Word Weaves

I finished the rewrite on my first book, polished my query and groaned through another synopsis. I researched agents on Agentquery, Querytracker, SCBWI, and the Children’s Writers and Illustrators’ Market Guide. Then, I checked SFWA’s Editors and Preditors to ensure none of my chosen agents were on the Beware List.

Two weeks ago, I sent queries to fourteen agents. I had the first response within two hours. I took a deep breath and opened the email. My eyebrows sprung to my hairline. It wasn’t a rejection! The agent requested a partial. I stared at the computer in shock. I wasn’t ready for this. I had prepared for fourteen rejections. At best, I hoped for nice rejections.  

I pulled up the first few chapters of my book and with superhuman will power, I did not reread them before I pushed send. More deep breathing and some hyperventilating followed. Since that day, I’ve received three very nice rejections and another request for a partial. Even if my sample chapters don’t pass muster, I’m thrilled to have written a query that does. But I’m not sure when I’ll stop feeling like a spastic balloon, puffing up and deflating.

This morning on my walk, I spotted a double rainbow. It arched over the trees into a deep gray sky; the afteraffects of last night’s thunderstorms. The me that lives in my imagination leapt to that arc and clung for dear life. I didn’t have to wonder where that impulse came from.

Last week was a train wreck: friends and family with serious health issues, budget shortcomings, and the conspicuous absence of a call back after a hopeful job interview. Then there was the discussion I came across on the Verla Kay board about agents preferring prospective clients not shop their work to editors. That was difficult to swallow after spending the last two months in hyper mode, rewriting my first book to submit with conference coupons to editors before the September 4th deadline. And I set my second book aside to do it.

What I read on Verla Kay rang true and reliable sources confirmed it. Why did I learn this the week before I sent my submission? Did I lose two months of writing time on my second book for nothing? I believe in God’s timing and in listening to that voice we all have inside.  For some reason, I was meant to rework my first novel. No doubt, it’s a much better book. Even if it’s not marketable, I grew as a writer through the revision and my next book will be better for it.

I wasn’t looking for the pot of gold when I latched onto that rainbow this morning. I was looking for hope. I’m starting the week with a new plan, tossing the editor’s coupons and compiling an agents’ list. I’ll query a dozen. If the reaction is negative, my first book goes in a box labeled STEP ONE.

When people asked why I needed to revise my book…again…I didn’t have a definitive answer. And they deserved one. They were first readers; the only people on the planet who knew my story. I think they felt cheated. Why would I change a book they had given their support to?

Now that I’m nearing the end of the second rewrite, I think I can explain.  It all began with the synopsis. I needed one to submit my story for the SCBWI W-I-P grant in February. I scrawled thirty versions of that dreaded document without satisfaction.  I sent it off figuring it was the best I could do. Then I took an online synopsis class.

That class asked questions of my story I hadn’t asked. I knew my main character like a sister. But who were the primary and secondary antagonists and what were their conflicts and goals? What were the external and internal plots/goals. How does the story build from beginning through plot points to climax and resolution? 

Those questions forced me to face what I didn’t know about my story and what was missing.  To be blunt, a snarly secondary character  upstaged my wimpy protaganist; my plot didn’t just drag in the middle, it sagged like a pot belly pig, and my black moment was dim! I slapped that book closed and shut my mind off. 

After a few weeks of  healing,  my trounced creativity bounced back with and I took drastic action. I kicked my MC out of the story.  I mourned her loss. Introducing a new MC to an old cast of characters isn’t easy. The strange protaganist was like the new kid in school that nobody knew, including me. But she did just what I hoped; she shook things up. With the synopsis class fresh in mind, I started over.  Partway through the rewrite, I took a MG/YA class and used the lessons as I revised.

The story is so much better, even I can see it. Last week, when I wrote the query to submit it, for the first time the book sounded like something I might like to read. By the end of this week, I’ll reface the synopsis. I pray this time, the result will answer the critical questions.

The discussion in the MG/YA class I’m taking turned this weekend to books that drag. Twilight was tossed back and forth between defenders and critics. I picked it up as one of those must read books for YA writers and barely made it through the first half of Book One.

As a prepublished author and a fairly new writer, I’ve tried to find reputable sources to learn from and I feel I’ve gathered sage advice – write what you know; write your book without outside interference; believe in your story. Then you find good critique partners and fine tune your manuscript until at last it’s deemed ready for the publishing world.

And there lies the problem. Because what you learn from the publishing world is: your book idea needs to make bored agents and editors spit out their morning coffee, it’s that dazzling.  Create a literary masterpiece if you must, but make it commercial. Which leaves you sputtering over the four volumes of fantasy that ruled seven years of your life and practically ruined your marriage and most of your friendships. Now agents inform you high fantasy is taboo.

What do you do? You write a good story. I’m in the middle of revamping my first book, AGAIN, still hoping it has merit. This rewrite is done with agents and editors  in mind. How will they see it? Is it fresh? Will they turn every page with eyes wide? Will they miss my characters when the last word is read? And guess what… it’s a much better book! So, my advice to new writers is this: write your story and consider it a work-in-progress until your book has a cover.