IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE THAT COUNTS

I'm posting about memoir writing, but most of what I say can be applied to fiction. The one thing I really noticed about memoir is that much of it is internal. You write the scene, then you DIG DIG DIG. DEEP. You find yourself in that scene, and you react and analyze the events that unfold. So, on the surface, you might have a scene that's not that exciting -- until you put yourself in it, and by that I mean let us know what you think about the events. Let us feel the emotion of the scene. And yes, this applies to fiction. This seems to be one of the last things writers learn to do: let their characters process the event, feel the event. And yet this is an important layer when you're creating a piece of art. Emotion.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING

As writers we’re racing the clock, and some periods of our lives are better suited to writing. We have an undefined number of years when drive and health are at their peak. During this time, many writers give themselves a deadline. “If I don’t sell in four years I’ll move on.”




We’re all dying. We’re all running out of gas, and the full manuscript policy makes no sense. While spending years (in many cases) working on a full manuscript, the unpublished writer isn’t honing the craft, really isn’t learning how to make the book better. He’s just learning how to get to the finish line.




He’s proving he’s serious and dedicated enough to finish a book. And by the time the manuscript is submitted, years have passed. And this is the point where he hears the bad news, the crushing news.


Truth is, a story can be evaluated pretty accurately in 30 – 50 pages. That’s because those early pages are some of the most important pages in the book, and also the most difficult to write. And 25 pages is approximately the spot where agents, editors, and judges stop reading if the material isn’t working.

I would like to see more agents accept fifty pages of material. I’d like to see this broad rule of full manuscripts disappear.

Demand of a full creates a misconception and skews the writing process. The goal becomes the full, not the craft. When writers finish that last page, they’ve accomplished what they set out to accomplish. And one, two, three years have passed while they toiled away in their cozy little bubble. Now it’s time for the material to go out, and they soon discover that it’s not going to sell. For many, the journey stops there. Time is up. Some might go through this process one or two more times before calling it quits. All the while the clock is ticking.