Depending on where you are in your writing process, you may
be calling me a liar, trying to figure out what the hell I’ve been smoking. (Or
maybe you’re Stephen King, then this post doesn’t apply to you.) Let me
explain.
1st book I wrote - sucked so bad, it made the
vacuum of a black hole look like a Dustbuster.
2nd book I wrote - sucked too, almost as much as
Jenna Jameson—well, you get the point.
3rd book I wrote - just plain sucked. No exaggerated comparison. Plain and simple “an act or instance of
sucking.”
I know you’re thinking, “Wow,Dana, that’s a whole lot of
suckage for something that doesn’t have to suck.” O_o
At some point in your writing you have to recognize all the
suckage as something good. You now have excellent
examples of what NOT to do. A good—determined—writer
will eventually see their flaws and strive to fix them.
4th book I wrote – did not suck. Doesn’t mean it
was awesome or publishable or even query worthy, but it did not suck.
Writing book four I discovered a few things. It was the
first book worthy of revisions. All the others would have been COMPLETE
rewrites, and I wasn’t willing sacrifice more words with no payoff. Other
things that did not suck in the book were the characters. I had a great cast of characters with unique
personalities. The plot wasn’t bad, at
least it was full of action. But the most important discovery in writing the
fourth book, voice. Halleluiah! Yes, I had finally captured the ever elusive creature
called Voice. But alas, the book had one major flaw, no character
motivation. So as awesome as her
personality was and as much action as the plot had, without motivation the
pacing felt forced. So the story got shelved.
Four years of writing under my belt and four books written,
I still didn’t have a book to query. Now
that sucks. As depressing as it felt to me and no further in my career, I
wasn’t willing to give up. With an
arsenal of what NOT to do, I wrote another book. Cue 5th book.
5th book I wrote - was pretty dang good if I say
so myself. And I just did. Focused on
what I was good at, coupled with strengthening what I wasn’t so good at, I
wrote my last manuscript in 45 days. I spent
the next four months revising it (with the help of 4 awesome CPs. Thanks,
girlies!) I have probably read my
manuscript 30 times. Not ONCE have I read
it and thought, “I’m sick of this story!”
Each time I read it, I remember the love I have for my characters and
their story. With book five, I got an agent.
And THAT, my dear friends, does not suck.
So I’m here to tell you, when you write something you hate, get
down in the dumps because you don’t feel like your career is going anywhere and
the thought of writing one more thing makes you want to give up writing all
together…don’t. Don’t quit. Don’t let self doubt squash your dreams like
fresh turd on the bottom of your shoe. (Oh come on, I was getting too
theatrical and had to break the tension.)
In the words of Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, “Never give
up. Never surrender.”
