Dreams can become reality. (Writing)

Member Name: docpov

Product:	Writing
Date:	19/06/07 (229 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's a dream come true.

Disadvantages: It's a nervous wait.

Writing a novel

It’s a big subject; it’s a lot of hard work. It’s a minefield but at the same time it is rewarding and sometimes great fun to do.
I don’t know that I am in a position to hand out advice really but maybe if I recount our experience then maybe that will be advice of a sort, perhaps.

It was at the start of last year, sometime in January I think. I had been chatting to Lisa, (queenelf on dooyoo,) we had just finished NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month,) where we both successfully completed the 50000 words in a month competition. During our chats it was suggested that maybe we should attempt to write something between us. We were on a high from our success and so over the next couple of months decided to do a collection of short stories and proceeded to hand ideas back and forth.
Eventually we decided to do a themed collection, have a house as the focal point of an assortment of stories. It would work, we were sure of it.
Ideas and planning for how the stories would fit together soon brought us to the conclusion that we had come across an idea that had turned from a collection of stories into a novel. The story ideas soon became linked together and themes started to flow through them making the work a single entity rather than what we had at first envisaged. This took some months and several hundred E mails. Yes you are correct; the whole thing was done via Email. Lisa and I have never met; in fact we live at opposite sides of the country.

It took us nearly a year to have a completed manuscript, many rewrites of this or that bit and a couple of times going back and changing whole chapters for better ideas.
It was our first attempt at doing anything of that scale and we dived right in, starting to write and then researching as we went along. We had little idea of how the story was going to end as we progressed, probably why we needed to adjust sections. It was a learning experience and believe me, we learned a lot in that year. I think both of us were better writers by the end of it so for that alone it was a worthwhile task.
We have now started work on our second novel. We know more what we are doing this time and did weeks of research and planning before writing a word. We know where the story is going, we know our characters and we basically know what each chapter is to contain, of course it is not all set in stone and some things will change as we progress but knowing where we are headed is certainly a good thing.

So we have a manuscript, now what. Now the hard work starts. There are going to be errors in the manuscript, lots of them, missing punctuation or words that don’t fit. Sentences that don’t make sense and a hundred and one other things that happen when you are frantically bashing away at the keyboard as the ideas come quicker than the fingers will type. Checking is the name of the game now, check and re-check.

Now is also the time when we started to think what we were going to do with our masterpiece.
Problem, big problem, from what we have learned it is almost impossible to get into a big publishing house when you are untried and have no history of success. There is a very good chance that a manuscript sent unsolicited to the publisher would be ignored. They would probably bin it without being looking at it purely because they get so many and are unwilling to take risks with unknown authors. You need an agent to work with you to try to get publishers to look at your work. Problem there being that it is almost as hard to find an agent willing to take you on as it is to find a publisher. The whole area is a minefield, there are a lot of dodgy characters out there as well who will tell you your work is the best ever and then either fleece you for a fortune or just plain muck you about.
Another thing to think about is just how much you are going to make out of it. You have your agent, you have your publisher and the booksellers, all of whom want a cut out of your hard work and these aren’t small cuts either. The booksellers alone can take up to 60% of the cover price, so you can see just how little of the selling price will find its way into your pocket. Unless you miraculously make it to the best sellers list your book is not going to make you a fortune, very few authors get to those dizzy heights with their first novel and not many make it at all.
So what to do, we decided to look into the self publication market, another minefield I am afraid. There are a lot of sharks out there only too willing to feed off unwary authors so it is desperately important to do a lot of research into this market, if possible get personal recommendation or at least find out about satisfied authors on the web.
It is a case of you get what you pay for in many respects in this market, go for an attractive sounding cheap deal and that’s what you will in all likelihood get, a cheap looking book, probably full of errors.
After looking at many self publishing sites we decided upon Troubador publishing. Their site pointed out many of the pitfalls and gave loads of info on how to go about the task of turning our manuscript into a book that people would want to read.

So we applied, there were a few nervous days whilst we waited to hear if we had been approved. Yes your work has to be up to standard or they won’t accept you, well they will if you insist but they will advise against it if your writing is not up to a good standard. Phone calls and emails were exchanged as details were sorted out and work began on turning our manuscript into a book. Along with the manuscript we supplied an image that we wished to use for the cover. They would deal with the lettering and turning our design into a book cover.

The cover image is something you should think about carefully. It is the first thing a potential buyer will see and it needs to be striking and attract interest for a buyer to pick up your book. If your cover fades into the background so will your sales.
Something else to think about is the copyright of the image you wish to use. Ours was an original picture of the Springs Hotel in Oxfordshire that I found on the internet. The picture has gone through some dramatic effects changes but it still belonged to the hotel. We approached the hotel and they were most happy for us to use the picture and we struck a mutually advantageous deal with them to use the picture. So from that point of view I would suggest getting permission if you wish to use an image that is not personally owned by yourself.

And so time passes whilst the publishers go to work on your words. A proof is produced and we were invited to check it through for type setting errors and any errors we might have missed in our previous checking. Professional proof reading is an option that is available from the publishers and with hindsight it might have saved us an awful lot of work and stress if we had made use of them, rather than taking on the painstaking task ourselves.
Anyway, changes made, the proof is sent off and the changes amended on the typeset. A revised proof is then sent back for further checking and so on until we were happy that the manuscript is as error free as we can get it.
The last step is to send the manuscript to the printers and binders to transform our words into a book. An exiting time indeed and that is where we are now, expecting delivery ready for publication on the 1st July.

The route we have chosen for Halleswell Hall is one of a lot of hard work and not a little risk but it is also one that might eventually reap great rewards if lady luck shines on us and our endeavour.
All the marketing and packaging/delivery is down to us although the publishers do offer a marketing service, of course it costs and will cut into margins again. I can see it being a busy time ahead (hopefully) but the rewards are there, first and foremost having people read our hard work and hopefully enjoying the experience but also the financial side will gain us a greater percentage of the cover price than going the traditional route. I don’t know how many copies we will manage to sell but hopefully enough to make a small profit to make our hard work worthwhile.
We will then have a published work behind us and if it does sell well, will give us a little more clout with the big publishers when our second attempt is finished.
We have made a good start on this second book and I think we have come up with a cracking idea for that one, we are really exited about it and with the excitement of the imminent release of Halleswell Hall it’s a ball of pent up emotion that is typing this.

So what advice can I offer? Well know what you are getting into. Have confidence in your work and try to make the best possible job you can of it, make it something you will be proud of.
Most of what we have done has been learned as we have gone along and the experience will hold us in good stead for future projects. From our learning process I would say research is the key, research and planning, know your subject, know your characters and know where you are heading.
Reading helps a lot, see what techniques experienced authors use, take note of what works in situations. Learn to use a wide ranging vocabulary and vary your language to make your subject more interesting.
There are a large number of books and web sites that offer help in writing techniques and how to write a good book. Make use of them to help you improve as a writer. Little things can make a difference, get them right and the book as a whole will come together better.

Writing a book is hard work and is stressful at times; especially if it’s not going well but it can also be great fun when it is going right and the words are flowing from the imagination faster than the fingers can type. Get into that zone and I have found that the words just flow on to the page and for me that is when I do my best writing rather than having to consider each word and struggle for the next one. It is at those times when it is better to sit back and chill for a bit, leave it be and come back to it when the imagination is working overtime again.
Know what you write about, put something of yourself into your characters, that way you are intimately familiar with your subject. If, as you are writing about your character you care what happens to them and want to know more about their lives then so will your reader.
We found that our characters took on a life of their own and became part of ours, we referred to them by name and knew them so well that we knew how they would feel in a certain situation, I think that helps enormously when you are putting them through great trials and tribulations and helps to write with emotion when they meet their doom or reach a happy ending.

I don’t know if that is much help to a budding writer, as I said at the outset I am no expert and am in my infancy when it comes to a writing career but maybe I have spurred a person or two to think ‘if he can do it why can’t I’ and if I have then I am pleased with that and I wish anyone the best of luck if they give it a go. I would never have thought that it would be possible for me to have my name in print but determination and endeavour have pushed me through so that the dream is about to become reality. So if you have always fancied the idea but have always just said ‘maybe one day’ why not make one day today.


© Docpov June 2007

Summary: Hard work and time consuming, very rewarding and there is always that small chance of great success