 'Editors also know that the people who are really readers want to read. They hunger to read. They will forgive a vast number of clumsinesses and scamped work of every sort if the author will delight them just enough to keep them able to continue.'
-William Sloane
We all labor over our manuscripts with great care and diligence. We become captivated by our charactors and creatures; the tale we have conceived and given birth to; the story we have nurtured and developed and poured countless hours of our lives into. When it's finally done, and we have shed our tears of joy and sadness, we prepare to send it out into the world. But before we reach for that envelope - or in todays world, the submit button - we should all take a moment to stop and be sure we have done all we can to give our work the best possible chance of success when it must ultimately stand on its own.
I think we all fear that moment when our work leaves our hands, venturing out to find out if it can stand alone or not. In completing the manuscript, we complete a chapter of our writing lives.
Seven Circles is complete - almost. While it is for all practical purposes done, I can't help but feel it's just not finished. I can't put my finger on just what it is about the manuscript that is bothering me, I also can't get over the feeling that something about it is not quite right.
I wonder if it's just pre-submittal butterflies, or something real and substantial. While I dread doing yet another editing pass, I'm not comfortable submitting something that is sub-par in quality. It's the perfectionist curse I carry around within me. Or maybe it's just the writer in me fearing the possible rejection letter. Either way I'm in a vicious avoidance circle with my inner writer. It's frustrating as hell and I have got to break it soon.
So will I break down and send it out, or will I give in and open it back up?
Your guess is as good as mine at this point. I'll keep you updated.
 The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He's entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been wasted, you're in violation.
-Larry Niven
I’ve completed my final draft of my second Fantasy Novel. I use the word “Final” here with complete knowledge that I am nowhere near done by any means. Final, in this instance, means it’s as far as I can take it on my own.
Now the next step is submitting it to my critique group and soliciting for Dedicated Readers. With any luck, I’ll receive two or three brutally honest critiques and I’ll finally get to the bottom of what is really left on the pages.
I know this story still has flaws. It was conceived in my mind, took shape there, and was defined there. While I’ve done what I can to identify and correct as many of these flaws as I possibly could, the ones that remain are difficult for me to see. When I look, I see the whole story. Not just the parts that appear on the pages. I see the parts that were thought but never written; I see the parts that were written but later removed; I see the alternate events that never took place, as well as all the possible variation of the ones that ultimately did end up on paper.
It’s difficult to step away and see only what’s left.
While a small part of me dreads this step in the process, a larger part is looking forward to it. I know I can’t complete this story until I gain this outside perspective. Maybe there are writers who do it all totally by themselves; writer who can see their shortcomings without outside eyes. But as of right now I know that I’m not one of them. I don’t kid myself.
While these Dedicated Readers will be volunteering to help me (I hope), I still feel I have a responsibility to them. They are paying me to read my story. Not with money, but with their time and efforts. When they are done, I do not want them to feel like either have been wasted.
With that in mind, I’ve put a great deal of effort into cleaning the manuscript up for its first presentation: I’ve triple checked the spelling; read through twice for grammar; followed a timeline to be sure event lines are accurate; read dialogue out loud to be sure it works well; did a line by line edit to check punctuation and word usage. But most importantly, I’ve done my best to write an entertaining and exciting story.
Despite all my efforts, I know it’s likely still riddled with flaws and mistakes. It’s just over 80,000 words. The odds that I have found and fixed every mistake are just not likely. But, I’ll be sending it out knowing that I’ve done everything I could to minimize them. After all, I’m asking for story help with a novel, not help with a ninth grade English paper. My mechanics had better be the best I can make them or I have bigger issues than plot holes.
In the end, I’m ultimately looking for the truth about things like: How solid is the beginning hook; do the characters seem 3-dimensional; do the individual motives feel realistic and believable; are the events choreographed well, giving clear images to the reader; is the pace too slow or too fast in places and if so, where; etc..
As I said, I see too much when I read this story. I can’t always tell if I’ve created enough anticipation in the reader when I already know what’s going to happen and how things ultimately end.
So, I wish me luck in the weeks ahead as my beautiful masterpiece goes under the knife. Whether it turns out to be a minor procedure or a major surgery, I know it’s going to be a painful operation. I’m hopeful for the best, but I’m preparing for the worst. In the end though, I have no doubt I will make a full recovery. With any luck my manuscript will as well.
 "When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing."
- Enrique Jardiel Poncela
As a beginning writer, I found that my biggest struggle was with the mechanics of writing well. Before becoming serious about getting my work published, I didn't worry about things like spelling errors or punctuation mistakes. I seldom thought twice about proper sentence structure or even manuscript format. Back then the only person who read my stuff was me, and I always knew what I meant to say; Even when what I wrote was something totally different.
However, the more serious I became, the more evident it was that I had fallen into some very bad habits. I quickly realized that if I wanted anyone at all to take my writing seriously, then I needed to get serious about the mechanics of writing.
 "You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist you must learn your craft—then you can add all the genius you like."
-Phyllis A. Whitney Every writer is going to face rejection at some point or another in their career. It doesn't matter how prepared for it we think we are, the reality is - it sucks. Inevitably we question the validity of the submitted work, of our skills and our choices. But these thoughts don't do much to forward our writing. They are great though if you're looking for an excuse to go on a three day binge. Eventually, if your serious about your writing, you have to keep going.
A while back I came upon an old story/artical on the SFWA.ORG website that I found very helpful in modifying my view of the submittal process. It's rather long, but very informative and amusing. I recomend it highly to anyone who is planning to submit any form of fiction to any editor. I was lucky to have read this before my first submittal. It made that first rejection much less painful.
Have a look at:
The Sobering Saga of Myrtle the Manuscript - A Cautionary Tale by Tappan King
 'If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.'
- Edgar Rice Burroughs
Coming from a man who explored Mars long before mankind ever made it there, I have to believe he knew a little something. While I read a few of his books as a much younger me, I have to say I never got hooked on his stories. However I must give credit where credit is due, and the man could tell a story. He had vivid imagery, excellent pace, and gripping ideas. Imagination like his is legendary for a reason.
There are many authors I admire, most for style more than individual stories. I tend to measure my writing against theirs and strive to emulate the qualities I admire most in their work. I don't want to write like them, but I want to learn how to do what they do, or did. I want to perfect my prose so to speak. I want to learn to pace my stories perfectly; craft my dialogue seamlessly; make my settings so real the reader tastes the honey in the tea the protagonist is drinking or smells the sweat of the horse he's riding on. I want to master the skills to tell the best story I can. I'll never reach the level of craft I strive for if I don't keep writing new stories and exploring new ideas.
My second novel is in the works. It's also a fantasy novel. A bit more mature than the first. A bit more complex as well I suspect. It's about 90% complete and weighing in around 77,000 words in its current condition. I still have a few scenes to work out, but I can see the entire story in my mind and it's slowly seeping out onto the pages.
I'm excited about this one. I'm looking forward to completing it, even though that
means taking it out in the yard and shooting it.
Today I finished my final pass through my first Fantasy novel. As of yet it is untitled. Despite personal bias, I believe it to be quite good. It represents a massive chunk of my life and finishing it has been a major accomplishment. The only problem is, I know it's not truly finished. In a way this is only its beginning. Writing it seems was the easy part. Now the truly difficult job begins: Getting it published.
While I was writing my majestic, if not epic novel, I spent a good deal of time looking ahead and researching the next step. To be honest it’s rather intimidating, all the things that I still need to do. I sometimes question how anyone ever gets published.
I am not letting this stop me though. No matter how daunting the road ahead appears, I fully intend to travel it. That being said, I have devised something of a roadmap, or trip plan. A check list of the steps I believe will carry me to my destination. While I have put a great deal of time and effort into compiling this list/map, I have never been to this destination before. This probably means that my map is a bit askew. No matter though, I fully intend to proceed. Hopefully I will meet helpful people along the way who HAVE been there and who are willing to help me find the way.
Here I intend to share that journey and any insight I might gain along the way.
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