I've spent the last two days furiously re-editing The Romantic Feminist - and today I sent it off to the agent who asked to see all of it. It is somewhat nerve-wracking - one feels that somehow the first 3-4 chapters must be infinitely better than the rest - and this will be immediately discovered by the agent. I have anxiety about the strength of (or is that lack of?) plot. I can do plots - no probs, and there's a bit of a reveal - but it's not exactly about plot... as indeed great chunks of life aren't - narrative isn't just about plot, observation, comprehension, humour can all contribute to it.
A local(ish) writer, Maggie Harris was talking about her memoir last night at the club - she is a poet, and included some rather poetic passages in the text, all of which were deleted by the publishers. They said they didn't further the narrative. Surely atmosphere, the creation of images, enriches the narrative. I wonder which publishers it was - that sounds such a very "creative writing course" objection to her work. One can't say without seeing the text and what was deleted, but it does remind me of those people who bellow "Show, don't tell!" at one and behave as if there were only one kind of novel: a straight narrative with a tight plot... and not much else. Rather like all those well-meaning people on the Authonomy website who gave critique based on what? A creative writing course? The people I wanted to hear from were people who were really writing all the time - not people who just churned out the criticisms and produced rather pedestrian work. But it's horses for courses - plenty more people want to read the kind of novel that they wanted to write. I fear I may have produced a book which may appeal to a smaller audience, but I also think that although the book may seem a bit high-falutin' in places, probably flatters the intelligence of the book group readers. I am going on the basis of my book group... I know Muriel wouldn't like it (too much sex) and some of the others would find Lucy a bit wild, I think the Ann(e)s would like it, and Liz and Mary... with reservations. It would provide a good topic for argument... so a good thing.
Editing the book in 2 days flat was a bit of a shocker - I found a couple of places where I'd repeated myself, thought Ch11 (or was it 10) really needed work - and thought that perhaps there were too many literary references.... oh dear. Also, now that I've got rid of the 1st person, I'm left with an accidental narrator and I'm not sure what to do. I put some of the 1st person stuff into Lucy's "journal". Quite a useful device... but the effect I had originally wanted, of the book being L's memories to some extent has gone...
What will the agent think? Watch this space.... just hope she understands that I am willing to take instruction if she has any ideas on changes.
A local(ish) writer, Maggie Harris was talking about her memoir last night at the club - she is a poet, and included some rather poetic passages in the text, all of which were deleted by the publishers. They said they didn't further the narrative. Surely atmosphere, the creation of images, enriches the narrative. I wonder which publishers it was - that sounds such a very "creative writing course" objection to her work. One can't say without seeing the text and what was deleted, but it does remind me of those people who bellow "Show, don't tell!" at one and behave as if there were only one kind of novel: a straight narrative with a tight plot... and not much else. Rather like all those well-meaning people on the Authonomy website who gave critique based on what? A creative writing course? The people I wanted to hear from were people who were really writing all the time - not people who just churned out the criticisms and produced rather pedestrian work. But it's horses for courses - plenty more people want to read the kind of novel that they wanted to write. I fear I may have produced a book which may appeal to a smaller audience, but I also think that although the book may seem a bit high-falutin' in places, probably flatters the intelligence of the book group readers. I am going on the basis of my book group... I know Muriel wouldn't like it (too much sex) and some of the others would find Lucy a bit wild, I think the Ann(e)s would like it, and Liz and Mary... with reservations. It would provide a good topic for argument... so a good thing.
Editing the book in 2 days flat was a bit of a shocker - I found a couple of places where I'd repeated myself, thought Ch11 (or was it 10) really needed work - and thought that perhaps there were too many literary references.... oh dear. Also, now that I've got rid of the 1st person, I'm left with an accidental narrator and I'm not sure what to do. I put some of the 1st person stuff into Lucy's "journal". Quite a useful device... but the effect I had originally wanted, of the book being L's memories to some extent has gone...
What will the agent think? Watch this space.... just hope she understands that I am willing to take instruction if she has any ideas on changes.
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