This week’s question: How did your first novel
come about and how long did it take to get published?
My first novel never did
get published. It never got finished. Right now, I can’t remember if it even
had a title. I’d forgotten about it until this week’s topic got me thinking. I
have it somewhere. It was typed on an IBM Selectric, which goes a long way to
explaining why it never got finished. I’m a terrible typist and helped make
Liquid Paper profitable in its day, which would have been the early 80s, I
think, before I got my first computer.
The ‘muddle in the middle’ was bad enough, but I distinctly recall the
moment I realized I had to change the protagonist’s rank in the SFPD for the
story to work. It was around page 150 and there was no way in hell I was going
to re-type 150 pages! Into the drawer it went and I figured writing anything
longer than four pages was not part of my future. I’d stick to reading crime
fiction.
Fast forward to about
2003. My partner was a sculptor and we hung out with artists, collectors,
gallerists, and museum staff. Many of them had outsized personalities and one
in particular was nasty to my guy. “Honey, I’ll kill him,” I blurted out one
day, and realized immediately that I had the makings of a great story I was
itching to tell. I got more active in MWA to get inspired, signed up for a
serious mystery conference and hammered out five chapters. Over the next couple
of years, having gotten some useful feedback, I re-wrote the five chapters more
than once. I couldn’t seem to get past them, though. My work life called for
much writing, but in academ-ese and bureaucrat-ese and, frequently, in the
voice of a 65-year old Jesuit priest (the president of the university). Finding
the energy and focus to switch gears at night and write like a breezy young
divorcee who stumbles over dead bodies was not working well for me.
Tempis fugit. Finishing a credible novel, finding an agent, and getting it
published quickly rose to the top of my bucket list. So I figured out how to
quit the day job, and finished the first draft in five months. Found a critique
group, rewrote, polished, and after a stumble or two, found an agent. She took
my manuscript to market in August 2008 – yes, the very moment the publishing
industry began to deflate like a defective balloon. When we got a decent offer,
we grabbed it, and counted our blessings. MURDER IN THE ABSTRACT came out in
May 2010. It went on to sell into large print, mass paper, book club, and
e-book editions, not bad for a first book.
Every published author’s
story is different, but we all hit a wall somewhere, maybe more than one, on
the way to writing the best first book we’re capable of. The trick is to
respect your goals, speak them out loud, and then pay attention to the ways the
universe – in the form of your family and friends, job situation, network of
other writers – points you to a way through the wall.
7 comments:
Love the bit about wanting to change the character's rank, but it being too daunting on a typewriter, Susan. I remember those days too well. Nice piece.
Paul, that made me laugh out loud too! The groan came at "August 2008", Susan. Just too horribly true.
I give thanks to the teacher who taught typing in high school to this day! And I, too, hear you on the "August 2008." July 2008 was the month I changed states and got off the corporate ladder in order to make getting published a priority. Those were some murky years.
Great post, Susan! And great advice for pre-published writers.
Good for you, Susan, for sticking with it. Another bit of advice you should add to your list first book wisdom. And good for you that all your had work and persistence paid off so handsomely.
All we can do is laugh, right?
You are an inspiration. Love this message to writers everywhere.
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