about seven years
I was at a book club recently and someone asked me a question that no one has before. How, she wondered, was it possible that it took me seven years to write my first book? What did I spend my time doing?
So, this is the answer.
I started off as a short story writer and spent ten years doing that, and when I decided to work on a novel, it took a while to get the hang of prolonging a story from chapter to chapter. It took a lot of reading of novels and outlining and thinking to figure all that out. (I probably could have saved myself a lot of time by enrolling in an MFA program, but I had too little money and too many kids.)
So, after a while, about a year, when I had one hundred pages written, I went to a conference, met with an editor and she said, Your writing is good but your main character is boring. She needs a job. Unfortunately, I had written one hundred pages of a character sitting in her house and thinking.
So I gave her a job (piano teacher) and spent another year rewriting the novel and went to another conference and this time it was voted best novel there and the prize was an agent. So I was delighted and she said this novel is great, but you need to rewrite it because you need more conflict. Plus, I hadn’t actually finished it yet.
So, that took a year of going back and forth and then it was done, or I thought it was done, but one unhappy thing led to another and at the end of the day the agent and I parted ways and I needed to find a new one. By now I was four years into this.
So I set about finding a new agent and that took some doing, but I did, and she loved my book, but thought it should be rewritten. Of course at any point here I could have said, no. I don’t want to do that, but the fact is this agent, like many of the people in publishing that I’ve dealt with, was very smart and very generous with her ideas and the fact is, I thought she was right. The flaws she saw were real and I wanted the book to be as good as possible.
Anyway, after some more revising and submitting and rejecting, I started a new novel and, after four years, that went in a similar direction and then one miraculous day, I sat down and began thinking about The Fiction Class. My experience with The Fiction Class was completely different than all the previous years of aggravation. I found an editor and agent who loved my book more or less as it was and it was published, etc. And instead of taking me seven years to write, it took about a year.
So, what do I take away from that? You have to love what you’re doing and take pleasure in the writing and hope that everything else will fall into place. How about you? How long have you been working on your novel/short story?
March 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I’m so glad to have read this today. Just yestarday someone was kind enough to point some flaws in a short story that has taken me months and months to write. And I should work on them, I will hopefully, but it’s so confusing. Why go through all this?
I love this that you have shared because I’m sure you needed all those years before to achive what you have done. And hard work is the good part.
Anyway, what conferences did you attend? Would you recomend them?
March 11th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Hi Susan!
Interesting question to get from a reader. Also, and no intended insult to the reader, pretty irrelevant.
It makes perfect sense to me that it would take 7 years to write a novel. I think John Grisham (not one of my favorite writers, but certainly successful) spent 8 years writing his first book. His goal was one good page a day, which as a practicing attorney, was all he could fit in. Edward Jones spent 11 years writing The Known World — 10 years thinking about it and 1 year writing it. And Flannery O’Connor was a slow writer as well. It just takes as long as it takes.
Anyway, I’ve been working on this one story for over a year. I don’t know why, but I’m driven to get it exactly right. I try not to be like Grand in Camus’ The Plague. You know, the guy who had been writing a novel for years and had only one sentence. He said that he wanted the editor to read that first sentence and stand up on his desk, announcing to everyone within hearing, “Hats off, gentlemen! Hat’s off!” or something like that. Still, it has to be my absolute best.
At any rate, at 7 years to write a book, I think you’re in good company.
KT
March 11th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Thank you, KT!
March 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Hi Susan!
It took me about 10 months to write a version of my first novel I thought was finished at the time. Right now, I’m in the middle of a revision under the guidance of my new agent. I’m sure when (when!) an editor starts to work on it I’ll have even more to do. I’m also plotting and mulling my second book.
This process is loooooong.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:56 am
Dear Susan,
I am so glad that you decided to change tack and write the Fiction Class. I absolutely loved the story -loved everything about it. I enjoyed all of the quirky characters and the beautiful, moving relationship between Arabella and her mother. As soon as I had finished, I jumped on the net to see if you had written anymore but I guess I’ll just have to wait! Congratulations on a wonderful novel. It made me laugh and cry and when I finished reading, I felt that I was losing some new friends. I sure do miss those guys!
March 31st, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I find that most of the writing process is rewriting, but if you love to write (as I do), you take a deep breath and then you go right back to the drawing board. My agent and others who have walked with me through the numerous rewrites of my first novel and short stories, and have shared their comments and impressions, are absolutely priceless. I get thrilled and tickled with what I write, but I always have the understanding that I will most likely be rewriting it soon thereafter.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Thanks so much for all the comments.
Ana Maria–regarding your question about conferences, I’ll have to write a blog about that, but the short answer is that I’ve been to Bread Loaf (Vermont), Antioch (Ohio), Cape Cod Writers’ Conference, and Pitch and Shop (NY). I’ve had a great time at all of them, but I always try to pick ones where there are writers who I admire.