Novel Fears

I wrote already that I'm working on a draft of a novel. It's progressing...but there are fears.

I'm averaging something like 700 to 1100 words a day on the draft. Then it would need a second pass to clean it up. Then I pass it to my editor-wife who actually knows something about things like grammar and punctuation. Then probably another pass or two. Assuming that the feedback doesn't point it in the direction of the garbage can, I would probably either start an agent or publisher hunt or find an editor for hire with more experience in the field of publishing and see if they can polish it up for an affordable fee.

But there's always doubt.

I'm dedicating probably an hour and a half to two hours a day on it. It's not perfect and I don't think of myself as a professional writer (my wife asked me when I'd stop thinking that way and I said, "When someone hands me a check in exchange for the manuscript and says they'd like to see more for another check, that's when!)

I try to remain realistic. The vast majority of writers never make it through the slush piles. Many writers, including some famous ones, collect hundreds of rejections before finding the first break.

I hear horror stories like the ones in the (current as of this writing) ISBW podcast episode talking with an editor from tor.com. They say science fiction just isn't selling now...yikes! Big publishers are in trouble due to the economy (and probably because most Americans don't read)...they are hesitant to have new writers into the scene when the moneymakers are the established authors...the list goes on and on. The podcast goes on to mention that beginners writing most likely does suck, and it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill like writing. Triple yikes! It's very possible I'm laboring for something that no one will ever want and will never make any money, which is even scarier since I put off another venture in trying to program an application that might be a better money maker in the long run (although running a business is a jar of hurt unto itself, really).

So in the end I'm working rather hard on something that may never see the light of day.

I try to cheer myself up by saying, I'm not a professional writer. There's no slap to the ego or personal hit in trying this.

I see plenty of horror stories about wanna-be authors that blatantly break common sense rules in submitting manuscripts; they send horror stories to young adult-representing agents, or don't bother to follow an agent's preferences by using fancy fonts and colored paper and pretty pictures. Still others do no research on how to properly query an agent or publisher. Or they just write a first draft and send that out with hardly any attention paid to detail in spelling or grammar.

I'm not perfect in that regard; heck, this blog probably has broken most of the grammatical rules since its inception, but these are typed off the top of my head. I rarely go back and repair entries unless my wife finds something that makes her eyes bleed. I do these so far in advance that when she asks about it I usually don't remember what she's referring to.

I really wish there were statistics somewhere regarding writers and publishing for relevant information I could use to not be so anxious about this dipping of the toes into the water. Sure, 95% (making that up...probably close though...) of people trying to get published are rejected. Maybe only .05% get a fat contract that lets them quit the day job and focus on their love of writing. But how many of the 95% were writing pure crap? Or never even heard of Standard Manuscript Format?

How many fit into my spectrum of skill (or lack thereof) and still get rejected? I want to filter out the people that make the mistakes I am trying to avoid. Would it skew into my favor then?

All I can do is keep plugging away and hope for the best...