New to the Literary World...help and guidance appreciated

[Outlaw]

Hi to all. I wasn't quite sure were to put this...so I thought I'd start here.

As you can no doubt guess, I am new here and new to the literary world as well. Let me first start by describing my situation.

For nearly eight years I have had stories rumbling around in my noggin, only I did nothing about it. I believe that my apprehension in doing nothing was more due to fear than anything else, but I made all the excuses in the world—I can’t do it, I don’t have the time, what if it sucks—you get the idea. One of the biggest things that stopped me however was the daunting aspect of filling in the middle. I mean I had the beginning and the end figured out…I just felt the pressure of filling in the other stuff.

Once I realized that I had nothing to lose by at least trying, I sat down this past summer and wrote the first draft of one of my story ideas. Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ help here, as he makes it clear that you should just write and get the first draft done.

I worked diligently to complete the second draft tearing through my story, modifying, stripping it down and focusing on the most important aspects of the story line. Again thanks to King for his view of ‘The story is really in the re-write’.

Now I was looking to find out if the story was any good. Soooo…I found some willing participants and sent the MS out to six individuals (most of which have no really close ties to me) for them to read. The response was inspiring, flattering and made me feel down right giddy at the prospects of the story being good. Two individuals, one of which has been published for two small non-fiction works—the other an avid and critical reader, both stated that they had paid for books that weren’t as good. How good did that feel…let me tell you—it felt great.

Now there were some issues that I had missed in my first re-write and started in on what I thought was the final draft. I was just finishing the third draft when I ran into a new author on another message board I frequent…The Giants Message Board…who by the way had also been an editor for Harper Collins in NY. He agreed to read the first 25 pages and gave me some feedback, which was both discouraging and encouraging at the same time. He said that I had the makings of a good story, but there were some issues. So back to the drawing board I went.

That is were I am now. I am roughly 240 pages into the fourth draft, due to the changes the former editor indicated.

I have lists of Agents and Publishers, which I will be contacting in the near future. I am looking for advice on writing the query letter and any other assistance folks are willing to give. This is all new to me as I have never attempted to write anything more than letters or documents for my everyday needs in sales and marketing. I have a feeling that I am now getting into the most difficult phase of my journey and any input would be appreciated. Heck, I’m not even sure what Genre the story falls into…some think it might be a thriller or horror while others think it might be a suspense.

Thanks for your help.

-Outlaw-

[Cathy C]

Welcome, Outlaw!


You've definitely come to the right place to ask all sorts of questions. I can answer a few by directing you to other, existing threads. First, with regard to your genre, I wrote up a definition list of different genres. While it's in the Romance forum, and relates to romance SUBgenre, the original genres will give you some of what you're looking for:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18764



Next, you'll also be helped by a new thread we posted over on the Frequently Asked Questions board. It's all about how to format your manuscript for submission. That's here:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26126


Finally, there are LOTS of threads about query letters. If you click on the "Search" button in the blue bar above, you can look for this term in titles. That will give you a lot of guidelines. Here's one thread that might help you get started:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24233


You can also visit the "Learn Writing With Uncle Jim" (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6710) thread in this same forum and get more answers than you'd ever dreamed!

If you still have questions after reading all of this, feel free to ask again! :)

[Outlaw]

Thanks Cathy.

I will most definatley review those areas. I believe that my Novel...as it is over 107,000 words and 370+ pages in double space, New Times Roman format, which I guess I should change the font to Courier...is more or less in the Horror/Suspense Genre. I have been told that the main storyline is very similar in style to Stephen King or Dean Koontz, while the epilogue refocuses the story to real life, much like the movie "The Sixth Sense'.

The more difficult challenge I am foreseeing is getting an Agent or Publisher to actually take the time to read some of the work. I firmly believe that should they get past the first 50 pages they will want to see the rest, then again doesn't every aspiring writer.

The query letter is my main focus at this point as well as any insightful assistance on how to submit and how the letter should be constructed. Unfortunately I have no prior writing experience and the only real background I have in the literary world is that I read an awful lot—30-40 novels a year. This hopefully won't take away my chance to get someone to read the first 50 pages.

Any other help it appreciated.



-Outlaw-

[clara bow]

:welcome:

[Aconite]

Hi, Outlaw. Welcome to AW.

Cathy covered many of the basics, so I'll just add that if you hop over to the Bewares and Background Check board, you'll find information on researching agents and publishers for when the time comes.

[Outlaw]

:welcome:

Donka....

[Outlaw]

Hi, Outlaw. Welcome to AW.

Cathy covered many of the basics, so I'll just add that if you hop over to the Bewares and Background Check board, you'll find information on researching agents and publishers for when the time comes.

Thanks.:)

[eskkar]

. . .

The more difficult challenge I am foreseeing is getting an Agent or Publisher to actually take the time to read some of the work. I firmly believe that should they get past the first 50 pages they will want to see the rest, then again doesn't every aspiring writer.

-Outlaw-

First, let me say you're way ahead of the game, so keep plugging along. But don't make the mistake quoted above. It's not getting PAST the first fifty pages that's the issue. It's that the first 50 pages HAVE to be your best writing, so compelling that the reader (agent) is hooked from the first paragraph. The minute you tell someone, "Oh, it's really great, once you get to Chapter 3," you're in trouble.

As you've read Stephen King's 'On Writing,' (a great book, by the way) you might want to take another look at his section where he talks about cutting the first few chapters after you're finished the m/s, and/or completely rewriting them. He really knows what he's talking about.

So if you think you have problems in the first few chapters, go back and rework them until they're your BEST writing.

Good luck,
eskkar

[Outlaw]

First, let me say you're way ahead of the game, so keep plugging along. But don't make the mistake quoted above. It's not getting PAST the first fifty pages that's the issue. It's that the first 50 pages HAVE to be your best writing, so compelling that the reader (agent) is hooked from the first paragraph. The minute you tell someone, "Oh, it's really great, once you get to Chapter 3," you're in trouble.

As you've read Stephen King's 'On Writing,' (a great book, by the way) you might want to take another look at his section where he talks about cutting the first few chapters after you're finished the m/s, and/or completely rewriting them. He really knows what he's talking about.

So if you think you have problems in the first few chapters, go back and rework them until they're your BEST writing.

Good luck,
eskkar

Eskkar,

Thanks for the thoughts.

Again I have completely revamped the first two chapters and the prologue, making the story pop more from the start. I was told that I needed more dialogue in the opening prologue and first chapter so those changed completely. That is shy I am reworking the rest—to make adjustments to those parts that are associated with the beginning.

I'd love to hear from published authors, editors or agents on what they think of the first 50 pages as this is what sets up the rest of the book. Most of the folks felt that it was impossible to put the MS down after the first 100 pages, while one gentleman said he could not stop after page 200.

That said they all agreed that they were hooked before page 25, but found it really difficult to put down later as the story began to roll, full steam ahead.

Thanks to everyone so far...help is relatively hard to find on the subject of writing and getting published--let me rephrase that, it is relatively hard to find good help.

-Outlaw-

[LightShadow]

Search. Search. and Search some more...

[maestrowork]

Most of the folks felt that it was impossible to put the MS down after the first 100 pages, while one gentleman said he could not stop after page 200.


I agree with the other posters that 100 or 200 pages is too late... It's good that your plot starts rolling toward the end -- that's exciting and you should definitely keep that. However, you must make it a "page-turner" as soon as possible, especially if you're writing suspense/thriller.

they were hooked before page 25

You have to get them hooked on page 1.

[L M Ashton]

You can also post your work in the Share Your Work section and get feedback from people here if you feel that would help.

[LightShadow]

Getting the first draft done is an accomplishment, but then after that it gets hard...persistence and tenacity is the key, and a lot of rewrites, drafts, and read like a wild person. Talent alone is good, but hard work makes it all possible in the end.

[Outlaw]

To all that have responded:



Thank you for all the guidance.

I started correspondence with one individual here, who took the time to review my prologue. It appears the road ahead just became rockier than I first believed. I suppose a short recess is in order, to collect my thoughts, study more and give the story a break. I’ve read it so many times now that it would do no good to move forward without fresh eyes and some of my tenacity back. I’m in the depression part of the journey for the second time this month and only time will give me the chance to gain my enthusiasm back for digging my heels in and attacking the issues made clear to me.

Thanks again for your support and guidance. This journey is not over, it has just begun. I shall return, better than before.



-Outlaw-