Giving and Receiving Critique: or, Learning to Kick Your Ego in the Groin

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things." - Winston Churchill

(Yes, but some of us would much rather take an aspirin and ignore it).

I used to be absolutely dreadful at taking criticism of my writing. Like a lot of writers, I can be ridiculously sensitive and insecure when it comes to my work, and it didn't take much to make me defensive and hurt. I was also a big fan of the "Oh, I just dashed this off last night. And I haven't given it a proper edit yet" excuse (The sartorial equivalent: "Oh, this old thing? Just something I threw together," which everyone knows is a lie). It was a form of self-preservation: if they loved it, I felt good because I had produced something good in five minutes. If they didn't, well then, it wasn't because I lacked talent but because I had only spent five minutes on it. I'm sure you can see how ultimately pointless this strategy was.

It took several years and lots of bumps and bruises, but I think that now I'm able to listen to criticism relatively objectively, and apply it where needed (most of the time). I've compiled a brief list of guidelines that I think will help with asking for, accepting and acting on critique - just my opinions, but I hope that some of them will be useful!

Whom do you ask?

In general, it is not a good idea to ask family, close friends or partners for a critique. I say 'in general' because, of course, there are many exceptions. LOML, for example, is a great beta reader. He has a naturally critical, logical mind and is blessed with the personality trait of brutal honesty. I'm very lucky. My mother, however, would be a dreadful beta reader, as she would wander off and forget what she was supposed to be doing. I also have some wonderful friends who are avid readers - and a couple of them very decent writers - whom I would never, ever ask for a critique because I know that neither of us could be objective.

Only give your work to people whose opinion you trust and respect. Don't give it to someone who you think is a bad writer, or at least worse than you, as you'll discount their critique as soon as it arrives. (It might also be interesting to ask yourself why you chose this person in the first place). If you are part of a writers' group or a writing class, the pickings are rich. Don't worry if you don't have writerly friends you want to ask, though: avid and discerning readers can give you just as good a critique as fellow writers - and they'll raise some interesting points that writers, mired in the words, may miss (Can't see the wood for the trees, and all that). Choosing someone who reads within your chosen genre has obvious benefits, as they will have a more specialised take on your manuscript.

Establish a deadline

This can be a bit of an awkward subject to broach, particularly as your reader is performing the service for free. Remember that you are asking a huge favour, that critiquing a manuscript is difficult and time-consuming, and that people read and work at different paces. It is a good idea to establish a rough timeline, however, to keep your reader motivated and to make sure you receive the critique in good time.

Just a small note of caution: be aware who has your manuscript at any given time, and ask for it back when your reader has finished. You don't want an early draft floating around in the ether for anyone to read.

No disclaimers

Don't give your work to a reader with the addendum "I wrote this really quickly/it's the first thing I've written in months/I haven't read over this yet", or any of the other excuses that trip gaily off your tongue when you're about to give your baby up to be criticised. There are only two reasons to give disclaimers:

1. You actually think that your work is rushed, rough and not reader-ready. In which case, why are you giving it to a reader?

2. You think your work is pretty good, and that people will be extra-impressed if they think you did it in five minutes or never practise your writing. They really won't be.

Take charge of your critique

I think you will get the most thorough and focused critique if you give a sort of study sheet to your reader along with the actual manuscript; a list of things to which you would like him or her to pay special attention. Of course, they are free to raise other points as well, but it will be helpful to both of you if there is some focus to the feedback. If you are a decent writer, you will be aware (however reluctantly) of the potentially weak points in your work, and the experimental bits that you hope will work but could fail miserably. You will also be aware of your own personal pitfalls and bad habits. The list will enable you to weed out these potential problems. It is also an opportunity to work with your readers' strengths. If you know someone who's very good at analysing film plots and pointing out where they fail, ask them to pay particular attention to the plot. You get the idea.

I would also suggest being clear on how you would like to receive the critique. I'm a fan of written critique - then, if I have an unpleasant emotional response to a comment or suggestion, I'm having it all by myself and not in front of the critic. It also makes it easier to refer back to the comments when you're making changes, and I believe a critic is likely to be more honest when they're not criticising your work to your face.

If you do choose to receive the feedback in person, however, make sure you are feeling strong. Try to stay unemotional in the face of good and bad comments. If you burst into tears when they tell you they found a typo, they will (understandably) be reluctant to carry on, and will probably temper the rest of their comments. If you get angry or overly emotional in any way, they might not agree to read your work again. They're not criticising you as a person, even though it might feel that way (particularly if your work is at all autobiographical).

Examine your motives

Make sure you are choosing your reader and giving up your manuscript for the right reasons - it will save you some heartache and wasted time. These are just a few examples of possible motives. There are many more.

THE WRITER

1) You're feeling pretty good about yourself and your work. You want someone to give you a pat on the head and confirm that your writing is as awesome as you think it is.

Really not a good idea to ask for critique, then. If all you want is someone to tell you that you're the Best Writer Ever, then call your mother or someone else who loves you unconditionally. There's nothing wrong with doing this (occasionally) - we all do! Just don't disguise it as a desire for brutally honest critique. You'll regret it. Like those tone-deaf people on American Idol.

2) You're feeling down about your work and you're looking for some encouragement

I feel for you, I really do. Again, though, it may not be the best idea to ask for critique here unless you give your reader some parameters. Maybe tell them to lay off the spelling, grammar and continuity for the moment, and concentrate on your story. Does it make them want to read more? Do they like the characters? It's even all right to ask them to tell you just The Good Stuff about your work, if you need a pick-me-up. Postpone the harsh critique. The desired result here is to get enough encouragement to keep trucking on.

I gave a set of poems to a friend once - not for critique, just for a bit of encouragement. I did not make this clear, obviously, because the poems (some of which were deeply personal and which referenced people and events she knew) came back to me absolutely covered in red pen and critical comments. It was awful. And entirely my fault. I was not ready for a critique.

Be aware, as a writer, of what you truly want - not what you think you ought to want - and ask for it. If you're only three chapters in and you just want some encouragement to keep going, tell your reader. If you want a critique of the plot and structure but you're not too concerned about grammar and typos at this stage, tell your reader. Be clear.

3) You genuinely want a thorough and honest critique of your work.

Hooray! This is a tough but valuable place in which to be: when you feel strong enough to give your manuscript to beta readers and tell them to be as anal-retentive, nit-picking, brutal and critical as possible, because you can take it. I am writer, hear me roar.

THE READER

1) They could have a negative agenda (not often, but it happens). For example:

They don't like you/your writing/your story and they can't put those feelings aside to give you an honest critique.

They are embittered or frustrated about their own work, and they want you to feel just as embittered and frustrated.

They are jealous of you and want to take you down a peg or two. Sometimes they are blocked writers and resent your productivity.

2) They don't feel much enthusiasm about your work, or they agreed to read it out of politeness. This means that they don't devote the time and attention to your work that it needs (or never finish it at all), and give you a half-hearted, vague critique.

3) They genuinely want to help you with a thorough and honest critique. These people are valuable. Treasure them, treat them well, mildly stalk them.

If you are both approaching the critique from a position of honesty, encouragement and support, the results will be helpful. If not, not so much.

If you are a reader ...

... Be aware of what the writer wants from you, and respect it. This is not an opportunity to foist your own ideas and style onto the writer, or to act out your own agenda. If you agree to read someone's work, you are agreeing to act in their best interests. If you don't think you can do that, don't agree to critique.

Be brutally honest, but be kind. Simon Cowell is good television but not necessarily a role model. Remember that your words matter. No matter how objective the writer tries to be when she hears your critique, she will take your words to heart - good or bad - and probably remember them for a long time. Be aware of this. This isn't to say you should temper your criticism, be dishonest or pander to her: just be aware. Words matter, and they are permanent.

Treasure the praise

We tend to remember the criticism far more vividly than we remember the good stuff. I have all the bad comments on my work memorised, and can recite them in a loop when asked (great fun at parties, as you can imagine). Make an effort to remember the praise just as vividly. I used to keep a little notebook in which I recorded the compliments I received, which I know sounds a little twee, but it works wonders on those days when you're convinced that you are The Worst Writer of All Time. If you remember an especially treasured compliment, put it up on your inspiration board, or on your screen.

Writers' groups

This post has focused on the one-on-one relationship of writer and beta reader, but it's also worth mentioning that many-headed monster, the writers' group.

"Every group is different, and often, groups are organized on the basis of friendship or general affinity, rather than shared genre or level of writing experience — or, as many hard-working group veterans know to their cost, familiarity with standard manuscript format and/or the rules governing the use of the English language." - Anne Mini.

You will get the best results out of your writer's group if there is a similar level of talent and dedication between you. If you are working with a group of hobbyists and you want to pursue writing as your professional career, you are probably not going to be challenged and constructively criticised enough to improve. If you are lucky enough to have a really great group, however, take advantage of it.

Acting on critique

Bad criticism is vague, personal and destructive. Constructive criticism is specific, objective and not only aims to improve the work, but also suggests ways in which it could be improved.

I think that we have a gut feeling when it comes to our work. We usually know, deep down, when something isn't working. Good, helpful criticism may sting at first, but it should also make us think, "Aha! So that's it." It should open doors of possibility, not slam them shut.

If you don't feel that intuitive sense that the criticism is good or bad, then approach other people with the same problem. If you hear the same criticism from all or most of them, you should almost certainly change it. I completely overhauled my last manuscript when I started hearing the same comments from several different agents. It was painful and difficult, but when it was finished, the book was a million times better. And I signed with an agent almost immediately afterwards!

Gratitude

Thank your critic, no matter what they say. Critiquing someone's work is hard, time-consuming and does not have a financial pay-off. Even if they ripped your work to shreds, they have done you an enormous favour. Take them out to coffee, buy them flowers and say thank you!

Post-signing glee

Thank you all so much for your kind words on the signing of the contract! I was very excited about it. It has been posted off this morning, and I was able to write my own 'rejection letters' to a couple of other agents who were considering my work. They both wished me well, and one said that she had really enjoyed my book and was disappointed that I had signed with someone else, which was very kind of her and nice to hear. Mink would also like to thank those of you who paid him compliments. He is usually quite cavalier about compliments, but then he has never appeared on a video before and I think the excitement rather went to his head.

I thought this might be a good opportunity to ask if you had any questions specifically related to writing, editing, publishing, agent-hunting ... anything of that nature. Not that I'm an expert by any means, and there may well be nothing you're wondering about but, well, if there is, leave it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer!

P.S. Auctions on Trade Me close tonight.

Video post: Signing the contract!

Danger, excitement and romance! Not really, just me signing my contract. Hooray!

Why a book is like a garden hose

Oops, sorry for the unexplained absence! I don't know where the time went. I've been sprinting about in busy-mode, doing all sorts of things that I can't remember but which seemed very important at the time. Today was another one of those days, full of Things to Do and People to See, so I am a little weather-beaten from running about in the freezing cold wind. Just as well the winter weather is closing in tomorrow (if the weather gods are listening, could we please have a dusting of snow?), as it will force me to stay still and get some work done. I'm also hoping for a re-injection of fashion mojo. As the weather gets more wintry, I'm feeling uninspired and a bit schlumpy (Urban Dictionary definition: "Unkempt and rumpled, less than put together. Road worn and sloppy. Tired").

To explain the title: you know how you fold up the garden hose into a careful spiral when you're finished with it, and put it away in the garden shed? You would assume that it would stay that way, neatly packed up, until you use it again. But no. The next time you take it out, it has magically doubled in length and gleefully tied itself into impossible knots, just to annoy you. That's what New Book has done during the past five months, while I was re-writing Book Which Is On Its Travels (I will eventually reveal the title, and then everything will sound less complicated). I left it on the computer, all saved and backed up and waiting for me, and it appears to have had a party in my absence. I started reading through it yesterday, and I don't even remember writing half of it. I think the characters started running about and doing things on their own while I was gone. Which makes the prospect of continuing it this week very exciting, but also a little daunting.

I want to have a workable draft finished by the time we go away at the end of July. I already have 48,000 words of the story, and I think it's going to be about 80,000 words when finished. I think a realistic deadline would be Friday 12 June, giving me 18 working days to finish the first draft, then a week or so's break over my birthday (20 June! So excited already).

Can't wait for the official agency papers to arrive for me to sign - they're in the post. I may have to do a video post when signing them, as it's such a momentous occasion! (Not sure how interesting it would be to watch, however).

Thank you all so much for the awards and tags you have sent my way over the last few days - I'm going to have fun passing them on!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way." - Charles Dickens

Who knew the French Revolution and manuscript revision had so much in common?

I have almost finished the bulk of the changes on the manuscript, and have a satisfying number of pages with big blue ticks on them (as in, the tick symbol, not big blue blood-sucking insects). Tomorrow's job is to write some missing scenes that I need ... and then I'll print out another typescript and give it to my beta reader. I have learned that revision is the most torturous and tedious part of writing a book. It is also, in a way, the most exciting, as you chip away everything that isn't your story to reveal what will be, hopefully, a tight, polished version. Hopefully.

It has taken over my life and turned my brain to chewed bubblegum, but it is also immensely satisfying. I'm going to crack on with the rest of the changes now, and then go to my mother's to watch American Idol. A dose of Adam Lambert will be a suitable reward for a long day of work, I think.

P.S. Ooh, and if you live in Christchurch, try to see Miss Saigon before it closes! It was absolutely glorious and I'm still on a high. Amazing evening. The only low point was the dreadful man sitting behind us who complained that our friend was "a big lad" and he couldn't see past him (he's really not, he's average height), and made us switch seats. We did it, to avoid drama, only to be stuck behind his enormous bald head for the rest of the night. You see, he was "a big lad" too.

P.P.S. My friend Hannah has started a blog: she's new to the blogosphere, so if you have a chance, stop by and say hello. She's such a glamorous lady, and I'm so looking forward to seeing all her outfits online.

Various disconnected ramblings

I'm crazily busy at the moment with the book and with client work, and am really looking forward to kicking back with some friends and a bottle of wine tonight. I have developed a new technique for squeezing out a few more drops of work before I stop for a break. You probably all do this already, but I'll tell you anyway - I pick a page of the book at random (just edited page 113, for example) and edit it ferociously. Just that page. And then I have a cup of coffee. It is somehow less of a slog doing something entirely random and small, and it's a nice surprise when I come across an already-edited page in the normal course of things.

I will leave you with a couple of great quotes on revision that the lovely Annie King shared with me.

“First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about. Revision is working with that knowledge to enlarge and enhance an idea, to reform it….The first draft is the most uncertain—where you need the guts, the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better. Revision is one of the true pleasures of writing.” -
Bernard Malamud

"My method is one of continuous revision; while writing a long novel, every day I loop back to the earlier sections, to rewrite, in order to maintain a consistent, fluid voice; when I write the final two to three chapters of a novel, I write them simultaneously with the rewriting of the opening of the novel, so that, ideally at least, the novel is like a river uniformly flowing, each passage concurrent with all the others." - Joyce Carol Oates

I hope you're all having a great week!

P.S. Just realised I used the phrase 'in the normal course of things' twice in this post. In the normal course of things, I don't use that phrase at all.

Books are not babies

A lengthy post about manuscript revision follows. Just a warning. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

So, the book is now nearly unrecognisable. I felt depressed about this on the weekend, as I looked at the hundred thousand words I spent last year toiling over and realised that a great deal of them were gone. I shook myself out of that funk pretty quickly, however, by recognising that all that material needed to be written in order for me to find the novel that was inside it. As Mark Twain said, "The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say." This applies to novels too, I think.

The novel was sliced and diced into bits. I had a lot of ideas and a lot of questions, and I needed to get a clear vision in my head of the shape the finished book would take.

I (metaphorically) sat down in the middle of all the shredded paper and bits of bleeding manuscript and asked myself, "What am I ACTUALLY trying to say with this book? What is it really about? Really, really?"

(A pretty good question to ask oneself before beginning, I'm sure, but hey, I'm a maverick - as in, I'm probably doing it wrong).

Once I'd asked myself that question, it was relatively easy to peel all the layers of story away until I was left with a kernel. It reminded me of a segment on the special features of the Lord of the Rings (yes, I am an enormously geeky person and spent an entire summer holiday watching all three films and every single special feature over and over, every day for about three months. I am not exaggerating. Luckily my husband was doing it with me, which makes it a bit less sad. But I digress). In this segment, Peter Jackson was discussing the editing of the three films. They shot for a record number of days, and ended up with a wealth of material. Too much, in fact. They had a very difficult time in the editing studio trying to trim down all this material to match the script in a way that advanced the story without slowing it down or digressing. It was a nightmare. Finally, Jackson went away and thought about it, and came up with a simple and brilliant solution. He asked himself what the story - this lengthy, hugely detailed, complex monster of a story - was really about, and decided it was about Frodo and it was about the ring, and it was about the journey of these two entities.

This made their decisions far easier. Even if they loved a particular piece of footage, they asked themselves, "Does this support the central story?" And if it didn't, out it went. (Of course, they had an extended cut as well as the cinematic cut, but we humble book-writers don't have that luxury).

I had a similar revelation, and I found this article by Holly Lisle remarkably helpful for the process, as is almost everything on her site. I wrote down what the book was about, in fewer than fifteen words. It took a while to get down to fifteen, but I worked at it until I had the briefest summary I could possibly have. Then I went through my plot outline and cut out everything that didn't serve that central story in some way. I also wrote down the main theme in fewer than fifteen words, and the sub-themes in the same way.

This meant that I have had to ask myself some hard questions over the past two weeks. About every scene and every character I have asked, "Does this matter? Do I need this? Is it important?" Quite often, the answer is no. It has been tough. I thought I was handling it quite well until I realised that a particularly beloved character and subplot did nothing but slow down the story and distract it from its real purpose. Cutting that one hurt quite a bit. Essentially I am taking a microscope to the core of the story and discarding everything else, which means both that the central story needs to be fully developed and that I am going to end up with a much stronger book at the end of the (hellish) process.

Then came another hard job. One of the problems I saw with my original manuscript was that my narrator wasn't strong enough. She was an observer rather than an active participant. I also felt that she didn't show enough significant growth throughout the story. So, I took some more of Holly Lisle's suggestions, and wrote a one-line story arc for this character - the journey she takes through the book. I also asked myself:

"What does she want more than anything else in the world?"

and

"What is she most afraid of?"

These questions are so revealing. I think these are the two most important things to know about any character - the answers show you the motives behind any person's actions. They're trying to achieve the one, and they're trying to avoid the other, and if they're a compelling enough character they feel passionately about both. Once I had a clear story arc in written form, and the answers to these two questions, I felt like I knew my protagonist a lot better. She came more sharply into focus, and the rest of the book came with her.

I also made the decision to switch the book from first to third person. It's a big job, but I think it's necessary.

If there's anything I've learned while working on this book, it's that I have a lot to learn. Novel-writing 101. It is definitely humbling, but also very exciting. And a lot of hard work. I've written 'novels' since I was very young, and even had one published, but I've never had to work so much on the brick-by-brick construction of a work like this one. I think I (arrogantly) assumed that I would get everything right by instinct, but no matter how talented you are, it takes a lot of revision and hard work to make a successful book.

My three main tools at the moment, as I work through the rewrites, are: a synopsis; a chapter-by-chapter breakdown; and a page of character notes. I have found them all unbelievably helpful for keeping me focused.

I say synopsis, but there are actually three synopses - the one-sentence one I mentioned earlier, a very detailed one that's about seven pages long, and a shorter one that's about the length of the blurb on a book cover. After a couple of hours working on these, I went a bit mad and started ending the plot summaries with silly things like "WITH HILARIOUS RESULTS!", "BEFORE A GIANT METEOR HITS THE EARTH," and "TO FIGHT THE INVADING SPACE PIRATE ARMY." At least I find myself amusing. (And no, my book does not contain an invading space pirate army).

So, as you can probably tell from all this, I'm stitching together almost a new book altogether. I think it's going to be worlds better when I'm finished, but there is an enormous amount of work ahead. Occasionally I have a minor panic attack, but then I go for a walk, buy something, eat a piece of chocolate or put a pot of coffee on (hey, I didn't say they were all healthy solutions) and get back to it. Speaking of which, I had better get back to work.

To explain the post title: books are not babies, thank goodness, even though they are often compared to them. "It's like sending your child out into the world!" "I feel like I've given birth to this book." I understand those sentiments, but the analogy falls apart when it's time to revise. You wouldn't give a baby plastic surgery, change its gender twice and its name three times and try six different noses on it to see which one looks best. I hope.

P.S. A bit of housekeeping. I am dreadfully behind on comments again, so thank you for bearing with me - I am crazily busy and will catch up as soon as I can. And if you're waiting for a package from me, you won't have to wait much longer ... I'm sending them out next week! Hooray. Oh, and I'm also having a big closet clean-out very soon and selling some lovely vintage dresses, so I'll keep you posted on that too.

Souffles!

Since I was done with the 'flu, I thought it would be nice to pass it on to LOML. I'm all about recycling. So he's in bed, and it's my turn to make cups of tea and nag him about drinking enough fluids and going to bed early (payback time, LOML!). I made it outside today - hurrah! - and found some amazing things to put in the next shop update. One particular dress is stunningly beautiful, but too small for me, which makes me sad. It will, however, make some small person very happy.

I spent the rest of today experimenting with the first chapter of the book. In case you're interested, here's a brief overview of the changes I'm making.

1) Narrowing the focus - originally the book spanned fifteen years. Now it spans three. As the lovely Rachael said to me, this is a common trap for books based on autobiographical material. You tend to keep events and characters in because 'that's how it was', and not because they're important to the story. Even though my book is (ostensibly, I see now) a novel, there was a lot of autobiographical flotsam and jetsam in there that wasn't really important to anyone else but me. I've zoomed in on the important stuff. This has the double benefits of making it read more like a novel and less like a memoir, and making the whole thing more urgent and pacey.

2) Cutting out redundant characters - some of the characters, when I really examined them, served a similar purpose. When these literary twins occur, I'm blending them together or erasing one of them.

3) Some under-used but essential characters are being inflated and are coming to the fore, and some characters who took up way too much space for their level of importance have been deflated.

4) The narrator was too passive - things happened to her and around her rather than being initiated and driven by her. I'm making her much more of a decision-maker in her own life.

5) Unnecessary sub-plots that served no purpose are being snipped out.

6) The stakes weren't high enough. I'm upping them. High stakes make for exciting reading.

7) I'm giving the 'villains' more of a human face.

I've learned a lot about novel-building from this book, which is fantastic. It has been encouraging, but humbling too - I get a lot of things right by instinct, but I also get a lot of things wrong. Constructing a novel is hard, and definitely not something you can do by the seat of your pants. I know all the things listed above probably seem glaringly obvious - Novel-writing 101 - and they were. Six months after I finished the book. Not at all obvious one month after. Just goes to show that you really do need to allow your work time to rest - to rise or sink, like a souffle. I think my book rose around the edges but had a big soggy indentation in the middle. Metaphorically. I wish I knew how to create the acute accent on souffle. Does anyone know how?

I hope all this made sense - it is quite late, and when I start talking about souffles, it's probably time to go to bed.

Big news in our household today - LOML and I are going over to the UK in August to see both sets of our grandparents, and we'll probably be in the States for a while as well. So excited.

I hope you all had a good start to your week!

The agent-hunting process

A couple of you left comments on the last post asking how this whole agent-hunt shebang works, so I thought I would give a brief description for anyone who's interested. Feel free to skip if you know all this already! And published-type friends, feel free to jump in with any other information in the comments.

Step 1 - write a book. A year of your life passes, waves crash on distant beaches, a tree grows in Brooklyn. When you're finished, revise and edit over and over until you're sick of it. Then do it again.

Step 2 - you're ready to submit your manuscript ... to publishers? Nope. Bad idea. Unless you live in New Zealand and you want it published in New Zealand, because we're so tiny that you can submit directly to publishers here and they don't get grumpy. But if you think your book would do better in an international market, then you need to research agents in your country of choice. I went to a UK database and went through all of the listings to find my selection - you can also look up authors whose work is similar to yours, and see who represents them. And ask for recommendations from writerly friends.

You need an agent. Because publishers really don't like getting unsolicited submissions and often will only look at agent submissions, and because an agent will handle the contracts, financial stuff, legal rights and all the things that, if you're like me, you probably wouldn't be too good at. And they'll also get you a good deal, because it is in their interests.

Step 3 - so, you've found some agencies that look promising. You now need to research the individual agents to find one who would be interested in you, as it would be silly to send your erotic historic vampire romance novel to someone who only deals in science-fiction.

Step 4 - once you've found your agent, you need to write a query letter of great brilliance that will make them want to look at your manuscript. This is hard and evil, but once you have a good query letter it will be the powerful weapon you wield against the forces of darkness (got a bit carried away there), and so it has to be done.

Oh, and check the agency's submission guidelines first - most of them will ask you to send a query letter via post or email (SO much easier and cheaper than post, I wish they all allowed email submissions), but some will allow you to submit a synopsis and partial (that is, part of the manuscript) as well. Always good to check. No point making them crankier by not following the rules.

Step 5 - PERSONALISE the query letter and please don't do what I did once and forget to change the name before you send it to a different agent. Oops. I wrote a post on query letters here which gives Nathan Bransford's excellent query letter formula and my example of how this can be filled out (tee hee). Then read it through, bite your nails, have a stiff drink and send it to your selected agents.

Step 6 - the time scale of publishing is a glacial one, usually. Some agents will reply to you quickly, but some will take ages. It is quite soul-destroying. Hopefully, however, you will receive some chirpy responses from agents saying, yes please, we would love to see your masterpiece. Even better if they allow you to send it as an email attachment rather than asking you to send a pile of paper that looks like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey through the mail. They will request:

a) a partial, which could be anything from the first three chapters to the first 100 pages, or
b) a full.

They might also request a synopsis. These are, if anything, more evil than the query letter. I would actually suggest you write one as soon as you've finished the book, just in case, instead of drinking twelve cups of coffee and doing it in one day after an agent requested it, which is what I did. Once you have a synopsis, it's worth sending it along with your partial or full, even if the agent hasn't requested it. Makes their jobs a bit easier, which is always a good thing. Keeping the agent in a good mood is key.

Step 7 - make sure your manuscript is formatted correctly. There's a good guide here. Make sure you number the pages and put your name and the title of the work on each page, in case they get out of order or lost. This is really important.

Step 8 - send it, along with an informative, polite and businesslike email which has your previous correspondence embedded in it, because agents are busy people and you don't want them to have to go through their inbox searching for your information. That makes them cranky.

Step 9 - this is where the glacial pace kicks in again. A lot of agencies say you shouldn't expect to hear anything until after 3 months have passed. It varies. But hopefully you will receive a request for a full from an agent who had the partial - or perhaps you will even get an offer of representation - sooner rather than later. If you haven't heard from them in 3 months, give them a polite nudge (not literally), like I did yesterday, and hopefully they will respond. It can take months. It can even take a year. Or more. I have only been doing this for three months, so I have a long way to go.

It is a long process, and it is only the start of the even longer process that is publication. Glaciers, slow-moving land mammals and the plots of really boring movies have nothing on the speed of the publishing world. Do I sound a bit impatient? It's probably because I am. Anyway, I hope that answers your questions! Thank you again for all your comments, I really do appreciate them greatly.

To business!

I'm so enjoying writing this book. The idea for the story was actually triggered by this post, where I talked about the Shona perception of the soul after death. I found a wonderful reference this morning - Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe by Tabona Shoko. It's a fantastic read, and has some really useful information on traditional Shona beliefs. I took Shona lessons while I lived in Zimbabwe, and used to be fairly fluent, but I have lost almost all of it now. I also studied Hebrew for six years, and I've forgotten most of that, too. Where does all that information go? I wonder if it's still in my mind somewhere, and would resurface if I started learning those languages again? Anyway, it's great to have my remnants of Shona knowledge backed up by useful textbooks like this one.

I think I also have a fledgling title, which is unusual for me this early on. Usually my books are called something terribly original like 'Book3' or 'Other_Book' until they're almost finished. And then it takes me forever to settle on a title. I guess the limitations of Nanowrimo have really kicked my brain into gear.

I wrote another 2,000 words this morning, and now I had better work on the less exciting but far more urgent Masters essay. If I make good progress by later this afternoon, I'm going to go back to the book. It would be fantastic to hit 15,000 by tonight. I have a little chart in the kitchen where I tick off each 5,000-word increment as I reach it, and then get a reward. I'm well-trained that way.

As my reward for reaching 10,000 words last night, I made a trip to a thrift store this afternoon and garnered some loot. The ladies in the thrift store know me now, which is nice, because they point out new arrivals that they think I would like. They directed me to the two polka-dot items - I'm so predictable.

Here's a great quote from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (an indispensable book for writers, I think), which describes exactly how I feel about this novel at the moment: "And it feels so great to finally dive into the water; maybe you splash around and flail for a while, but at least you're in. Then you start doing whatever stroke you can remember how to do, and you get this scared feeling inside you - of how hard it is and how far there is to go - but still you're in, and you're afloat, and you're moving."

In which I talk about routines

A couple of you have asked me to go into a bit of detail about my daily writing routine, so I thought I would talk a bit about it today (feel free to skip all of this if you don't find it interesting!).

I only really established a solid writing routine this year. I used to be filled with feelings of inadequacy (and murderous rage) when I heard about writers who had really disciplined routines - you know, they wake up at 5am, go to the gym and pump iron for an hour, then work for eight hours and churn out 5,000 words. I only wrote when I felt inspired or had an uninterrupted chunk of time. Of course, once I started the MFA, I was writing full-time. All that empty time was luxurious, but also terrifying. I knew I had to use it productively.

It took me a month or so to settle down into a routine. I rely on strict routine and structure more than some other people, I know. It's just what works for me, and I am by no means saying that everyone should work like this.

Here's how it goes:
7am - get up, make bed, feed Mink, get coffee (coffee coffee!), watch the news and hang out with LOML while he has breakfast. He usually leaves at 7:30am, so that's when I check my emails and daily blogs and make breakfast for myself.
8am - I put a load of washing on, unstack the dishwasher and have another cup of coffee, then get showered. While I'm doing these chores, I'm starting to warm-up and think about my story. Doing something habitual frees your brain up to think creatively.
I work at the dining room table. I do have a desk upstairs in the spare room/study, but I feel isolated up there. Our kitchen, dining room and lounge are open-plan, so sitting at the dining room table means I'm right in the centre of the house and can see what's going on. It's light and airy, close to the coffee machine, and I can see the garden (such as it is) through the French doors. It makes me feel like I'm part of the world, while working upstairs makes me feel like I'm slaving in a garret. I always try to have fresh flowers on the table to refresh my eyes while I'm working.
9am - I'm all dressed and made up and presentable. I put another pot of coffee on (decaf this time), and sit down to write for one hour. I always write from 9am till 10am, barring Acts of God, and I guard this time jealously. This means that no matter what else happens during the day, I know I have written for an hour and therefore don't need to feel that horrible guilt you feel when you get to the end of the day without writing.
10am - have some coffee, hang out the washing.
10.30am - back to work! I aim for 2,000 words a day, usually. This week I have been pushing for 1,000 because I'm tired after working on the essay (excuses, excuses), but 2,000 is my ideal. The Internet is a huge distraction. Emails, great blogs to read, Flickr ... it can suck up hours of my time if I let it. I have a little rule that I am allowed to quickly check my email or look at something fun every fifteen minutes. I don't always do so, if I'm on a roll, but on the days when writing is like giving birth to a broken window I really live for my little breaks.
12pm - I stop for lunch at midday, and this is usually when I write a blog post.
1pm - Another hour of work. I don't usually do any creative work in the early afternoon. If I have client work to do, or the Essay of Doom, I'll do it then, because it uses a different part of my writing brain. This is also a good time to revise or rewrite.
2pm - I run errands and do housework.
3pm - coffee! Of the caffeinated variety, this time. Then I get on with more chores of various kinds, or some non-creative work. I'm sure it won't surprise you that I have a chore schedule written out for each week day as well, because I think we have established that I am addicted to plans and list-making.
4pm - I get back to work. Now that I've got most of my work done, there's not so much urgency and pressure, which means that I'm more comfortable playing with different ideas. I really enjoy this time in the evenings - everything is done, it's quiet, Mink is usually sitting next to me, and I can be creative without worrying about being productive. LOML gets home between 6pm and 7pm, so I start dinner around that time.

I also love working at night - the darkness and quiet seems to open up all these possibilities that I don't see during the day. I don't do it very often, though: firstly, because it is anti-social and LOML quite likes having me around in the evenings (go figure); and secondly, because it burns me out ridiculously quickly and I am grumpy and tired the next day. If I really want to do a concentrated burst of work on a particular scene or chapter, however, a glass of wine and a late-night writing session will usually take care of it.

With this book, I'm writing from the perspective of three different characters - well, two at the beginning and a third who emerges later in the book - so if I'm feeling inspiration wane with one of them I'll jump into another character's head and write a scene from a different part of the book. It's a great way to feel refreshed without stopping writing. In other books, jumping to a different scene has worked. And dialogue is a great way to kick-start your writing - putting two characters together and letting them have a conversation can give a new fizz and energy to a flat scene. I prefer not to stop writing, but if the case is really desperate, I might draw some pictures of the characters or the plot on really huge sheets of paper. This helps.

I hope that all makes sense - if there's anything you'd like to ask me about it, go ahead. If you're still awake. There's a good chance you nodded off somewhere in the middle of that, and I don't blame you.

Synchronicity?

I have had a really interesting experience this evening. Well, interesting to me. I was working on the plot outline for my current book when it occurred to me to look up the main characters' names and see what they meant. I thought this was a classic procrastination activity, but the results were actually fascinating. I chose the names with very little thought, going purely on instinct, but when I looked them up I saw that their meanings were actually very close to the characters' personalities. So much so that it was a little spooky. I had never read any of these name meanings before, as far as I know, but perhaps some snippets of information were buried in my sub-conscious ready to jump out of my ear (I take things very literally), tap me on the head and say "Oi! Good character name. Use it."

I realise this post would be a lot more effective if I gave you examples, but I am pathologically superstitious about revealing details of whatever I'm working on, so it will have to remain vague for now. For a far more coherent and interesting discussion on naming characters, I refer you to Anne Mini's ever-useful blog.

In more humdrum news, I made good progress with the Essay of Doom today. I have almost 10,000 words of raw material that need to be hammered and honed into a 5,000-word essay - still, that's a far, far better position to be in than starting with a blank page, I think.

Sad

I got my first reply back from an agent this morning, and it was a rejection. Wah. Am trying to be cheerful about it, though, and just go back to waiting for the others. Here's what the agent said:

"Thank you for giving us the chance to read the first part of your novel. You definitely write very well, so it is with real reluctance that I say I'm unable to offer you representation for it. This is partly because I'm already handling a novel in a similar subject and the same setting.

Good luck with your writing, and if you produce something else and are not already with another agent, do contact me again."

So at least there's some bright spots in there. I am feeling a bit low about it though, of course.

Fathers' Day

My third father ran away today;
deserted the mothership.
On our planet things work differently;
I am fathered by three men who have left
one
by
one.
Each donated their seed;
our technology is very advanced.
I am a three-father hybrid
a tripod grown from a tri-seed
a triumph of modern engineering.

The first could have been a hologram
a holy telegram from god to stop me getting cocky.
It worked.
Hard to be conceited when a spaceship implodes.
He was in the heart of a star,
a supernova, for one white-hot minute. Maybe it was worth it;
baptised by fire and the spirit
he gave me spirit and form, a wavering
projection of himself.

The second was an astrologer;
he charted my stars and planets
yet I hardly remember him.
Maybe he watches over me
from the horoscope columns
of the local paper, I don’t know.

Today my third father ran away.

I count the stars
one
by
one,
and watch the pregnant moon, frantic
in its mad orbit, deserted by the sun.

Minutiae

Productive day, for the most part. I wrote about 1,000 words and did some research for a project I've got lined up. Am slightly annoyed, though, because circumstances are conspiring to keep me away from the events I want to attend at the Writers' Festival. There was one at lunchtime today to which I really wanted to go, but something urgent came up and I couldn't.

Oh well, at least I managed to get some work done! And I'm excited about the book launch tonight - as part of the diploma in publishing I did last year, I actually had to put together a marketing plan for this very book. So it will be lovely to see it in the flesh (as it were).

Another update

Another request for a partial! Yay! That's four out of five so far.

I'm taking a day off today - I need one. I was writing synopses in my sleep.

Yay!

Another request - for a partial this time!

I need to keep going with the Synopsis of Satan this morning, so forgive me if I post a little later than usual. Thank you so much for all your good thoughts and voodoo vibes, I really appreciate it!

Eek

I have submitted my first five query letters by email. And now I feel a bit sick.

Oh, and the giveaway is still open for another week, so enter if you haven't already! Click on the giveaway button in the sidebar and it will take you straight to the appropriate page.

And also - apologies for all the edits, I keep remembering Important Things - I'm so sorry if you have posted a comment and it hasn't shown up here and I haven't replied. Sometimes my blogger account doesn't send them to me to be modified, so I only get them a week later when I think, "Hmm, better check if there's a comments backlog." Have just found a few now, so I do apologise, and I'll reply to them all today!

In search of lost time

Hmm, I've hit a bit of a wall in my structural edits. One of the problems I found with the book on the latest read-through was that the pace at which the narrator was growing up wasn't clear. The book starts when she's about five, and when it ends she is fifteen. The problem is that I think the reader isn't aware of exactly how much time is passing, and it can be quite jarring when they suddenly realise, 'oh, she's eleven now,' or whatever.

I think the best way to solve this, for my book, may be to break it up into parts and open each new part with the year. This actually might work well thematically, as well. I'm just worried about being cheesy ... I don't know, sometimes when books are broken up like that it seems a bit contrived. I guess it all depends on how you do it. And it can't be cheesier than opening a chapter with something like 'a year passed ... first spring, then summer, followed by autumn, and finally winter again.' Or something.

I'll try this new structure out and see how it reads.

Edited to add: I think this is going to work well.

Writing a query letter

I'm home today working on the revisions, with that familiar gremlin sitting on my shoulder saying "This is bollocks, you're a terrible writer." I've grown almost fond of him. Almost. Although this may just be due to Stockholm Syndrome (a psychological condition in which captives sympathise with their kidnappers).

I have some fairly major changes to make, which I'm tackling this morning. I've given myself till Friday to finish this batch of revisions. This afternoon, however, is given over to starting work on that dreaded thing, the Query Letter. The golden ticket that will open the magical doors to that most mystical and elusive of creatures - a literary agent.

Query letters are hard. They have to be concise, compelling and punchy. They have to make the agent want to read your book. They are painful to write.

Nathan Bransford, a literary agent based in San Francisco, has posted a basic Mads-Libs-type formula for query letters on his always excellent website. It goes like this:

"Dear [Agent name],

I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in [genre], and because you [personalized tidbit about agent].

[protagonist name] is a [description of protagonist] living in [setting]. But when [complicating incident], [protagonist name] must [protagonist's quest] and [verb] [villain] in order to [protagonist's goal].

[title] is a [word count] work of [genre]. I am the author of [author's credits (optional)], and this is my first novel.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,
[your name]"

So, for example:


Dear Grumpy McShortandfat,

I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in cat crime, and because you have a cat. I think. Or used to.

Furball is a hard-bitten, hard-biting inner city cat cop living in the back alleys of Chicago. But when a well-known mouse crime syndicate kidnaps his burlesque-dancer girlfriend, Furball must go back to his own long-supressed criminal roots and track down the mouse mafia's Big Cheese in order to save his lady and, ultimately, his city.

'Mousetrap' is a 80,000-word work of cat crime fiction. I am the author of several very well-crafted letters to the editor, and this is my first novel.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,

Catlover O'Restrainingorder.

I will leave you with some pictures of my cat wrapped up in a blanket.

Oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway if you haven't already! The post is below, or there's a button on the sidebar that will take you directly back to the giveaway page.