Novelist to Author

Quering Agents for Driving the Birds

2010-01-02T06:49:00.000-08:00

The joy of having more and more literary agents request chapters, and the full MS, of, Driving the Birds, Africa, Land of my Birth, Jabonkah Sackey's Story, is one of the most fulfilling feelings.

A sixth agent has responded to my email query campaign and has requested the first 20 pages of DTB!

Many who are close to me, my aunt, mother, and girl friend, have read DTB and have raved about it. I am grateful for their kind comments, however, no review hit me like the one I received from my sister. Here are the BlackBerry messages we exchanged: "Just finished your book. It was a great read. :)" I being a doubting writer and her being family replied: "Really?" She replied: "Really, Couldn't put it down." I responded: "Music to my writer's heart."

My sister's review was and still is the greatest one yet! Besides being a HS principle here in OC, she reads extensively, with book markers! Plus, she is not prone to exaggeration or platitudes.

My point beyond sharing my joy with you is this: My goal has been to dedicate myself to daily writing for ten years in order to realize my dream of walking into Barnes and Nobles and finding my book(s) on the shelf. I'm only half way there. I am five years into my ten year time frame. Yes, attracting the interests six agents is a long ways from one of my books being on the shelf in B&N, but, it could be the beginning of the start of my dream. Jinks? I don't believe that or knocking on wood. Yet this is not my point!

Here it is: I was in the right place at the write time to be able to write DTB, not only being in a special place and time, but also, IMHO, I was prepared to write DTB, having spent the last five years writing everyday. (four completed novels MS and now the DTB MS) If DTB ultimately gets published, it would be due to luck, being blessed with a "great story concept," and preparation, five years of daily writing.

Here comes a new year, dieting, worrying about credit card bills, taking out the Christmas tree or taking down Hanukkah lights, and dedicating or rededicating yourself to daily writing.

As always, my wish and hope for you this start of a new year is for you to enjoy and nurture your joy of writing, publishing is optional.

Returning to my first love.

2007-07-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

I have two written novels and just spanked a new baby novel, my third.

Last weekend, I outlined my first, unpublished, novel that I hadn't opened for more than a year.

As, I scanned through the pages of each chapter, recalling how each moved the plot along, meaning, was it simply a fun chapter for ME, an oasis of colorful rambling, or were the characters and action connected in some meaningful way with the other chapters. It was a short novel to begin with (The first draft was 100,000 words. I kept 10,000 of that first draft and began again, ending it at 50,000 words.) As I sat in my back yard, surrounded by green vegetation, I decided that there were chapters that had to go and that a new beginning needed to be made. Eventually, I got frustrated.

I wanted to leap in and fix the story. But, I had just started my third novel and I wanted to explore the cave of creativity to see how deep it ran, creating something new, after all, is more fun.

I thought about vanity publishing this first novel as a means to avoid a substantial rewrite. Print it, offer it for sale on my web site and call myself an author, with qualifications of course. At the end of my deliberation, I didn't return my first novel to my own slough pile; it sits on the table near my laptop, and like a magnet it gives off an electromagnetic force field, doing its best to attract some opposite force in me, as if it had its own desires to attach to me.

A realization did occur to me. After twelve months of separation from my first novel, I possessed a greater degree of objectivity, more like an editor not the creator of the work with the inherent emotional baggage. I considered tossing my second novel on my slough pile and retrieve it in a year to get the distance I’d need to possess an objective focus. It may not take twelve months, perhaps half that time, or even a quarter. The aging process, it does wonders for many fine things in life that we enjoy.

I believe in the value of an editor, but I worry that even the best editor may not understand my unique voice, assuming I have found it, and that he or she might inadvertently edit me into some disimpassioned scribbler of symbols.

This may be the same with an agent or publisher. We need to understand what we have to say in our stories and why we must say it the way that we do. Otherwise, our voice could become lost, a victim of the delete key.

Opposing views welcome…

Russell Traughber

Novelist to Author

2006-10-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

Novelist to Author

Noah Lukeman's, The First Five Pages, is a must read.
From page 13:
"Agents and editors don't read manuscripts to enjoy them; they read solely with the goal of getting through the pile, solely with an eye to dismiss a manuscript--and believe me, they'll look for any reason they can, down to the last letter."

Wow! This book was a bit shocking, but as I read, I did not see myself as dumb as some to the persons Mr. Lukeman described.

Here are a few of his tips that I have pulled at random and to not portend to quote:
1. Mention in your submittal letter that your book is like a book that he handled in the past.
2. FedEx your MS.
3. Lazer print it. He has received dot matrix MSs.
4. Double space with one inch margins.
5. Frequent misuse of question marks and exclamation points.
6. Over use of adjectives and adverbs.
7. Poor sentence construction.
8. Make sure your comparisons, analogies, similes, and metaphors draw the picture that helps the reader not because you liked the sound of it.

Getting the drift?

My copy of this book has underlining throughout and reminders to go back to my current work and apply what has been revealed. Keep in mind that these are the first gatekeeping mistakes that will bring about a quick toss to the rejection pile. There is much more to this important book.

Russell

Intro

2006-10-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hey,
This is about our individual journeys as novelist who aspire to become authors. I do not believe that writing is competitive; although, we do maintain a bit of mystery about our work in progress.

I desire to share with others who are headed in the same direction, but on separate paths.

More later,
Russell