I submitted my manuscript to my editor about four months ago.
I am supposed to get my editorial letter sometime this week. That will be the first official feedback on my novel--the missive that tells me what major changes my publisher may wish me to make.
I don't know if I will get that letter this week or not. I won't speculate on circumstances I know nothing about. Might something come up to delay the letter? Perhaps. Not being in my editor's shoes, I will simply wait and see.
I can understand why a publisher might need to build in some extra time between the manuscript submission date and the time when the editing process starts up. I'm sure there are many times when that three or four months of lag time has saved some editor's skin, when a writer did not deliver a manuscript by the original date!
I want to assure you about something though: I have NO complaints about post-contract waits. This feels nothing like the agony of pre-contract limbo. Some of my writer-friends are still hanging in that limbo while awaiting word from publishing houses on potential contracts.
This wait has given me one enormous gift already: time to get my 1855 novel in better shape before the editorial letter sends me back to the 1825 novel.
I have learned so much from revising that 1855 novel. I had to take the whole thing apart and examine all the pieces. Then, once I started putting it back together, it stayed silent and awkward for a while. Only this week, when I put the final, crucial part into place did the thing start to hum again. Now it makes sense. It WORKS.
I had been avoiding that last part of the revision because I didn't want to deal with it. I had the sense that I wanted to do something different, that a certain aspect of my heroine's character was not right. Finally I made myself think it through. And that was that! All at once, she made sense in every way. She turned from a velveteen heroine to a Real one.
Do you write your characters into Realness, as the Velveteen Rabbit gradually became Real? Was there a specific moment as you wrote your novel when your protagonist became Real? Or do you know your main characters so thoroughly before you begin writing that they are Real from the very start?
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16 comments:
I start my character with what I want them to achieve in the novel, but they become real as I discover their shortcomings. You start to be able to predict what they reasonably would try and what they wouldn't. Also, when their backgrounds start to fill in, especially the bits you don't need to share with the reader.
Congrats on your revisions :-)
I guess I have to write my way to knowing characters. That is what I am finding with my new WIP anyway. With my memoir, well I knew those characters well LOL :)
What an excellent question. I'm needing to fine tune for my MC for novel four. I know them well before I start. My rule of thumb is to spend months with them to make sure we can put up with each other b/c working on a novel can take years. But I always find things I can add to flesh them out more.
Loved this.
~ Wendy
My characters will often surprise me. There have even been times when a new character showed up without an invitation. Sometimes I asked them to leave, but in most instances their presence added to the story.
Do my characters become real? Most definitely. Think I could claim some of them as dependents on my next tax return?
Since my characters have been inspired by real people, they are alive and pretty much well until I start messing with them.
Sigh. You are so right about a wait still being a wait, albeit different. I'm in the midst of edits post SECOND revision memo.
Fun, fun!!!
(At least I didn't have to change the beginning. Haven't had the nerve to peek at the ending!!!)
LOL and blessings!
Patti
I hadn't ever really thought about it. They seem real to me right from the start, but whether or not that comes through in the writing is a different story. Usually I'll discover some trait or action they will take that really brings them to life. Good luck with the edits!
Ah, scary! That is great hearing about your process, though.
My characters become more real as I go along...then by the time I finish the books I need to go back to the beginning and--deepen. I like doing that, though. ;)
I have more issues with making her reasoning real. I had to redo my whole book this past month after some pretty firm critiques. But like you, when I could finally see it, it got so much better.
Rosslyn, if you have a chance today, stop by! I'm having my FIRST AUTHOR GUEST!
Drum roll.
Patti
Thanks for the input, everyone! I'm fascinated by differences in the characterization process. Those of you who know your characters completely before you start--that is really cool. I don't know why my mind doesn't work that way. But that's part of what makes talking to you so interesting.
It depends. The characters from Long Road always felt real from me. That's the reason I started writing down the story in the first place.
For the other ones I've been working on, it has taken a little while for them to become real.
That's a great question!
Rosslyn,
Well, I'm just now starting my first full-length novel. Like Tabitha, it was fairly easy with my memoir, since I already knew the characters. But, I'm finding that I'm getting to know my new characters pretty well. I still have lots to learn about them, so I suspect I'm somewhere in the middle; sort of knowing them, but still needing to go deeper. I'm pretty early in the process but it's a great question to ponder at any time.
As for the waiting, oh, you're so right! It's the difference between waiting outside in the cold with the door before you closed, and waiting in a warm foyer, knowing that at the very least, you're inside where it's warm, even if you're still waiting for a response. :)
I'm so excited and happy for you with your success with your writing dreams. I love seeing writers write and find joy along the journey.
:)
Thanks for sharing your journey. As I am working on my first wip after many months of research, I THINK I know my characters, but I suspect I have a few surprises ahead of me:)
Blessings
Dorothy
You got your letter!!! Wow, Rosslyn, I can't wait to hear more about it!
I'm definitely in that limbo stage. Hoping for the day I can be in the post-contract waiting phase! That sounds heavenly right about now. :)
I try really hard to make my heroes and heroine's real. I'm like you. I avoid, avoid, avoid and then BAM, God reveals something and I do the work.
I liked the comparsion to the Velveteen Rabbit turning real. My problem is, all my characters are so real in my head. I just can't translate it very well to the page!
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