Me with part of the LG OCONNOR “Village” – Lesley, Marilyn, and Pat
It takes a village. And I’m not talking about raising a child. I’m talking about giving birth to your novel. Not long ago, one of my blog posts addressed first-time writers and their first drafts. I recommended stepping away from sending query letters or pressing publish on Amazon.
This is why…
As new writers, we don’t know what we don’t know. We clutch our precious pages hesitant to show anyone. Although friends and family are great moral support, you’ll need more—much more—before you share it with the world. Two general reasons for this: your F&F love you and will be reluctant to hurt your feelings; and they also won’t be able to necessarily spot issues in terms of plot, pace, character development, passive voice, etc. that a professional will see instantly.
Finishing a first draft is a huge accomplishment, but the real work begins once it’s done. It took me less than 5 months (in total) to write my first novel, and another 18 months to edit and revise it. Granted, my second novel will take much less revision, but that’s because I worked with a developmental editor as I wrote it. I know not everyone can afford to do that, but there are alternatives.
As I prepare my first manuscript for an April 2014 Launch with She Writes Press (http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/swp-news-announcing-trinity-stones-by-l-g-o-connor ), I have to thank and acknowledge my village:
- My Critique Partner, Joanie.
- My Editor, Zetta.
- My Critique Group, New Providence Writers.
- My Beta Readers who have given input all along the way: Donna, Marilyn, Kisa, Jenni, Taylor, Kayla, Pat, Lesley, Eileen, Deborah, and Cindy.
- My husband, Leo, who puts up with the many nights and weekends I stay locked in my office with my characters.
- And I can't forget my canine companions–my Whippets–Chloe and Nevada. Chloe, who provided inspiration, is hoping to see her name up in lights as the canine star of the book. While Nevada provided a ton of ‘sleep' support as my loyal writer dog.
So, your first draft is done. Now what?
- Before you do anything: gird your loins and prepare yourself for feedback / constructive criticism. This is a case where multiple heads and sets of eyes are worth much more than one set—yours. Drop any allusions that what you wrote is perfect and won’t need to change. Trust me, good critique will make it stronger. I’ll write another blog post on how to deal with criticism.
- If you can’t get past the step above, then you aren’t ready to share your work with the world. Period. Don’t do anything. Don’t query, don’t publish, do nothing… until you’re ready to move past the first step and take other points of view around your work.
- Join online writing communities. I belong to SheWrites.com. It’s an incredibly supportive group of published and unpublished writers. It’s primarily women, but there are some men.
- Find a critique group (online or in-person) to workshop your manuscript, usually in 1500 word increments. Meet-up is a great place to find one in your area or to start your own. There are also online critique sites. However, make sure there are rules that govern behavior and interaction. You’re looking for help, not to be ripped to shreds.
- Find an editor if you are intent on getting published.
- There are three types of editors:
- Developmental:
- This is a story editor: someone who will look at your work for pace, plot, character development, tension, all the essential elements of a novel. Pick someone familiar with your genre. If you are a first time writer, chances are high you need one.
- Copyeditor:
- This editor does in-line edits on the ‘smoothness’ of the read, but will not do what a development editor does. However, if something blatant is wrong, they may point it out.
- Proofreader:
- Grammar, typos, making sure punctuation is correct. Don’t expect them to fix passive voice, or any bad writing habits.
- This is absolutely the last thing you do after all revisions are done and you’ve completed the other types of editing first.
- Find a Critique Partner. This is hard, and you may not find one until you’ve been writing for a while and have developed relationships with other writers willing to partner up with you. Or, if you are lucky enough, as in my case, to find a friend that is uniquely qualified to play this role.
- Find Beta Readers. Try to do this after you have a developmental edit, not before. Ideally, you’ll have either a critique partner or an editor look at your work before betas. If you have neither, then you’ll need to lean on betas more than usual.
- Selecting Betas: The best thing to do is limit your first interaction to the first three chapters of your work – like a try & buy. It will give you a sense of the type of feedback they give and if you find it helpful. Also, be prepared to return the favor. Beta reading is a large commitment and takes a lot of time. Respect and acknowledge when people volunteer to do this for you and always thank them—hardily—even if you don’t like their feedback.
- Do final revisions once copyedit and Beta feedback is complete.
- Send to proofreader once no more changes are required.
- Then… query or self-publish.
I say this with all the sincerity in my heart… The bottom line is agents and publishers are too busy, and the market is too competitive, for them to see your brilliance through a mediocre query or an uninspiring first ten pages. If you're mistakenly under this illusion, don’t be. The worst that can happen when you're set on getting an agent is… you won’t. If you’re self-pubbing, worse—yes, worse—is putting out a less than professional manuscript and watching readers and reviewers tear it to pieces with the vehemence of sharks going after chum. Translation: very few, if any, 4 and 5 star reviews, and a place on the Amazon charts somewhere close to oblivion.
A couple of things I didn’t mention that I feel are essential:
- Read books on craft and follow writers / bloggers on the same.
- READ books (lots of them) in your genre. It works for me to read while I write / revise, but it’s not for everyone.
Find your Village and hold them close. Write on!
