Literary agents. They are people whose job it is to present your manuscript to publishers, negotiate a fantastic deal for the author, and leave the author to their core business...which is writing. Sounds great. If I can get a literary agent, it means I can back to writing.
The only problem is that literary agents are about as difficult to engage as a publisher is. The web-sites of publishers and literary agents are almost identical. They exhort you not to waste their time, to follow their very clear rules for submission of manuscripts. There are clear procedures to follow. And the sub-text is - the author is not worthy.
What is worse than this? The manuscript isn't enough. They all require me to complete another piece of work: a story outline, or synopsis. There are clear rules to be found on what this should look like too. It sounds like 'the pitch'. A few pages outlining the story, the main characters and what motivates them, and revealing the entire plot up front. The agent can use this guide to determine whether or not to read the manuscript. How frustrating...What if I am ok at writing manuscripts, but very poor at writing synopses?
It is an obtacle I need to get over. It's only a couple of pages, so what's the big deal? At times I feel creating the synopsis could be almost fun. It could be funny. It's only writing after all. Here's a mini-synopsis: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl transported to alternate world, boy tries to save girl, loses girl again...Hm, I will have to work harder on this.
When I was taking the dog for a walk this evening I was thinking about something I'd rather write. When I was finishing the ms off I made a connection that I had not seen before. A funny, quirky connection that I suggested, but left open. There's another thirty pages that would start the sequel that I would love to write right now.
But if I don't get on with this synopsis soon, it will never get done.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Joseph Sin - the ms
While I was writing Joseph Sin I used the Trebuchet font, had single-line spacing, and had a line gap between paragraphs with no para indentation. I was comfortable with that, and it helped me to write.
The first step to getting this ms (ms = abbreviation for manuscript) published is to change the format. I've checked out a few sites with guidelines on how to prepare an ms for presentation to an agent or publisher. I've had to give it a more basic font and increase the size of the font, give it double-line spacing, and indent the paragraphs. I no longer recognise it. It looks like some kind of 1970's mainframe print-out, the kind that came on green-striped paper. I felt like I was betraying my child!
I'm usually pretty good at proof-reading, not professionally, but I can read a document and spot most typos and errors. But with this new, super-sized font I can spot a few more errors. This means I am going to have to go through the whole thing again to fix things up. Seeing the writing in a different size and font is also making it a bit easier to see the thing with fresh eyes. A bit like when you're drawing, and you look at the drawing in a mirror to see things you can no longer see looking directly. Another reason to work through the book again and see what can be freshened up in the writing.
In its current format the ms has almost 131, 000 words, spread across 615 pages.
The first step to getting this ms (ms = abbreviation for manuscript) published is to change the format. I've checked out a few sites with guidelines on how to prepare an ms for presentation to an agent or publisher. I've had to give it a more basic font and increase the size of the font, give it double-line spacing, and indent the paragraphs. I no longer recognise it. It looks like some kind of 1970's mainframe print-out, the kind that came on green-striped paper. I felt like I was betraying my child!
I'm usually pretty good at proof-reading, not professionally, but I can read a document and spot most typos and errors. But with this new, super-sized font I can spot a few more errors. This means I am going to have to go through the whole thing again to fix things up. Seeing the writing in a different size and font is also making it a bit easier to see the thing with fresh eyes. A bit like when you're drawing, and you look at the drawing in a mirror to see things you can no longer see looking directly. Another reason to work through the book again and see what can be freshened up in the writing.
In its current format the ms has almost 131, 000 words, spread across 615 pages.
Joseph Sin - mind the gap.
I'm just reading Seth Godin's "The Gap".
He suggests that in many endeavours there is a "gap" when the going gets tough. Whatever you are doing might be easy at first, but you may reach a point where it gets harder. He argues that it is worthwhile pushing through the gap, because those that do will reap the rewards: they will be better at what they do, and so more likely to be successful at it.
If I apply this thinking to my writing, then I feel I have hit the gap now. The writing isn't easy, but I do find it more enjoyable than the thought of trying to get the manuscript published.
I completed a test around a year ago which was aimed at identifying what kinds of skills I had, and which I enjoyed. "Literary" skills were at the top of the list > 90%: classified not just as something I enjoyed, but as a need. "Selling" was way down at the bottom of the list, something I was not great at, and didn't enjoy. Clearly an area for improvement.
Selling this manuscript is my Joseph Sin gap.
He suggests that in many endeavours there is a "gap" when the going gets tough. Whatever you are doing might be easy at first, but you may reach a point where it gets harder. He argues that it is worthwhile pushing through the gap, because those that do will reap the rewards: they will be better at what they do, and so more likely to be successful at it.
If I apply this thinking to my writing, then I feel I have hit the gap now. The writing isn't easy, but I do find it more enjoyable than the thought of trying to get the manuscript published.
I completed a test around a year ago which was aimed at identifying what kinds of skills I had, and which I enjoyed. "Literary" skills were at the top of the list > 90%: classified not just as something I enjoyed, but as a need. "Selling" was way down at the bottom of the list, something I was not great at, and didn't enjoy. Clearly an area for improvement.
Selling this manuscript is my Joseph Sin gap.
Joseph Sin - the manuscript, the quest
Joseph Sin. Not my name, the name of my...well, what shall I call it.
I can't call it a book, "a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers" (dictionary.com). It isn't bound yet.
I could call it a novel, "a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters " (dictionary.com). But that sounds a bit pretentious to me: surely it can't be called a novel until it's published.
So, it will have to be a manuscript, "the original text of an author's work, handwritten or now usually typed, that is submitted to a publisher" (dictionary.com).
I'd like to call it a book. I'd like to be able to point at a printed version of "Joseph Sin" and say, 'Look, this my book!' So, this blog is a record of my quest to have Joseph Sin published.
I can't call it a book, "a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers" (dictionary.com). It isn't bound yet.
I could call it a novel, "a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters " (dictionary.com). But that sounds a bit pretentious to me: surely it can't be called a novel until it's published.
So, it will have to be a manuscript, "the original text of an author's work, handwritten or now usually typed, that is submitted to a publisher" (dictionary.com).
I'd like to call it a book. I'd like to be able to point at a printed version of "Joseph Sin" and say, 'Look, this my book!' So, this blog is a record of my quest to have Joseph Sin published.
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