Thursday 3 June 2010

Nine months later ...

... and exactly the right amount of time since my last post, because I have just delivered the manuscript of my second novel to my agent.


The process hasn't been painless, but what birth is?

But the most important thing I've discovered is that a story can be told in many different ways without its heart getting lost or its soul fragmented. This novel has been through several drafts (all quite different) but the story at its heart has grown stronger each time. In fact my trouble is that I fail to get to the heart of the matter quickly enough. I circle round it but fail to find the courage to dive in until the very last minute. I love words so much that I let them lead me where they will instead of heading (wrong word, hearting) for the heart of the piece as early as I can.




No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.
And he's so right ... my agent, the wonderful
Heather Holden-Brown suggested, when I delivered the second draft in the middle of April, that she still didn't care enough for my protagonist. It was only when I went where my protagonist went with my own heart, when I cried and laughed with her as I wrote, that I got there ... no surprise, of course, but it is the thing I avoid doing because it means I must feel too ... aren't we strange creatures? The very thing I need to do to make the novel work is the very thing I avoid doing until I absolutely have to ... so frightening, sometimes, these things called feelings.

The novel, by the way, is called WRITTEN in WATER now (adapted from John Keats's epitaph for himself and suggested by a friend). And it was sent out to publishers on Tuesday. So now we (my agent and I) wait to see who'd like to publish it ... nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time.

7 comments:

Cornflower said...

So glad to hear this news, and I'll wait with bated breath for more!

BooksPlease said...

Me too - well done!

Hannah Stoneham said...

So pleased to read this - i am having a slow time with my writing at the moment, it seems to go in fits and starts and ups and downs, quite a lot of downs at the moment. i am most inspired and like your other readers, look forward to more.

thanks for sharing

Hannah

Juxtabook said...

I loved Speaking of Love and I'm looking forward to to Written in Water . Hope it finds a publisher soon!

Angela Young said...

Thank you all so much ... it is heartwarming to know there are people - if not yet a publisher! - who want to read WRITTEN in WATER. It helps make the days and weeks, months and years of writing even more worthwhile.

I will post again when the happy day arrives that a publisher says yes.

And then I'll post regularly about the progress of WRITTEN in WATER and other projects ... . It's good to have time to live in the blogging world again (instead of just inside my head)!

kate said...

Good to see you back posting! I love the title -Being in a somewhat similar position, climbing up the mountain toward publication (without a previous publication to clutch for comfort)I empathise and have fingers crossed for you to reach the summit very soon-

Angela Young said...

Thanks so much, Kate. And the very very best for yours too.