Tibor Jones Studio...

So, I have some pretty big news...

Following my submission to their agency, I've joined one of the Tibor Jones Studio projects. 

You can find out a bit more about the project, and about my trip down to London to meet with Tibor Jones, below...

Pterodactyl noises...

Rejection #8

Date Submitted: 1st July 2014

Date Rejected: 14th October 2014

Response Time: 14 weeks (approx 3 1/2 months)

Form for Response: Form letter, no further request. 

***

Another pre-recent edits rejection. Not a big surprise, especially as this was a big name agency. They did apologise for the late reply, which was very considerate.

Rejection #3

Date Submitted: 28th April 2014

Date of Rejection: 30th May 2014

Response Time: 23 working days (1 month)

Rejection Type: Form, no further request.

***

This was the first submission I made, so it was a tough one to receive. I got pretty down about it to be honest. 

The submission was via post, but I received an email  response, with my material to follow later. It was considerate of them to get back to me as soon as possible, rather than making me wait for the post. 

Fun fact: every rejection so far has come on a Friday. My guess is agencies clear their submission piles at the end of every week...?

Book Cover Dreaming...

One of my favourite ways to procrastinate is to fantasise about what kind of cover I would give 'Grey Sister' should it ever get to have one. 

I love the style of "classic" book covers, like the iconic re-designs from Penguin:

Or how about a real classic?

There's lots of newer books that also have some serious cover-appeal. The mockingjay design on the 'Hunger Games' series is a particular favourite. I'm not a fan of photographs on covers (I think they remind me a little too much of Mills and Boon paperbacks!). I much prefer typography and elegant design. These are a few favourites... 

Howls Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Though any thought of cover design is a looong way away yet, it'd still fun to play around with some ideas. I wonder what my choices say about the kind of book 'Grey Sister' is...?

Chapter length...

One of the unique problems in writing a novel is deciding on chapter layout.

It's one of those defining elements of writing that really doesn't have any rules. Chapters can be as long or short as the author wants. But how do you decide what works best?

If you look at my monthly word count updates, you'll see I finished the draft of 'Grey Sister' with 23 chapters (plus a prologue). Having just finished the read through of the book, I've now juggled around with the chapter lengths, so that now I have 34!

That's a huge difference, especially as I haven't touched the word count at all. I ended up splitting a lot of the chapters into two because I felt they were just too long. So, how did there end up being such a big change needed?

While I was writing, I tended to form chapters around what I considered to be one major event, trying to fit one important plot point into every chapter. Reading through, I realised I have often ended up with two or three events in one chapter (or else the single event had stretched itself into such a large word count that I decided it needed to take up multiple chapters on its own). Part of the problem also comes from my inexplicable conviction that my writing is secretly very short. Even with a word count of well over a hundred thousand, I've struggled to convince myself that 'Grey Sister' was long enough. Perhaps that's why I ended up trying to cram so much into every chapter.

So, how long should a chapter actually be?

From Stephenie Myers single word chapters in 'New Moon', to Terry Pratchett's tendency to avoid chapters all together, the choices for chapter lengths is endless.

For the most part, chapters are determined by the story itself, focusing on events in the plot that round nicely into sections. Or, you can ignore the plot entirely and place chapter markers at indeterminate points to create tension or emphasise the narrative or even just to unsettle the reader.

On average, just as novels tend to be between 85-90,000 words, chapters tend to settle around the 2000-3000 word mark. Many of my chapters were already this length, but a lot were much longer. So I've used the 2/3000 standard as a starting point and found a nice fluidity in it. That being said, there's plenty of variation and a few chapters still stretch into the 5000 region. But I feel happier with having a higher number of chapters, not only because it convinces me that my book is definitely not short, but also because I think it gives the story a better flow.

Where do you stand on chapter length? Do you like them short and snappy, or long and lovely?

What comes next...

So, with the first draft of 'Grey Sister' all done, it's time to look towards the next step.

First, I need to get the manuscript all polished and shiney and lovely and not full of terrible clichés and bad grammar and oh-goodness-so-much-else. I've done a quick once-over check of the whole book, clearing away a little of the more obvious little problems (spelling, grammar, repetition etc). I'm about half way into a read through of the whole book, which should give me some perspective on any bigger issues in the book. So far, it's fairly apparent that I need to consider cutting the chapters up into smaller chunks. It's also clear that the first two chapters need a SERIOUS re-write (oh, goodness, I can't believe I started writing like that. Uuurgh.). But let's face it, eight months after writing something, there's bound to be things to change. 

Once I finished the read through, I'll start the BIG EDITING STAGE. I'm expecting this to take quite a few weeks, if not months, while I try and get 'Grey Sister' as good as I want it to be. This will include the re-writing previously mentioned as well as smaller things like grammar-checking and general polishing.

Then... (deep breath)... it'll be time to approach agents. I'm still so clueless about the whole process, but I've started to collect some idea of how to go about it and my copy of 'The Writers and Artists Yearbook 2014' is at the ready. 

So, to recap:

1. Read through
2. Edit
3. Send to agents
4. Get published
5. Take over the world

Seems easy enough. 

Finished!

I... Oh gods, give me a moment. *Deep breath*

Ok, I'm alright. I'm good.

Right, OK, so.... I'm finished. Done. Complete.

I just wrote the final chapter of 'Grey Sister'.

For the past eight months, this has been my whole goal. Everything I've been working towards. A whole book, written from start to finish. And I've done it. I actually made it. I didn't give up half way or forget about it or move on to something else. I actually finished. And you know what?

It was easy. 

Don't get me wrong. It was hard. REALLY hard. Its been hours and hours, day after day, of work. I've not stopped thinking about writing for more than twenty minutes at a time. It's constantly on my mind, constantly wanting my attention. I've sacrificed a lot of hours that I could have been spending with friends or family or my boyfriend for it. I've put aside books I've wanted to read, stopped watching TV shows I loved, I've even cut down on my long, lovely soaks in the bath because The Book Always Comes First. I've kept working in a shop and put aside my career plans aside, passing up on job opportunities because I so wanted to do my best and try to achieve this one, stupid, outlandish dream.

The writing itself has been a huge learning curve, figuring out all the rules from scratch and working my way through plot holes and poor grammar and my constant desire to repeat the same basic writing techniques again and again (and again. See? There I go again with the triplication!)

But it's been fun. So fun. The best fun (Triplication again, dammit). Even though it was tough, writing has never actually felt like "work". I've never sat down to write and wished I could be doing something else. Even when I struggled to find the words or got stuck in a scene, I've constantly enjoyed the simple pleasure of writing.

While it has been a long time, it never really daunted me how far I still had to go. If it had been an university assignment, the idea that I would be working on it for the next who-knows how many months would have made me want to run and hide. But the only thing that's ever really scared me about writing has been finishing. Because next is the really hard bit and I'm equal parts excited and terrified to enter the publishing game.

I'm so happy that I've finally made it. I keep insisting that getting published is the main aim of all this, but actually writing a whole book has always been the biggest goal. If nothing else, even if 'Grey Sister' never comes to anything more than a series of files on my computer, I'm so glad I've done this.

So then, for one last time.

The word count, as of 9th March, 2014 is:

135, 917.

Eight months since starting. Prologue and twenty three chapters. 

Completed.

Now, where's my champagne? 

End of February Wordcount...

128,714.

Prologue, twenty chapters and a quarter.

Seven + months since starting.

Only a few days late! Oops. There's been a lot going on story-wise this month and there's been some scenes I've been looking forward to writing for months and months, which has really helped speed me up. I'm someone who definitely likes to write chronologically, so its exciting to start reaching the end. 

There was one chapter in particular I had real struggles with this month and it bogged me down for quite a while. It was a scene I felt was important for the characters, but not very interesting for the reader so I had some difficulty trying to get over that and just get it written so I could move on. Hopefully when I go back to it I'll be able to see it a little clearer and hopefully get it polished up better. 

Not much more to go now. March may be my very last progress update! Eeek!

Grey Sister

The Book has a name!

Or a tentative one at least...

'Grey Sister' is the first book in the 'Ellorah' triology. A full synopsis (which, to be honest, isn't terribly informative) can be found on the 'About the Book' page.

End of January Wordcount...

110, 202. 

Prologue, sixteen chapters and a quarter. 

Six + months since starting. 

January has been another busy month for me. I only finished my extra work in the library in the last week, so time still hasn't been on my side writing wise. I also had my five year anniversary with my other half to celebrate which, of course, kept my away from my laptop (but, for a pretty nice reason, so I can forgive him).

I have, however, reached a very big milestone this month: 100k words! Really pleased to have made it to such a big milestone in my writing. It's also been a full half a year since I began The Book, which feels at once like a long time and not enough at all. The Book has become a huge part of my life and, to be totally honest, almost my entire vision for the future. I find it hard to believe that this time last year I hadn't even had the first idea for the story.

Now I'm so far into writing I'm starting to think seriously about What Comes Next. That has scared me a little and I think my pace has slowed recently because of that. Nevertheless, I'm almost finished plot wise. I figure I have three major events left before the climax, which really isn't much at all. Another 20,000 words, perhaps?

Next month I hope I can get a really good focus and start heading for the finish line in earnest....

Review: Writing Magazine (February 2014)

In an attempt to bulk up the Part Time Novelist blog, I'm going to start adding reviews of my recent reads and other bits and pieces I've found useful/interesting/helpful/or otherwise.

Today, I want to talk about Writing Magazine. According to its website, Writing Magazine is:

For every writer, from beginner to advanced, whether you write for pleasure or publication, and whatever your writing preferences, Writing Magazine – the UK's biggest and bestselling magazine for writers – has something to help you.

(Quote from Writing Magazine)

This is the first monthly writing magazine I've purchased. There were a few other publications on offer, but I chose Writing Magazine for its attractive cover, good quality printing and because it seemed the most easily approachable it terms of content. As it says on its website, the magazine is aimed at writers of different levels and experience and was a less daunting prospect for a first-time reader like myself. 

(Image from Writers Magazine)

I certainly found it an interesting mixture of levels, from how to start writing your first novel right through to improving your revenue and how to respond to interviews about your work. Some articles weren't of much interest to me, either being too far beyond where I am right now or a little bit behind. There were however, plenty of articles that I found interesting. 

Lucie Whitehouse's article on suspense came from Whitehouse's position as a psychological suspense writer. Although the article was focused on thriller writing in particular, it was by no means restrictive and Whitehouse applied her advice to all aspects of fiction writing, emphasising the use of a Three Act Structure and the importance of planning to improve the introduction of plot twists.

Tracy Fells piece on planning aimed to link the processes used in fiction writing with non-fiction articles. While the non-fiction element doesn't apply to me personally, the writing is fairly broad, focusing on the elements of planning first, which is always a useful pointer for beginners. Again, we can see links to Three Act plot writing as well a few important writing rules which I may have been forgetting about before now. 

There were a few different 'editing' sections, including a kind of brain-teaser style section in which three different lines are presented to 'test' the reader on their editing skills. The Under the Microscope section takes a 300-word snippet from applicants (in this case, James McCreet) to be picked apart by magazine staff, with little red additions and vicious cuts. These pieces give insight into not only what to edit, but why to edit, with useful editor notes that explain the thinking process behind each amendment. 

As I mentioned in my last post, entering competitions is a good way to bulk up Writing CVs. Writing Magazine offers various competitions based on short-stories and poetry, as well as giving information about larger external competitions. They publish wining entries in the magazine (and on their website) and offer cash prizes of varying sizes to winners. Hopefully, I'll be entering this one in the next month or so. 

The Market section also had some very helpful signposts to independent publishers, competitions and other industry links that will be useful in the future.

I'd definitely recommend Writing Magazine to new writers, especially for those just finding their feet, even if that means you haven't written anything yet! If anything, I wish I'd started reading when I first started The Book, as there was a lot of advice and some beginners rules that would have helped me get some things right first time around. The only point I would stress is: be prepared to be a little frightened! The magazine and the people it features certainly did nothing to ease my worries about my own lack of preparation. I'll be looking for it again next month as well as trying out some of the other publications to see how they compare. 

Overall I'd give Writing Magazine 8/10, given how well it applies to my current needs.

(And also because I have nothing else to gauge it on...)

Writing Magazine is available in store and online, priced at £3.75. It is also available on subscription from its website.

I. Am. Terrified.

Having hit a lot of big sign posts recently, finishing the manuscript for The Book is actually within sight. If I can keep up my pace I estimate that I could actually reach the end in about two months, rather than four.

Which leaves me to face something I've been ignoring for months: I am absolutely terrified. 

I've always known that breaking into the writing sphere was going to be hard. It seems like the entire literary world (and the rest of the world for that matter) does nothing but tell me: its rough out here, kid. I think that given the constant stream of warnings and crushing personal accounts of failure, ambition can be quelled before the first words are even on the page. Certainly, it was a concern for me when I first started writing. But it was more important to me when I started that I try and do it at all. I know there are plenty of people out there who had the same thought. After all, if no one ever took the chance, there would be no new writers! So we set off on our endeavours with hope and crossed fingers and the promise that, 'it's OK just to finish at all'.

In the knowledge that I will soon need to start thinking about The Next Stage, I've started casually browsing through publishing guides: flicking through publishing books when I'm stacking shelves in the library, pausing in the self-help section in Waterstone's, even buying a writing magazine (which I will be reviewing hopefully in my next post).

What I've found from this is that, of course, publishing a book really is as scary as people make out.

Setting aside the difficulty of finding an agent willing to promote you and getting your book read by a publisher, there seems to be a hell of a lot more to getting your book out into the world than just writing it. It seems like every perspective writer has to have completed at least a dozen writing courses, if not a Masters Degree in Creative Writing; have a portfolio of published short stories, poetry and articles; and have a list of competition winnings to tote in their writer's CV. Me, I have none. Zero. Nothing. I've never had so much as a problem printed in Teen Miss, never mind won a national writing competition. I feel like I'm going in blind. Right now it seems entirely possible that if I do send my poor little Book out into the big wide world that the best I could hope for is that the bigger kids don't just laugh and sent it home crying.

How can I hope to compete with all these people who've put years and years into their writing? Even if I do have a good idea, even if my book is somewhat original and a little bit interesting, even if its actually kind of good, how can I ever hope to get someone to look beyond my pathetic begging letter to see it? When there are writers who can fill a whole page just with their accomplishments, how can just another 'girl who always dreamed of writing' get herself noticed?

I'm still hopeful though. Even though I'm scared, I'm ever the optimist. Hopefully, I am as prepared as I claim to face years of hard work and rejection in order to see ambitions reached. In the meantime, I'll start trying to get a better picture of the world I'm about to face. More books, more research, more more more...

Oh gods, they're going to eat me alive...

Hitting the Big Hundred...

So, I got a little carried away (and a little terrible at adding up) and whooshed right past the 100k mark today while writing. Which means my word count as of January 10th is: 

102, 673 !!!

It's a crazy amount to finally be hitting. I can't quite believe I did it all myself. Perhaps the elves came at night to add to my wordcount? That being said, it's been a long haul to make it this far. A massive number of hours (I can't even imagine how many) have gone into The Book (which may have a name now, but I want to keep trying it out in my head before I start using it out loud) and I've put a lot of myself into it. 

It's not just the time, but the amount of emotional effort and sacrifices that go into a project of this size. There's little things, like not playing on the Wii or reading as much or watching as much TV because they're all big time eaters, but there's also the bigger things. I know I've given a lot of the time I would have been spending with my boyfriend away to the book, which I feel very guilty about. He's incredibly supportive though and he knows that this is a hugely important thing for me to do, but we struggle to get time together as it is (his work is a fair commute and we very rarely have days off together, especially with me working two jobs just now) and though I always want to be with him I have to keep up with writing. Even when I do have time away from The Book, it's constantly on my mind and I've become a lot more introverted I think. I certainly feel like I spend a lot of time "in my head" so to speak. I'm a prolific daydreamer as it is but having a story constantly being tweaked in my head makes even someone as scatter-brained as me seem more preoccupied than normal. Which I think makes me a bit of a pain to be around right now, so I hope my friends and family will forgive me.

The other thing that's really taken a back seat to my writing is my real-world job hunt. I knew this was going to be the case and prepared myself to not be progressing career-wise for a while. But it's a bit of a tricky thing to explain to people who ask why you're still in That Shop Job and not looking for something more. But I'm still not comfortable telling people about my ambition (though a few more friends know now) so I've taken to casually changing the topic when it comes up. It will still be a long while yet before I'll know if I'll be able to make anything career-wise from The Book so I'll have to try and hold on on the job front for a while yet. 

Until the end of January I'll be continuing working two jobs, so the word count might not be as healthy as I'd like by the end of the month, but I'll try to keep plodding along and hopefully I can keep adding bits here and there. 

But, Holy Poop: look how far I've come! The finish line is in sight! We're going for gold! And other sports metaphors!

Phew!

With a rousing fanfare and a great big 'woohoo-for-me', I've made it to my story deadline. Yippee! 

It's been a long couple of weeks: seven-day working weeks and Christmas preparations do not make for the most conducive writing experience. And while that's definitely been reflected in my word count, I've managed to reach my plot point target with a whole 10 days to spare (I stopped writing just after midnight last night, but I'm counting that as the 15th). I'm pretty glad Me of the Past spent extra time writing last month. Having that big chunk of words behind me has really helped boost me forward to reach my goal. 

I'm now officially considering The Book half way done, which I think is a pretty big achievement (insert self-congratulatory back patting here). I honestly doubted I would make it this far without getting disheartened by my ambition or distracted by something easier or less time consuming. I'm really glad to see myself come so far since I started and it gives me confidence that I might really manage to write the whole book. 

I'll probably be giving writing a bit of a back seat for the last few busy days before Christmas. I've been editing chapters as I've finished them and I'm hoping to have everything so far at least a little more polished before the festivities begin. I might even let one or two particular people have a read.

That 100,000 word mark certainly is tempting though... and only about 10,000 words away. Hmm...

End of November Wordcount

82,240.

Prologue, ten chapters and three quarters.

Four+ months since starting.

22,200 words this month! (Is it a bit weird to be such an exact number? I swear, I count every word.)  I'm really pleased with my progress in November. I've really been able to move the story along a long way since the end of last month and I've had a lot of really good writing days. With my Christmas deadline coming up its good to be able to make some good progress. Real Life got in the way during the last little bit, but I was expecting that so I'm not going to be too hard on myself. 

I'd love to hit the big 100,000 mark by the end of 2013 but it's a pretty unlikely thing given my current schedule. So long as I hit that all important storyline marker though, I'll be happy.

On Having Two Jobs and Meeting Deadlines...

While my dream of being a writer sits happily in the possible-future-time of my life, bills still need to be paid. So, during the day I have a shop job. The pay isn't great but the work isn't too demanding and when I leave of an evening I don't have to think about it again until 9:30 the next morning.

When I finished my degree in May I had the idea in mind of becoming a Librarian. Now, don't get me wrong, it's still my go-to occupation of choice and if I had to pick a career goal outside of writing, that would be it. Anyway, when I finished uni I got on the job application band wagon and went for the circular tour straight back to Where I Started, but I did come away with a casual position at my university's library. I didn't hear anything much from them after my training until I got the email asking me to work for them over the busy Christmas assignment period. This was originally just Sunday afternoons but, as of tomorrow, I'll be doing three evenings a week as well. This means as well as my full time 5-day-a-week job, I also have another 12 hours of library work.

Yay bank balance! Boo writing!

About 2 months ago I set myself a target within the story to reach by Christmas. It's about half way through the book, ties up the story line nicely and sets the scene for the major happenings in the second half. After hearing about the extra hours I'll be doing, plus the looming threat of the holiday season, I've been glued to my computer to still try and reach that target.

Today marks ONE MONTH until Christmas Eve (oh bottoms) and I have every hope that I can still make my goal. I've had a very productive November of writing (even if it's no where near as impressive as all the NaNoWriMo-ers out there. I doff my hat to you people: 50,000 in a month is just bonkers), so hopefully it'll make up for the lost time in the last month of the year. Here's hoping it does and that I'm not a cranky mess by the time Christmas Day rolls round.

Fingers crossed!