A Manuscript Reunion Revisited

I just had to pull this oldie and post it today. I am trucking through that 2013 manuscript...going through my second round of edits...and let me tell you...IT. IS. A. CHORE! I love the story one minute, then wail about it the next. I just feel like I need to find a cave and stay there until it's to my expectations--but then again, my expectations might be a teensy bit unreasonable!

Would love to hear from you all today! Ever dusted off an old manuscript? What challenges did you face?

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I can't stop my smile from growing when I hear a friend's voice on the phone or receive a piece of mail from a friend who I haven't seen in a while.

A couple weeks ago, I had a full day of smiling as I received phone calsl back to back from TWO AlleyCats and a note from another Cat that afternoon! Wow, talk about feeling loved. At least once (sometimes twice) a year, many of us AlleyCats spend some quality time face-to-face, reminiscing, brainstorming, supporting each other, and building special friendships of a lifetime.

In perfect writerly fashion, I am going to use our little reunions as a segue to my most recent encounter with an old manuscript that is suddenly rising from the drawer it was stuffed into.
I feel like I am reuniting with old friends as I remember the characters who I spent a a a a a LOT of time with three years ago.

While my AlleyCat sistas and I seem to mesh upon first squeal, there are differences with my fictional friends who make that manuscript reunion not only reminiscent, but a teensy bit awkward...and even deflating.

Have you ever picked up an old story and reacquainted yourself with the characters? What did you discover?

Did too much time pass by that you no longer have anything in common with your imaginary friends? I mean, do they seem shallow and flat and just a reminder of how much growing you've done while you were apart?

How about things that may have seem like scars or wounds in your characters' lives, now seem small in comparison to the real life experiences you as their creator have endured?

No matter how disappointing I might feel with the 2013 version of Angie's made-up people, it's a good thing in a way, because it reminds me that I am growing in my craft, my experience, and my knowledge. I look back and regret the failed submissions and unfruitful queries LESS. I get that 20/20 hindsight that I simply wasn't ready to introduce the world to those characters back then, and I now have the opportunity to develop deeper "relationship" with my people after all I've learned.

Writing is a beautiful thing when we grow, we learn, and remember our footsteps to creating a beautiful story, a perfectly flawed character, and find a most opportune chance to touch an audience--in perfect timing.

 I am just thankful that in my non-fiction life, I have friends like the AlleyCats who push me further down the road as a person, a writer, and a friend, so I can make my fiction shine even brighter.

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Angie Dicken is a full-time mom and lives in the Midwest with her Texas Aggie sweetheart. An ACFW member since 2010, she writes historical, historical romance, and dabbles in contemporary romance. Her first two novels come out Fall 2017. Angie is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. Come hang out with me on social media!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dicken.angie, 

Twitter: @angiedicken
Pinterest: pinterest.com/agdicken

Excuses, Excuses! What's Stopping You From That Rewrite?

 I pushed forward, consuming my first draft in edit mode. I rekindled my love for my story, characters, and setting. A few tweaks here, a few deletes there. All the while, there was a tug in the back of my mind, trying to slow me down. It was coming, and coming fast. The sleeping monster's snore was getting louder, reminding me of what lay ahead.

It can't be that bad, I kept telling myself.

After all, I didn't have any major problems, just adding a few scenes for punch. Surely my memory failed me. I didn't really have a tangled mess in chapter twenty four. I probably just needed to erase and replace, brush away that old plot thread, and weave in the one I intended.

No problem. Piece of cake.

Eh. Not so much.

That sleeping monster: the not-so-great chapter....opened its lazy eyes, and began to stretch its arms, shoving away all my attempts to avoid picking him up and plopping him in the trash. It would be a struggle, wouldn't it? Too much time to try and fill in the giant gap his absence would leave. Perhaps I can just dress him up, so he “looks” good. Maybe, just maybe, he's not so bad after all.

And the little girl inside of me fell to the floor kicking and screaming:

"Please, please, please don't make me start over!"

Today, from my own experience, I want to suggest three excuses that may try and distract you from that task at hand, that inevitable step to truly polishing your manuscript before submission...even if it means that horrible word: REWRITE.

Excuse #1: Tweak what you have to fit your new plot line. So, in my case, I needed to readjust the plot. During that first draft, I had gone down a rabbit hole, and while it might have been an intriguing story line, it really was for a whole different book altogether. But, I really liked my set up, my language, the whole “feel” of the scene. There is a major problem though, when you try and fit a new scene into an old one...your characters throw a fit.

Consider your arc: would your character really do that, say that, or find themselves in that place on this new journey you've invented?

You can't just peel away the top layer and slap a new layer on it. You've got to consider the whole onion (as one particularly green monster would say. Any guesses?).

Excuse #2: Ignore your gut, it is good enough. But is it? You've written a whole manuscript. Certainly that tucks some more-refined skills in your writer's pocket? Each page you write, gives you the chance to get better. Why else do you edit, anyway? So, when you get to that scene you may have written a couple months ago, don't settle for last month's “good” when this month's good might have reached a whole new level.

Consider your own growth as a writer: Is this scene truly reflecting your best creativity, your strongest representation of the story in your head? Or does it have a hand-me-down feel, a poorly sewn patchwork of character motives?

Excuse #3: After excuse #1 and excuse #2 wasted away my time, I heaved that ugly monster and tossed him in the trash. But then came something that has not visited me for a long time: 

Writer's block.

Yeah, my plot was off, and what I thought would help was a good ol' fashion tweaking. That obviously didn't work. So now what? How can I make this worth reading to, reading thru, and hooking the reader for what's to come?

I found three things that sparked my creativity, choose one or more: 
 Crit partner brainstorming session: This is my favorite. My crit partner knows my story and my characters almost as good as me. And she also knows me. When I ask for her advice on a new plot thread, or keeping an old one, she can see through my laziness in not wanting the change, or she comes up with questions that dig deeper than the plot that's blinding me from what my characters want and need. It's always nice to have a second pair of eyes no matter what part of the process you are in, but when writing block hits, crit partners can be huge in breaking down that wall!

Research: No matter if you write historical or suspense, sci-fi or women's fiction, research doesn't just happen before you write. Sometimes you need to tap into research to spur on what's going to happen next. Since I write historical, I can look at events of that time, and decide how would my character react to them? Or perhaps there are other people's stories you come across that spur an idea? Would this be good to include in your plot to push your story forward? Even if it's a tid bit of research, if it gets you into your character's head and on to paper (or screen) then you can write yourself out of writer's block.

Take a break and read: Let your writer's mind rest. Step away from the story and jump into someone else's world for a while. Sometimes we focus so much on our own story's jagged edges, that we can't remove ourself from the snag to see the bigger picture. And sometimes, your creative juice bank needs to be filled up...which usually always happens when you dive into someone else's art for a while!

Do any of these stop you from moving forward in your rewrites? What other excuses have you told yourself to keep from writing the best for your story?
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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

 

Rewrite? Not Me!

Since I am the first newbie to post, I thought I would share a personal story (writing related) and give you a glimpse of the road I have been on, and also share some valuable lessons I learned along the way!

When you get that sudden knock-you-to-your-knees inspiration for a plot or character, it can keep you up into the wee hours, typing away. I remember the first moment of inspiration that led me down the road to writing- I was at my husband's grandmother's apartment about five years ago. She had recently moved from her home of many years, to be closer to her son. Her body was failing her in every way, but she often said she still felt like a young woman inside. Her struggles and life journey gave my heart such a tug, that one night, in her dimly lit apartment kitchen, I began to write. It started as a short story, and then I added to it. Soon I had a novel length manuscript.
It was a masterpiece! Or so I thought. I was so focused on getting my story out there, that I refused any cyber-advice I found when I googled, “publishing”. Some points I specifically ignored were:

• First book? Tuck it away and visit it in a year or two.
• Get in a critique group
• Go to a writing conference
• Rewrite!

Why would I do these things? I had poured my heart and soul into this piece and God had shown me the way! So, having patted myself on the back until I was sore, I began to skip all the steps needed to creating a worthy final product, and took the giant leap towards publishing.
I got a nibble from a co-publisher, but the price tag that went along with it was my first reality check. So I sat on it for a while. I continued writing, having a second story brewing in my head, but just couldn't resist trying to push my first manuscript forward. After several rejections from agents and editors (yes, I shamefully admit I queried with absolutely no exposure to what the industry was all about!), an editor referred me to a manuscript review service. I took the plunge and forked over the lesser amount on their price tag, and got my manuscript professionally reviewed.
At first, I saw all the wonderful things they said, and then considered the negative. But when their final advice was to, dare I say the word, ... REWRITE... I began to sit back and re-evaluate my masterpiece.
After a poor attempt to rewrite, and another pricey offer to co-publish, I received my comments from the ACFW Genesis Contest.
This was the final blow- in an absolutely wonderful and humbling way!
The judges gave me such specific suggestions and opened my dreamy eyes to what a rewrite really meant!
The inspiration I first felt at the beginning, welled up inside after the reviews, but this time it was from the challenge to write better. I was a little wiser, a little more harnessed for quality. I chose to only keep the characters from my first novel, and start from scratch. I couldn't even bring myself to use pieces from that first text because I cringed when I read it! Through the long process of pursuit, criticism, and writing as often as I could, I discovered many things that proved to me, the process to successfully write an exceptional story wasn't going to happen overnight.
Some things I finally took to my writing heart was:
what it means to write with a literary bent, but not flush your work with adjectives
AND...what “showing” versus “telling” was, and how my first manuscript was just one long “tale being told!”.
I am proud to say that I will never again let someone read my first manuscript...ever. And I am thankful that God gave me a big dose of humility over the five years I clung to my first endeavor.

I promptly got into a critique group, which led to my amazing experience at the ACFW conference. I know the path ahead is long, but I feel like I am open to growth and ready for the maturity that comes with every word written...and rewritten. Sometimes it hurts to have a crit partner rip to shreds the very sentence you were so thrilled with when it was first written. And sometimes, you just ignore suggestions and take them with a grain of salt. But to have the opportunity to learn line by line, scene by scene, only equips you to elevate your story to the next level, or create another story to be written and shared!

I am so glad I never turned my back completely on the criticism, because it would have stunted my growth and I would found little encouragement to continue with such a passionate craft as this!