Will My New Book Sink or Swim?
Right now I'm in middle of the revision rounds to my work-in-progress. So far, I've gone through my manscript a dozen times. I have no idea how many it will take before I'm happy with the product. My last new book was a turkey. It never got past my beta reader. So, I'd sure hate for this one to suffer the same dire fate.
What happens to the books that don't make it to print, and to the readers' eyes? The books get dumped into the trunk. They're called "trunk novels." Trunk novels probably should be locked up, or even burned. I have more of them than I care to think about. That's part of the deal, at least for me it is.
Anyway, after you've read a manuscript, say, twenty times, you either love it or you're sick of it. Where do I stand on my current work-in-progress? Well, I feel like I'm stradding the fence. So, I can fall either way. Of course, I want the book to be a raving success. Stay tuned is what I tell myself all the time.
But then the revisions are important to me. That's when the real story and characters start to come alive. The other big thing I look for is voice. A distinctive prose style emerges. Voice is difficult to describe. It has to remain accessible to the reader, but still carries its own sound. Anyways, that's what's going on with me right now.
Happy reading to you and yours!
By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Ask the Dice, a hit man crime novel set in Washington, D.C.
What happens to the books that don't make it to print, and to the readers' eyes? The books get dumped into the trunk. They're called "trunk novels." Trunk novels probably should be locked up, or even burned. I have more of them than I care to think about. That's part of the deal, at least for me it is.
Anyway, after you've read a manuscript, say, twenty times, you either love it or you're sick of it. Where do I stand on my current work-in-progress? Well, I feel like I'm stradding the fence. So, I can fall either way. Of course, I want the book to be a raving success. Stay tuned is what I tell myself all the time.
But then the revisions are important to me. That's when the real story and characters start to come alive. The other big thing I look for is voice. A distinctive prose style emerges. Voice is difficult to describe. It has to remain accessible to the reader, but still carries its own sound. Anyways, that's what's going on with me right now.
Happy reading to you and yours!
By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Ask the Dice, a hit man crime novel set in Washington, D.C.
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Linda
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Mar 06, 2012 04:07AM
Good Luck Ed!
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Linda wrote: "Good Luck Ed!"Thanks, Linda! I'm swimming a lot better this week.
i hope this isn't too impertinent a question but are you self published Ed? Do you have an editor? I ask as a friend of mine is working on a later draft of his first attempt at a novel and I was hoping I could tell him to stop fretting over little things such as comma placement before submitting it to agents etc. Any advice you might provide would be much appreciated.
Tfitoby wrote: "i hope this isn't too impertinent a question but are you self published Ed? Do you have an editor? I ask as a friend of mine is working on a later draft of his first attempt at a novel and I was ..."
No, I've never self-published any of my novels. My publishers used copy editors. I'm speaking of the author revisions here. That's more rigorous. Good luck for your friend.
Thanks Ed. I will tell him to calm down a little. And good luck to you too.
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