WHAT IS REQUIRED

Mural, "Battle of Issus" Alexander the Great vs Darius, king of Persia.

 

When I first sent off my manuscript of SHADOW OF THE LION, the writer, Steven Pressfield, had some very astute advice for me.  In part, this is what he said:

 

I happened to have been talking to some fighter pilots recently and they told me one of the axioms of air-to-air combat. The most dangerous moment in a dogfight, they say, is immediately after you've shot down an enemy plane. Because in that moment, you may let your concentration lapse. And that's when someone jumps you and shoots you down.

 

I would say the same is true for writers. The dangerous moment is just after you finish a book and ship it off. My own ironclad principle is to IMMEDIATELY start another book.

 

When you're immersed in a new project, you're not as apt of obsess over the fate of the one you just finished. You don't check your mailbox or your Inbox compulsively. You resist the temptation to measure your worth and the worth of your work by the opinions of others.

 

The other thing I have found is that when you start Book #2, whether you realize it immediately or not, you are already working at a higher level than you were on Book #1. This helps too, when publishers, editors and agents (who are notoriously slow to respond, sometimes taking MONTHS) don't get back to you with the lavish praise you were so hoping to hear IMMEDIATELY.

Listen only to your own heart. Hang onto your emotions. The next weeks and months will be a trial, so be ready for it.  "Start the next one tomorrow."

 

I have carefully followed Steven's suggestions all the way through.  In fact, I actually hid away my manuscript of "Shadow" so I wouldn't obsess on it. And yes, I started that new novel. Well, actually it was the one I had started before I decided to write "Shadow" so I brought it out of the archives, dusted off my research files and started to retype it into the computer (it had been written on a manual typewriter).  So far so good. My writer's group loves it and I am having a great time renewing the research and getting to know the characters again. 'Dragons in the Sky" is a Celtic tale set in the 4th century BC with an Alexander connection told in the first person by a young Celtic girl, almost a past-life regression kind of story.

 

Meanwhile "Shadow" has been in the hands of an agent for several months.  But finally, in spite of saying how much he'd enjoyed reading it and that it was a 'wonderful' story, he decided against signing me on.  What to do next?  I knew this was the way things go with submissions so I did have a list of possible publisher to pitch it to. Immediately my mentor Scott Oden suggested I send to the assistant publisher of a publisher company he is familiar with. So I did. And that's where it is now.  And if that try fails, I'll go for another, and another.  Because what is required when you are trying to publish a book is PATIENCE and DETERMINATION. 

 

Detail from the mural: Alexander showing his determination.

 

Alexander the Great and, before him,  his father, the formidable warrior, King Philip of Macedonia, went fearlessly into battle and never had one defeat. Their bravery and determination and skill as strategists made Macedonia the ruler of the world, dominating Greece and defeating even the mighty forces of Persia who had dominated the Asian world.

I am lucky to have an army of supportive friends and admirers who are cheering me on and backing me up.  So I will keep on pursuing my dream until it is realized. I KNOW "Shadow of the Lion" is a worthy cause.  I put my whole heart into it and gave it my best.  So in the end, if I persevere, I know I'll eventually win the gold.

16-pointed Star, Emblem of the Macedonian Royalty.

 

 



SOMETIMES IT SEEMS NEVER-ENDING!

Me, at my work station

Sometimes it seems the work of putting a novel together is never ending!  I've been working nearly non-stop on the SHADOW OF THE LION project for literally years. I finished the book in December 2010.  Spent all of 2011 editing with two reader's critiques.  And this year, so far, more editing (professionally done). I still have to go through it one more time just to double-check spelling etc.  

There's way more to do than the actual writing and editing of a novel.  So far, I've compiled the glossary, cast of characters, Author's Note, Acknowledgements, short synopsis, and my map designer says he's almost done.  But I am still working on the long synopsis.  I've spent many hours on it so far and it isn't quite right yet.  And the synopsis has to be as near perfect as you can get it because it's part of your sales pitch.  Then there's the query letter, although I'm not too stressed about that. 

I'm aiming to get it all off and sent out into the publishing world by the end of the month.  After all these years and hours of work I am more than happy to send it on its way.  I know SHADOW OF THE LION is an excellent novel and it's my best writing.  I put my heart into it — actually my soul!

So you novice novel writers out there — especially you historical fiction writers — don't get the idea you can whip off a novel in a few months.  If you want real quality you need to do the work and spend the time.  Blood, sweat and tears, baby!  That's the way it is.  And in the end, if you are lucky, somebody might publish it! 

ON THE QUEST FOR GREATNESS

When Alexander the Great set off on his conquest to drive the Persians out of Asia Minor, I wonder if he realized his journey was going to last over ten years and take him to the farthest reaches of the known world.  (In fact, if his men hadn't mutinied when they reached the Hydaspes River in India, he would have kept going to the Encircling Ocean.  He already knew about the silk route that came from far beyond to the east.)

Just so, when I started writing my novel "Shadow of the Lion", I had no idea it was going to take me on such a long journey over such a lengthy period of time.  I started small -- writing a juvenile historical that should have only taken me about a year to write.  I'd already spent over a year researching it not counting my interest in Alexander that dated back to the age of 16.  Alexander crossed the Hellespont intending to drive the Persians back, but every battle was a victory so he kept on going.  I realized after a year of writing "Shadow" that it was too political a novel to be completed as a juvenile historical. So on the advice of a kid's book writer I started over, using a multiple point of view, given more attention to the theme "how blind ambition and greed brought down a world power."  And so it went...and the years passed and finally by the end of 2010 I had written"the end".  But that wasn't really "the end" any more than Alexander's story ended with his suspicious death in Babylon at the age 33.  Because the battles went on long afterwards.  (And that's what I was writing about.)

Now it's 2012 and I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,  or the completion of the 'conquest'.  After a whole year of having two reader's critiques done and going through the manuscript painstakingly at least three times (not counting the block editing I did while writing it, thanks to the adept critiques of my writing group), I am now editing again, thanks to the professional help I have had in taking a final serious look at what I've written : corrections, cutting, formatting.  And pretty soon now, I hope I'll be finished!

However, just as in any other conquest, there are other things to take care of.  (Alexander left behind some of his soldiers to populate the cities he had establishing along the way. He entrusted his empire to his Successors, who unfortunately managed to destroy it.)  I have to make sure everything is taken care of: synopsis. query letter, Author's notes, bibliography, glossary, a map, a list of characters.  And then, hopefully, the manuscript will be in fit shape to send out into the big world of publishing.

I'm aiming for this summer.  This means I must stay on track, work a bit every day on completion, make sure everything is corrected and presentable.  Then I hope I can turn it over to good hands who will see that it finds it's rightful place in the world of books.  With all the research and writing, rewriting and editing, this has become like a 'life work'.  But I don't regret a minute of it and I feel confident that it's going to be a success.

WHERE AM I NOW?

My writing space

This week I have started the final editing on my manuscript of "Shadow of the Lion".  I bought a very useful book "Manuscript Makeover" by Elizabeth Lyon and recommend it to anyone who is planning to edit their novel or short story manuscript in preparation to send it off to a publisher.  Besides that, I've had someone doing a thorough reader's critique and making notes where I need to change or cut.  So far the job is going quickly. Today I already finished red pencilling Part One with very few corrections or necessary adjustments or tweaks.  It's amazing how 'polished' it was and that is because I did block editing and workshopped each 'scene' as I was writing it.

It's also interesting to go back and read 'fresh' what I had written so long ago.  Amazing, really, as some of it seems as if it came from someone else. I can't remember where I got those words or when I put them down so astutely!  I'm sure, though, that as I go through it I'll find the parts that are not so smooth and those will likely be what gets cut.  Because I do have a lot of cutting to do in order to keep the manuscript to a workable and publishable length.

I have a good team lined up - my critique reader and a professional editor and someone else who offered to do proof reading.  So that's a good start.  And already I've had a little 'bite' about it although I am not going to start the big pitch to agents just yet.  I could though, as the first 3 chapters are pretty polished.  But I still have to set it up in a new file on my computer and make sure it looks as professional as possible. And that will come next.

Pretty soon I'm going to set up a special blog for the novel where I can add links to interesting facts about Alexander and the history that I have written about in the book.  I also have an "Introduction to Shadow of the Lion" group on Facebook, so if you're a Facebooker, take a look at that!

Meanwhile, stay tuned for the next reports.  These are a different type of 'progress report' that I was blogging about before when I was still writing.  Now you'll be hearing from the Editor's Desk!

PROGRESS REPORT #57: TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS
and
HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL WRITING IN THE NEW YEAR

As the year draws to a close, it's time to tie up loose ends, the unfinished business of 2009 so there will be a clean slate to begin the New Year, 2010.

I have set a goal to write THE END on my novel by the last day of December, 2009. Of course, because I am working under a deadline it makes the task seem harder than usual. The only way I will achieve my goal is to make sure I write a bit each day, and so far I've managed to do that. However, I'll be away over the Christmas holidays so at the best I'll just make notes. This means that next week (from the 28th) there's going to be a big push on to finally finish it.

It seems more complicated now, although I took time to sit down and carefully map my way, untangle the time-lines with all the plots and sub-plots. Now I'm tying up the loose ends so there won't be any gaps in the story (holes in the tapestry). I realize some things can be left ambiguous, but others need some kind of conclusion.

It's like the end of an affair, really. I'm saying goodbye to friends, people I've created or those (historical) who I've breathed life into. And some of them I love very much. So I don't want to leave the reader feeling as if the last chapter of the story was ripped out of the book -- the way some affairs end (at least, one of mine did!). Of course, when I finish, and go back to do the final editing and cutting on this huge manuscript, I will have a clearer picture of how I have woven the tapestry, and if there are mistakes, I can correct them. For now, I want to finish but just like I'm weaving on a loom, I don't want to drop any of the threads and spoil the pattern.

So this is the way I am working: I go through what I've written, see if there is anything missing. Yes? Then I map out a scene to add. Just like I'm filling in pieces of a jig-saw puzzle, I can see where I need to add something. And I make notes. Then I work at the computer. Then I edit. Then I go back and do the same. I'll eventually workshop each of the new scenes and then go back to do more edits/adds/deletes. But at least, if I can write THE END by December 31, I'll feel as though I have accomplished one of the biggest, most important projects of my life so far.

What then? Then I will go back to my Celtic novel, the one that has been sitting in a box waiting for me to complete Shadow of the Lion, and I will try to finish it for next year's project.