first novel-Things you should know 