I’ve had so many likes to my
facebook status and so many queries that I thought I’d better tell you more
about my book, and explain why no one is going to be reading it any time soon.
My book’s called Because of Harry. It’s set in
contemporary NZ, a city with hills somewhere within running distance of
suburbia, and in my mind it is Christchurch, but it could be anywhere. (No
earthquake mentioned – if we’re in Christchurch then we’re ignoring all of
that.) It’s a murder mystery where the police investigation bookends an
unconventional love story. The blurb on the back of the book will go something
like this:
- When Meredith Pleiades is found dead in her bath Detective Carly Cunningham is under pressure to get the case closed by Christmas. The victim’s ex-husband Jack admits to having fought with her the night she died. He had motive and opportunity, but so did many others. Jack lives in a ménage situation with his “husband” Harry and “wife” Emily and their combined blended family. Jack owns a gym and has a lot of loyal staff, some of whom might kill for him, but he used to be a police detective himself. Has something from Jack’s or his partners’ past come back to haunt them? Is Meredith’s work in international banking relevant? Why is Carly’s boss so keen to see the case labelled a suicide? As Christmas approaches and Carly wrestles with her own family problems she realises that it is within the family that she will find the answers she needs.
And that’s enough about that for
now.
So how do you write a book? Well
the easy answer is that you sit in front of your computer and you type. There
are a few wonderful quotes. I like, “Getting to the end of (writing) a novel is
like wrestling an octopus into a mayonnaise jar.” ~ Patti Hill.
Then there is, “Writing is
easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of
blood form on your forehead.” ~Gene Fowler
But the one that leads into what I
want to say next is this, “I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent
rewriter.” ~James Michener
I loved James Michener’s epic novels
when I was a teenager. They’re not great literature but they’re stories that
have moved me and stayed with me through the years. It is incredibly
encouraging to read that quote. There isn’t a single book for sale anywhere in which the author sat down
and wrote a book, from the beginning to the end, wrote THE END, said, “I’m
done,” and handed it over to a publisher who then printed it. It just does not
happen. I’ll let you into a little known secret, not all books are written in a
straight line. Some authors when they start writing their story have no idea
what the plot is and whether the piece they start writing comes at the
beginning, end or middle of the story. These writers find that if they write
enough ‘pieces’ then eventually they line up and there is a coherent story
there. It seems like a magic trick but it really does work out. Then all they
have to do is fill in the gaps.
Other writers couldn’t possibly
work in such a random fashion. They plot out the story, start writing at the beginning
and keep going until they get to the end. Others do a variation of both. In Because of Harry, that’s pretty much
what happened to me. It wasn’t intentional. I’d written 50,000 words of an
unusual love story before I realised I actually had a murder mystery on my
hands. That’s when I sat down and worked out a rough plot outline, simply so I
wouldn’t miss any of the important bits out. Some things needed to be added to
what I’d already written. No problem, I just went back and added what was
needed. When you hold a finished book in your hands there is no way you can
tell how the author wrote it, what they added, what they took away, when they
themselves realised who the murderer was and which bits they’ve added in to the
text to tease you or give you vital clues. Those pieces by the way are known as
‘landmines’ and when you get to the end of the book you’ll think, “oh, that’s
right, I noticed that but I hadn’t seen it at the time.’
What all writers have in common is
that once we get a full text we then have to rewrite.
Until a few years ago I hadn’t
realised that. I’ve one or two times come close to finishing writing a novel
but I’ve never actually written THE END before. I think a lot of it came down
to subconsciously recognising that this book just wasn’t good enough and so I
fizzled out. I had no idea just how much work went into turning that messy, not
good enough draft, into something that hopefully is good enough to sell.
I’ve learnt a great deal of the
craft of writing in the last four years and I need to apply all of that. I’m a
much better writer now than I was when I started this, but that’s only a little
bit of the process. I’ve already started the rewriting process – by leaving the
whole thing well alone for a few weeks. It’s marinating.
In a while, with a bit of distance
I’ll read right through it, from start to finish. This will be the first time I’ll
ever have seen the story in this way. I’ll make any really obvious changes and
fixes, but essentially I’ll be checking two important things: that I still like
it, that‘s really important, and that it makes sense. Depending on how that
reading goes (if I decide it doesn’t need any major reworking) I’ll be sending
it out to a few trusted beta readers. They are a mix of people, some of whom
are writing friends and have worked with me through the process and think they
know the story, (I hope I’ve kept enough back to give them a surprise at the
ending) and some people who aren’t writers but can be trusted to give me an
honest appraisal of the work.
Provided these people think it’s
worth me putting any more effort into all of this, I’ll then dive seriously
into the rewrite process. I have recently done one of Barbara Rogan’s
writing classes ‘One Good Scene’. I want to apply that level of scrutiny to
all the scenes in the book, from character to setting to dialogue, there’s a
lot to look at. I also need to do an overview of plot and subplots, character
arcs and because I wrote in random chunks, make sure that the continuity makes
sense.
I have 137,720 words. The average
novel comes in between 80 to 90,000 words. Obviously something is going to have
to go. All of the processes mentioned above should sort a lot of that out. I’m
scared that my rewrites will actually add words. If I still have an over-abundance
then I’ll have to do a real brutal slash and burn. I hate the thought of that,
but it has to be done. I’ve learnt a lot more about my characters and their motivations
since I started writing too. I owe it to them to get them and their story
right.
Only when I’ve done all of this
which could involve total rewriting of whole chapters, but I hope not, then I’ll
nut down to proof reading, the SPAG (spelling and grammar) read through. That
bit I’m not looking forward to.
I think you can see why most
authors don’t churn out a book a year and why it will be at least a year before
I even think of approaching a publisher and/or agent. I’m still not sure what
route I’m going to take to publication. That is another story.
Cheers
Jill
