A quick shout-out to Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands and the Philippines, all of which have joined the BYE League of Nations in the last couple of days. I don't know what's up with the global readership lately, but it's nice to see all of you.
I began the BYE with a simple career plan in mind.
Goal one: Write book.
Goal two: Rewrite book until readable.
Goal three: Sell book to publisher and hope a few people buy it.
Goal four: Repeat first three steps multiple times until I either die or run out of things to say.
So I entered an unknown land, not knowing if I could meet any of these goals but with exactly one year to find out.
I met my first goal much faster than I thought I would, and the process was easier than I thought it would be.
Goal two was a stumbling block because I learned so much in the process of meeting the first goal that I was able to see some of my rookie mistakes--and I made plenty of them. By the time I fixed my first round of mistakes, I had learned even more about the art and craft of storytelling and had uncovered more problems in desperate need of attention. It was a vicious cycle. One thing I have learned is that I can rewrite until the end of time and I'll never be completely satisfied with the result. At some point I determined that it had to be either good enough for review or left for dead, and I guess that's what I'm finding out now.
Now I'm working on goals three and four simultaneously. Tomorrow we'll discuss goal three in more detail. Today let's talk about tackling goal four.
I've got a new novel in the works, a police procedural set in the fictional college town of Constantinople, Alabama. It will explore the themes of infidelity, football, religion and technology, probably in that order of emphasis. I've outlined the book, written some of the character sketches and put together my suspect list.
Teri is disappointed that this one won't have a love interest, at least in the conventional sense, but my young niece Katie will be happy to know that she can read this manuscript when it's done since it will have either a PG or PG-13 rating.
I've started writing the new book, call it Project A. The whole thing is in my head, even if some of the characters and plot twists are still lurking in the background. The thing is, this time around I know they'll be there waiting for me when I need them.
I'm excited about Project A, and I can already tell that I'll be able to avoid some of the pitfalls I tumbled into the first time even as I create new ones. I don't think I'll "love" this one as much since it won't be my "first" love, but I can already tell it's going to be better technically and be better crafted than the first.
At the same time, I've just begun work on a third project. When I started the BYE, a wise friend came to me and said: "I have one word of advice for you--nonfiction." I ignored him and followed my heart, but I get it now--believe me, I do. There are something like 50,000 nonfiction books published in any given year and about 10,000 novels. Your odds of successfully getting a nonfiction work to print are five times greater than getting your Pulitzer-worthy first novel published.
Other than wanting to tell a story, the reason I ignored my wise friend was that I didn't feel expert enough in anything to write a book about it and was too busy to learn. Also, I didn't have a great idea. The other day I had a flash of inspiration and came up with the right idea. It is a non-fiction book that I'm positive I am competent to write and that will sell well. I haven't found a book on this subject written from the approach I'm taking.
I'll have a collaborator for this book. When I told Teri about my idea and showed her the first few pages I had written, she became as excited as I am about it. Teri is helping me with the outline will contribute one or more semi-scientific self-assessments to it. Surveys are one of her research strengths as an academic, so this is right up her alley.
So what is it about? I'd love to tell you, Discerning Reader, but I'm going to be mysterious about Project M until we're further along. Stay tuned.
I beg to differ, but I'll bet the farm that your odds aren't 5 times better at getting non-fiction published. You are showing your journalistic roots as you take a random number and present to the public all sorts of misinformation gleaned from the number. You must be a democrat. First, I doubt nearly as many novels are submitted for publicaion as nonifiction works. Let's face it, it's a heck of a lot harder to write a work of fiction than "The Loser's Guide to Gilligan's Island" or "Chicken Soup for the Patsy's Soul". And of those non-fiction books, how many are coffee table books or tourist guides to Helena. Most probably have printings in the hundreds. Also how many are self-published? Anyway, if you don't know how many of each are submitted, we really don't know what the odds of publication are. I say indulge yourself with non-fiction if you want but keep cranking out the novels. That's where the bucks be.
ReplyDeleteHi Bugtaster. Haven't seen you around these parts in a while, and when you show up in the comments section, your words tend to have the ring of truth.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct--the submitted to accepted ratio for both fiction and nonfiction titles factored in with a units per published work in each category would be a valid measure of how easy and profitable each is.
As for the democrat shot, them's fighting words. I'm fiercely independant but lean right. Last time I voted for Obama, but only because I was furious with W over his handling of Katrina, the wars and his failure to show leadership by letting the financial markets run wild.
How's that Obama thing working out for ya?
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I fell for the hope and change thing. I'm disappointed, but I don't regret my vote. I take heart in the immortal words of Pete Townsend in his song "Don't Get Fooled Again".
ReplyDelete"There's nothing in the street looks any different to me."
Townshend had this to say about his song: "It is not precisely a song that decries revolution - it suggests that we will indeed fight in the streets - but that revolution, like all action can have results we cannot predict. Don't expect to see what you expect to see. Expect nothing and you might gain everything. The song was meant to let politicians and revolutionaries alike know that what lay in the centre of my life was not for sale, and could not be co-opted into any obvious cause."
I was fooled, but I don't regret my vote. Like Townshend, I believe the ultimate results of the Obama presidency may ultimately work for good in ways none of us can predict right now.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
But I won't get fooled again.
The old boss isn't Obama, it's our allowing our Congressional reps (both reds and blues) to keep doing the same old things while the CIC tries to weave a tapestry of cooperation among greedy blame-mongers. I think.
ReplyDeleteAnd I talked to Charlie D today; good story to tell you.
So are you joining the Tea Party Steve?
ReplyDeleteI doubt it, somehow.
Hmmm, Charlie D story. Sounds good.