D. Lee Jackson

Words and Music

When Does It End?

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Broken ClockOne thing that I rarely see touched upon is the subject of how long it should take to write a book. Of course, there is no “should” when it comes to writing a novel. Each book comes with its own timeline and demands, and no two are ever alike. What I can give you are a few samples from my own work in progress, Tapper.

I completed my first draft around the end of July, 2014. I thought I was finished with it sometime in 2016—that’s when I started going through the “query” process of trying to find an agent to represent my book to publishing houses. Needless to say, I got no bites on my query. Around that same time, I got a proposal from Gearbox Software to write the soundtrack to the 20th Anniversary World Tour edition of Duke Nukem 3D. I put Tapper on the shelf and went back to writing music.

The hiatus on Tapper ran out in February of this year, when I pulled the book out and resumed writing. I’m passing it through Scribophile, where I’m getting some very useful, yet frustrating advice. Why is it frustrating? There’s that timeline again. My first “real” chapter (spoilers!) is on its 54th revision, and some of the comments I’ve been getting are first-time comments. Why couldn’t someone have raised these same points back on my 5th revision, eh?

If it sounds like I’m revising my book to death, let me come to its defense. I have done a major rewrite of the first few chapters, in order to make them more appealing to readers (and to agents). That also explains why some of the comments I’m getting are first-time ones. It doesn’t explain all of them, mind you—I’m still getting some of the “why did no one mention this earlier?” kind of remarks in later chapters.

The point I’m trying to make here is that if you’re writing your first book, you can go ahead and smash your clock for what it’s worth. Don’t expect to knock out a novel in a year, or two years, or even four for that matter—although, if you do get signed with an agent within four years, count your lucky stars. Be patient, and be ready to spend a lot of time working on your novel … and even more time re-working it.

Synopsis Somewhat Success

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My plea for good luck wishes appears to have worked. I managed to get my synopsis down to 689 words! That’s the lowest word count I’ve managed, thanks to lots of help from Scribophile members’ critiques. I think things are at long last clicking into their final places when it comes to Tapper. The query letter is the right length and has the right info (I hope), the synopsis is shorter and better, and the book itself is just about as polished as I can get it (it’ll never be absolutely perfect, but that’s the nature of the beast).

Time to start sending out queries, I do believe!

Unpacking Chapter Boxes at a New Novel Location

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No, the blog isn’t moving. I’m talking about Tapper, the science fiction book I’ve been writing.

I had what I thought was a killer first chapter. It involved an incident that formed the foundation for the rest of the novel/trilogy/series. It was a bit laid back at the start, but once it got going it had plenty of action and a big hook at the end. The meat of the novel actually started in chapter two, but I believed the combination of the two would be a great way to start.

And then came time to query agents.

Agents are impatient, as I’ve learned. If your work doesn’t reach out and grab them from the first few words, there’s little chance that they’ll stick around until the action begins. They’ll toss the submission and send you either a form letter rejection or a note saying something like, “Thanks, but it’s not for me.” Not good for a novel that has a slow beginning, especially when the writer (me) doesn’t have a proven track record.

So chapter one had to move. I couldn’t just cut it, since it contains vital information without which the rest of the novel/trilogy/series wouldn’t make much sense. No, I had to find a new home for it as part of another chapter. I think I’ve found that home, but now I’ve got to figure out how to work the text into the existing chapter. It’s sort of like moving into a new home that’s slightly smaller than your old home: you’ve got to determine how much of your stuff stays and how much has to go off into storage. I’ve got to work that out now, and it’s not going to be easy.

Have you run into a similar situation? Please let me know about it via the Contact page. Thank you for reading!

Sequels – Write or Wait?

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I’ve seen something on the web that has made me think a bit (a dangerous thing, as my wife will tell anyone). The item in question has to do with sequels and the writing thereof during the query process.

The item that got me thinking was an article—I don’t remember where, sorry—in which the author advised against working on a sequel while you’re querying what would be the first novel in the trilogy/series/whatever. The author’s rationale was this: what if your first novel flops? If this happens, any work you put in on a sequel will be time wasted. Makes sense, right?

I’m not sure if I agree or not.

You could certainly spend the during-query time working on a separate novel. This would give you a fallback position if the first novel fails to attract an agent or fails to sell if published. It would also allow you follow the commonly-issued advice of “write, write, write” that is doled out so readily by writing pundits. Finally, if would force you to explore new story lines, possibly expanding your capacity for imagination in the process—always a good thing.

What about agent responses during the query period? Case in point: I’ve seen many suggestions from other writing pundits that say you should add “… and has series potential” to your query if your book is the first of potentially many. There’s no telling how an agent might interpret this. Will they assume that you’re already writing the next book in your saga? Will they think that you’re sitting on your (insert body part reference here) while you wait for them to say they’ll represent you? It’s impossible to predict.

Now, consider what could happen if an agent picks you up, gets you published, and wants your sequel ASAP. If you’ve gone off on another train of thought, you’ll have to drop everything from your new project and try and pick up where you left off with the first book. This could be a big problem, especially if you left a lot of loose ends dangling at the end of book one and you didn’t keep good enough notes to track them all. In general, it’s a delay that could cost you some sales, not to mention some credibility.

Time for my nugget of naive wisdom. I have made the commitment to stick with my sci-fi series, Tapper (officially named in the interview mentioned in my previous two posts). In fact, I even included a line in one query letter that specifically mentioned that I have a second book already in the works. I’ve been told, “No, you should never do that!” (or words to that effect) by other authors, but I’ve also seen other authors do the exact same thing. To me, it means I’m serious about my story and am willing to pursue it to the end.

If no one picks up Tapper for representation, or if it doesn’t sell (God help me on both counts), I won’t consider what I’m doing as a waste of time. I’ll still be following the “write, write, write” mantra and expanding my skills. I’ll still be introducing new characters and new locations and learning how to deal with both. Finally, I’ll have a head start should the unthinkable happen and Tapper becomes a hit. 😉

I’m interested to hear what you think about the matter. Please shoot me a line via the Contact page and let me know. I may share some of the responses I get in a future post.

Thank you for reading!