Posts Tagged With: literary agents

Last time, I talked about how to get (and handle) constructive feedback on your novel without losing your mind.  If you haven’t read that post, go back and check it out.  (Hey, why not?  It’s free!)  Now, here’s how to be your own novel editor and rewrite your book manuscript like a pro.  Ready?

1)  Clone it.  
Make a new copy of your manuscript on your computer.  It’s crucial to keep a backup copy, just in case.  (Do you hear the pained voice of experience, here?  Indeed you do.)  In your new copy, cut out everything that’s “dead wood” at this point — any characters you’re going to remove, any subplots, major structural elements like that.  If you have ideas for specific new scenes you’re planning to add, put in some placeholders.  (“Car chase goes here!”  Or “He declares his love here!”  It depends on your genre.)

2)  Print that sucker out.
Punch it and put it in a gigantic 3-ring binder.  I’m partial to the old-fashioned kind with steel hinges.  They tend to last longer.  Which is good, because you’re about to put it through some serious abuse.

3)  Use your noggin.
Spend a lot of time skimming back and forth through this epic tome, looking for new ideas.  New characters, new scenes, new description, snippets of dialogue, anything.  As you come up with new material, hand-write it or type it (on a typewriter, if you’re feeling retro) on 3-hole paper and stick it right into the manuscript where it goes.  Why not use a computer for this part?  Because you want to get messy.  You want to give yourself permission to really scramble things up and possibly come up with something brand new and brilliant.  A computer is too sterile.  It makes your writing look like it’s done.  Which it’s not.  So get messy.

4)  Work it, baby.
Believe it or not, you’re rewriting your novel.  Right now.  The more time you spend on this mess, the more it will gradually transform into a shiny new draft.  It’ll be a beautiful thing, trust me.  The trick is that by doing this on paper, and flipping back and forth through the novel, you’re training your brain to handle the whole thing at once.  Sort of like a long-distance runner preparing for a marathon.  Except that you can do this in your slippers.

5)  Re-type it.
When your novel feels done (and you’ll know it when it happens), re-type the whole thing into your computer from beginning to end, fixing grammar and all of that other stuff as you go.  If you’re wondering, yes, I do wear the letters off my keyboards.

6)  Celebrate!  
You just became your own developmental story editor and revised your novel into a solid new draft.  It’s better now than ever before, I guarantee.  People will notice the difference in quality.  And by “people” I mean literary agents, editors, those sorts of people.  Way to go!

A disclaimer:  Obviously, this is the method that works best for me; your mileage may vary.  When I talk about this method of revising a novel, I get the most push-back about retyping the whole thing.  Why re-type your manuscript when it’s already in the computer? 

Because first off, if you haven’t marked up every single page of your manuscript with changes, then you haven’t edited it enough.  Trust me.  Besides, if you read a page to yourself and then re-type it, it will simply come out better.  Your brain will pick up on all of the little bumps and tend to smooth them out.  Your writing will flow more naturally, it will sound more authentic, and you’ll increase your chances of getting published.  ‘Nuff said!

Do you have a writing question?  Need a writing coach to help you solve a problem with your novel?  Just ask!  And if you try this method and like it, let me know!

Anyone who has ever gone through the pain and joy of publishing a novel can tell you that writing a novel is just the first step.  It might be the hardest part, but even after you type “The End” there’s still a lot more work to be done.  You need to revise and edit your novel before you send it off to literary agents or editors.  But in order to do that, you need to get good feedback on your novel.  You need a critique.  Here’s how to make the most of it:

1)  First, give your novel to someone else to read.
The best way to do this is to join a critique group.  You might find one advertised at your local bookstore, or you can find one by looking online.  Finding the right critique group is an art in itself.  Try looking for a writing organization in your state, or search by genre (SFWA.org, RWA.org, Mystery Writers, etc.).  Or even Backspace.  If any of your friends are savvy fiction readers, you could try to pawn off your manuscript on them, but that path is fraught with its own dangers.

2)  Be patient!  
Even though you desperately want your feedback right away, you actually need some time away from your novel manuscript to gain a little perspective.  And your friends need time to read your novel, think about it and point out all of its problems in a way that won’t make you want to throw yourself off a cliff.

3)  Listen and write it down.
That’s so important, I’m going to repeat it.  When you finally do get feedback, you need to do just two things: listen and write it down.  Don’t defend your work, don’t explain anything, and above all, don’t argue.  Just transform yourself into a bobble-head doll and nod along as you write down everything they say, even if it sounds like idiocy.

4)  Put your notes away for as long as you can stand.  
A week is good.  A month is better.  Seriously.  Because only with time will you be able to tell just how valuable those notes are, and what a tremendous gift of insight your friends have handed you.

5)  Brainstorm.
Once you’ve had time to clear your thoughts, read through the notes and brainstorm as much as possible.  Write notes to yourself about specific things you could do to make the book better.  You’re not looking for carved-in-stone solutions right now, just options.  Come up with as many ideas as you can.

Spend some time doing all of that, and then coming up next, I’ll walk you through the steps of being your own developmental story editor.

Do you have a writing question? Need a writing coach to help you solve a problem with your novel? Just ask! And if you try this idea and like it, let me know!

Write a novel on an AlphaSmart.  Why not?

Q:  When I’m writing a novel, how do I stop myself from going back and fixing things?  As I write, I’m afraid to even look at the screen because I’ll hate what I wrote.  I keep my eyes focused on my desk instead, or on objects that I’ve collected in my writing space that are inspirational to my story.  When I watch what I’m typing, I write much cleaner sentences with less typos, but I feel like I’m never going to finish my novel.  This is hard, because I want to figure out how to become a writer and someday publish a book.  I feel like I’m not getting any closer to finishing my novel!

A:  Okay, it’s time for my #1 free writing tip: Don’t panic.  What you’re experiencing is normal for aspiring writers (and heck, published authors fall prey to it, too).  Your writer brain is trying to create and edit at the same time, and it’s choking you up.  You’re getting distracted by the words you’ve already written, rather than pushing forward toward the end of the scene.  But with some practice, you can break the habit.  Here’s my advice: whenever you find yourself bogged down while you’re writing, take a moment to notice where your eyes are going.  Are they on the sentence you just wrote?  Or are they going back to the beginning of the page?  If you’re getting tripped up by the temptation to go back and revise while you’re writing, here are a few simple tricks to beat that problem.

1)  Change your writing software.
Minimize your screen so that you can only see a few lines of text at a time.  A basic program like Notepad works great for this.  It narrows your focus to just the words in front of you, so you don’t get distracted.

2)  Get a word processor.
Switch to an old-fashioned word processor with a small screen, for the same reason.  You can find old battery-powered word processors all over eBay.  I’ve written on an AlphaSmart for over a decade, and I love it.  I highly recommend the AlphaSmart Neo.

3)  Write your novel longhand.  
The act of putting down one word after another, in ink, forces you to keep moving forward toward the end of a scene.  Plus, you get to shop for cool pens and call it “working.”  My favorite: a Fisher Space Pen.  Write anywhere, anytime, even in zero-gee.  Why not?

4)  Write your book on a typewriter.  
Yes, a typewriter.  True writerly geekiness is as close as your neighborhood thrift shop.  Like writing longhand, a typewriter prevents you from going back and re-working the words you’ve already written.  It’s also faster, albeit noisier, than a pen.  Finding ribbons can be a bit of a hassle, but typing just has that certain je ne sais quoi that makes you feel like a Writer with a capital W.

5)  Make time to write.
Set a kitchen timer for five minutes (or 10, or even 20) and force yourself to keep writing, nonstop, for the entire time.  You’ll break through those nitpicking tendencies, find your groove and start pumping out the manuscript pages.

No matter what you do, the goal is to get something, anything, written.  You can always go back and edit it later.  Keep trying different writing methods until you find what works best for you.  Remember, the only “right” way to do it is the way that gets it written!