It takes courage to become a published author.
That statement might seem obvious but I had to be reminded of it yesterday.
I have been finished with the first draft of my contemporary fantasy, The Dark Thorn, for months. Friend and author Terry Brooks offered to read it, lending his support and extensive knowledge of crafting a story to help me become a better writer. He wants me to succeed but he also wants me to learn. After reading The Dark Thorn, he thought it a solid tale but gave me several ideas to improve it, one of which was relegating the main point of view character to a smaller role and instead promoting a far more interesting side character to the majority of point of view chapters.
Imagine JRR Tolkien telling The Lord of the Rings mainly from Sam’s point of view, only to be told it would work better if told from Frodo’s point of view.
Yeah. That’s exactly what I did.
The question is: What would have happened if Tolkien had pitched The Lord of the Rings from Sam’s point of view, knowing it would take more time to straighten out before he could pitch it?
Fear and impatience can be powerful emotions.
I almost let fear and impatience ruin my own chances at publication.
I began writing five years ago. I’ve completed two books, one of which I took through the entire year-long process of finding an agent and publisher. Some writers have a hard time completing anything, still trying to find that one story they can finish. I’ve never had a problem with that. The fear of writing doesn’t intrude on my craft. I love to write and the more I write the better I get at it.
I also don’t have fear of showing my work to other people. I rather enjoy it. I am fledgling writer, hoping to improve with every sentence I write, and part of that process involves getting feedback from readers.
I don’t have fear of rejection by professionals in the industry. They are one more form of readership, one more chance to get feedback. I learned a great deal writing and sending out my first book, Song of the Fell Hammer, and most of it came from comments made by agents and editors who want nothing more than writers to grow and write the next bestseller.
I really like The Dark Thorn. It is definitely the best piece of writing I have done. Rewriting it is merely one more step to accomplish my goal. Once finished, I can send it to two editors and an agent who are already interested in it based on the opening chapter and premise.
Several months ago, though, I stopped rewriting.
At the time, I didn’t know why.
I had finished reworking the first 10 chapters. It was going well. Sure, the holidays got in the way and I had several huge online signings to take care of. Still, for some reason, I convinced myself that once I received the first ten chapters back from my friend editor and reworked them that I would send those chapters out into the ether before I had rewritten the entire book, hoping to receive word from an agent or three about the merits of my rewrite and if I was doing the right thing.
Now, I don’t know about you, but even I knew at that time trying to send an incomplete book to people in the industry is a bad idea. A book should always be one’s best effort. There are no exceptions in the fiction world. Agents and editors want finished books. Otherwise the writer is merely wasting their precious time.
Why I thought it was important to get validation for an incomplete book is beyond me.
Thankfully, I stopped myself from sending out querying emails out last week. The confident part of my psyche took over and I realized quite simply that I had a book to finish before I could show the world.
I probably saved myself ridicule from professional people I trust!
Lesson learned: There is courage in completing a book; it is insane to try to send an incomplete work to agents, editors, and publishers.
I am going to finish this rewrite on The Dark Thorn within a month. That is the time I have given myself. The story is already there. I just have to tweak it a bit, write a few new scenes, and get to the final page. I began this yesterday. I have already done two chapters.
With focus and patience, my dream will have the best chance to succeed.
Don’t let fear ruin your chances.
Take my word for it!
The self-doubt can be paralyzing.
This is a very motivating post. I have never had a fear of writing, but I certainly have a fear of editing, and also of showing my work to people for feedback – but then I don’t really know many people who are able to give feedback.
But now I am tackling the fear of editing, and trying not to let a lot of revisions discourage me.
Actually, wouldn’t it be neat to have had poet ee cummings rewrite Lord of the Rings from Golem’s point of view? I’m just sayin….
I can’t really add anything except that maybe you might be putting a little too much weight on the importance of time.
I am going to finish this rewrite on The Dark Thorn within a month. That is the time I have given myself.
It’s nice to see such determination, yet you could just be short circuiting your own best efforts. Personally I would try an affirmation of, “I’m going to rewrite this thing at least two hours every night until it’s absolutely pristine.”
Yeah, the month thing is true. I don’t actually think like that so I don’t know why I wrote it that way.
Instead, I will write several hours in the morning after I have gone to the gym. That way I get some work done before I write my Suvudu post.
Which gives me a new article to write, now that I think about it…