TLC – no not Tender Loving Care!

In May 2011 I sent my first three chapters of Fail Better to The Literary Consultancy for critique. This was a ‘free offer’ to Cumbrian writers with experience of writing and with a low income! How did they know? I waited ages to get it back but when I did I was SO delighted. I wish I could quote everything from the covering letter.

Here are some snippets:

- ‘I’d like to say that I enjoyed reading this extract very much. The complex character of Judith was, at times, reminiscent of Ripley in Patricia Highsmith’s novels; not entirely likeable but definitely compelling!’

- ‘The pace is very strong indeed ..... and there is a solid and worryingly plausible story at play.’

- ‘You ask about genre. Reading this extract, it seems to me the best way to describe it in a pitch to an agent or publisher is to emphasise the pace and story alongside the psychological elements.’

I am now (October 2011) going through the rite of passage of reject letters. In re-reading the whole of the critique from The Literary Consultancy (TLC) I am administering some Tender Loving Care (TLC) to my writing ego.

Thank you, Zoe Strachan for your encouraging words along with constructive critique.

Cambridge Literary Festival

By March 2011 I had become preoccupied with agents and publishers. I chose my birthday present – a weekend at Cambridge Literary Festival in April. My reasons for that choice included:

·         To hear eminent authors speak - I saw/heard P.D. James, Nicola Upson, Dame Antonia Fraser and Robert Goddard

·         To attend a workshop on getting published by Nicola Morgan – that was fab and I later bought her book  www.nicolamorgan.co.uk

·         To attend a workshop on e-publishing – interesting and comforting

·         To soak up the atmosphere – it was lovely and not snobby at all

·         To see whether there were any ‘stalls’ selling stuff (another story for another day, my friends) – there was a book shop and I bought a beautiful blue leather notebook which will record my progress through the next book

·         To see Cambridge as I had never been there before – stunning and well worth a visit

·         To stop and see my sister Georgie on the way back – we spent a happy hour in her garden in the afternoon sunshine

It was a perfect weekend except for a huge shiny milk tanker rolling backwards into my beautiful car on the way there. Nobody was hurt and the driver’s boss paid in full for the repairs with no fuss or argument.

Blurb and synopsis

My mind was straying, some might say, ahead of itself in March 2011. I tried to write the blub for the back cover and a synopsis suitable for sending to agents. Looking back I realise how TERRIBLE they were. I read my first effort to my writing buddy Lizzie Gates http://authorgym.wordpress.com  and she sort of said, ‘Ummm!’ which spoke volumes. Lizzie, it moved me on and version 5 is just about there.

The synopsis changed several times as I slowly began to understand what was required. I tried to condense it to two pages but I didn’t know that the synopsis didn’t have to be double-line spaced to send to an agent. Thanks to Nicola Morgan (@nicolamorgan on Twitter) for advice on that point. It still isn’t perfect and every time I submit to an agent I revisit it and make more changes. I have approached four agents so far and they all have slightly different requirements. Hey ho – back to the drawing board.

By the way, the back cover blurb now goes something like this:

           

If Judith decides to be your friend, she’ll make it happen. She’ll find out what  you do and where you go. She’ll make sure she’s there too.

Do you think it is creepy enough?

The Joy of editing

Getting back to Fail Better and the editing process. The first edit took until the middle of February 2011. My journal is full of red ink indicating what needs to be added, corrected and taken out. There are also big ticks confirming I have made the changes.

The second edit started almost immediately with extra description throughout, and making more of what is happening with other people in Hexham when Judith isn’t present. I also added a ‘guilty secret’ to Chloe’s character – well, we all have one, haven’t we?

I’m not sure when this happened but someone asked me whether I based characters on people I know. I said no, but then thought ‘why not?’ My friend Tanya www.fearlessfeat.co.uk is petite and bright and I decided to make Chloe look and behave a bit like her (the similarity ends there, Tan, honest!) I have also named some of the characters after people I know. D.S. Doggart is a thank you to Lou for her kindness, faith and support – and loads of information.

Four edits done at the time of posting this so surely it is time to approach suitable agents? Watch this space.

3 months later . . . . . . .

Hello everyone. Another fresh start with the blog. Things have moved on so much since I wrote the blog that to go back and take up the story seems a bit retrospective.  Suffice to say that ‘Fail Better’ (current title) stands at 85 000 words and I have started to approach agents.

I have picked out some bits from my notes from my journal. On one session at Mungrisdale Writers (www.mungrisdalewriters.org.uk) our tutor asked us to list ten books that had significance to us personally or as writers. These were mine:

·         A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth – because I love it

·         Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – a book from the point of view of men

·         A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini – a book from the point of view of women

·         Engleby by Sebastian Faulks – fairly unpleasant and weird but compelling (had a huge influence on my writing)

·         Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller – for similar reasons to Engleby

·         The poem Lines and Squares from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne – it’s to do with a teenage love affair – don’t ask

·         Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers – because it changed the way I thought about moving out of my comfort zone

·         The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard – people look after their own monkeys now!

·         The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot – I cried for days at the shock ending

·         Haweswater by Sarah Hall – because they don’t all need a happy ending

Since then I would add Girl Reading by Katie Ward www.katieward.co.uk – just because it’s fab and so is she. READ IT.

Which ten would you choose?

Taking a step back

I have been so caught up in Judith’s head, it’s time to take a step back and try to look at what I’ve written objectively.

Strengths   

·         Dialogue – BUT I need to check for differentiation. Would you know who was speaking just by their words or way of talking?

·         Storyline – generally strong and fast-paced

·         Pace – I feel I have got this right – everything is relevant to the story and moves it on

·         Structure and outline – I am very pleased with the way I planned it all out and know where I am going with it

Weaknesses

·         Characterisation – Judith is fine but I’m not sure that all the other people are well-enough defined

·         One anomaly about Judith – why is she like she is with her family? I think I know but need to give it a stronger basis to her actions with them

·         In the Hexham side of the story I need to show things from other people’s point of view more

·         Interest – I live in mortal fear of being boring. I don’t think it is boring, but maybe some bits are rushed where they could be slowed down and still be interesting

Padding or detail?

I am finding it difficult to write about the next stage because I am pondering on what to do with the storyline. More areas for research have come up but I can’t blog about them without giving away key aspects of the plot. Suffice to say I need to talk to a police officer or a solicitor for some clarification.

On 15^th November 2010 the Carlisle part of the story was moving along well. If I write an equivalent amount for the Hexham part I am going to end up with 81,000 words, about 10,000 short of what I am aiming for. It will be ok. As soon as I get into dialogue it all flows out so it may just be a case of going back to add more scenes, and conversations into existing ones.

The Hexham chapters can be longer anyway. Because they are written in the third person, I can add more about what other people are thinking and saying, especially about Judith.

My journal also says, ‘I wrote a death scene today and made myself cry.’