Because finishing books always makes me feel contemplative,* I’ve been thinking a lot about my writing history. I have now written ten complete novels, which is a little amazing to me, since the first novel I ever wrote (back in 2001) was actually part of a bet to myself to see if I could string 60,000 words together. Prior to that, the longest thing I’d ever written was my college Literature thesis, which was only 40-something pages long.**
So yeah, I finished that first one. And, having done it, I knew that the only trick would be to actually write a good one.*** By the time I completed the draft, I knew I could do something better. So I wrote it. #2. Then I wrote #3, which is still to this day my favorite of my unpublished novels (so favorite, in fact, that I stole my favorite character from it and cast her in Rampant). While I was writing #3, I wrote a few other proposals (including the one for #4), half a novella, received my first two requests and my first four rejections, and lived for the better part of a year in a tent in Australia and New Zealand.****
Then I wrote #4, which was actually a sequel to one of my earlier, unfinished proposals, but which I liked much better. By this time, I was winning writing contests, attending writing conferences, and getting a lot of close but no cigar responses from industry pros. #4 was a tough thing to write, for a variety of professional and environmental factors. By the time I finished with it, I was dying to start a new project.*****
As soon as it was done, I dove headlong into #5. I banged out an 80 page proposal in no time flat. I edited it furiously. I was so excited about it. It was so different from my first four books, in tone, in scope, in genre, in voice. And before I knew it, it had found an audience. I had an agent, and an editor, and a book contract to finish it and write another like it.
So I did. In fact, I wrote four of them: #5 (Secret Society Girl), #6 (Under the Rose), #7 (Rites of Spring (Break)), and #9 (Tap & Gown). #5 was a joy the whole way through as I fell into the life of a contracted author. #6 was written during the lead up and release of #5, and there is a learning curve involved with releasing a book into the wild. #7 involved a lot of plot adjustments, as political scandals of the day kept stealing my plotlines and I had to change things around so as not to make readers think I was talking about a particular political figure. And #9 was my first attempt at concluding a series, wrapping up all loose ends. Also, I bought a house in the middle of it.
Somewhere during #5, I got the idea for Rampant, wrote a lot of it in between my deadlines for the others, and finally finished it at #8. It was my second longest manuscript (#4 is the longest). Though I experienced several false starts, as my “back burner” manuscript for three years, I was never stressed about it, and when it finally made it to the front burner, I remember it being mostly a joy to write.
During the writing of #10, I also wrote: a killer unicorn story for an anthology, and a new proposal.
I’m hoping the new proposal will be manuscript #11. It might implode, as stories have done to me in the past. There’s a very sticky plot element that I’ve been trying to figure out since February. I still don’t know how to fix it, and every day of writing brings me closer to the make or break point. This is not something I can write past. I may have to write it out, as Scott cautions. Try it one way, then try it the other.****** But I have to figure it out, and soooooooon.
Meanwhile…TEN BOOKS. W00T! Maybe when I’ve got ten books published, I’ll have a party or something, but for now, this is my personal celebration. Because I think I totally won that bet.
__________
* And ebullient. Finally free from the shackles of the last manuscript, I can start on something new and shiny!
** And was on the topic of James Hilton’s LOST HORIZON and the invention of Shangri-La in the modern Western imagination.
*** This is a harder trick than one might think.
**** Proving to myself that I could, if pressed, write anywhere.
***** Sounds way familiar.
****** I am totally loving the Westerlestier NaNo tips, aren’t you? And no, it’s not Larbafeld, that’s totally not as cool.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Congrats on 10 books written!
****** Can we call them ‘Scottine’?
November 9th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I’m up to book #1 and I’m doing it the same way that you did – as a bet with myself that I can actually finish a novel. I’m up to 27,000 words, which is more than I have ever written in a single project and I am certain I will get to the end.
While of course I would love to get it published when it’s finished I don’t have my heart set on it because the experience of writing a novel has been more than enough for me. I have learnt more in these past three months of drafting than I have from all the writing books and blog posts I have devoured over the years.
I’m very much looking forward to getting to my #10.
Congratulations!
November 9th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I for one am so happy you kept going! Yay #10!
I’m only on #4. Slowpoke.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I don’t have much to say except that I am in awe. Ten books. Congrats!! The number of books is now eligible to get an official dependent’s military ID (sorry, that was the only thing I could think of that had to do with the number ten). Or at least, it would have in my day.
That being said…an 80 page proposal?! I think you posted your query letter to your agent re: Amy somewhere (wow, sorry I’m such a stalker), but 80 pages? Unless that includes sample chapters, in which case I shall stop my eyes from bugging out of my head. Still: in awe.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Patrick, Scottine has me LOL.
Beth, congratulations! I really do think the “bet” method has a lot going for it. And you’re so right, actually writing a draft teaches you so much about what to do. I really think there is such a huge graduation between a person who has finished a whole manuscript and one who hasn’t. And that’s so tough to explain until you’ve gotten there and then you’re like, oh, yeah.
Susan, think about the kind of research your first few required!
Lell, a fiction proposal is generally 60-odd pages of sample chapters and a synopsis. The proposal of SSG was 79 pages, and ended at the point where Amy gets dropped off the landing. I thought it was a good chunk and showed the beginning of the initiation, which was my big set piece of the book.
Of course, I had no intent on selling it on proposal, so I was just writing forward.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I’ve always meant to ask you, what was it like going from writing on your own schedule before you had contracts, and then writing for a deadline? I imagine it’s vastly different.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I almost always had deadlines of a sort set up for me. For instance, every year I would enter the Golden Heart Contest at RWA, for which I’d need to turn in a full manuscript in December. I would also play fake deadline games — my old RWA chapter would have a contest every year where we’d bet ourselves money that we’d finish a book.
My entire professional life, it seems, is based around the fact that I hate to lose a bet.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I think if I were to write, I’d have to have deadlines set for me. I do so much better with structure and exterior expectations.
And remind me never to bet you. I’d hate to lose
November 11th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Congrats, Diana! I can’t even imagine finishing one manuscript, much less 10 (though I am certain that I wrote at least 80,000 words last year in grad school, which makes me think that I should at least try). I really think that your writing continues to get better as each book goes on–I so respect serious professional writers who take it as their job.
I will continue to read and buy anything you put out. Can’t wait to read the next KU stories.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Annie, some day we can talk about what items in my books were a result of bets made between my editor and me. She lost every single time.
Thanks, Tiff! I think a page of fiction is probably way easier than a page of academic analysis. To start with, no footnotes. Well, not REAL footnotes.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Um, we’re still your RWA chapter (As opposed to the “old” one…we are simply the first one!) And we still have the Book Challenge. I ponied up for two entries and finished my second one last week. (Yeah!) One of these years, I’m going to win!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
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