Sunday, April 16, 2006

Finished

Well, I finally made it to The End. That darn Sicilian hero didn’t give in easily though. For one moment I thought he was never going to get to that admission of a love that I knew he felt, that he knew he felt, that his heroine started to suspect he felt – but he just wasn’t saying!

But he got there in the end. And he and his heroine have declared their love and headed of, not into a sunset, but off to my editor’s desk. I hope she likes them. This is the point at which there is total equality between all authors. Never published, multi-published, or something in between, you send your book off to the editor and then you wait – and you worry. It doesn’t get any easier with each book, in fact, in some ways it gets worse. You are expected to turn in a publishable book. Everyone thinks ‘oh well, you’ve done it before, you’re bound to do it again – it’ll be fine.’ But you, as the author, know it isn’t like that.

A book stands or falls on its own merits. That sounds so obvious, but there are people out there who think that multipublished authors have it easier – that they have some sort of ‘bye’ into publication, no matter how good or bad their book is. I wish!

No, I don’t. I value my editor and her input. I value the fact that she is a cool, rational reader a reader who is distanced from my book and so can see if it works or not. I get so involved with my story, I get caught up in the characters’ lives and feelings and problems and motivations that I can get way too close to them and their story. I can think I’ve said something the right way when in fact I haven’t. I can think I’ve made things perfectly clear when in fact I’ve made them confusing – or overwritten them so that the poor reader thinks. ‘But you said this already! Again and again!’

I want to write the best possible book I can. I want to tell my characters’ stories in the best way I can to get across their personalities and their worries and their conflict and its resolution . I’ve done what I hope is a good job – now I need an editor’s cool eye on my book to tell me if I have. I don’t want any sort of ‘bye’ into the next round –e into publication. If things need revising or rewriting or tweaking then I’ll do it – that’s being professional. And being professional, I know I’m only as good as my next book, Not the one that’s on sale right now. I know that worked, I know people love it (Thank you to everyone who’s written to tell me so!) But I need to prove I can do it again . . .and again.


I never ever want to sit back and think ‘I’ve got this writing thing cracked’ – because as soon as you do that then the genre or the readers or just plain fashion does a seismic shift and if you aren’t careful what used to work no doesn’t work at all. Or you’ve misread the current market, or people have just had way too many of the sort of story you’ve written – or, worse still, you’re just repeating yourself over and over.

So the end of a book is both a wonderful feeling and a time of great tension. It’s a great relief to think you’ve completed another manuscript, that you’ve told a story, from the beginning to the middle and finally the end – and created the needed 55,000 words to do so. And you hope it’s a book that will please first your editor and then the readers who pay out their hard-earned money to buy it in the future. And you chew your nails as you wait to hear from your editor . . .

Every time I do it, I feel like I’ve sent out a little piece of myself – or one of my ‘babies’ – out into the big world and I don’t know if that world will be welcome or hostile. But I’m always glad I feel this way. I believe that feeling sure it’s okay is risky – it can lead to complacency and complacency can lead to laziness – and that can lead to bad writing and writing a bad book. One that a reader feels she wasted her money on buying. And I never, ever, want to do that.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can just feel the tension coming through in that post and I'm glad you don't wish it were easy. Can you imagine the kind of drivel readers would be served if multi-published meant you could submit anything and it'd find its way to the shelves?

Y'know, even when I was writing stories that I had no intention of ever sending to an agent or publisher, I still tried to write them as good as I could because they were my stories and I'm something of an annoying perfectionist. If something isn't exactly how I want it to be, I'll take it apart and do it again... and again. I've had to learn to accept small faults but they can bug the life out of me. That's something that worries me with my writing; will I ever feel it's polished enough to send away or will I just keep on picking at it? I guess time will tell.

If you get the time, Kate, do pop over and take a look at The Nantwich Writers' Group's new website. My blog's part of it now.

Anonymous said...

It's been fascinating to read about your journey through this book. Congratulations on finishing and here's hoping for only minor tweaks from the editors. Way to go!

Anonymous said...

Kate, superb post. You're telling it like it is (whereas some people have some very, very strange ideas of the reality of publishing).

Here's hoping you get minor tweaks. And we can have a cup of tea together on Thursday while you're in wait mode.

Now, as one of the founder members of the SDP, I do hope you're going to take your own advice and take some time off ;o)

Kate Walker said...

Hi again Sharon. Yes, tension - part of a writer's life. Every time you submit you know this one could be the time that and ed says 'it just doesn't work'! And I agree - I always want to send out a story that I've fdone my best with. But don't over-edit of you can edit the life out of your writing.
Oh- and I visited the Writers' Group website - I like the design. Very professional. Please congratulate - Iona wasn't it? - from me

Hi Michelle. I'm glad you've enjoyed the posts - though I do realise I still 'owe' one about endings - I may not get time for a few days but I hope to remedy that

Hello other Kate! I'd love to have a cup of tea if we can get together.
Yes - some people do think that if you're published then no one ever edits you ever again. Some hope.
Time off? Well, I'm meeting my ed on Wednesday - the RNA lunch on Thursday - tea with you . . . .does that constitute time off? If I do get only tweaks with Sicilian 1 then I have to get on with Sicilian 2 . . .I know - i know - pots and kettles!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on finishing Sicilian 1 and good luck with Sicilian 2. Another excellent post that captures exactly what it is like whether this is your 50th book or, like me, your 2nd. Sent my ms to my ed last week and I am TERRIFIED! I go through all the agonies of feeling sure she will hate it and discover I am a fraud. The waiting is so horrible. I hope you hear back very soon and have no or very few tweaks to make.

Everything you said is spot on, from it being like sending your baby out into the world to being so very close to your characters and their story that you just can't see it any more.

I also agree that the day you become confident is the day you lose the edge, the respect for the reader and the necessary pressure to keep working hard at what you do. It has to come from inside you and to grow from the characters but it shows only too much when a writer hasn't taken the time and care and has just 'bashed something off'.

Thanks very much for all the helpful advice and insights into your formation and journey through a book. We can all learn so much.

Best wishes,
Mags

 

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