I'm in the process up winding up the plot on my seventh novel, which is in the detective/mystery genre.
It's not surprising that we are running up against the old quandary, the question of whether or not to submit it to a publisher.
Major publishers often require an agent, and I don't have an agent. One publisher in particular, specifically mentions in their submision guidelines, 'no self-published authors need apply,' and that seems pretty clear to me. I'm not going to adopt a pen-name and submit anyway, because that would be dishonest.
If I did submit the book to a major publisher, bear in mind this is a first draft at this point, and of course they are looking for 'completed projects.' The trouble here is that I might not hear back from them for eight months to a year, and of course I would be fiddling with my book during that time. How could I possibly claim that it is 'complete?' I can't, can I? It's a first draft, and subbing now just to save time could so easily backfire.
Also, while many authors make simultaneous submissions all over the place in hopes of getting at least one hit fairly quickly, I tend to figure out who I would like to publish my book and then submit it to them. Then I just sit and wait. (Or fiddle with the book.)
Let's assume that in six months I get a response, and then they want to see the whole manuscript. That's fine, but it will be at least a year before my new book hits the bookstore shelves, and another six months before I see any revenue from the sales of my book.
I would hate like hell to have to wait anything up to two and a half years for a rejection slip, although others have waited longer. Assuming the first six publishers reject you, you could go three to five years without any joy, and that's clearly a waste of time. Also, after fifteen years on disability here in Ontario, I live one step from homelessness at all times. Where in the heck would you sent a rejection slip, or more optimistically, how would you contact me if you were interested?
The problem is we aren't getting any younger. While I have 'the rest of my life ahead of me,' there is no way to tell just exactly how long that is going to be, which is always an important consideration.
As yet, there is no decision, but if anyone wants me to submit my book, you had better be talking a hefty advance, or I just don't want to mess with you. Life is too short for that sort of nonsense.
It's too much aggravation, and to go and get ripped off or lose my rights in some bankruptcy kerfuffle just isn't going to happen.
Note: 'Redemption: an Inspector Gilles Maintenon mystery' is now available from Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel Books, Sony, Baker-Taylor, Createspace, Indigo/Chapters, and other fine online bookstores.
Here it is on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006G583XE
Here it is at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/redemption-louis-bertrand-shalako/1108022269
The book has been getting some good reviews, and some other, reasonably good reviews.
A brief note: I have been offered four contracts by vanity publishers. Once I realized who they were, I jsut walked away.
I have no regrets about that. It was the right thing to do, and a sound business decision. I can't advise other writers what to do. Everyone has different goals and expectations for their work.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Winding In The Strings.
Photo by Louis.
c2011 (S)
Finally, my new mystery novel is in the home stretch. At 58,000 words with a chapter or two to go, that is a bit of a relief after struggling in the 20,000 to 40,000-word range.
Now all I have to do is wind up the remaining strings, get Inspector Maintenon home to Paris again, and that will be about it. As I go through the novel a few times, I'll flesh out characters and fill in descriptions. In a first draft, I am notorious for not describing the rooms people are in, or the clothes they are wearing. This book will probably go closer to 70,000 words.
Hopefully, there aren't too many characters running around naked as a jaybird in this book, but there may be one or two.
Poor old Inspector Gilles Maintenon! He lost his wife a year and a half ago, and it's like he just can't get a break.
With the plot now complete, I have little choice but to start at the beginning and read this manuscript.
The weather has been nice lately, and with winter coming, I am reluctant to spend fourteen hours a day at the computer, but that will change by the end of the month, when it's going to be really cold, wet, windy, and bleak. In the meantime, this book is an excuse to get out on 'the moors,' or as close a substitute as can be found in southern Ontario.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Writing: 'Had Been' versus 'Was.'
c2011 (S)
Susan awoke to the call of the birds outside her window. Swinging her feet to the floor, she went to the window. Throwing the curtains aside, she drew in a big breath of fresh morning air.
The day before, she had been at the Farmer's Market, where she had been looking for tomatoes. She had been squeezing the tomatoes. She had been idly looking around, for the concourse of people had been fascinating. She had been struck by John, by how tall and handsome he had been, and she had been thinking about him ever since...
***
Okay, the above is what we might call 'standard operating procedure' for a book published by a major company, in English, in the western marketplace.
In that sense, many would say that's how it should be done. (Or how it should have been done.)
Yet it irks me in some ways. In a modern motorcar, there are no nuts, bolts and fasteners visible on the exterior of a car. The only exceptions are on the bottom of the car, and maybe some wheel nuts, or on the wiper blade attachments.
So let's look at an 'experimental' way of writing the same thing.
***
Susan awoke to the call of the birds outside her window. Swinging her legs to the side, she went to the window. Throwing the curtains aside, she drew in a big breath of fresh morning air.
The day before, she had been at the Farmer's Market, looking for tomatoes. She was squeezing the tomatoes and idly looking around, for the concourse of people was always fascinating. She was struck by John, by how tall and handsome he was, and she had thought about him ever since...
Clearly, 'had been' is a useful tool, it sets the action on a previous day. Yet the repetitive use of it is kind of like letting nuts and bolts stick out of the side of a modern car. It is simply unnecessary, and represents a kind of 'author intrusion.' It borders on carelessness. I say that because it bugs me when I see it.
As an award-winning author said recently, 'the story has to shine through the writing.' And if the writing gets in the way, for whatever reason, then clearly the author has failed.
In my opinion, the average reader, (although maybe not a professional editor with a big publisher and thirty years of experience, and habit-forming experience at that,) will be able to follow the story and follow the meanings and nuances, assuming the writer has any craft at all.
To write for editors is to write for a very small audience, and they don't have to pay for books anyway. They see more than enough of them as it is.
Susan awoke to the call of the birds outside her window. Swinging her feet to the floor, she went to the window. Throwing the curtains aside, she drew in a big breath of fresh morning air.
The day before, she had been at the Farmer's Market, where she had been looking for tomatoes. She had been squeezing the tomatoes. She had been idly looking around, for the concourse of people had been fascinating. She had been struck by John, by how tall and handsome he had been, and she had been thinking about him ever since...
***
Okay, the above is what we might call 'standard operating procedure' for a book published by a major company, in English, in the western marketplace.
In that sense, many would say that's how it should be done. (Or how it should have been done.)
Yet it irks me in some ways. In a modern motorcar, there are no nuts, bolts and fasteners visible on the exterior of a car. The only exceptions are on the bottom of the car, and maybe some wheel nuts, or on the wiper blade attachments.
So let's look at an 'experimental' way of writing the same thing.
***
Susan awoke to the call of the birds outside her window. Swinging her legs to the side, she went to the window. Throwing the curtains aside, she drew in a big breath of fresh morning air.
The day before, she had been at the Farmer's Market, looking for tomatoes. She was squeezing the tomatoes and idly looking around, for the concourse of people was always fascinating. She was struck by John, by how tall and handsome he was, and she had thought about him ever since...
Clearly, 'had been' is a useful tool, it sets the action on a previous day. Yet the repetitive use of it is kind of like letting nuts and bolts stick out of the side of a modern car. It is simply unnecessary, and represents a kind of 'author intrusion.' It borders on carelessness. I say that because it bugs me when I see it.
As an award-winning author said recently, 'the story has to shine through the writing.' And if the writing gets in the way, for whatever reason, then clearly the author has failed.
In my opinion, the average reader, (although maybe not a professional editor with a big publisher and thirty years of experience, and habit-forming experience at that,) will be able to follow the story and follow the meanings and nuances, assuming the writer has any craft at all.
To write for editors is to write for a very small audience, and they don't have to pay for books anyway. They see more than enough of them as it is.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Experimental Writing Technique.
c2011 (S)
What's unique about the book I am working on is that it has gotten up to 46,000 words and I have no chapters or chapter titles.
There are scene breaks. My preference is for three asterisks, where many use three number signs. But this is a new thing for me. I'm sure someone has tried it before and I don't claim to have invented it. Normally I would jot down a quick title, and then write on that subject or scene until I ran out of steam, then jot another chapter title, and write on that until I ran out...and so on and so forth.
It gives me a start, if nothing else. Another thing missing from the book is the 'gag,' which I have mentioned before. That would be some twist, some different way of looking at things. For example, a publisher had in their guidelines, 'no talking animals, please,' and so of course I had to go and do it--and shape-shifters are a nice allegorical tool. You can use them ever so many ways.
Another thing that is different about this project is that I haven't actually read it.
That sounds very odd, I'm sure. But when starting out a story, it's pretty easy to get up in the morning the next day and read the first five, ten, or twenty pages. For me, when the thing gets up to about forty pages, (double spaced, even,) I tend not to read the whole thing before starting afresh. It's just too much to read, and I don't want to forget or lose any of the ideas I had in mind. So generally, I would read the last five pages, or maybe the chapter, or the last two scenes I wrote the day before.
Now that 'Maintenon Gets a Vacation' is up to 46,000 words, I can crack it open at any point and recognize what's there, and remember why I put it there. But the whole thing is not a sort of coherent, linear whole that usually happens when we begin to visualize a tale from beginning to end in all of its complexity. While I hate like hell to print anything out these days, I really should bite the bullet and read the thing from beginning to end. The other day I sat at a park for two hours, just looking at a pond. It wouldn't be too hard to bring a file-folder with ten or twenty pages along.
With other projects, some of which took years to bring to fruition, I did read them. I read them fifty, a hundred times, maybe more by the time they were edited and published.
The other thing is to try and visualize the plot better, especially insofar as the ending is concerned. There is no deadline here. But, if I'm going to publish it myself, then I'd like to have it out in time for Christmas. If I'm going to submit to a major publisher, then the sooner it's done the better, because those guys have a long turnaround time on submissions and rejection slips.
What's unique about the book I am working on is that it has gotten up to 46,000 words and I have no chapters or chapter titles.
There are scene breaks. My preference is for three asterisks, where many use three number signs. But this is a new thing for me. I'm sure someone has tried it before and I don't claim to have invented it. Normally I would jot down a quick title, and then write on that subject or scene until I ran out of steam, then jot another chapter title, and write on that until I ran out...and so on and so forth.
It gives me a start, if nothing else. Another thing missing from the book is the 'gag,' which I have mentioned before. That would be some twist, some different way of looking at things. For example, a publisher had in their guidelines, 'no talking animals, please,' and so of course I had to go and do it--and shape-shifters are a nice allegorical tool. You can use them ever so many ways.
Another thing that is different about this project is that I haven't actually read it.
That sounds very odd, I'm sure. But when starting out a story, it's pretty easy to get up in the morning the next day and read the first five, ten, or twenty pages. For me, when the thing gets up to about forty pages, (double spaced, even,) I tend not to read the whole thing before starting afresh. It's just too much to read, and I don't want to forget or lose any of the ideas I had in mind. So generally, I would read the last five pages, or maybe the chapter, or the last two scenes I wrote the day before.
Now that 'Maintenon Gets a Vacation' is up to 46,000 words, I can crack it open at any point and recognize what's there, and remember why I put it there. But the whole thing is not a sort of coherent, linear whole that usually happens when we begin to visualize a tale from beginning to end in all of its complexity. While I hate like hell to print anything out these days, I really should bite the bullet and read the thing from beginning to end. The other day I sat at a park for two hours, just looking at a pond. It wouldn't be too hard to bring a file-folder with ten or twenty pages along.
With other projects, some of which took years to bring to fruition, I did read them. I read them fifty, a hundred times, maybe more by the time they were edited and published.
The other thing is to try and visualize the plot better, especially insofar as the ending is concerned. There is no deadline here. But, if I'm going to publish it myself, then I'd like to have it out in time for Christmas. If I'm going to submit to a major publisher, then the sooner it's done the better, because those guys have a long turnaround time on submissions and rejection slips.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Progress Report: Seventh Novel.
c2011 (S)
My current project is a detective fiction novel set in 1927, where Inspector Gilles Maintenon is on a walking tour of Dartmoor and stumbles on a mystery.
So far I am up to 41,000 words. At about 32,000 words, I kind of stalled out; but the thing is going better now and I have stuff written today, and ideas for tomorrow's writing, which is important and reassuring.
Detective fiction follows a certain formula, because the readers have certain expectations. In a suspense novel, you often know who the bad guys are--the attraction of the tale is the challenges set to the protagonist, and how it is laid out. But in a mystery, the resolution has to be believable, and the readers of the mystery genre expect that if they look back on the book, they will see that all the clues were in fact provided to them. It's a question of seeing the significance. Sometimes you read something, and a little light goes off in your head, and you know a character or fact will be significant later in the story--you just don't know how or why yet.
When I wrote my first novel, a WW I parody, it was in reaction to the way history, especially WW I history, is presented to Canadian audiences or readers by Canadian writers, producers and networks.
In some ways, almost every book or story I have ever written was written to present a thesis, or a premise, or as a reaction, often a gut-level reaction, to something that I either didn't like, or thought was overdone, or too often presented over-simplistically, or in the case of Canadian WW I history, just plain mealy-mouthed Imperialistic bullshit.
My third book was a parody of a space opera, and the basic premise was to put some believable science into the book, although most academics will dispute the possibility of faster-than-light space travel.
The work I am doing now sets out with no thesis, no great social theories, no premise, other than the fact that I think I can actually write a good detective story with a certain tone, a certain feel and some really professional writing.
The thing has to hang together, and it has to make sense, and the characters have to act, sound and feel like people would in a certain situaiton, in southwestern England, in 1927.
So far I have been working on it for about four months, yet my first novel took two and half years to complete a first draft. The next three books took maybe three months to smash out a manuscript, rough as they were at first glance.
My current project is a detective fiction novel set in 1927, where Inspector Gilles Maintenon is on a walking tour of Dartmoor and stumbles on a mystery.
So far I am up to 41,000 words. At about 32,000 words, I kind of stalled out; but the thing is going better now and I have stuff written today, and ideas for tomorrow's writing, which is important and reassuring.
Detective fiction follows a certain formula, because the readers have certain expectations. In a suspense novel, you often know who the bad guys are--the attraction of the tale is the challenges set to the protagonist, and how it is laid out. But in a mystery, the resolution has to be believable, and the readers of the mystery genre expect that if they look back on the book, they will see that all the clues were in fact provided to them. It's a question of seeing the significance. Sometimes you read something, and a little light goes off in your head, and you know a character or fact will be significant later in the story--you just don't know how or why yet.
When I wrote my first novel, a WW I parody, it was in reaction to the way history, especially WW I history, is presented to Canadian audiences or readers by Canadian writers, producers and networks.
In some ways, almost every book or story I have ever written was written to present a thesis, or a premise, or as a reaction, often a gut-level reaction, to something that I either didn't like, or thought was overdone, or too often presented over-simplistically, or in the case of Canadian WW I history, just plain mealy-mouthed Imperialistic bullshit.
My third book was a parody of a space opera, and the basic premise was to put some believable science into the book, although most academics will dispute the possibility of faster-than-light space travel.
The work I am doing now sets out with no thesis, no great social theories, no premise, other than the fact that I think I can actually write a good detective story with a certain tone, a certain feel and some really professional writing.
The thing has to hang together, and it has to make sense, and the characters have to act, sound and feel like people would in a certain situaiton, in southwestern England, in 1927.
So far I have been working on it for about four months, yet my first novel took two and half years to complete a first draft. The next three books took maybe three months to smash out a manuscript, rough as they were at first glance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)