Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Put the Damn Thing Away Already!

I have to say that to myself sometimes. PUT THE DAMN THING AWAY ALREADY!

I used to hate the advice about shelving your WIP and getting back to it weeks or months later because I thought, I'M READY NOW! I wrote it. I edited it. I packaged it up with a really great query and even have a pretty darn good synopsis to go with it. Why shelve it when I'm pumped enough to query NOW?

I hate to admit when I'm wrong and all the advice is right. So I'm not going to say that. I'm just going to let you know it's there in the back of my mind and I'm fully prepared to allude to it. (Hey, stubborn people can get far in life just like everyone else.)

NaNo had this really great way of forcing me to shelve that WIP I really thought was ready to go as well as a tiny bit of feedback I received on  a partial I sent out last June.

Now, my advice to everyone else is since you've written your book and edited it, maybe put a query together and a rockin' synopsis, SHELVE IT!

You have at least twenty other story ideas to write, get to it. That's what I did. I wrote two other books while I was letting my first book marinate.

Now I'm back to the first book and ready to query the second book which marinated while I wrote the third book. See how the cycle goes?

Maybe, if I'm lucky, within the year I could have three books ready to query. Who knows?

IS THERE ANY REASON YOU DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO SHELVE THAT MANUSCRIPT FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS BEFORE YOU QUERY? HAVE YOU SHELVED ANYTHING AND THEN GOTTEN BACK TO IT?

(P.S. Hello and welcome new followers and Crusaders! I'm about to go around and return the follow and start getting to know all of you a bit better. I'm not a daily blogger. At most I get out and around the blogs twice per week. I usually only blog once per week as well. If you have an Email Subscription box on your blog then know that I'll be following via email. I tend to focus my short window of spare time on my WIP's. If you don't have an Email Subscription box and want to know how to put one up, email me and I'll let you know.)

25 comments:

  1. Hey...

    Well, you know I have. I wrote my third book while I let the first one marinate... love that word BTW. So now I back to editing the first.

    Although I am bored to tears, I have to admit this last edit should put my novel in excellent standings.... At least I hope so.

    Great advice, Patricia.


    Michael

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  2. I couldn't stand to look at my MS after spending nearly three years on the rough draft. Eventually (after, like, three or four months) it came to me and said, "Okay, it's time for phase two. Get off your butt and revise me."

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  3. I will be happy to shelve mine - that will mean it's finished (at least that I've gotten from beginning to end) and needs marination time!

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  4. I know this is true. I don't want to do it. I will force myself.

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  5. Awww, do I have to? Haha. You're right but You can see I'm reluctant.

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  6. It's good advice and advice I didn't follow when I started submitting picture books to editors when I was a newbie.
    I do shelve my manuscript now, but probably not long enough. I want that thing out there!

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  7. Hi there! Yes, I've shelved too many stories. The problem I face is that I don't always get back to them in a timely manner. I have too many new ideas I want to get down. At the same time, however, I'm not one of the lucky ones who can whip out a novel in a month, or 3 or even 6 months. (it might be this nasty procrastination habit of mine, not sure...I'm looking into it...) But - agreed that letting it marinate for a while will give you fresh eyes when you consider it for querying. :) Thanks!

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  8. True that! I have had mine shelved for monthish. Well, October-December. Hopefully, with all the great stuff I'm tweeking thanks to critters, it will be ready to go. Finally! Unless you recommend shelving again?

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  9. Hi fellow Crusader! I haven't been really successful at the shelving thing. I've put a couple of stories on the back burner after finishing them, and never seemed to engage with them again.

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  10. Hello fellow crusader! It's hard to shelve projects, but I've found it's extremely helpful to come back to them with a fresh eye. I'm always amazed at what I find after taking a break from a ms.

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  11. I don't call it shelving unless I'm not sure I'll ever get back to it. When I put a ms aside to get some distance and objectivity, I call it steeping. It's not easy, I'm impatient. But steeping has always worked for me. While steeping, I work on something else.

    Good luck!

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  12. Hey there fellow crusader!
    Putting away the ms is so hard to do...
    I always worry that when I come back to it I'll find it sucks. And that will mean lots more work editing. So what am I afraid of, hard work or rejection? :-)

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  13. I'm in the same place - learning how valuable it is to marinate my projects and move on to a new idea. my big lesson learned in 2010 was that these days you have to not only be a good writer to get pubished, you need a really unique or strong premise, too. My first three books didn't have that (and the first one had bad writing too :) So I revised the first one and in the process of revising the 2nd and finishing the third, but it's the fourth one, not yet written (this years NaNoWriMO I think) that may FINALLY combine decent writing with unique premise (I hope). If not, then there will be more projects to work - NaNo opens up infinite possiblities, doesn't it :) ?

    Sorry, long rambling comment. Fellow crusader/new follower.

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  14. Ah, I've written lots of novels, and yes, you HAVE to let them marinate before they go out into the big bad world. And let critique partners hash them up, too. ;o)

    Anyway, hiya, buddy crusader, and thanks for following me! I'm making the rounds today and checking out your blog. Nice to meet you, and Happy Friday! :)

    Artzicarol Ramblings

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  15. Nice to meet you, Patricia. Two novels is a long time to wait to go back to that first one, but that's good if it works for you. I'd probably drive myself nuts if I stayed away that long.

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  16. Very nice to meet you, fellow crusader. I will definitely spend some time perusing your blog. First of all, it looks so interesting and secondly, it is beautiful. You must be very artistic....

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  17. hey- we're on the same crusade team, so I wanted to introduce myself. :0)
    I have shelved things at times, usually because life gets in the way, or while waiting for feedback from a CP. Though I HATE waiting, it is almost always better for the WIP.

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  18. I think it depends on the timing of your work. If it's been polished and through the test readers and professional editor, why wait to send out queries to publishers?

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  19. I usually wait a year before i go through it again, and yet again, and then I print everything out and read it on paper.

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  20. Hi Patricia, I'm in your crusade group.

    Good advice, and it comes at a good time for me. I'm in the process of doing revisions at the moment so I'll have to make sure I pace myself and not get too excited about querying :).

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  21. I think shelving after intense writing/editing is an excellent idea.

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  22. I'm a big believer in putting time between me and the first write. Time allows me to look at it with "new" eyes and read what's on the page instead of in my mind.

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  23. great advice. I'm on the verge of shelfing it, but I'm not sick of the characters...yet. I'm starting two other novels (yes, I may be a little insane.) I'm a fellow crusader so hi. Love your background ;)

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  24. It really is good to step away for a while, but it's so hard!

    New follower...

    demitrialunetta.blogspot.com

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  25. Hello, fellow crusader and YA lover! I shelved the book I had been working on this summer, but it was because I was forced to...I had to make edits on my other book for my agent. I have a very hard time shelving my books, but I'm so glad that I did because now I've come back to it after about five months and I'm able to look at it with fresh eyes. I look forward to reading more of your blog!

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