Writing Update: Check-in and R&R Reflections
What I’m Doing Right Now
Although I’m technically drafting two stories, my focus is definitely not on them right now. I finished drafting NLTO last month (May), just in time to begin this revise and resubmit from one of the agents I queried with WSD. So, the WSD R&R has been my priority, and when I feel satisfied enough with that to send it to the agent, I’ll be turning my attention back to the other two books at the editing stage. I wish there were more hours in the day!
I’ll keep the updates quick, and then get to my reflections on the R&R specifically.
Project Updates
CC has been sitting at around 40k words since April, and it will likely stay there through June as well since my priorities are elsewhere.
Hilde is around 11k words still, and I was considering shelving it back in April. I’m about 95% sure that’s where it’s going for now. I’ve just got other projects I’m far more excited about right now.
NLTO is drafted! I finished the first draft in May, and it’s likely what I’ll be pulling out again once I’m done with the WSD R&R.
TMC Book 2 has been waiting for me to begin the edits/revisions suggested by my editor. It’s tied for next in line once I finish the WSD R&R.
WSD is still out to a handful of agents. I received a revise and resubmit from one of them, so that’s what I’ve been working on since mid-May. I’m hoping to have it completed and resubmitted by the end of June. There are a few agents I really wanted to query but either they weren’t available at the time, or I just heard about them through an interview or friend more recently. I’ve researched them and really do think they could be a great fit for me and my work, but I want to follow through with this R&R first, because I really respect this agent. So, we’ll see once it’s done and resubmitted.
R&R REFLECTIONS
I’m one of those writers who has watched a lot of YouTube videos of authors chronicling their querying journeys, so I’d heard about revise and resubmits long before I ever started querying myself. However, like most things, it’s different once you’re the one doing it. I’d watch those videos, silently warning them against getting their hopes up… an R&R is no guarantee of representation. In fact, it’s very likely it won’t lead to that. I wanted them to stay realistic about the process and guard against the inevitable heart break. Plus, I know several authors personally who opted to do an R&R for an agent, only to be rejected in the end. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t know anyone myself who has completed an R&R and gone on to accept an offer of rep with that agent. I’ve seen that happen with people I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem especially common.
Despite that, I’m finding myself crossing all my fingers and toes, hoping I’ll be the exception. I truly do believe the agent’s suggestions made a difference in my manuscript, and it’s so much stronger already! I sent the revised draft out to readers and am awaiting feedback from two of them, but one has already finished and provided feedback. I really value this person’s feedback, as she’s from one of my critique groups and she’s critiqued a few of my pieces now. It seems like I was able to incorporate the agent’s suggestions well, and the thoughts I got back from this one critique partner will only elevate it further. I’m really looking forward to what the others say!
PUTTING IN THE WORK
Although I was happy with my manuscript before (I wouldn’t have queried it otherwise), I did feel like certain things were lacking or underdeveloped. In my desire to keep word count down and strike a balance between literary and commercial writing, some things got lost. As I was re-reading in preparation for the revision, I noticed so many places where I could have added interiority or provided more context for the protagonist’s actions and feelings. I think I overcorrected too far in an effort to lean into commercial and keep it moving. So now, I’ve been able to find ways to share more of her inner experience and perspectives without sacrificing the pace, and I’m not even sure I can describe what that’s done. I feel like I can breathe and settle into the story now.
I’ve known this character really well from the start and I want everyone else to know her, too. She came to me as a nearly fully-fleshed out person, and over the course of writing the book she came completely alive in my mind. I think I did a solid job of showing her actions and emotions well on page, but I neglected the rest of her interiority enough that even I felt like something might be missing when it came to the exploration of themes through her perspective lens. Her thoughts and beliefs on those themes never quite made it to page in the way I’d hoped, but through this revision process we’re getting there!
AN EXAMPLE
Everyone knows interiority is where it’s at, but I want to show you an example of how small adjustments can make big changes.
In WSD, there’s a flashback scene where my protagonist is sitting on a hotel rooftop, having just ended a relationship with her lifelong best friend. She’d been struggling since the death of her grandmother earlier in childhood, and had spent those years trying to contain her anger and vulnerability over the loss, especially since she felt disconnected from her own parents. She’d lashed out a lot in the early years, but by late high school she’d learned how to show people what they wanted to see. And by the time she’s in this hotel scene in early adulthood, the repression was consuming her, destroying all her relationships and ability to connect with people. Though the scene is showing someone in despair, on the edge of breaking, and considering suicide, it lacked the intensity I was wanting to convey, in part because I didn’t take us fully into her mindset. This character suppresses and dissociates as a way to cope, but I still want the reader to understand that her emotions are not only present, but intense and distressing to her. Simply by adding a few lines of interiority, I was able to make that far clearer.
Actively experiencing a mental health crisis (considering self harm instead of suicide for the moment), my protagonist returns to what she knows: shoving things away and avoiding them in order to stay alive. Grieving the loss of her only remaining friend but deciding not to die, I end that paragraph with:
“Resuming her position on the edge of the building, swaying with the breeze, Bea closed her eyes and pressed the shard against her thigh. Far too conscious of the busy streets below, she imploded, a silent scream unfit for release into this supposedly civilized world. She swallowed it, compacted it, until it fit inside one of the many cages cluttering her mind. Wild things belonged behind bars, not on rooftops of fancy hotels. At least she wasn’t jumping.”
The bolded lines show what I added. I still need to do a line edit, so this may change, but it’s there for now. Can you see the difference? Before, I was communicating that she’s about to self-harm, and she’s choosing to live, but it’s completely missing her inner experience and what beliefs are leading her to make the decisions she’s making. Her belief that her vulnerability must be contained—that it’s the reason she can’t connect with anyone—is a thread throughout the entire story, but this scene really demonstrates both that she believes emotions are wild things deserving of captivity, and that see sees mere survival as the goal. At least she wasn’t jumping. It also demonstrates her view of the world and her place in it. The world is supposedly civilized, which communicates her own doubts about whether or not the world is actually civilized, but also her belief that she (with all her messiness) is unfit for that world, either way. Finally, it shows that she still cares what others think. Even alone on a rooftop she won’t allow herself to feel and express everything, because the people below might hear.
Three sentences added all that.
Maybe I’m just a total nerd, but I love that words are so powerful… that in a few lines we can dive into someone’s mind and learn more about how they see themselves and everyone/everything around them. While the manuscript I queried had moments of these insights into the character, it wasn’t nearly enough. I plan to go back through after the other two readers send their feedback and add even more.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’m so glad I’m doing this revision. I don’t have a formal education or credentials for my writing… I’ve just always loved it and always done it. I did take a few creative writing courses in high school and college, but I never saw it as a viable career option so it fell aside as I pursued more “practical” things. I’ve spent the past 3 years diving head first into every craft book, workshop, podcast, and YouTube channel I can find, but I know I’m new at this, and I know I’m inexperienced. While I’ve written professionally for websites and marketing materials, and have done some academic writing in the past, fiction writing isn’t something I ever learned through any formal means. As such, it’s all that more meaningful for me to get feedback from industry professionals and other writers.
I may have a lot of first drafts written, but I’ve only done serious edits/revisions on this and one other so far. I’m still learning and growing as a writer, and I have to believe that as long as I stay eager to accept feedback, I’ll only continue to get better. I think it’d be pretty amazing to get an agent with my first completed manuscript, though, not gonna lie. I know that’s not the norm, but a person can hope! If this agent ends up rejecting after I resubmit, there are still other agents I can query. I’m just admittedly kinda set on this one. I like them, they communicate clearly, and their editorial suggestions helped me take my manuscript and make it something even stronger. I really think we could work well together, but I suppose we’ll see if they feel the same once I send this over to them in a few weeks!
Alright, back to writing I go!
Today’s date: June 4th, 2024
