Pruning

[dr_pretentious]

So far, all the beta comments that have come back about the novella propose minor changes, one-sentence or two-sentence fixes. Very strange. If this trend continues for another week, I may just cut the 2500 words that need cutting, clarify the dozen small things that need clarifying, and ship it out before the month's half gone.

I spent the afternoon looking at submissions guidelines for genre magazines that publish novellas. Once "Atlantis Cranks Need Not Apply" gets down to 25K, there are places it can go. I have notions now about where to send it first. I've spent the evening marking the ms for cuts, and I think I've found all the cuts I need without touching anything I really want to keep. Jane's parents, who never appear on stage, have no lines, and are mentioned in exactly four sentences, are going. A bunch of dialogue tags are going. I've discovered two new tics I didn't know I had. While the tics might arguably add flavor in a couple of places, nobody needs nearly that many moments in which the characters eye things suspiciously, and nobody needs there to be dozens of occurrences of the words "pretty much."

If I'm deluded in my hope that the revisions for this piece will be minor, do please let me know. I'd far rather hear about the gaping plot hole, the massive structural flaw, the implausible character, etc., from you than from the editors of any of the magazines I targeted today.

Email, lj comments, phone, whatever. And thanks to everyone who offered.

Comments

[anthonyjaycee.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of when I shared a slightly fixed up version of the opening of my NaNoWriMo novel (well, the first 11k or so of it) to my novels in progress group. (I had already run it by a few people who are rather intelligent, but not actually writers, and made the relatively small changes off of my pure first draft from that.)

I got the critiques from the group as usual, and then afterwards I realized that... there really wasn't anything all that bad about it! :) Basically, there were various minor things to fix up, I needed to take out a bunch of adjectives and adverbs from the very beginning (I knew something felt wrong about that part), and one of the two main characters needs additional character development (which I also already knew about, and tried to fix somewhat, but apparently not enough).

So, likewise I have to wonder... what happened to the gaping plot holes, the massive structural flaws, the characterization issues that I didn't notice? What happened to the friendly and well-intentioned critiques that nonetheless make me wonder if I should go back to the drawing board? What, it's actually _good_??? I'm a good writer??? What the heck happened??? :)


By the way, side question... do you have any advice for writing a really good query letter? I'm at that stage now, but I find myself somehow rather intimidated about it...

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I have minimal experience with query letters. I've drafted some, but never had to use them, because pitch sessions have filled that stage in the process for me. Once someone requests your work face to face, you don't need to send a query letter, just a cover letter saying, in effect, "I'm that person you talked to and here's that thing you asked for."

All the advice I could offer is secondhand. Better you should go straight to my source.

I've studied Romance Writers of America's online tutorial for writing queries and synopses, even though I'm romance-illiterate. Their templates might not work for literary fiction, but I gather that they're applicable to genre fiction, with some adaptation.

Alas, www.rwanational.org is in the midst of a big update, so the tutorials aren't back online yet. Just checked, before sending you on a wild goose chase. Watch that space, though. RWA is really generous about offering new writers the tools to become professionals.