revision

Mind the Gap!

Published on by Kristi Holl

goal gap

I love the ringing sound of “Mind the Gap!” when British train doors slide open at a station platform.

“Mind the Gap!” is an audible (or visual) warning. It’s issued to rail passengers to take caution while crossing the space between the train door and the station platform.

“Mind the Gap!”

The phrase was first introduced in 1968 on the London Underground. But when I see my “Mind the Gap” mug on my writing desk, it means something different. I look at where I am in my goal (writing, marketing, or a health challenge) and where I want to be (the dreamed-of finished manuscript, increased social marketing numbers, or a healed lower back).

Then I calculate the distance from Point A to Point B. That’s the gap. 

Making the Leap

If you fearfully procrastinate stepping off the train (with rolling luggage bumping along behind), you risk getting caught in the closing door or being run over by passengers behind you. Conversely, if you move too fast, without truly calculating the gap, you can guage it wrong and step down into it instead of over it, breaking an ankle. So minding the gap is critical. 

It’s critical with your story too. When a writer procrastinates too long on finishing a story, a similar story can be published by a faster writer overtaking us. But moving fast before assessing how much revision your work-in-progess still needs is risky too. It can result in your manuscript disappearing in an editor’s Inbox or sinking out of sight on the date of publication.

Someone to Stand in the Gap

Years ago, when my four children went back to school in the fall, I also felt energized and motivated. I bought new school supplies for my writing office, then took a good (compassionate) look at my current novel. Where was I? Where did I want to be?

If I can help you get off the writing train and land sure-footed on the station platform, I’d be happy to do it. Check out my critiques page for fall openings, plus a “back to school” price cut for September.

To Change or Not to Change: That is the Question

Published on by Kristi Holl

During the conference I attended last week, I must have asked thirty people how their editor and agent “pitching” appointments went.

Many of the writers were told to go ahead and submit their full manuscripts. Joy!

Even more, though, had flaws and mistakes pointed out in their summaries and synopses…things that needed to change before the story would be considered.

Constructive Criticism

The flaws included such fixable things as:

  • the manuscript was 20,000 words too short for the genre
  • the manuscript was told from an unworkable POV
  • the plot sagged instead of rising to a recognizable climax
  • the historical setting didn’t sound authentic

Reactions and Responses

What I found most interesting were the writers’ responses to the news that their manuscripts had flaws that needed work.

They included many reactions:

  • Some denied that there was any big need for revision. They decided to ignore the editor’s or agent’s comments. Every writer except one was an unpublished writer too, so I’m not sure what they were basing their denial on.
  • Some writers admitted that the flaw was there–a few had already guessed it–but they took the news so personally that their self-esteem was flattened. They left the conference depressed–not a good state for revising.
  • Some defended their mistake or flaw. One writer who had pitched an idea for a genre that the editor didn’t publish argued that they should! She defended her choice of publisher, claiming that they needed to think outside the box.

The Solution

Yes, it’s hard to hear that your idea needs a major overhaul to be publishable. None of us enjoys hearing that. What’s the answer? Eric Maisel in Fearless Creating says this:

“What are any of us to do? Abandon the work or complete it, learn from the experience, cry, forgive ourselves, and move on…Now dry your eyes. There’s work to be done.”

Yes, it’s true that editors, agents and publishers can be wrong. We love to hear such stories of rejected manuscripts that went on to publication (with no change) and hit bestseller status–even becoming classics.

However, says Nava Atlas in The Literary Ladies Guide to the Writing Life:

“There are certainly many other instances in which writers refuse to take any constructive criticism and cling to the notion that their freshman efforts are brilliant and beyond reproach. This creates a ‘me versus them’ mindset that’s never constructive.”

What if you’re willing to fix your writing mistakes, but you don’t know how? What if you freeze or block at the revision an agent or editor has requested? These words from award-winning Elizabeth George in Write Away might point the way for you:

“Why do [writers] reach sudden dead ends? Why do they become afflicted by the dread writer’s block? I believe it’s because they … don’t have enough craft in their repertoire. Put another way, they have no toolbox to root through to repair a mistake in the house they’re trying to build.”

You may not have the right tools in your toolbox, but you can get them. (Example: if your problem is the story lacking conflict or a climax, study books on plotting until you figure out the problem.)

How About You?

I’m curious. What do YOU do when you get the “fix this” message about your fiction?

Do you have any tips or special survival strategies for this?

[Be sure to read the great tips in the comments section posted by some much-published writers!]

Critiqued? Cry and Throw Things

Published on by Kristi Holl

Your novel is done–or as “done” as you can make it–and you’re ready for it to be read. It’s both exciting and fearsome to turn it over to a fellow writer for a critique. You have high hopes. You want an honest critique so that it helps you along the path to publication. On the other hand, how much honesty can you take?

Critique Shock

What’s this about crying and throwing things???

It’s in a quote from an author/editor who was talking about being critiqued. (Editors used to have time to do the lengthy critiques I now do for writers–five or six single-spaced pages of overall concerns as well as craft problems and line edits.) Being thoroughly critiqued is hard on everyone–no matter how much you’ve been published! On the other hand, if they’re not thorough, a critique isn’t worth your money.

Curse and Cry Period

Here’s what she said–and take it to heart:

“I tell writers whose work I edit that they should allow themselves a curse-and-cry period. This is after they receive the edited manuscript back from me. You’re never truly prepared for that marked-up manuscript. You’re immediately mad and crushed when you see all the things either that you didn’t do right or that this stupid reader didn’t understand. Criticism always hurts at some level. So let it hurt. Cry and throw things–I do–and then after you’ve vented and can calm down, go back and look at every mark and ask yourself each time if there’s any merit at all to this correction or question.” (Vinita Hampton Wright in The Soul Tells a Story.)

My Goal and Yours

If you have a manuscript that you feel is ready to be critiqued, I’d be glad to hear from you. I just like to forewarn people that I’m thorough. I’m not cruel and I try not to be blunt, and I always first point out the things you do well. But my goal is to help you pull your manuscript up to a more professional level so it can compete well in the marketplace.

One of my happiest times is when I get a package in the mail that turns out to be an autographed book inscribed with “thank you so much for your help in getting this book published…” My most recent gift was a thank-you note and a hardcover copy of Chasing the Nightbird (Peachtree Publishers) by Atlanta author, Krista Russell. I don’t know if she cried or threw things when she got my critique back, but she worked hard to make changes, and it paid off in a beautiful book.

Curse…cry…throw things if you need to. Then take a deep breath, re-vision your story, and get to work! You’ll be glad you did.