If you’re writing a manuscript and hoping to publish it, perhaps this post will inspire you to never give up.
A few days ago I had the pleasure of listening to two published novelists at the Pen on Fire writers series, hosted by Barbara De Marco Barrett. Two novelists, Heidi W. Durrow and Danzy Senna, shared the process they went through in writing their novels which made me reflect on the amount of time and effort it takes to write a publishable manuscript.
Heidi Durrow’s debut novel, author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, explained how she started her novel in 1997, and finished it in 2010. That’s thirteen years from start to finish, and here am I on my sixth year of rewriting my travel memoir, Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of gutsy Living on a Tropical Island feeling like something’s wrong with me, for taking so long.
When Heidi opened up with her honest statement of how long it took to write, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, I instantly liked her. It also helped when she said, “My mother is Danish, my father is black, and I grew up in Portland, Oregon.” This probably sounds silly, but I felt a connection with Heidi when she mentioned “dancing around the Christmas tree,” something my own Danish mother kept as a tradition. My childhood in Nigeria, although not related to Heidi’s background, also made me feel connected and I love Portland. It reminds me of Denmark with its coffee houses, friendly atmosphere, and locals riding bikes instead of driving, just like the Danes in Copenhagen.
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, is Heidi’s debut novel and it tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy. Her novel won “The Bellwether Prize,” established by Barbara Kingsolver…the only major North American prize that specifically advocates literary fiction addressing issues of social justice.
Heidi mentioned she went through twelve massive revisions, and was rejected over and over. Because she wanted every sentence to be perfect, it took her six years to write her first draft.
I’ve put together a list of helpful tips, some from Heidi Durrow and Danzy Senna’s conversation with writers, and added some of my own, from what I’ve learned over the six years I started writing, taking classes, attending conferences and networking. They are in random order.
- Don’t write to make money.
- Only start writing if you are truly obsessed about your story and believe in it.
- Write the book you want to read.
- Be a completionist, not a perfectionist.
- Let the first draft be messy.
- The key is in the revisions.
- It takes time to write and revise a book for publication.
- Don’t hire an editor to review your manuscript too early in the writing process.
- Don’t change your story to please everyone, especially others in your critique group.
- Don’t give up if you know you have a unique story.
At this point in my writing, I thought I had a completed manuscript. Several “positive” rejections from agents, (positive means a rejection with specific feedback on what to change) have shown me that I have another rewrite to do. It’s taken me this long to understand what agents have been telling me, as well as small presses. They want to hear about an American family in Belize. As one agent put it, “What makes your story unique isn’t how you got to Belize, but the fact that you went.” So, I’m finally listening to agents and editors’ advice. The market is saturated with stories about the parents of troubled teens, just as it is with cancer survivors, autism, alcoholism, etc. So my new approach will be to start with the action in Belize. My Freeways to Flip-Flops page has been updated.
I think we can all get off track while writing a manuscript. Sometimes we try to please those in our critique groups. I know this happened to me.
As Heidi and Danzy pointed out, ask yourself:
- Why am I telling this story?
- What is my relationship to this story?
Any thoughts? Are you writing a manuscript? Have you felt off track?
Happy writing to all, and remember to keep going.
Really liked this post. Several points that I never thought about, including listening to those in the field about what is appealing in your book. I have been surprised by the feedback I get from “Harnessing a Heritage”. People who like it find things in it that I could have done a better job of writing about. I finished after three rewrites in a little more than a year. Should have read your post before rushing to press.
Hi Dee,
I’m glad you found it helpful.
As you know it’s impossible to please everyone.
Great advice Sonia. I haven’t actually turned the stories into a book as yet. There needs to be a chronological sense to it, but maybe not. When I sat down the first time to actually write my memoir (many years ago) it somehow turned into my grandmother’s story. Almost as if it was writing itself.
I’m very much about going with the flow now. I can’t wait for some professional feedback, but first I have to submit something. All in good time.
Thanks for all the tips!
b
Barbara,
I took a memoir writing class online through Gotham Writing, and got some excellent notes from the teacher during this 9-week class. Memoirs can also be in collage format, although chronological order seems to be the most popular. Are you going to hire an editor when you’re ready?
I’m hoping my agent will… whoever they may be.
Very good post, with wise and practical advice. My book, and the one I’m working on, are nonfiction, but much of what you write about still applies. Good luck on your current project!
Thanks Warren. Danzy Senna, has also written a memoir and so it really does apply to all genres. I hope your book sales are going well. Are you still touring?
Thanks so much for your blog. I have been writing my novel for around five to six years. I just asked myself why I want to write this novel, and my self-reply rather amazed me. My love for literature; especially, women’s literature that focuses on female freedoms is exactly why. That’s all I need to know. It’s what excites me. I love literary fiction; therefore, I can now understand why many critques think my prose is too flowery. I love flowery language. So should I remove it from my novel entirely? From my point of view. Not at all. I think many women would love the same things about women’s fiction that I do.
Hi Brenda,
Nice to meet you online.
Different people love to read different styles, as we all know. One thing I have found difficult to do is to follow that well-known phrase, “kill your darlings.” What I love, is not always what agents and editors love, so in my case, I finally came to the realization that if 3-5 agents are telling me the same thing, they’re right. They have more experience in the publishing world than I do.
Now this is great advice – and very inspiring!
Lady Fi recently posted..Lighting the way
Ladyfi, I’ve never asked you if you’re writing a novel or non-fiction book.
What can I tell you, Sonia 😉 The publishing world is a jungle and you’d better get yourself equipped with the right tools, the right guides and the right inoculations to slash yourself through it successfully and not perish. Patience, too, is essential, and a good attitude. Other than that it’s really easy.;)
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Good post. It gives one hope.
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Miss Footloose,
Are you working on your rewrite in Moldova? I know you understand the business.
I’d hear of “The Girl Who Fell From the Sky’ but this is the first time I’ve learned what the book is about and the author.
Thanks for sharing some major learnings from this talk with us. One of them, that a good book takes time and multiple revisions.
I commend you, Sonia, for listening to agents’ comments and taking the time and effort to start another rewrite of your book, which means delaying publication. (I’m glad that my book did not come out last year as since then – after seven rewrites and two edits – I found that it required more editing, tweaking, rewriting, and correcting.)
Nineteen years ago, I wrote a first draft of a fiction novel, then spent eight years working on ten rewrites with a critique group, and according to agents’ comments. It ended in the closet. Recently, I disinterred it, read it, and realized it’s a great book in potential, but needs a (12th) rewrite and then professional editing. About another two years work. So there I go again.
Penelope J. recently posted..Why Tell Me “It Is as It Is?”
Pennie,
As a writer you understand. Thanks for being honest and sharing how long it takes. The mistake I made was to tell everyone I was writing a book six years ago. From that day, I’ve had nothing but, “Isn’t it done?” Even a week after I said I’d started writing it. I guess I’m guilty of this too as I remember saying, “How can it take six years to write a book?”
Sonia,
That same thing happens to us all. We’re so elated about our book, and other people get carried away too. We/they have no idea of the long, arduous road ahead. That is, if we want to get out a really good book and not one of these 1st/2nd draft 60p. things that are being self-published. I can’t count the no. of people who have said to me that I should be published by now or asked why am I not. I put up my website way ahead of time though to be truthful, I thought I was almost there.
Penelope J. recently posted..Why Tell Me “It Is as It Is?”
What a great and INSPIRING post!!!
We all need to step back and rethink our motivation for writing and telling our stories… and you are right; it cannot be about the money. It has to be about getting that story out of our heads/hearts and onto paper for others to experience.
Kelli recently posted..Showing off "my" Denmark
Kelli, I’ve often wondered if you plan on writing about a Texan in Herning? Did I tell you Heidi’s mom, the author I wrote about, her mother is from Herning?
Sonia,
I completed a manuscript roughly four years ago and started trying to find an agent. While writing the manuscript I studied more than 30 books on the craft of writing and the industry of publishing. I was quite obsessed.
I have written several million words in my life (the novel is 80,000). I used to keep them and out of pure curiosity, I downloaded a freeware program that counts them. I have never published anything.
What I came to realize, perhaps halfway through my manuscript, is that it is completely un-publishable.
Publishing is a business and agents and publishers must make money or their businesses fail. My work was two things, semi-absurdist, though this was not my intention, and also literary fiction, which has a very low publication success rate. Commercial fiction makes money. If you write fiction and you can stomach it, you should do that. If you cannot, you should try mainstream, which still has a chance. (or try what you did).
Literary fiction from the slush pile doesn’t get published. You can write a story with the following attributes and still have a problem: your story has a deep powerful theme; it is humorous and full of irony; it should resonant on many levels with many people; your mother likes it; it constantly intensifies as it progresses; the characters evolve as the story progresses; the characters have unique personalities and distinct voices; the plot is unique and powerful.
Is that enough? No, that is all secondary. The important questions for those who don’t know someone in the industry is this: will a publisher be willing to take a chance on it, and should they?
Publishers do not want one-hit wonders. They want people who can become a cash calf (publishing doesn’t pay well), with the assumption that author will become a midlist writer first. They want to build relationships. They are not paying an advance for a manuscript. Their expectations for the manuscript are very low. They are paying an advance for a relationship with a potential writer who has not proven herself.
So, you have to give them what they want. They generally want commercial, formulaic, proven fiction. Successful authors usually form a following. If you are writing something that is not formulaic, then no one will become addicted to the series of similar works you produce. The chance a publisher takes on a new writer needs to promise the potential for more than one novel, and in increasing audience born of loyalty with each publication. The publisher needs to believe that the author can build an audience. For this same reason, they don’t want midlist writers switching genres.
However, for your work to be good, you almost have to write where your passion is, and I did this.
I wrote a manuscript that is similar to Seinfeld, in that just about every day something happens that reminds me of a scene in my manuscript or of a character’s attitude. It mimics real life.
It is about the emergence of an intelligent species of insect that evolves inside a fish tank and struggles to survive threats from humankind, who are not aware of their existence, and whom they assume to be Gods, and of their own changing attitudes as they evolve. It is a satirical essay on humankind, expressed in bugs.
I wrote where my passion was. Now, how exactly do I present this to an agent?
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sonia,
i am printing off this list, it’s such great advice. thanks for sharing this – it’s truly inspirational.
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I’m glad you found it helpful Amanda.
Sonia, I am so impressed by your diligence and passion. It will bring you great rewards. You have learned an amazing amount and accomplished an amazing amount since we first met. It will come if you keep taking consistent small steps. I’m sure of it.
Shirley recently posted..Top 50 Memoir Blogs
Shirley,
Thanks for all your encouragement. It’s been, and still is, a long journey. I’m so glad we met at the Santa Barbara Writers conference. I know you’ve been working on your blog and writing for many years too. Now you have a grannynanny job on top of this.