Jan 22 2009
My Novel Doesn’t Suck!
After spending several days afraid to open my second novel up (afraid of what I’d find, since I hadn’t revisited it since JULY), I finally worked up the courage and began revising.
Okay, so I intended to revise. Only now I’m starting chapter ten, and I’ve hardly changed a word. Instead, I stayed up late, way past bedtime, because I couldn’t put it down.
Really. And I can count on one hand the number of books that have made me stay up that late reading. On less than five fingers, really. And I wrote all this, yet I found myself stuck to the computer screen, anxious to see what happened next (even though I knew what happened next). The characters are so compelling, especially the narrator, a 14-year-old girl who hates to talk, but has plenty to say.
So now I don’t know what to do. I wrote all sorts of previous blogs about how my first drafts stink and yet how much I look forward to revising the heck out of them…yet I have no urge to revise this at all. I probably changed a dozen words or phrases so far, and only one scene still bothers me, mainly because its too sensual, to unusual. And yet I’m drawn to it, still, enough that I am not ready to change it.
I know I’ll find more to fix as I go along (I’m about 1/3 of the way through), but after that I’m sending it off to some volunteer readers. And then I’ll find out whether the book is really that good, or I’m just delusional.
Tomorrow is Short Story Friday. I’ll post a short chapter, and you let me know what you want to see happen next. I’ll give you through the weekend to respond to that one before I start on the next chapter.
See you tomorrow!
Of course it doesn’t. Why would it? Writing novels is a learning process and, whether we intend to or not (and I’m sure you intended to) you probably incorporated much of what you learned building your first novel into the second novel. And you LIKE it - that means you definitely did something right even IF (not when) your readers respond with less enthusiasm. That doesn’t mean you won’t have anything to fix - other perspectives are always helpful even when you think you’re done (or at least they’ve been that way for me) - but that you have something worthwhile to work on.
It speaks to you. When my own work speaks to me, I know I’ve got something good even when it needs more work. I suspect you’ve got yourself quite the little gem, even if it will need a little more polish (or even if it won’t).
Kudos.
Dont revise it then! Leave it as is. I bet it’s great. Cant wait to read parts of it
It’s always a good thing when you enjoy your own work! Isn’t that the way it should be?
I completely agree with everybody! I hope my readers like it as much as I do.
Then again, it’s like I tell my students: If you hate it, your readers will likely hate it, too. If it bores you, it will bore your readers. But if you like it, at least you’ve impressed someone!
Thanks for all the encouragement!
Hey, read you blog for the first time today. I really enjoyed it. I don’t think I ever got close enough to your husband to smell his aftershave, but I can imagine. I know he didn’t like it when I called him Babe!
I look forward to keeping up with you even when I don’t get you emailed. It is a lot of fun to get this little peak into you life as I head off to start a new leg of mine. Talk to you soon.