No, it's not my daughter, Edie, who is now happily settled into her second week of pre-school and forging many happy friendships amid the half eaten sandwiches she returns home with every day, it's my other baby, Lexi.
Lexi Dexter is the protagonist in my series of novels aimed at 8-12 year olds. For the past two years I have been forging and nurturing the idea of her, and her world, and scribbling down ideas, plots, timelines and writing her story, usually in snatched lunch hours in coffee shops, or late at night when Edie is in bed fast asleep.
I drafted the first two novels before I did anything else - just to prove that I could do it, I had enough of her in me, and, since taking the brave step out of paid work (I promise not to mention that brave thing again - it just feels a bit scary sometimes) to write full time, I have been editing, polishing, correcting and fine tuning the first three chapters to send out for review. I'm not sure I've got it right - my gut feeling is that the chapters are too long, so that I can get the three 'points' that set up the story out - so that when it is put in front of an agent or publisher, they 'get it'. Of course, I realise that, points made or not, they will 'get it' if the writing is good enough, and in my extensive research - i.e. reading massess of children's books both old and modern, not all of the points are revealed in the first three chapters. However they do move fast. Faster than adult novels. But I do want my young reviewers to get a good chunk of what the story is about.
So off she goes. Bye bye Lexi - I will be waiting anxiously for the feedback, good, bad or indifferent, that my young reviewers will provide and I encourage them to be honest - I am sure that they will be, maybe brutally so.
So now the dilemma is what to do next? Do I carry on with the remainder of the story right now or write something else? I feel like I need a tiny break in order to let Lexi become herself again and not some forced creation of mine, but not for very long, perhaps a couple of days. Maybe in the meantime it's time to tackle that second Writer's Bureau assignment and make my mind up whether or not to switch to the fiction module now.
Or perhaps just make that enormous cup of tea?
Good luck! She looks gorgeous in the pic.
ReplyDeleteI'd have a cup of tea. Thoughts always clarify themselves after a cup of tea. Then I'd go with your gut. Deep down - beneath the nagging doubts about your talent, your work etc, you will have an idea of what would be good for you to grow next. Most of all, keep that feeling of being in-love with your character no matter what feedback or how long it takes to come back (it can be 3 months!!!). Good luck - I look forward to hearing about it!
ReplyDeleteXXX
Well done. At this point a reward is justified. Get yourself that cup of tea - and why not have a choccy biscuit too?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely take a break and write something else. Will do you good to have some distance, so you can come back with a more critical eye.
ReplyDeleteDoing an assignment would be a very good step indeed. ;-) And you'll benefit from either. The non-fiction is likely to pay quicker than the fiction... though I never managed it. But then I'm still not really working 'full time' on my writing. I can't until both boys are at school - September!