Be Extraordinary
June 8th, 2010 by Therese Walsh
How many hours does it take to write a novel–a good one, a publishable one? How many hours will you have to spend thinking about that story, then actually typing out a draft, and then revising-revising-revising?
Many. Possibly many more than you think.
So the goal is to make those hours count. To be sure what you’re producing is your Best Possible Work–something that has a real shot at making it between an actual cover and not just one you make yourself with bookended pieces of cardboard and some thick yarn.
Here are five things I think any writer can and should do to push themselves into the realm of publishability, and stay there.
1. Create truly novel ideas. Your story concept should be unlike anyone else’s. Sure, most stories can be simmered down to one of a few central known story cores–the love story, the mystery, the buddy story, the family saga, etc…–but your story should still be unique among its peers. How to do this? Don’t settle for your first ideas. Think on plot deeply and those first ideas will become more original, more complex, more finely spun. Throw your story into agitation mode, and soon you’ll find yourself spun out of the box entirely. And that’s exactly where you want to be.
2. Write into the 25th hour. So many writers quit just shy of possible success. You’ve been writing, dribbling sweat and marrow into your manuscript. You’ve received positive rejections. You’ve had one or two calls that were so flipping close they made you bleed frustrated tears into your keyboard. Why can’t you just hit upon a little luck?
Luck comes at the 25th hour, I think. Luck comes to those who persevere, who keep hoping despite tough knocks. Don’t quit. Don’t. Quit.
3. Check your ego in the village– Some may not need a critique partner or group, but I think most writers can benefit by having fresh eyes on their manuscript. Critique is a funny thing though; it’s personality dependent and skill dependent, and you have to trust that the person opining truly wants to see you and your work improve. Be picky. Choose well.
Once you find someone trustworthy, you must be vulnerable to them. Don’t ever be defensive; a sensitive critiquer will notice and may ease off on you to spare your feelings, and you don’t want that to happen. You want truth. You want to know what stands between you and publication.
So listen to critique with your full un-armored body and zero ego. You may feel bruised after the fact, but you still need to say, “Thank you. Anything else? I really want to know.” And mean it. (That’s the extraordinary part.)
4. –but not your gut. You may hear things in critique that you immediately disagree with. Over time–a few hours, days, or weeks–you might change your mind. Sometimes, with musing, you may see an indirect solution to a critique of your story; you may realize, for example, that someone’s complaint re: a character arc can be fixed with a plot tweak.
Or not.
Listen to your critique partners, but listen twice as hard to your own instinct regarding your story.
5. Learn, baby, learn. You might grow as a writer by reading craft books and/or finely written novels, by taking classes in a community college and/or deciding to pursue your MFA. Whichever way you choose to do it, just do it: Evolve yourself.
Becoming a published writer is part skill, part luck; there are plenty of variables. But you can control some of them. You can push yourself beyond the bounds of what 99% of unpublished writers do. You can create a novel idea. Persevere. You can hear critique–really hear and welcome it–without ego. You can trust your gut. And you can continue to pursue a better you.
Be extraordinary.
Write on!
Photo courtesy Flickr’s belgianchocolate
Great post, especially your wisdom on receiving critique. It is so true that the passage of time may allow us to see a suggestion as useful when our first response to it was ‘No way!’
Wise words I know I’ll come back to over the next few months … years … (maybe more). Thanks for sharing them!
Tracy Hahn-Burkett´s last blog ..How Much Will It Cost to Raise Your Kids?
Thanks for the great post, Therese.
Therese,
Your practical points are excellent words of advice for creating a good book, but to go from good to “publishable,” I think more is needed. The hard work, the novel ideas, the putting aside of the ego but not the gut and the years of learning may still not lead to a book that’s “publishable,” especially today. Right now publishers are seeking a number of very specific, trendy elements from debut novelists — kind of like the keys without which a book will break in. And these trends change often. Even published writers are often unable to identify them and help new writers figure out what they are. So I’d add one: “find a GOOD inside source and stay informed.”
Hi Sharon, I respectfully disagree with you about trends. Chasing trends can lead to writing madness, imo. And by the time your story is ready for publication, if it’s accepted, that particular trend may well be a thing of the past. Better to write something you love-love-love with all your heart.
Awesome post, Therese, especially about the ego-check part, which is on-going for me. :)
Great post, Therese! And great (though hard) advice about the ego-check. I think that’s one of the most important lessons to learn as a writer, though–that your first and highest loyalty is to the story you’re telling, not to your own ego or feelings.
Great post, and one we should all take to heart, read every day, and commit to memory so that it becomes second nature. Thanks.
Why must everyone mock my yarn-bound book? I used really good cardboard, I swear!
Em´s last blog ..Unbridled optimism.
These are all good things to keep in mind. :)
The “ego check” part reminds me of an old Doonesbury cartoon where someone was asked to “check their ego at the door”, and the person responded with, “I’m gonna need a receipt for that”. LOL
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Another excellent post. Love it. :)
Lydia Sharp´s last blog ..Tuesday Tunes – Movie Themes
Good points (especially the 25th hour), but whatever happened to writing the story that inspires you? All I hear about writing these days is about “selling books.’ Nobody talks about writing as art and heart.
I just took it on in my blog:
http://hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-happened-to-your-heart.html
Scott Nicholson
Scott, I completely agree that it has to be a story you love (see my comment to Sharon above). I’ll amend my thoughts when next I post. Off to read your essay…
Man, that is a gorgeous picture. Perfectly captures the extraordinary!
And some extraordinarily useful advice to go with it. I think all of these tenets are spot-on. Luck and skill and passion and humility and perseverance all have their place in your toolkit, if your goal is traditional publishing. If your goal is something else, you have more leeway to go off in whatever direction you like, but Therese is so right about carefully choosing what you’re going to spend your time on, especially making sure your idea stands out from the crowd.
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Agreed so much! And at first, I thought you were really asking how long it takes to write a good novel–and I was going to say a long time, especially because revision is going to take a while. Even if you followed an outline, there will be plot threads to tie up, words to cut out, and so on.
Re: #1–It’s sooo important not to get too attached to all of your ideas. Some just may not work out, or you may even end up going in a different direction once you start working on the manuscript. If you hold on too tightly to your original concepts, you may be holding yourself back from writing something excellent. Or your novel may exhibit a strange back-and-forth tension as you struggle with what you originally wanted to write and what comes out naturally when you just let yourself write freely.
#3–I’ve found it helps not to respond to criticisms right away (at least not more than “Thank you. Anything else?”). Don’t try to argue with it. Let it sink in for a day or a week or two, if you need to. If you really feel the criticism is unfounded, you’ll at least be able to argue more calmly and rationally against it. And if the critiques do hit the mark, you’ll be better able to accept them and fix the weak points in your story.
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“So the goal is to make those hours count. To be sure what you’re producing is your Best Possible Work–something that has a real shot at making it between an actual cover and not just one you make yourself with bookended pieces of cardboard and some thick yarn.”
Yes, Therese, thank you! I’m in the midst, as you well know, of developing a proposal for editors/agents, and I naively thought it would take me 1-3 weeks. Uh, more like 1-3 months. And this FREAKED ME OUT — I thought I was blowing my big chance. But now I’ve come to realize that a bad proposal in 1-3 weeks is much, much more of a blow-off than a fantastic proposal (and sample pages!) in1-3 months.
Kristan´s last blog ..I’m still holding on
Writing partners are so important. Too often you give your book to your mom and get ‘I liked it’ and nothing else. You need someone who is able to discuss your writing, both good and bad. When you’ve worked with her a while and she’s told you the truth throughout the process (and hopefully you’ve done the same for her!) when she says “I liked it!” you can believe it.
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Hi Therese,
I really liked your thoughts about writing into the 25th hour. It’s the giving up too soon that holds a lot of people back from success. I think that extends to everything in life–not just writing.
Some wannabe authors are looking for the quick route to publication, but even after a few years of blood, sweat and tears, THIS girl is still seeing the long road ahead. And that’s okay, because I’m enjoying the journey!
Thanks :)
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Wow, great advice. Thanks so much!
Julie Musil´s last blog ..Torture, Reducing Stress, and the Triple T of Publishing
Really wonderful advice. Especially checking your ego at the door during critique!
Years ago, I had a boss who was a fierce and ruthless editor. She drove me to tears almost every day. But the best thing that came out of that awful experience was the ability to take even the harshest criticism and see what I could get out of it. In her own wretched way, she made me a much better writer!
Thanks!
Every piece of this post spoke to me today, in some aspect. I’m especially intrigued by #1: “Create truly novel ideas,” as a whole, and for each scene. Turning every scene on its side, doing the unexpected (while keeping it believable), attacking a major theme a way no one ever has before–that’s the goal. It’s something I’ve been struck by with a lot of the books I’ve read recently–really unique plots, feeling like I haven’t read a book a hundred times before. LAST WILL OF MOIRA did that beautifully! Great post!
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Therese,
Thank you so much for this insightful post. This may be true for other writers, but for me, many of these things work together. The story I’m currently revising has been with me since 2004 – It’s my old friend now. So when I received constructive feedback from a trusted critique partner, I let it sit for a day and even explored a little – and then I knew it was exactly what my old friend needed.
Patience (with your writer self), that gut instinct, and knowing your story all work together.
And of course, starting with a hook that excites you is where all writing should begin. You gotta live with that old friend for a while, after all… ;)
Margo Gremmler´s last blog ..Libraries’ Armchair Auction: AMAZING
Conceptually I agree with everything you’ve written, although my execution of the principles falls short. As per normal.
However, this is the part that really helped: “Sometimes, with musing, you may see an indirect solution to a critique of your story; you may realize, for example, that someone’s complaint re: a character arc can be fixed with a plot tweak.”
In critique, I’ve witnessed situations where several people can agree on where the manuscript goes astray, but disagree about “why”. It seems so obvious now you’ve said it, but accepting that change is necessary does not mean I have to accept their solution if it feels wrong. Bingo!
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[...] Writer Unboxed blog has some great tips to keep in mind as you work on your novel. In this post, Be Extraordinary, she lists five things to do, or attitudes to have, but a couple of them really struck me because [...]
Lovely post! Thanks for the inspiring words! 25th hour, indeed!
[...] Be Extraordinary Tips to take your writing from great to amazing. [...]
Thanks again for all the great comments, everyone.
Kristan, fingers still crossed for you. And I’m nodding too over the time-consuming nature of revisions. But so wise of you — better to have them wait and read your best work. You go.
Richelle, that old boss of yours sounds fierce! I love your attitude, though.
Erika, thanks for your comment about Last Will. :-)
Margo, these things work together for me too. I really feel that without any one of these elements, I probably wouldn’t have been published.
Jan, I didn’t realize that about critique right away either, but once I did it helped me open up and hear things at a deeper level. It’s kind of cool when seemingly different comments that you hear from CPs come together and illuminate a single problem, and suddenly you get it–like noticing a constellation in the sky.
I really enjoyed this, thanks so much. It helps so much to be reminded of these things and inspires me to continue with my revisions.
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