The article title is actually “No, you probably don’t have a book in you”.
But the intended meaning of the article is more like “no, you probably don’t have a bestselling book in you.”
Disclaimer - I’ve written a kids sci-fi novel in the past year. Something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile now, and finally got around to actually putting down the words on the page to make it happen.
Now it’s one thing to say “I wrote a novel.” But to be fair I wrote the draft of a novel that still needs substantial editing before it’s ready to publish. I’ve been picking at it for awhile, and still it’s not ready to send out to other editors (or agents).
I’ve been stuck in edit mode for months now, I’ve been finding editing much harder than writing. A common feeling. One writer told me that writing is like a party, editing is cleaning up the next day. Some of my published friends and colleagues tell me it takes a few drafts of editing before it’s even good enough to send to an agent or editor. So I’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of me.
But this article is a bit strange because the author is an agent herself, who knows full well that there’s a ton of editing and a night-vs-day difference between someone’s first cruddy draft and a finished product, for which agents and editors worth their salt will have honed and worked their magic on.
Also a bit discouraging to hear this from an agent, suggesting people’s stories may not be worthy enough to be told. if anything I’d want them to encourage more people to write that story they’ve been thinking about on the train. Can you imagine if JK Rowling heard this and just thought, “she’s right, my story probably sucks, better to just focus on my day job.”
Though the author does clear things up a little at the end of the article to say write a book because you want to write it, not because someone told you to write it.
But in any case, the title is still misleading because people do have books in them. Even if they’re not profitable. Even if the ultimate reading audience is in the single digits. It’s still a book that means something to the author and that small but critical audience of readers.
> I’ve been stuck in edit mode for months now, I’ve been finding editing much harder than writing. A common feeling. One writer told me that writing is like a party, editing is cleaning up the next day. Some of my published friends and colleagues tell me it takes a few drafts of editing before it’s even good enough to send to an agent or editor.
It’s a relief to read this. I’ve written about 135k words an only managed to edit about 15k so far.
Yeah, I’m finding it very difficult to decide what to keep, what to rip out entirely, what to rewrite.
I blew way past my 75k word target to about 98k words now, and still feel like there’s a bunch more I need to add.
FYI, I’ve found Hugh Howey’s four-part Writing Insights columns on his blog from last year very useful, helped me get thru my draft.
But I’m finding it hard to take his preferred approach to editing of rewriting scenes from scratch instead of altering or spot-editing them. I took a stab at rewriting one of my earlier chapters, now that I know what happens later on, but don’t feel the new version was substantially improved to warrant all the effort.
I think the hardest part for me is killing my darlings, and ripping out the big chunks that I feel are essential.
But I know I need to slog through and get to some point where I can stop picking at it and send out to some alpha readers, then consider actual editors.
I’m still not sure yet if I’ll self-publish or go the traditional route.
>But in any case, the title is still misleading because people do have books in them. Even if they’re not profitable. Even if the ultimate reading audience is in the single digits. It’s still a book that means something to the author and that small but critical audience of readers.
One of the most fantastic things technology has given us, really only in the last 20 years or so, is (unlimited) space to store all of these "minor" works and the ability for the 9 people to whom these works will have meaning to find and obtain them.
I’d want them to encourage more people to write that story they’ve been thinking about on the train. Can you imagine if JK Rowling heard this and just thought, “she’s right, my story probably sucks, better to just focus on my day job.”
The fact ppl keep using her as an example of persistence paying off, if evidence of how rare it is.It's good to have realistic expectations.
I’m not using JK Rowling as an example of persistence here.
She’s my example of a novice author who started with nothing more than an idea, a story she wanted to tell, and wound up writing a game-changing series.
But the intended meaning of the article is more like “no, you probably don’t have a bestselling book in you.”
Disclaimer - I’ve written a kids sci-fi novel in the past year. Something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile now, and finally got around to actually putting down the words on the page to make it happen.
Now it’s one thing to say “I wrote a novel.” But to be fair I wrote the draft of a novel that still needs substantial editing before it’s ready to publish. I’ve been picking at it for awhile, and still it’s not ready to send out to other editors (or agents).
I’ve been stuck in edit mode for months now, I’ve been finding editing much harder than writing. A common feeling. One writer told me that writing is like a party, editing is cleaning up the next day. Some of my published friends and colleagues tell me it takes a few drafts of editing before it’s even good enough to send to an agent or editor. So I’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of me.
But this article is a bit strange because the author is an agent herself, who knows full well that there’s a ton of editing and a night-vs-day difference between someone’s first cruddy draft and a finished product, for which agents and editors worth their salt will have honed and worked their magic on.
Also a bit discouraging to hear this from an agent, suggesting people’s stories may not be worthy enough to be told. if anything I’d want them to encourage more people to write that story they’ve been thinking about on the train. Can you imagine if JK Rowling heard this and just thought, “she’s right, my story probably sucks, better to just focus on my day job.”
Though the author does clear things up a little at the end of the article to say write a book because you want to write it, not because someone told you to write it.
But in any case, the title is still misleading because people do have books in them. Even if they’re not profitable. Even if the ultimate reading audience is in the single digits. It’s still a book that means something to the author and that small but critical audience of readers.