Please welcome new contributor Sonja Yoerg to Writer Unboxed today! We’re thrilled to have her join the team, and sure you’ll love her post on circling back to a shelved manuscript. Welcome, Sonja!
A couple months ago, I opened a file I hadn’t touched in almost five years—the first novel I wrote. It was like opening a crypt. I had written and sold four novels in the interim, learning a thing or two along the way, and was finally ready to return to the story that made me a writer.
Or was I? Sure, I was excited to jump in but also uncertain whether I would be able to achieve now what I had failed to before. As every writer knows, there is nothing like a new project to remind you how little you know about writing. Except this wasn’t a new project at all. It had not changed. I had.
From what I’ve heard, most writers have shelved one or more manuscripts; it’s smart to know the right time to tackle a particular story. And when you do decide to open that moldy file, I have a few strategies for you to consider.
Don’t read it. Not yet. It’s tempting, I know. But you want a fresh take, so don’t jump in the deep end just yet. You’ll either love it and lose your objectivity or hate it and lose your motivation for the revision. Think of it as meeting an old friend—don’t arrange to spend the summer with her. Start with coffee.
Write a synopsis—a long one. I despise synopses as much as the next sane person but there is no better way of getting to the heart of the story. Walking yourself through it in a structured, concise way will expose strengths and weaknesses. I spent two months writing a sixteen-page synopsis of my new/old WIP, moaning the entire time, then asked for feedback from two trusted writers. I’m leaning hard on this synopsis as I revise.
Consider a different structure. I’m a different writer than five years ago with more tricks up my sleeve, ways to solve problems and enrich the narrative. And I had a big problem with my main character: Rudi was a German soldier in Hitler’s army and therefore had a massive image problem. I’d written the story chronologically (1930s to 1970s) but decided instead to start in the middle, after Rudi had immigrated to America, and to use the earlier material as a second storyline. I’m confident I can braid timelines now, and you might find that new skills in your writing repertoire allow you to apply structures, techniques, and POVs you hadn’t previously considered. To me, this is best part of resurrecting an old project: the chance to make it better than you ever knew you could.
Get to know your characters again. Sigh. If you write a book revolving around someone you ought to know them, right? Well, yes, except this is a shelved book and character blurriness is likely to be one reason you put it away. It’s okay. A character is a person a writer creates, and witchcraft takes time, plus, in my case, a lot of wine. To get deep with Rudi, I did a little Story Genius, a little journaling, and a great deal of thinking. I include character sketches in my synopses so getting reacquainted with Rudi and the rest of the cast was an early step.
Sharpen your knives and kill the darlings. Reason would suggest that distance from a manuscript would make editing easier but when it comes to writing, reason finds no firm footing. My nostalgia for the clumsy, useless passages littering my first novel is pathetic. To make culling easier, I have a folder in Scrivener called A Treasure Trove of Mirth in which I stash everything from single sentences to entire chapters. They aren’t dead, they’re in prison and I have visiting privileges.
Do you have an old manuscript you’re thinking of dusting off? What concerns do you have? What excites you the most about it?
And if you are a writer who has brought a moribund book back from the dead, please share your secrets. I’m only a quarter of the way through and I’m going to need all the advice I can get.
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About Sonja Yoerg
Sonja Yoerg grew up in Stowe, Vermont, where she financed her college education by waitressing at the Trapp Family Lodge. She earned a Ph.D. in biological psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and wrote a nonfiction book about animal intelligence, Clever as a Fox (Bloomsbury USA, 2001) and four novels: House Broken, Middle of Somewhere, All the Best People, and the upcoming True Places (1/19). Sonja lives with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Welcome to WU, Sonja! Excellent start which has me looking forward to your future posts. And I’d love to keep track of your progress with your WIP. Sounds like a book I’d love to read.
A half-dozen years ago, my wife and I took a Rhine River cruise. We met two sisters who’d booked the trip for their mother’s birthday. It was the mother’s first trip back to Germany since she fled in the spring of ’45. Over several stops (and way too many cocktail hours) we got to know the trio. At a traditional beer-hall dinner in Rudesheim, one of the sisters sat next to me. Throughout the lengthy dinner, she divulged that her deceased father had been in the Wehrmacht. He’d deserted in the last days of the war, and their mother’s family had taken him in. In the days after the war, the sisters’ parents had fallen in love, and the soldier decided to get his new love out of German. They walked. First to Switzerland, then to Italy. They found booking on a steamer to Canada, then finally came across to upstate NY state, and settled there. He struggled all his life with his “image problem” as an ex-German soldier, and only told his daughters when they were in their late teens. She wanted to know more, but in many ways she feared looking into it (his unit’s activities, etc.). Understandably!
I was rapt as the sister told me the tale, and I told her I thought she should write a book. She said, “I want to. Why do you think I’m telling you this right now?” (She knew I was a novelist.) I hope she’s pursued the idea. Maybe I should drop her a line. (I did tell her about WU. Maybe she’s reading this right now…?)
Oh, and also, I plan to revisit my first shelved manuscript, and I think these are really astute tips (sorry for getting sidetracked!). Thanks much. Good luck!
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What a cool experience, Vaughn!
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Fascinating, Vaughn. There seems to be no end to the shape of stories emerging (still!) from WWII. Best of luck with your new/old project!
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Sonja, welcome to WU!
When I think of my first manuscript, I see all the reasons it didn’t work. Rather than resurrect it, in my case I robbed its grave. I took the setting in full, a couple characters, some thematic elements, and its atmosphere and used those as a solid base for a better story with more compelling characters and a more unique structure.
I had thought at first I’d be able to salvage a lot of the old MS. So I started with that file open alongside my new MS file. But it was almost immediately clear that there would be no cutting and pasting. I rewrote from scratch. Essentially that first MS was all prewriting.
I love this story now and am waiting for my agent’s take on it, which I hope to get later this month.
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Hi Erin,
I hear you. How much I would’ve loved to be able to use more of my original story. But, as you say, it is all lurking in there, in the shadows, and I’m sure your new book will be richer for it. Fingers crossed your agent loves the work you’ve done.
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What you did is something Emma Darwin calls “copy-typing” and it is what she recommends if you are moving bits of your novel around. Instead of copying and pasting, forcing yourself to type it out again makes the words flow through your brain again and often you will make better words.
I did this with the first draft of my WIP, after I finished I set it aside and rewrote the next draft from scratch using the first draft as a guide.
http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2014/05/copy-typing-copying-out-and-the-cursive-embodying-of-words.html
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I’d never heard of that but it makes great sense. Thanks for the insight!
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Great post with excellent, actionable advice! I have so many “first” novels I’ve lost count. But I’ll try: Gothic Suspense that was actually published. I won’t even open the one remaining paperback—that’s how terrified I am.. Another: girl-comes-to-the-big-city, gets a job, discovers sex. Almost published but the publisher’s wife read it and freaked out. Deal over. Yet another: a caper with a female protagonist. Way ahead of its time + I didn’t know wtf I was doing.
So there are 3 “first novels.” At least three I can remember. ;-) None will be resurrected. None will be pillaged. Ever.
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Hi Ruth,
Not even for pillaging? True practice novels, then, I suppose, learning along the way—and, if you’re like me, throwing things. I’m particularly intrigued by the story about the woman going to the city and learning to love sex. What was that editor’s wife’s problem?
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Ah, this is something I JUST did, after several years, just a couple of months ago. I’m happy to report I followed all these steps, almost exactly (though my “favorite scenes” folder is called “Darlings” :) I found that outlining again also really helped–I ended up moving scenes around and adding new ones and scrapping old ones. I also had to really relook at my characters’ motivations for what they were doing. Then there was POV to consider — I had five, and I didn’t need three of them, so there’s a lot of rewriting/revising scenes to put in the POV of the characters who still got one. I like the process, though I’m afraid that when I’m done I’ll still have something not quite good enough — but we’ll see!
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Hi Mary Kate,
Like you, I’m an ardent reviser, happy to tear apart my drafts. Did you find yourself nostalgic about some of your old writing? I kept wanting to keep things as if the book might also work as a museum of sorts. Oh, ego. Go home; you’re drunk.
It sounds as though you’ve really comes to terms with your story and taken a fresh approach. I’m sure your crit partners will give you the feedback you need to hone it further, and we know you like to revise, right? Good luck!
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“Oh ego. Go home; you’re drunk.”
I am writing that in fat black crayon above my writing window. Possibly on paper…
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I have three shelved novels, but hope remains they’re merely in suspended animation and not DEAD dead. I do fantasize about going back and revising them some day with a more practiced eye if/when novels four or five find a home.
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Hi Luanne,
It’s comforting to know shelved manuscripts don’t have a sell-by date, isn’t it? You’ll know if and when to revisit those stories. In the meantime, I applaud your productivity!
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I worked on my first novel for about 5-6 years (about 80,000 words) and now it’s been on the shelf for about 4 years since. I am dreading picking it back up again, as I feel I have lost passion for it. I need to finish this though!! Still need to develop characters, add in dialogue, and write more story line…..so many things. AND need to cut a lot out of it. Thanks for your article. It helped! :-)
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Hi Linda,
I’m glad my thoughts are useful to you. I’d encourage to go back to your manuscript; you might be surprised to find you have both renewed enthusiasm and lots of bright ideas!
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Welcome, Sonja. And yes, I also have two novels quietly sleeping in my computer and printed pages stashed in a drawer. But I couldn’t follow your first step, because I actually can’t remember all the aspects of the plot line for one of them–the second novel I wrote. I think I would read and kill darlings or characters or plot lines as I read. Or reconsider how to use them. POV would have to change. But I know there’s some good stuff there. Thanks for the tips.
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Hi Beth,
I forget a lot about my old work; that’s not really a problem if you decide to revisit an old story. Just make an outline as you go and soon you will be dreaming about plot points and characters again. Best of luck!
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Welcome, Sonja! I put my first novel and two or three revisions of it in boxes, then found myself mining the characters and certain aspects of the world-building in a subsequent Ms. That book is now the fourth in a series of four, but with very little resemblance to its original form (hopefully because I’ve learned some things about the craft). I actually experienced physical discomfort looking thru some of the early chapters. It works better for me to let the workable plot-points and characters float up to the surface on their own. Wonderful post. I look forward to more!
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Hi Susan,
Sounds as though you found a useful way to make something of your shelved work without actually rewriting that story. And I know what you mean about cringing. But that’s how we know we’ve grown as writers, right?
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Welcome Sonja (yay Vermont!) and thanks for this excellent post. It’s a fine reminder that shelved projects need not be buried forever. The inspiration that started them may still be alive somewhere, waiting for a friendly invitation to “just” a coffee date without the anxieties that accompany a huge commitment. Even though my WIP is nonfiction, I see many points here I can use, especially starting over fresh while not consulting all those reams of early notes and drafts.
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Funny enough, this story started off as memoir, so one never knows the direction a manuscript will take. More mystery and, perhaps, more magic—and headache!
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Great article! And it comes at the perfect time for me. Like many (I am now hearing), I had shelved my first novel due to what I was sure were unsolvable problems. But it was always on the back burner as I worked on other projects. Two weeks ago, the solution to the unsolvable problem finally percolated to the surface — and suddenly the whole thing makes sense! But I’m still faced with the daunting task you describe: how to go back to ALL those words (180K in my case, ouch) and figure out which ones work and which don’t. Your approach sounds like just what I needed to hear — thanks!
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Hi Joy,
What an exciting time for you! Best of luck whipping your old/new book into shape. Sounds as though your new insights will take you a long way. Here’s to resurrection!
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Welcome to WU, Sonja. And what a wonderful first post.
Please don’t throw shoes at me, but my first novel was published. I have, however, pulled a third novel from a dusty drawer. I’m pleased to realize I followed a similar process to you, only not so well organized. Your plan sounds much better!
When I was finally ready for the first full read through, I had to work very hard to read it as a reader would, not an author. I had to read on paper, hide all the pens, and fight the urge to hack. This was difficult to do, but allowed me to keep focused on the bigger picture, which needed work. Notes were taken later, only after the story had time to marinate in my head.
I’d be interested to hear how your process went after you read through your resurrected manuscript….
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT (Gift of Travel)
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Hi Denise,
Congrats on publishing your first novel! Huge respect to you; every path is different and success is always a cause for celebration.
It is indeed very difficult to address an old story in a new light—not unlike regarding a spouse as a new lover each morning. But the value is found in the attempt. The more I strive to take a fresh look, to see the story anew, the more I am convinced I’m right to take this project on again. For me it’s all about finding faith in the story and keeping it. So simple and so hard. Best of luck!
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Sonja, a Treasure Trove of Mirth? That is genius! I may try “A Compost Bucket of Kneeless Witticisms” for my pencil shavings of the brain that looked good from a distance. I admire your composure in putting manuscripts on ice and them thawing them with dry precision. Me, I’ve shelved a couple of novels for years at a time, then tripped over their printouts on the way to the wet bar, messed with them again, shelved, messed, shelved.
But I went further than Denise’s confession: I’ve published TWO of those pups. Probably because I really thought I’d look good in a velvet smoking jacket while I was interviewed by literary luminaries. Lucky for me, I never bought the jacket. More calculated work could have been done with the lead characters, but impatience won out over good sense. Your course is wiser.
Very nice to see you here in the cozy confines of WU.
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Well, Tom, you WOULD look good in a velvet smoking jacket… I say you should get one. LOL.
Dee
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Denise, of course, it IS a timeless piece, and a wardrobe basic (and just think of the accessories!). Thanks for the vote of confidence—I should probably begin my search somewhere on the Amalfi Coast…
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The clothes make the man, I’ve heard, so surely the jacket makes the writer…
As long as we retain our humor, we can’t be far gone, can we?
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Hi Sonja,
I wrote my first novel back in the ’70’s about two high school sweethearts growing up in the ’60’s and ’70’s. I went to college, married, and raised four kids before I got my manuscript out again.
Reading through I realized how much things had changed and I wanted to ‘fix’ this — to update it. But then I realized I couldn’t. We actually used the word ‘beauty shop’ instead of hair salon. My main character couldn’t whip out her cell phone when she was stuck in a snow drift because they weren’t invented yet. Things like that.
I was told to break my story in two as it was too long. I have both books published now so — keep at it. I enjoyed the process. These are your people that you’ve created. Enjoy getting to know them again.
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Thanks for the encouragement, JR. Yes, the path is somewhere in front of me; I just need to ferret it out. Congratulations to you for sorting out your first novel. Personally, I adore novels set in the near past. Of course when you are as old as me, the near past is shelved as historical fiction!
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Hi Sonja! Welcome to WU.
My “darlings file” is titled “Orphans of the Page”–not dead, just waiting for a home. I don’t really have a completed manuscript stashed away, just bits and pieces of stories I’ve begun and abandoned. But, I save everything.
Until recently, I saw revision as the consequence of mistakes–the more mistakes I made, the more I had to revise, and trying to avoid mistakes was making the writing a chore instead of an adventure. After taking a writing class that included re-working material after receiving feedback on it, my attitude toward revision changed entirely when I saw all the new possibilities.
So, I’ve taken a new (for me) approach to my current WIP: blasting it out of my head as fast as I can, knowing that the “real” writing, the real story, will emerge during revision. With your tips and Don’s questions from his recent post, I can hardly wait to start revising this story (after putting it aside to simmer for a couple months). The draft is a mess, with notes and weird marks all over the place (like big pink “Ts” for “tedious”), but the writing has been enjoyable, maybe even fun, and I’m hopeful that I’ll end up with a decent MG story.
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Hi CK,
I’m delighted that you’ve come to view revision as a joy rather than a punishment. Every day I remind myself that writing is a process, not an event. Why is it so hard to hold onto this idea? I suppose we are hard on ourselves, and impatient. Sigh.
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Hi Sonja,
I love this: “To make culling easier, I have a folder in Scrivener called A Treasure Trove of Mirth in which I stash everything from single sentences to entire chapters. They aren’t dead, they’re in prison and I have visiting privileges.”
Prison and visiting privileges – what a great image. I don’t have Scrivener so I keep a file called “On the Cutting Room Floor” – all my sweetest loveliest best-written darlings litter the floor and are occasionally taken up again and re-worked. I’ll think about clanking doors and chains whenever I open it, thanks to you.
Welcome to WU!
Lorraine
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Hi Lorraine,
Keep in mind that we’ll-behaved characters, metaphors, and even entire scenes can be released early—on probation, of course!
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Thanks for the advice, Sonja! I just resurrected an old manuscript that sat idle for nearly 5 years. Hopefully, it will be released near the end of May 2018 as book 1 in a 3-book series. Whether I’m successful at doing this remains to be seen, but I’ve got a lot riding on this investment.
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Congratulations, Harry! Fingers crossed that your new/old story comes to life in readers’ hands.
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Great post!
I’m pretty sure I need a Treasure Chest of Mirth, now!
Are they saved as separate files? Or all in one doc, separated by a couple blank lines? Do you have an index (probably not… that sounds like overkill)
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Hi Morgan,
The Trove is a folder in Scrivener with each line or scene or chapter as a separate piece of text (technically a scene in the program). I label them and they are arranged in chronological order, more or less.
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OMG but I had a similar experience with my first novel. When I couldn’t sell it, I threw it on the shelf. It took a published author I had dinner with one time to ask me what I wrote. I said FundsforWriters. She said, “No, what do you write for YOU.” I mentioned this old mystery. She said, “Dig it out and rewrite it. Pursue it. You’ll kick yourself ten years from now if you don’t.” I pulled it out, kept an outline of it, and threw it away after I read it. Then I rewrote it from scratch. In that four years of only writing freelance material, my writing had grown from simply writing daily. That novel turned into my first, Lowcountry Bribe, and on April 20, my publisher releases my eighth, Newberry Sin. I’m so happy I met that author….and threw that manuscript away and started over.
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What a wonderful story, Hope! It’s incredible how a single push can change the trajectory of a career. Thanks for sharing with us.
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I’m essentially “copy-typing” my old several years old first manuscript now (without knowing this process had a name) and can verify that it is slower but much better to retype than cut-and-paste.
When I started to rewrite the manuscript, I changed it from an adult thriller to a YA thriller, killed off my very boring main protagonist (hero) and introduced seventeen year old twins, Nick and Nora (thank you, Dashiell).
Because I’m a more competent and confident writer these days, I’ve also sexed it up (Nick’s temptation by slightly older woman) and turned the main antagonist into a younger Donald Trump (it’s impossible to overdo the latter’s repulsiveness!).
It’s been a very freeing experience.
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Hi David,
I love the idea of shifting genres as part of refurbishing an old manuscript. Sounds as though you’ve given it lots of thought and time and added elements that will keep readers transfixed.
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Hi, Sonja!
Welcome to WU! I’m new to it and writing full time (though it was always my dream, life and a teaching career intervened). When I retired, I wrote a couple of children’s manuscripts, feeling that was my best bet for publication with my background as an elementary school librarian. I composed a query letter and sent them off electronically to a few firms I read about in Writers Market. Never heard a word, not even a polite rejection.
Then a friends father died and in his obituary I read about his experiences in a POW camp in WWII. He ended up leading an escape of 162 prisoners with the help of a German guard who
stayed behind when the rest of the guards fled. They became lifelong friends, sending letters and exchanging holiday greetings until Jacks death. I told my friend I wanted to write his dads story into a book. I’d never known Jack, but he’d written a 30 page memoir and a few poems. I was given access to that and a photo album. Not knowing anything about the craft of writing then, nothing of plot structure or character arcs, knowing only what I liked in a story from reading and telling many during my 35 years of teaching, I plunged in with both feet and came up with a 125 page manuscript. I fictonalized it somewhat so it’s more novel than memoir. I had friends read it. I revised and revised, then life in the form of my daughters college and law school graduations and leaving my husband after 40+ years of marriage intervened.
I reconnected with an old friend from high school, also divorced and a writer. He offered more editing revisions and taught me about plot structure (I prefer four acts), character arcs, their integration with the plot and their types, scene/sequel and much more. I’m living with him now, and began a new novel. But Jacks story and my children’s mss tugged at my memory. I connected with another friend from high school who has written two novels, teaches screen writing, and has had one of his screenplays made into a movie by Universal. He talked to his editor and gave me her contact information and she has agreed to look at the Prologue and first chapter.
My writer friend and I spent two long days revising same and I hope to send them off to the editor this weekend. If she’s interested, I’ll be thrilled, but terrified because I feel I should rewrite the entire novel now in view of all I’ve learned. Thanks to my friend (it’s too strange to call him my boyfriend at 67), and my learning,I’m a much better writer.
Your article was most helpful. I’m resurrecting the children’s books as well and an author friend has given me good feedback. If the editor wants to see more, I’ll employ some of your suggestions!
Much thanks!
Cynthia
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Hi Cynthia,
All any of us can do is strive to improve our writing. It sounds as though you’ve had loads of great advice and the courage to persist. Here’s hoping for positive news from the editor!
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Hi Sonja – this is a great post, which I discovered via David Wilson linking to my blog This Itch of Writing (thanks, David – glad you found my post useful).
I think writing a long, long synopsis, to get the story straightened out in your head, before you encounter the actual text, is a really good idea. Existing words have such authority, compared to the cloudy sense of the new story that’s in your head; as a result, it’s really hard to throw away those solid words, in favour of the new ones you haven’t even found. All to often one ends up bodging things together from what exists already, instead of starting clear with all-new stuff, and creating Frankennovel…
Mind you, I think you’re also right that for most of us, it takes experience before we’re good at seeing the ghostly flesh that will fill out the synopsis-skeleton. I’ve got to the point where I actually enjoy writing synopses, for that clarity of vision … even if what has come clear is that the darned thing doesn’t actually hitch up at all!
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Hi Emma,
I’m glad you have found a way to embrace the synopsis; it’s still something of a necessary evil for me. I do find it to be a useful touchstone to reassure myself that the story is there even as I muddy the waters and lose my way.
I hope you do find a way to make your story work!
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Hi Sonja
Interestingly, when I ‘fessed up to enjoying synopses on Facebook, most early comments by friends were of the “Ewww – how can you!” sort, but slowly my fellow synopsis-lovers gradually put their heads over the parapet, and in the end it was about 50/50!
I blogged about the hows and whys of it, which you or other writers might find useful:
http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2016/07/please-dont-hate-me-for-loving-synopses.html
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Great advice. Perfect timing. I’m blowing the dust off, ignoring the technology issues, and revisiting a first love. Thanks.
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Delighted I was of some help, Gabriele, and best of luck to you Enoch the revisions.
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I usually say I am writing my first proper novel now, but this is not strictly true. I wrote a complete “novel” when I was 18 (almost 30 years ago), devised as a children’s book (10 year old or so). It is still hand written and quite long, and for years I though I would never touch it again. But recently I have been playing with the thought of maybe getting it out again sometime. THANKS for the advice of not starting with reading it! I will probably have to throw away almost everything, but the central idea and the characters are still in my mind. So maybe one day I will sit down and start thinking about what it was that captured my imagination back then.
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Isn’t it wondef that we can, in some ways, recapture the past? I hope you find much to love in your new approach to this book. And how great is it that you wrote a book at 18!?!
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I would love to publish my shelved novels one day. Hopefully when I’m done with the ones I’m currently writing (if another doesn’t get in the way).
I currently have two on the sidelines, but I also have a file I mine for ideas from previous starts that didn’t end up going anywhere, so I have plenty of material that needs to be gone through.
This was a great post, and I’m going to save it to reference when I finally get to that point. Thank you!
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