April 2011

Where do our ideas really come from?

Often when I’m at my day job character traits, dialogue, scenarios pop into my mind that may add to a section I’m working on in my book – sometimes they get used, sometimes they’re discarded. The point is, for me anyway, 75% of writing fiction is thinking, playing out a scene in my mind, feeling the emotions of my characters in an effort to convey them in the text. Getting words down becomes easier, when you know what you are going to say and how to say it convincingly.

Whilst I am busy creating, indulging, I realise that I don’t think of my book in a business context.

April was a month of diversions in the UK. Easter celebrations meant a long weekend off work, the Royal Wedding gave us all an extra bank holiday, the London Book Fair… All distractions to editors; keeping them from their reading piles.

It was time to stop the compulsive email checking and move forward with my next novel. By busying myself with creating new characters, indulging in prose, drafting dialogue, I tried to put the submission to the back of my mind. It wasn’t easy, particularly when friends and family were constantly in contact, asking for any news, but I did my best.

Initially my Agent emailed me with weekly updates. He was hearing good things, the feedback was positive, but no deal, as yet. As we approached the end of the month those regular emails started to dry up…

Jane Isaac is very much a Newbie, she doesn’t even have a website yet (one day…) and with a day job, a family and a very demanding black Labrador, she squeezes her writing into every spare moment she gets. Join her on the rocky road from pen to publication – hopefully!

Late March 2011

How can we tell if our manuscript is ready for submission?

If writing is re-writing and editing, then there is an argument that it is never ending, that there is always some prose that could be improved upon. But I guess you have to end somewhere.

By the end of March, my Agent called me up to say my novel was ready for submission. Exciting times… He would send it to the major UK publishing houses on my behalf, with the synopsis of the sequel. He was intent on selling the series.

I’ll admit I was nervous. I wasn’t following the trend in crime fiction. I had spent hours, days, months, years even, studying creative writing and specialist crime fiction, deconstructing favourite novels, avidly working out what I liked/disliked. In my psychological thriller I worked hard to avoid the alcohol obsessed, divorced lead Detective, replacing it with a strong female protagonist who battles with the demands of a busy job and single parenting teenage sons. Plus, I always wanted to write a page turner, avoiding the lull that occasionally creeps in, during the middle segment. So I chose to write the novel through several points of view. Would it work? And more importantly, would it satisfy a potential reader?

My Agent, on the other hand, was confident. As a large, London based Agency he only submits to select major publishing houses. He expected a positive response.

We would know the results within a month. This was my chance. And I was literally on tenterhooks…

Jane Isaac is very much a Newbie, she doesn’t even have a website yet (one day…) and with a day job, a family and a very demanding black Labrador, she squeezes her writing into every spare moment she gets. Join her on the rocky road from pen to publication – hopefully!

Feb. 2011

Every word counts. As writers, that’s what we are told, whether in fiction or non-fiction. It may be the best line in the world, your pride and joy – but does it add colour to the narrative? Does it really drive the story forward?

With these thoughts in mind I examined the suggested line by line edits on my manuscript. In some places I could see that I was being indulgent, holding on to precious words and phrases that I really liked, but weren’t essential to the story. They were the easy ones.

Others I didn’t want to part with. You know those odd lines you come up with in the shower, on long lazy drives into the country, when something wakes you in the middle of the night? These had context. But when I read and re-read I realised that they weren’t all really necessary. So, with much reluctance, I took them out.

Finally, there were some words/lines that I simply couldn’t part with; those where I felt the story would suffer as a result. Here I adopted my original strategy, I left them in, explaining on occasion why they were essential. I guess this takes us back to the subjective side of reading, this was one editor’s opinion.

It took me a long time and a lot of soul searching to complete the line by line edits. Not because there were so many of them, really they were minor across a three hundred page script. More because I considered every one individually – was it really needed, does it drive the story forward, is it essential?

We are often told that most writing is re-writing and editing. With a deep breath I took the plunge. And it made me realise that sometimes I get so close to my work, that I don’t really see it…

Jane Isaac is very much a Newbie, she doesn’t even have a website yet (one day…) and with a day job, a family and a very demanding black Labrador, she squeezes her writing into every spare moment she gets. Join her on the rocky road from pen to publication – hopefully!

Early Feb. 2011

What’s in a pen name?

February brought good and bad news from the Agent. He actually liked my edits – phew! I was learning that the points he had raised were suggestions for me to consider, not set in stone. Relieved, I was growing in confidence. The bad news was that he didn’t like my pen name.

As soon as I realised that I would actually finish my book, I decided that I wanted to use a pseudonym for my fiction work. Why? I can’t tell you exactly. Maybe I wanted an alter ego, maybe I wanted to protect the privacy of my family. No idea. It just seemed like an important move. My regular name is Jane Lobb – regular in every sense. So, I had spent months thinking long and hard. I wanted something usual, something different, something that stood out. Eventually I chose the name ‘Saskia Duvall’. I can hear you laughing out loud but, look at it from my point of view; I have been a plain Jane all my life. This was my chance to be different!

I was captivated by the name. To me it was interesting, conjuring up images of exotic locations, glamorous book launches. But my Agent, and his colleagues (they had actually discussed it), didn’t think that it suited the crime genre. Back to the drawing board.

For weeks friends and family were phoning, texting, emailing me different variations to consider. The imagination it sparked was incredible. At best it was great fun, at worst very frustrating. One thought prevailed: if I ever get published and continue with my crime thriller series, this name would continue with me.

My Agent was keen for me to use my first name. Although initially disappointed, I could kind of see why. If someone called out ‘Jane’ at a book launch, a dinner, an event, I would instinctively turn my head; ‘Saskia’ may take a bit more getting used to. But what about the second name?

I wanted my name mean something. So why Isaac? I discussed it at length with my family – my real surname is a Cornish name and one of our favourite haunts, whilst holidaying in the British south west region of Cornwall, is Port Isaac. 

Hence Jane Isaac: the birth of a name. It may one day reach print, it may not. Nothing in the publishing world is sure, until you hold the book in your hand. But it is one that means something to me, a name I’m proud to own.

I emailed my Agent, he liked it! Another job done. Then he said it was time for the line by line edit. I was literally dreading his next email…

Jane Isaac is very much a Newbie, she doesn’t even have a website yet (one day…) and with a day job, a family and a very demanding black Labrador, she squeezes her writing into every spare moment she gets. Join her on the rocky road from pen to publication – hopefully!

We never have enough time, until we run out of it. I just got off the phone with my wife who informed me that one of our friends had a heart attack last night.  Which seems to be a recurring theme with our family, friends, and even myself who just started high blood pressure meds a few weeks ago?

You see most of last year was a bit of a blur for me and my family as I lost both my mother and my father within six months. Both of them were in their mid eighties but not in bad shape really.  Until mom was diagnosed with irreversible pulmonary fibrosis and she spent the last few months of her life in Hospice care.  My dad was doing fine until he was in a car accident, fractured his hip and never really recovered.

2010 was a rough year.  I didn’t write much.  I didn’t see the point in it.

Bring on 2011 and we are having a nice visit with my wife’s family while they were on vacation at our house, and her dad ends up in triple bi-pass surgery and looking like he had a slim chance.  So here we go again.  But he recovered and is doing quite well actually.  At last count he had lost over 70 lbs. and is really making a change in his lifestyle.

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, Damien (the guy who runs this site) asked me to “think about things newbie writers should know” last week and after my phone call a few moments ago one thing struck me that I know many of us struggle with, and that is time.

We put off sending that manuscript because we think “if I make one more revision it will be perfect”, or we just don’t have the nerve to put our words out there because we are shy or embarrassed.  I know from experience that it’s hard to be criticized on our work.  But what we don’t realize is that the longer we put it off the less time we have to really enjoy our success in writing. 

We all know it can talk a while to break into a career so why do we hinder ourselves in the process by procrastinating.  Get your stuff out there for someone to read it! At the very least you will get some feedback that may improve your work or you may meet that contact that gets you your next big break.

Start a blog, start a zine, write letters to the editor, submit to contests, and anthologies.  Start a newsletter for your company or club.  Write poems and put them on facebook or twitter.  Whatever your media chose it and, choose it now. Make a concerted effort to make your work accessible to others.  It will be a great feeling to get that first comment on your blog, or that first payment on your first freelance job. 

And remember time is short, and you never know when you may write your last words, so make them count because the rest of us can’t wait to read them.