Mama Jude's Pep Talk

HistorySleuth said:

Don't EVER say you wonder if you should write at all or I will have to beat you with a copy of "50 shades" of excessive adverbs!

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I picked up a Val McDermid the other day and I was shocked to see six adverbs (count 'em, six) in two paragraphs. What was probably more shocking was that I've read that book before, before I started this whole novel-writing business, and as a reader I neither noticed them nor was bothered by them...

I get you onesecond, I agree I notice more now than 10 years ago. Even now if the story is good it doesn't bother me unless it's ly. I probably should have said excessive "ly" adverbs. Those seem to make my eyes bulge for some reason.

I'm so nervous today! First day back at New Book since November 23rd (I've been in Australia). Ugh. I plan to start by re-reading right from the beginning. Have almost no recollection of what I've done so far. I hope I like it....



Wish me luck!

mccardey said:

I'm so nervous today! First day back at New Book since November 23rd (I've been in Australia). Ugh. I plan to start by re-reading right from the beginning. Have almost no recollection of what I've done so far. I hope I like it....



Wish me luck!

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Good luck, mccardey. Here's hoping you're pleasantly surprised.

muse said:

Good luck, mccardey. Here's hoping you're pleasantly surprised.

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Thank you. In patches I was, in other bits not so much... More the totally opposite. Some quiet reflection is very much in order, I think. *sigh* But I don't think I've wasted any time. I think I was just hoping to do a lot more with one of my characters than I actually can. So I'll have to re-structure.

Onwards and upwards, then...

heyjude said:

You can do it, mccardey!

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Aww.. thanks, Jude. Today was a lot better.

*HUGS* to mccardey. Getting back into a manuscript is always so tough, isn't it? Like Jude said, though, you can do it. It'll come back to you.

mccardey said:

Thank you. In patches I was, in other bits not so much... More the totally opposite. Some quiet reflection is very much in order, I think. *sigh* But I don't think I've wasted any time. I think I was just hoping to do a lot more with one of my characters than I actually can. So I'll have to re-structure.

Onwards and upwards, then...

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That's the way!

Sounds like it wasn't the disaster you thought it might be.

This is more a frustrated sigh of a question but seriously, how are you supposed to know if the book is any good? Ask me if a book I bought is good and I can tell you but I have no idea when it comes to my stuff. I am kind of at head-desk stage now with this thing. I know what I want it to be like, I know the theory behind how to do that, but when I write it just doesn't come out that way. I'm thinking of buying a cheap typewriter so I can throw it out my window in a symbolic gesture. Although that'd probably get me into trouble with Glasgow City Council. And any neighbours on the street below.

That is my rant for the day.

Zelenka said:

I'm thinking of buying a cheap typewriter so I can throw it out my window in a symbolic gesture. Although that'd probably get me into trouble with Glasgow City Council. And any neighbours on the street below.

That is my rant for the day.

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That's an excellent rant, and I for one would like to join you in punctuating a window with a typewriter. I'll even bring the typewriter...

I think the answer is just to keep writing - and then do what Jude says. But first, keep on writing.

It seems like that's always the bloody answer...

heyjude said:

You give it to beta readers and let them have a say.

You query and let the agents have a say.

You sit back and stop stressing about whether or not it's good and instead celebrate the fact that you've written something you enjoy.

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I am getting this tattooed backward on my forehead so I can read it every day in the mirror.

(Or maybe on a t-shirt would be better?)

A wall poster over your writing area. I say just write and worry about it later. Something may change as you're moving ahead and you'll get one of those AHA! moments.

heyjude said:

You give it to beta readers and let them have a say.

You query and let the agents have a say.

You sit back and stop stressing about whether or not it's good and instead celebrate the fact that you've written something you enjoy.

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This!

Very good advice, hj.

Although I would enjoy a good defenestration. Gets out a lot of frustration.

Zelenka said:

This is more a frustrated sigh of a question but seriously, how are you supposed to know if the book is any good?

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That's about where I am, Zeleka. I cannot "see" my stuff until someone else critiques it. I see this as just becoming versed in the effect my words have. And Jude is right: the beta readers, the lit agents, etc. All that feed back is necessary.

When it comes to non-fiction writing, I am spot on and know what I am doing correctly or incorrectly. But that is from having internalized all the editors that stomped through my stuff with steel toed boots on.

And reading more is not the answer, because I am a literary omnivore who would rather read than just about anything else. It's the learning to "see" my stuff.

Hang in there.

Would love a friendly boot in the backside from somebody. I have pages of fabulous beta feedback, and I am dragging my heels getting it integrated. Yes, it is going to be difficult. Among other things, it's going to mean disrupting my timeline, which was agonizingly painful to get right the first time.

But none of it will happen unless I DO IT.

Overall I am not displeased with this book; but it could be better. It deserves to be better. So I need to quit whining and write.

I sort of know the feeling, but on a smaller scale. Once I got all my feedback on my submission to the competition (which was just the first chapter really) the idea of sorting it all out, after I'd spent so long trying to get the thing to work in the first place, was really daunting. But actually once I started, it seemed a lot less work than I'd originally thought.

If you want another set of eyes or opinions, btw, I'm more than happy to help

You guys are both making good points.

HJ, I think the beta feedback is good, for the most part. It's been amazingly consistent, and from a lot of very different people. You did make me think about it and divide it into categories, though. I have:

1) Plot changes. These do not affect the major plot points or the final outcome, but they're otherwise pretty substantive. I'm actually pleased with the ideas here - I think the changes solve a LOT of problems, including how to sell the book as science fiction.
2) Pacing stuff. This is less fun. The early chapters in particular are exposition-heavy, and it slows things down. I think I can make a lot of the explanations less passive, but it's much less cut-and-dried than adding some plot points. So yeah, I'm dreading this part a bit, but I do think it's necessary.
3) Repeated words/phrases. I have a whole list of these. Absolutely necessary to deal with them, but really tedious.
4) Character points. This includes everything from a couple of times people thought my characters dropped out of voice, to dealing with some of the stuff my aunt was complaining about. In some ways, this kind of thing is easiest for me to change - but I do need to make some decisions here. I disagree with my aunt rather strongly in one spot. My husband points out I don't have to make any changes if I disagree with her, and he's right; but I also know I'm not objective.

There's also the prologue. The new one is SO MUCH better - but I've also realized the scene is similar to the first chapter. It's going to take some work to make sure the two scenes are clearly differentiated. (And yeah, I could chew on the prologue a bit more, and think about moving it again - and I dread that MOST OF ALL.)

Zelenka, thank you for the offer. I have actually been considering a beta 2 for this one, once all of these changes are made; but I can't decide yet whether that would just be my way of putting of the inevitable query rejection stage! Although I suppose I could have beta readers AND rejections at the same time.

I don't know. I'm all scrambled up about this. I need to take it one piece at a time.

liz, I think you said it right when you said just one piece at a time. Maybe start with th parts you completely agree with. Who knows, maybe some of the iffy stuff will work out as you revise the first part. Wishing you confidence. It's your book and nobody knows it as well as you. Lucir

I had an epiphany this morning.

What's been making me crazy is how fuzzy it all is. I've been reading from the beginning, and I can see places where my plot changes might be integrated; but how do I know I need them there? What if I miss some things, and I don't realize it until I'm at the end? Then I'll have to backtrack and do it all over again.

So - I'm going to do it backwards.

I've got the last few chapters of my MS in my bag today - don't know if I'll get time to look at it here at work, but I might catch a few minutes here and there. I figure I can make edits, and then make notes on what has to have happened in previous chapters. Then when I get to those chapters, I can make those changes, and so on until I get to the beginning.

May sound crazy, but it actually makes more sense to me this way - I know where I want it to end up, so I need to start there.

Thank you, everyone. You guys helped me think it through.

Yay for progress!