Thank you very much. I need somebody with a human touch.
Sorry, Spice Girl moment. We didn't have a set topic last night, but one thing we kind of floated around was knowing when to stop and move on to another project.
As writers, we get to a few points in our lives where the current project just isn't working. There seem to be two major points that signify this:
Before the finish-line: 1) You are writing and writing and deleting and deleting, and nothing is coming together for a story you deem publishable. This is the point I reach often. I work on a project. Read it. Gag, then don't look at it for another few months. Sometimes, if another idea sparks that might be better suited, I will go back and try to reconstruct the disaster that was put away.
After the finish-line: 2) You're past the writing, editing, and polishing of your first manuscript, and you're querying...and querying...and querying...and you get requests for partials and fulls...and get rejection after rejection after...well, you get the point. At this point, it is probably best to stop and decide whether something needs to be done to your manuscript, OR, as someone said last night, "Maybe it's not meant to be your FIRST book." There are times where you need to work on something else that will make a solid first impression, and once you've got that under way, go ahead back to your first baby and see if it's ready yet.
Though this is a short entry today, I found the advice of the AQC veterans helpful and insightful. If you haven't joined already, visit www.agentqueryconnect.com to see what it's all about! There are tons of forums and groups waiting for you. ;)
Greetings
- Debra Renée Byrd
- Delaware, United States
- Deborah Hawkins, penned Debra Renée Byrd, began writing after a blank book project in elementary school and never stopped, fashioning stories based on her favorite TV shows and movies before creating more original works. She studied at the University of the Arts and Florida State University before settling down and graduating from Temple University. She now resides in her hometown of Dover, DE, where she spends most of her time at work or at church. She loves fantasies, superheroes, is a trekkie and a brown coat. She loves television and lives for Final Fantasy video games, having collected most of them. She has read a myriad of authors, and her favorite authors change whenever she finds a new book that changes her life... "When you can't run, you crawl. When you can't crawl...well, you know the rest." -Tracey, Firefly, "The Message"
4 comments:
That was a fun chat :)
I like the whole 'this might not be your FIRST novel' thing! That's a really encouraging way to look at things. Thanks for sharing!
It was. lol
Yeah, it was very encouraging. You're welcome!
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