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Monday, February 7, 2011

Writing Woes (or Embracing the Difficult Ending)

I've been working on my most recent novel, Princess, since May. I'm on version 4.2. Four because I have had 4 completely different endings, and .2 because of rearranged scenes, etc. (Yes, I'm a little bit OCD) And those different endings have been causing me undue amounts of stress. I could never find the right one for my characters and the story. Today, I finally hit on why. I had originally intended it to be a stand alone story. It's not. The characters have choices to make and not a single one of them will lead to an easy resolution - or a hard one - in 60 - 70 thousand words. Their world is changing. They're beginning a journey, and this particular novel is only the first step.

Now, why does this pose a problem? Because I have seen I don't know how many agents say things like they want a stand alone first novel, and if it sells, then they'll talk sequels. So I've been fighting with my story, not telling it as I feel it should be told, and trying to force it into a different shape, like I'm trying to reform a silly band.

Well, no more. I will let the story unfold as it should be. I will give it free reign, and if it's meant to be published, it will happen. If not, I will have one more novel under my belt, 70,000 more words of practice. But the story will be true.

2 comments:

Casi said...

My story Running for the Stars is like that. The ending is really the beginning (if that makes sense), but if the first novel feels complete then there's no reason why it couldn't be published just because you have an idea for the rest of the story.

Falcata Times said...

To be honest with you Krystey it doesn't matter a damn what others think if you're not happy with the piece.

A lot of agents may well like a standalone, however most publishing contracts are for three books to get you started. So you might as well write it as you want, see where it goes and carry on from there. Theres quite a few new authors now who are getting a series written, selling it and having them released back to back over consecutive months.

All you have to remember is write what you want, enjoy it and have fun. Sod the agents for now, after all until you have a finished script that you're happy to send out its pointless talking to them further.

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