Lessons Learned (The Hard Way)

Today was a really good day. After an inordinate amount of angst, I got my three-manuscript proposal off to my agent, who sent me an email tonight that she had forwarded it to St. Martin's Press. Praise the Lord!!

I learned two important lessons during this process and want to share them.

To begin, a bit of history: We'd first sent a manuscript to St. Martin's in mid-February. At the beginning of April, they came back and advised they liked the manuscript, but wanted some changes to it. Additionally, they requested proposals for two more manuscripts.

Since this had been our plan from the beginning, I'd been working on ideas for additional stories for a couple of months. As soon as we had the okay from SMP, I forwarded a proposal for the first new story to my agent for review.

It turned out that she HATED the storyline. Of course, since she's a lovely person, she didn't actually say she hated the story; instead, she sent me a list of all the reasons why it didn't work for her. A lengthy list.

I completely misread this action on her part. Instead of recognizing the bottom line (she hates this story), I went to work trying to fix the elements she said she disliked. Of course, nothing I did changed the basic problem ("I hate this story"). All it did was annoy her and frustrate me. I wasted several weeks before the truth finally dawned on me: I needed to walk away from the story.

After I had this epiphany, I sent her a quick email. Her relief was obvious. Fortunately she loved the next proposed story, and didn't request a single change. She also liked the plot for the replacement story with only one revision. Things moved forward quickly from that point.

First lesson learned: Do NOT chase after a proposal. This is a very subjective business. I trust my agent. I need to accept her judgment, or find another agent. Once she indicates that a specific plot doesn't work for her, if I still feel compelled to write the story (I really loved the storyline), I need to market it elsewhere. Maybe to an e-publisher.

Background for the second lesson: I'm a pantser, meaning I write by the seat of my pants. Generally, I have an idea for a story. Maybe it's a specific scene, or plotline or even an ending. I do not outline or plan the entire story beforehand. I start writing and let my characters direct the action. About one hundred pages into the story (25% of the way), after my characters have made themselves known to me, I begin to seriously plan because, you know, otherwise you'll have a SAGGING MIDDLE--something far worse than a slumping bosom or a face needing a lift.

Obviously, a story proposal requires a detailed synopsis. A detailed synopsis requires a plan. A plan involves forethought.

Writing the proposals was hard for me. I had a vague (make that very vague) sense of my characters, but it wasn't strong enough for me to easily develop the story. I drove my critique partners crazy sending them early versions of the synopses. My CPs were great (special thanks to Jeanne Laws and Linda Lovely), using the Socratic method of asking me questions about the characters and story, thereby forcing me to fill holes and make revisions. Partway through the process, I found myself writing snippets of dialogue. THAT saved me. Through the dialogue, I started to connect (really connect) with my characters.

Now a dialogue-heavy proposal is a very long one. I didn't fight it. I went with the flow and found that things got much easier from that point. While I didn't include all the dialogue in the proposal (one proposal was originally almost forty pages long), you can bet I saved it all for use when I finally do write the stories.

Second lesson learned: Dialogue is a great way to quickly learn about your characters and to flesh them out when you're feeling really, really stuck in a synopsis. I have friends who interview their characters before starting a novel. I always thought the practice was contrived and somewhat cutesy, but I now have a new appreciation for how it can help a writer to get a handle on a character's personality/mood/goals.

I've often wondered how formal plotting would work for me. I now accept that I am at heart a pantser. Like my gender, sexual orientation, and cultural background, it's a part of me. I embrace it wholeheartedly.