How Do You Know When Your Work Is Good Enough????

I was writing an article for the March edition of VIVA magazine listing my tips for getting published. One of the things I mentioned was don't send the work out too soon. So how soon is too soon and how do you know????

Lying in the bath yesterday, I was planning the day which included a trip to Waterstones. I wanted to buy Shelley Harris' debut book JUBILEE. I'm really looking forward to reading this...because back when I went to the York Festival of Writing in 2010 she was there. Now that in it's self is not enough to 'sell' me a book, a book I paid the full £12.99 price for....

Now regular readers of this blog will know that this conference was a break through for me in many ways and I only realized yesterday in the bath that Shelley provided one of the most important parts...how do you know when your book is good enough????

One the first night about ten unpublished writers read some of their work...what an insight. I have forgotten all the other writers except Shelley. The passage she read held the audience spellbound. The imagery is still with me. When she finished every agent in the room approached her. Yes, it was that good. It had that undefinable quality...and I knew in that moment that I wasn't there...yet.

Now I'd been writing and submitting for five years at that point, but that was the moment when I stopped. It was crystal clear what was good, no not just good but superb. I wanted that, well, not that exactly but I wanted that for my writing. I knew I had to dig deep to find it...

Now, seeing your own work with such clarity is hard, but if you imagine standing in front of a couple hundred people and holding them spellbound with the images you have created then you begin to get the idea....Shelley's work stood so far above everyone else who was brave enough to read that evening...I was deeply grateful I wasn't one of them.

So when you are wondering if it's ready, if it's good enough...think of reading it to a large audience who are judging you....can you capture them? Does you work have the spark? If you have the opportunity to listen to writers reading their work out - go...develop your inner critic then apply it to yourself

I know that when I began I was desperate for feedback, for validation that i could write... but it was only when I was in York listening to Shelley that I knew I had jumped too soon before. I knew that I needed to push myself further and in that moment I began to see my writing more clearly...

But the funny thing is...i still don't think it's good enough. But that's a good thing. It makes me keep trying harder...

Twitter...

I've put a little post about Twitter and promotion at The Heroine Addicts blog.

A Tale of Two Prologues - THE CORNISH HOUSE and AUGUST ROCK

Now I know I've posted about this before but it has come up again on twitter because I axed my prologue again in the rewrite process....No, I can hear some of you cry and hurrah from the rest.


So I thought I would share my thinking...as muddled as it is. First though let me state that as a reader I kinda like prologues but as a writer I'm not to sure.


So both THE CORNISH HOUSE and AUGUST ROCK have had prologues, in fact AUGUST ROCK has three different ones. The most recent prologue for AUGUST ROCK died this morning when I 'merged' it into chapter one, scene one. AND no, I didn't just relabel it. 


When I met with my brilliant editor Kate back in Decemeber to talk about what i was doing with August Rock we spoke about pov. I knew with certain clarity that AR needed to be written in first person but THE CORNISH HOUSE was written in third...another story on that another time...


So I had sent her before the meeting a few chapter rewritten in first to see if she was 'cool' with it...she was but the prologue wasn't right. She knew why I wanted it there but the voice was too old. The heroine Jude is supposed to be 13 in the prologue....


I went away from the meeting thinking - worrying I know...it should be a doddle to make the voice more youthful. Well, it wasn't. Believe me I tried. The reason it wasn't ...because what I wanted to convey wasn't what a 13 year old girl would think or see even if she was mature....


That left me with a problem. I needed that prologue because without that knowledge the bomb that drops in chapter one scene two wouldn't have the impact I wanted....


Well, I chewed on that for a week...and finally I realized that by sacrificing my best opening linse ever ...The incoming tide lapped over my red toenails and wet the brilliant white lace of my wedding gown. Tears caused it all to blur to pink. I hate pink not that anyone had cared or had listened.


I could do this. I had to start the story sooner and build those thoughts (the important bits of the prologue) into something that was happening right then and there...


So i sacrificed my best opening (although those words are now later in the chapter) and altered the timing of the scene (only by ten minutes)and was able to to lose the prologue and I think it's much better for it....

My experience of prologues was slightly different for THE CORNISH HOUSE. But again it involved some of the best writing I have ever done (and now no one will see!). I can't tell what it was, but I needed that scene right there at the start of the book to focus me while I rewrote it. By putting it at the front I couldn't forget it and nor could my heroine Maddie. 


Confession to make. I did try after that rewrite to put that scene in other places later in the book, but in the end the emotion was the page without the need of it...in fact I think it's stronger because it isn't there.


So prologues....ask yourself ..
Why? What is the scene doing? Teasing? Relaying important info? Character stuff? Foreshadowing?


Once you know the purpose you then then ask if there is a different way to achieve your goal...then ask is it a better way? If yes, then ditch the prologue and kill those darlings....What's your take on prologues?
 

All Writers Are Different

I know the statement above is stating the obviously but this morning I read a good post by fellow writer here in Dubai, Alexander McNabb. His post is here. All of it is excellent, but it is also very different from the advice I might give.

I'll begin with his point on 'writing books'. He doesn't hold much in store by them but I do. This is probably just down to how different minds work, but I know hand on heart I wouldn't have an agent or a contract today if I hadn't used all the Donald Maass books to revise. In fact they are beside me as I work on rewriting book two. There are other books as well that have helped me along the like like Sol Steins Solutions For Writers. Every writer has different needs or should I say has different problems with their work and whether a book can help fix them depends on what they are and what type of person you are...

McNabb lists blogs that have been helpful for him...aside from The Bookseller none have been ones that have helped me but I will now check them out (hate missing out). There is so much choice out there but my list is:-

BubbleCow
Sarah Duncan
Rachelle Gardner
and just recently Kristen Lamb

Then he gives great advice on how to write a book....here's my additional thoughts....

-Write the book of your heart...so that it has your passion in it. This is for your first draft. Put it all onto to the page. In this stage don't worry about market, genre or anything else but the story you have tell.

The editing process is where you carve out the refined book from the mass of words. Editing is the point where you take your knowledge of the publishing world and make the book marketable. This is the time where you work for your reader and not for yourself.

-McNabb recommends plotting...this works for some and not for others. I'm not a plotter. I normally begin with a title, a character and a location and sometimes the end - that is it. See the point above. On my first drafts I fly into the wind and let it all happen. However in revision I then plot. I look at where the story has gone...does it make sense...could it be better/stronger? This is where the Maass book come into their own for me. His questions and exercises help me to pull more out of the book.

-He makes a good point about knowing your market, genre and reader....this is very important as you edit. Before you are published and most definitely afterwards it is a key part of your job to know your market and to follow the industry. That does not mean that just because paranormals are on the rise that you should write them but you need to know what is happening.

Knowing your reader is important. If you write YA and you're 40 then you need to know their issues, read what they read and so. I was lucky because I was writing for me. I am my reader...I fit the demographic for women's fiction. To make it more exacting I now imagine my wonderful hairdresser here in Dubai as my reader. Since I have know her back the first time we lived here we have talked books. She reads everything and she reads a lot. So when I'm editing a book I picture her as the one sitting down and absorbing the world I have created. Will she relate to it? Would she pick my book up in a shop?

I recently read Mel Sherratt's TAUNTING THE DEAD. I loved it, it was gripping and I couldn't put it down but I'm not her reader. I don't buy crime thrillers...that's not what I normally spend my book money on. She shouldn't think of me when she's assessing her work.....she needs to think of those who auto buy Martina Cole and the like...

-I totally agree with him on POV in a scene (his pt 2)...keep it to one other wise the reader can become confused and that's the last thing you want. I'd also add make sure that the scene is in the POV of the character with the most to lose...

-I'd add another point...listen to your work. By hearing your work read it becomes distant from you. Don't read it yourself because you can put inflection etc in....try Natural Reader (the free version is good but the voice is unforgiving which dare I say it a good thing)...

But of course the best advice for writing a book is to just do it....

PS....Alex and I are on the same panel for one of the sessions at the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature...could be interesting based on yesterday's twitter discussion on Arab voices finding a global platform :-)

New Year - New Book

Well, it's not a new book exactly but August Rock. Yesterday I began the rewrite...gulp. I know what I need to do which is good but that dreaded fear that it won't be good enough is seeping in. I know this fear can be helpful. After all it makes me work harder to make the book better. BUT I need to keep it in check because if I let it run it could stop me writing!!! And that must not happen at all costs...

Julie and Martin Warner, owners of the South Cafe, with post card of  THE CORNISH HOUSE

On a fun note, in the days before Christmas I received wonderful post cards made from the cover THE CORNISH HOUSE. I just love them. On the back it says 'wish you were here'...so I snapped a few pictures of the post card on display at our favourite restaurant, South Cafe, which features in the book and you can find South Cafe on Facebook here.

Now must stop thinking of the wonderful lunches we ate there over the holidays and think about being a 13 year old Victorian boy named Toby....

Penny Jordan

At the RNA Awards March 2011 - Me and Penny Jordan

I am filled with incredible sadness at the moment. Penny Jordan, a friend and mentor passed away yesterday. I hadn't known she was ill. I'm sure she didn't want us to worry. That would be her...

She was an inspiration. Despite her best selling status she never took any of it for granted...she didn't rest on her many laurels. She worked hard at her writing. She also supported so many budding writers and I was lucky to be one of them. Through those dark hours came many emails of encouragement....she knew those doubts to well herself.

Now that she is gone I can hold tight to memories of handbag shopping in Dubai. Comparing outrageous shoes at RNA awards lunches. She was beautiful, glamorous and a real friend. She will be missed.

Penny may you est in peace...you will be missed.

New Years' Memories

I've posted over at the The Heroine Addicts. Wishing everyone a wonderful 2012.

PS...can't wait to begin writing on the 3rd...