Transgressions Update

[erastes]

So - I've heard from the publisher - they think the book is "epic" (squee!) and they say they do want another Erastes novel which is nice to hear, but they think that the book needs a lot of fixing.  I have to agree, actually - regular readers will know that I got bogged down in the middle of it and I'm the first to admit that it shows. They have reservations about some of the sex, too, which is easy to fix, I think - but they also don't much like one of the relationships, and that's going to be harder to sort out, as it's rather vital to Jonathan's downward spiral.  But I think I can do it; it's just the IDEA of wading back into the book and rewriting after all this time. rwday was utterly right in her advice; "nothing is sacred" - it's very easy as a new novelist to consider your book "your baby" and you can't change anything, and I did feel like that at one point, but I guess it's time and experience - I can reshape it.  It's too dark for a Romance and people won't like certain aspects.  I can save the dark for non-romances.

How about you guys? How do you manage your time when you have a current WIP on the go and a rewrite to do?  I love hearing other people's experiences on their writing.  Right now I'm "bunny in the headlights" - this week was going to be 1960's and now I have to get into the Tardis and nip back a few hundred years.

I've just finished "Earthly Joys" by Philipa Gregory, and I have to say that in the main I enjoyed it - what it didn't do was captivate me totally. It was one of those books that I had by the bed and dipped into it from time to time- it took about a month or so to read, whereas some books (most) I read enthrall me and I can't let them go until completion. It was a good characterisation of loyalty, and obsession and an obsessive personality and the parts I found most interesting were the plant-hunting parts.  I'll be doing a longer and more explanatory review on Speak Its Name later in the week.

Comments

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

*lols @ erastatic bunny*

Great news on the publisher front...but not so on the necessary wading you'll be up to. That Tardis will need to turbo-charged!

WIP>>> I usually can't do two things at once. See...that makes me a man! *ducks at flying objects coming my way* Seriously...I hate starting something if something else isn't finished. I've just updated with virtually the same thought. I'm up to Ch 7, editation-wise, with Second Chances but already the 20K story is trying desperately to escape my briancell. I think I shall put it to the test as I'll be computerless on Tues/Wed as we'll be mooching around the Lake District. Armed with my trusty skull notebook, I hope to get at least a few pages splurged :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I find it hard too, writing wise at any rate - I can do several things at once otherwise!

Hmmm. Lake District, lucky you - all those fainting poets!

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

Mhm, writing is that thing where I have to wear blinkers.

I wonder if I'll get to revive any ;)

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

First of all, congratulations! That's got to be an amazing thing to hear from an editor!

I'm afraid I won't be any help at all on the advice front...I have, however, read the entire Philippa Gregory 'Wideacre' trilogy (although it was years and years ago, before she became really well-known) and I had more or less the same reaction. They were generally enjoyable, but they didn't really grip me in the 'I absolutely need to know what's going to happen or I will *die*' sort of way that other books have done. I'll be curious to read your review.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I admit I was happy to hear it, I had been biting my nails in terror that they wouldn't want another book from me. Apparently Standish is "one of their best sellers" which makes me very happy.

I have another Gregory novel, one of the Boleyn ones, I might give it a go, but without the m/m frisson I will probably be even less gripped...

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Congratulations -- critical direction from a publisher is a wonderful thing.

On managing multiple projects: structure helps: give yourself blocks of time, ie this is Novel time, this is novel 2 time -- and stick to it. Use music or visual cues that tie you to the given project at project time. If you can mix non-fic and fic, all the better.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's a very good idea, I had specific music I listened to with Transgressions, I'll dig it out and immerse myself in it again.

Thanks!

[leebenoit.livejournal.com]

I've got a new story, 5-10k, due at the end of the month, along with a revision of a longer piece (now 36k, it needs to magically shrink to not more than 20k). I like CB's advice about music - the new piece has a Gabrieli horn concerti soundtrack, for example. I am very bad at compartmentalizing my time (multitasking makes me a girl, yeah?) but I am defiitely more efficient when I do. The problem is, I'm so easily distracted by any shiny object....

Good luck!
Lee

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh yes - I am with you with the shiny. It's nearly 1pm and I've done....

nothing.

:)

I will try the music though.

[leebenoit.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I called in sick to work (legitimately) and I've gotten tons done (haven't showered or eaten, but finished 2 editing jobs!) Maybe having a cold dulls the magpie-response?

Can't speak highly enough of the music. I know when the last note sounds that my writing time is up; and I can procrastinate blissfully making playlists for each character....

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

Congrats -- it's great that they like it, even if they want edits. :)

I have no problem being in the middle of a dozen or more stories, although I'm usually only actively working on two or three or maybe four at one time, max. (And by "actively working" I mean the number I've actually added to in the last week or so.)

I'm in the middle of edits for a novelette, though, and I can't make myself pick up anything else and write while those are staring at me. I keep thinking of my editor and imagining her standing there with her arms crossed and her foot tapping, waiting for me to get through the rest of the edits (which aren't exactly fun) while I'm banging away on a new story (which is fun). I get the guilts and can't do it. :/ I'm well within the deadline for getting them done and back to her, but my brain won't listen to reason. [sigh]

Angie

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

Cripes! A Dozen? No wonder I'm so unproductive - that's scary.

I do like deadlines, though, if I don't have a deadline, I just don't get stuff done...

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

LOL! It's actually not as productive as it sounds. [cough] Some of them have been sitting there for years. Occasionally something I started a few years back and then wandered away from will suddenly feel inspiring again, and I'll work on it, and maybe even finish it. Sometimes I'll start and finish a story in a short time -- actually pretty often over the last few years. But sometimes I'll come up with a story idea and bang out a page or two, then just leave it for however long. At least I won't lose the idea.

I finally went through my story folder recently and took everything I hadn't touched in since before the turn of the century and stuffed it all into a folder of its own. It's still there if I ever want to mess with it, but at least I don't have to look at it anymore. [wry smile] That leaves me with seventeen stories, counting both fanfic and original fiction, which are partially done and have some hope of being finished in the next ten years. :)

It sounds awful but it's sort of like a huge, complex biorhythm -- there are times when I'm working on a bit of this and a bit of that and bouncing around like a ferret with ADD and I'll go for a month or three without finishing anything. Then suddenly I'll finish two or three or four stories in a week. It works out. [cough]

I think where I got this was reading something when I was a kid about how one of the big SF writers (Heinlein comes to mind but I wouldn't swear to it) used to have an office set-up with five or six typewriters around him on a U-shaped set of desks, with his rolling swivel chair in the middle. He'd work on a story until he ran out of ideas for it, or got blocked or whatever you want to call it, then he'd turn to another one and work on that for a while, etc. So he was always productive even if he wasn't focusing on one thing. It sounded like a cool idea so I never felt like I "should" focus on a single project and finish it before starting another. It's sort of weird, but I've been doing it for thirty years and it works for me. :)

At least, it works until I have an editor expecting something from me on a deadline. O_O Then I feel like I have to buckle down and work on that one thing until it's finished.

Angie

[ejab62.livejournal.com]

Would you honestly change a relationship they don't approve of but you think is vital?
(Maybe I still see written work as, indeed, "your baby"... )

About the other thing. I'm still working on my stage play and the occasional HP short thingy. Although the latter gets more and more pushed to the background.
Every time I seriously sit down to work on the play, these ideas come up. For two other plays and a book. In the beginning these distractions made me go and work on the other stuff as well. These days I will make a note of whatever idea comes to mind, put it in a box and continue to work on the first play. Otherwise it'll never get written.
To help me keep focussed I made a collage that totally focusses on the first play. Some people use music but that distracts me too much.
I do tend to need some preparation - fluffy big pillow on the floor, me on it, laptop in front of me and go... it's also very useful if I've done some major physical work before. Somehow that helps.
Now if only I would be disciplined enough to write daily. On a set time.
Ugh.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I don't think they don't approve of the Jon-Michael - but you'll admit it's a bit dark -- perhaps I can make it more psychological than violent and sexual...

And good that the HP stuff is being pushed aside, original is more important.

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

SQUEE! Another Erastes novel! I will be first in line for it. ::looks around for challengers::

As for my own work, I have *absolutely no* time to work on more than one thing at a time. With *maybe* two dedicated hours of peace a day, everything else has to get in line. So if I had a deadline, the deadline project would be it.

I'm taking my current WIP through the paces with Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass (actually the workbook). The exercises hurt, but it's lifting to story out of the morass of Mushy Middle onto a whole new plane. I highly recommend it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Aw thanks - here's hoping I can do the work they need doing.

And yes, me too I think - one thing at a time (which is why I'm doing NOTHING right now...)

Excellent news with your exercises -keep up the good work! I'll take a look!

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I think that what perplexes me about the dark relationship between Jon and Michael is that I've seen relationships that are as dark, if not darker, in fanfic. And yet it's too much for romance readers, who are such fragile and delicate little flowers. Blech.

As far as I'm concerned, the relationship between Jon and Michael is key. It IS dark, and it should BE dark. Physical and sexual control is part of it. I think that your mistake is in thinking of your writing as romance writing. You could submit Transgressions to a mainstream publisher--one that deals, on occasion, with romance, history and psychological horror.

As for the ages, I didn't think they were ever specifically mentioned. That surprised me.

You are going to have to do some extensive rewrites in any case, no question, but I dislike the idea of cutting good, solid writing that's essential to the plot because the publisher is afraid of realism.

[rwday.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say that absolutely nothing is sacred - I wouldn't have turned David into a girl, for example, but getting published does require certain compromises. You could go with a mainstream publisher who'd probably be okay with the darker overtones, but might want the sex to be less overtly erotic - there are always tradeoffs.

I think that the control that Michael had over Jon can be explored in a non-sexual context. The religious aspects of the relationship alone, given the time period and Jon's belief system, would almost be sufficient on their own. I mean, look at how many otherwise intelligent people blindly followed cult leaders in places like Jonestown and Waco.

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

How about you guys? How do you manage your time when you have a current WIP on the go and a rewrite to do? I love hearing other people's experiences on their writing.

A publishing deal is more important to me than a WIP, so Banshee got temporarily shelved while I butchered Gods Falling and turned it into Icarus. In my case, I needed all the energy and concentration I had to make sure that I make the right choices, esp. since the manuscript's supposed to nicely fit a whole new set of guidelines for a different genre.

Good luck!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are right, I need to get stuck in. Thanks hun - I think I can do what they ask without changing the book too mcuh.

[annebrooke.livejournal.com]

Great news on the novel acceptance - huge congrats!! Looking forward to that for sure

Hugs

A
xxx

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not yet an acceptance, but it's a start! Thanks hun