Still Plugging Away

Okay, things have slowed down a bit. Part of it is because I'm going over the manuscript for what seems like the fifth time, even though I know this is actually the third time for me.

I'm working on synopsis notes. According to the "traditional wisdom" (meaning: information I can glean on what you're supposed to do to try getting science fiction published) you write the manuscript, polish it up a bit, then create a synopsis and a query letter then shop it to agents who in turn will try selling it to a publisher. After the couple years pass that this process takes...assuming you find someone willing to take a chance on you...you get an advance check that might cover a dinner at Red Lobster.

I'm working on the synopsis part. Specifically I'm working on the synopsis notes; a long distance friend advised me that I'll want to create several versions of the synopsis with varying lengths. I sat down and thought about it; the best way for me to do this is to create an overall summary of the manuscript, broken down by "chapter," from which to derive synopsis sheets. Once all of that is finished I could write an agent query since the query will require what is essentially the manuscript squeezed into a couple paragraphs (and this is a 390 page manuscript already...how do I squeeze everything down to less than a page!?)

Thankfully the notes are going really fast. I've caught a couple more typos along the way and made quick fixes to them as I see them. Just goes to show that no matter what there will be mistakes that slip by not once, not twice, but three times, with two sets of eyes reviewing it.

I'm also looking at printing a copy of the manuscript for someone who said he'd be a beta reader. I don't know how receptive I'll be to making huge changes unless he finds something really horribly off; then again, if something really doesn't work then I'll have to do what I have to (by the time he's done with it I may already be querying. With any luck.) I got a quote from FedEx Kinko's. Forty bucks. Ouch!

Then again it would be something to just have that manuscript, even in it's rough, possibly never publishable form, in my hands as a physical thing. It would be a way of saying that I accomplished something, that my year of work wasn't a total waste.

I might do this just for that feeling alone. That I accomplished something. I see a therapist for the issues I encounter dealing with life in my post-surgical state (insurance requirement, ironically). He said that just writing a novel length manuscript is quite an achievement that I should be proud of. Part of me wants to believe that. The other part says the proof is in an advance check. Otherwise this was little more than an exercise in trying to write but ending up wasting a year of time.

Much of this is my own confidence issues. I try to keep expectations realistic, and sometimes the pendulum swings a little farther into the "you're wasting your time" side of the equation. That's when the optimistic side reminds me that my end goal...of querying and getting those rejections...is the point I've been aiming for all along, and good or not, anyone can achieve the point of querying and getting rejected. I can do that. I'll just secretly hope that someone eventually doesn't reject it, and in the meantime, once I reach the querying point, this manuscript is getting set aside and I'll start working on the next story idea. And repeat the steps again, hoping this time it will sell.

I'm now on page 354 of 390 in the manuscript and my notes are 16 pages long. Considering that I'm just summarizing each chapter section and my notes are 16 pages so far I am hoping that this is a good sign that I can create a 2- to 5-page synopsis and maybe that one pager isn't quite so left field of realistic. Doing the math shows that so far I'm compressing an average of 22 pages to 1 page, approximately, just doing an off-the-cuff summary? Not too bad.

At this rate I'm hoping to have the notes done tomorrow or Tuesday. I slacked off over the weekend; I would have had it done today if I did what I was supposed to do. Whoops.