Hello, writers. So the other day I was talking to my agent, and I mentioned, as I often do, an old manuscript. One particular old manuscript. Time and time again she's told me to forget about the Ex. This time she surprised me by saying, “Well, write a synopsis of it and send it along.”
I wrote the Ex five or six years ago. It almost sold twice, getting as far as acquisitions meetings. (It used to be that when a manuscript made it to the acquisitions meeting, it would almost always be acquired. That's no longer the case.)
My agent probably knew what would happen when I tried to write a synopsis, though.
I sat down and read over the Ex.
And I thought, “Wow. This thing has got problems.”
One of the problems is straight off the Turkey City Lexicon: I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn. I had done a lot of research into 11th century everyday life. And there are many, many sentences-- even whole paragraphs-- in the Ex which do not advance plot nor show character. But they sure do tell the reader about everyday life in the 11th century.
Out they go. If the reader wants to know about 11th century life, s/he can go read the same books I read.
Another problem is excess verbiage. I distinctly remember going through the Ex and taking out 10 words on every page. Now, though, I find I can find far more than 10 words to take off each page. So I'm taking 'em.
A major problem is the beginning. Years ago, I chopped 10k words off the beginning of the Ex in order to start in medias res. Trouble is, you can't start right in the middle of the action unless your readers care about the characters. I'd given them no reason to care about the characters at the beginning of the Ex.
I can fix these things. I can cut the info dumps and the excess words, and go look for those missing 10k words. (Apparently I wrote the Ex before I learned to always, always, always, save deleted scenes, in a file called “Deleted Scenes”.)
What I'm not sure I can fix is the biggest problem, which may be why the Ex failed to sell in the first place.
Who's going to read this thing?
The main character is a child. The themes are dark and sometimes adult. That can work. I've made it work in other books. But here, there's nothing really for a child reader to grab onto. I don't think they'd want to be my protagonist. The most likely reader is someone like me: an adult who reads children's books.
And while there are a lot of us out there, we don't exist as a market. There's no place for us on the shelves. Barnes and Noble doesn't have a green-and-white shelf sign reading “Books For Adults Who Read Kids' Books”.
This is a much bigger issue than we writers think when we're starting out. The Ex is not the first book of mine that's been killed by the lack of a clear market niche.
If there's a moral to this story about the Ex, it's that we're learning even when we don't know we're learning. Writing makes us better writers. I had honestly remembered the Ex as being better than Jinx. Oh well. Since I finished writing the Ex, though, I've written hundreds of thousands of words. You can't write a lot of words without learning more about writing, so Write On!
I'll rewrite the Ex anyway. It might fly.
Tonight's challenge:
We've talked a lot in the past about info dumps. The Turkey City Lexicon mentions several forms of info dump. Sometimes info dumps are necessary. The trick is to get the information into the story as naturally and unobtrusively as possible.
Choose one of the following from this handy-dandy list o'scenarios:
- Private investigator Celia Spunk is driving down a rain-spattered street at midnight when she realizes there’s a car following her. It looks a lot like the car driven by the Chainsmoke Killer.
- International superspy James Buns has been captured by an eccentric megalomaniac, who plans to use an elaborate invention to kill the hero and his unfortunately-named girlfriend.
- A callow youth and his/her stout companion, armed only with the Duffel Bag of Least Resistance, must face down the dread Least Grebe to obtain the sacred Purple Onion of Othmar.
- Having been stuffed into a locker by the school bully, 12-year-old Jayden struggles out, only to find he's been transported to the 26th century.
- Belinda sees Lord Postlethwaite-Praxleigh (pronounced Puppy) leaving the ballroom on the arm of her rival, Adelaide
Write a brief scene. It is absolutely essential that your readers know that the capital of Tajikistan is Dushanbe. Get that information into the scene as naturally as possible.
Try to limit yourself to 125 words.
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