The Alien Relic

Stephen King once referred to the first draft of any novel as an "alien relic." I couldn't agree more.

As I plow through the manuscript of my next novel, tentatively called Maximal Reserve, I am face to face with adverbs (words ending in -ly), broken and grammatically, mangled sentences, mismatched character names and redundant paragraphs that seem to indicate I was smoking an illegal substance at the time of the writing.

To make it worse, I have some early readers providing me thoughts and feedback. I need feedback! I need validation, but this process is exceptionally (look, another adverb!) humbling.

It's a good thing I have great friends!

I also see a lot of places where the plot needs to be tighter and more connected for the reader. This part reminds me of the medieval torture of being drawn and quartered. There is so much tension in the book and the chapters are so intricate in feeding information out as needed that I feel like the whole thing will fly apart.

One of my friends said that she found it interesting to see a book at this stage--fresh from the brain. That pretty much sums it up.

People may like sausage, but no one really wants to see how it's made.

The Timeline for Writing Wayback

Since this blog over time becomes a kind of diary, I wanted to post the timeline of events that led to Wayback being published. I know that during the process I always wondered what was next and how long that particular task would take, so perhaps this will help other writers who are curious.

Oops, blogger doesn't give us much space here - here's an enumeration of the events:

• May 2007 - Manuscript started, originally titled "Chronology"
• May 2008 - Manuscript submitted to Manuscript Submission Network
• July 18, 2008 - VMI Publishers extends contract
• Endorsements - from Aug 2008 to Nov 2009
• Edit - from late November 2008 to Feb 15 2009
• Web Site development - from December, 2008 to Feb 2009
• Typesetting - March 2009
• Printing - April 2009
• Available to the public May 1, 2009!

Blessings,

Sam

Rachel Starr Thomson - My Editor

The edit for Wayback is now drawing to a close. I was fortunate that VMI Publishers assigned Rachel Starr Thomson to me for my first novel. She has been an outstanding advisor and friend through this process. 

Editing was something that I was a bit nervous about. Actually, it's really not the editing that scares writers, in my opinion. It's criticism. I have found my taste and thirst for validation has increased substantially since I started writing Wayback nearly two years ago. 

What do people think of the book? 

Do they like the characters, the plot, the twists and turns? 

Is it intense enough?

Is there too much tell, not enough show? 

I suspect validation is something I will always struggle with, but Rachel made this process easy and even fun. We focused on making the manuscript the very best it could be. I tried to drop any reservations and listen to her comments and advice openly and readily. 

As she likes to put it, "she wields a mad red pen, but nicely." Yes, she did all the "normal" editing  stuff like punctuation and style, but she also pushed me, in some cases, to completely rewrite full chapters. She made me "show more than tell" and after I was done "showing" I had to admit she was right - it made the book stronger, more lively and more interesting. 

One of the things I really appreciated was that she read the book deeply-perhaps more deeply than anyone else-and knowing that there is still time to make it better she did that. What remains from this process that we started together in early December is a much stronger, more readable and more enjoyable adventure story with a richer plot, characters with texture and, well, more character and scenes that are more vivid.

During the process, I learned a lot about myself - what I'm bad at and what I seem to excel at. She taught me some of the things that I need to look out for as I head into other writing adventures. She did all that without scolding me, schooling me or just trashing the pages with red marks and comments. I think she has a magic touch because she isn't just an editor, she's a writer herself, and I think she understands the mental gymnastics that goes on when submitting your work for improvement to another person.

Now that the edit is getting behind me I'm looking forward to reading some of her work, which you can find here. Join me in saying thank you to Rachel by picking up a few of her books and supporting her.

         

Rachel, I hope we can work together again in the future. You are a large part of any success that this book enjoys.

Blessings,

Sam