Facing It | Publishing Temptations

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Patience is a virtue. Have your parents or grandparent or older figure in your life ever said that to you when you were younger and you threw a tantrum when you didn’t see immediate results? That’s what this Facing It post is going to be all about.

Let’s look at the very definition of patience. According to the great cliche, Webster’s dictionary, patience is “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.” Patience is such important topic that it’s even in the Book of Galatians (yep, the Bible), chapter 5, verses 22 to 23a, “22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.” Forbearance is just a fancy word for patience; we don’t need to get into the etymology of all that!

Have patience, and allow yourself time to properly plot, plan and write your story. If you write your book too sloppily, readers can tell. Last summer I purchased an ebook (Don’t ask me which one. I can’t remember the title now. I think I was so annoyed with it that I put it out of my mind!) and it clearly hadn’t been edited well. If I had a paper back or hard cover version, I would’ve taken a red pen to every error I found. It was so bad that I found it hard to concentrate on the story. You don’t want to discredit your story without going through the process first.

Trust me, I get it. You want to publish and publish now. Let me tell you flat out: it doesn’t work that way. It can, but it shouldn’t. So below I’ll be discussing:

Three Temptations that Stem from Impatience
and how I’m working to avoid them.

Temptation 1: Shooting the first few chapters of your novel to every publisher that accepts that kind of submission.

Don’t. Wait. When I had my first several chapters written, this has been my greatest temptation of all. My outline was half written and barely plotted out, only a third of my characters were named and all the conspiracies I wanted include were mere pipe dreams. So even if a publisher or an agent wanted further information about my project, I wouldn’t have been able to provide them with anything more.

My outline was half written and barely plotted out, only a third of my characters were named and all the conspiracies I wanted include were mere pipe dreams.

My impatience was clearly taking over. I asked my already-published uncle a question about that very kind of submission several weeks ago when he was visiting the States from the UK. The look on his face told me all I needed to know before he said it. “Write the story,” he said. “Write the story to tell yourself it first. Then edit. Then find an agent. A well written, edited, and supported manuscript is better than submitting the first draft of anything.”

I known it all along, but I just needed to actually hear it from someone else. Since I’m going the traditional route of publishing, finding an agent to believe in my story as much as I do is going to be a daunting but well-worth it task. And I hope that we’ll not only have a great working relationship, but that they’ll be honest enough to tell me when a manuscript is crap as well (ha!)

Temptation 2: Thinking that your first draft is the most amazing thing you’ve ever written.

That’s going to be the worst thing to listen to, that your first draft is crap. I can’t tell you how many times I tweaked my first chapter before I managed to start writing the second chapter of my current work in progress. I mean, there are countless memes out there jokingly stating how everyone’s first drafts completely, utterly suck.

Do you know how many times I’ve also wondered what the first draft of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone looked like? Or if JRR Tolkien thought his first draft of The Hobbit was glorious in every way? I highly doubt it. Then again, artists of all mediums have been known to be a little eccentric in one way or another!

I have several fellow writers who have amazingly agreed to critique what chapters I have of my first story ever intended for publication. What did I say after they agreed? “I crave criticism, but I haven’t edited it yet!” I was just being honest and they understood that they’re mostly looking at the flow of the story, not necessarily word choice and grammatical errors. I wouldn’t be surprised if they printed an extra copy just to do that though! (I would. Then again, I’m hyper critical of my own work in general).

Temptation 3: Wanting to go into self-publishing right away because you just want to start making money off your writing.

This Temptation isn’t going to talk about the right away portion because we’ve already touched upon that a bit with Temptation 1. Rather, the making money side of things. You’d think this would be the most common sensical (I made that word up) thing, but most artists don’t go into the field with delusions of getting rich off it. Maybe not right away.

Think about your favorite authors for a moment. Are they from the 1700s? 1800s? Or are they more modern? Did their work become recognized before or after their death? After twelve years of publisher submissions? After countless tossed manuscripts? I’m not trying to burst your bubble or douse your enthusiasm; I am trying to highlight the fact that they had to exhibit a great deal of patience in the brutal publishing world.

If you go the agent route, they’re there to negotiate terms for you. Once a manuscript is accepted by a publisher, it’s time to get into the legality of it all. Agents are there to make money themselves, yes, but if they believe in your story as much as you do, they’re going to fight long and hard to get it published so all you have to concentrate on is writing. If you go the self-publishing route, you have to do all the leg work. All the promoting. And you’ll probably dish out just as much $$ you make for good editing or book cover designing.

The point is this: don’t rush things. Writing isn’t a “get rich quick” scheme. It takes patience (surprise surprise), perseverance, and lots and lots of moxy. It may take a while to get noticed but when you do, if I ever personally do, I know I’ll be grateful someone even took the time to read the characters I’m coming to love so much.

All in all, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to seek advice from others in the biz. If they don’t have the answer you’re looking for, I can guarantee they’ll probably know at least the right direction to steer you.

Community is a funny word. When it works well, it works well. When it’s toxic, it’s toxic. Find that small group of confidants, regardless of if they have the time to critique your work, but who can encourage you because they’ve been there/done all that. And make sure you wholeheartedly trust each other. Patience with yourself and patience with others is still a valuable asset. Never forget that.

All in all, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to seek advice. […] Patience with yourself and patience in others is still a valuable asset. Never forget that.

Don’t Worry. Just Write.

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If beginning the writing process has taught me anything it is that writing takes time. This has been a hard lesson to learn because I know that I never figured that out when I was a kid. I always wanted the story to magically finish itself or I would play it out in my head and never put it to paper. I am positive that I have written hundreds of stories but was never confident enough to actually write them down.

My uncle often brought books back from his travels. He tours the world as an author, gave workshops and attended them. When he came back he would say, “Now this [book] is really popular in England.” I don’t think that I even have to tell you what one of them was. You could probably figure out that it was the first two books from the Harry Potter series – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. One time he brought back A Wrinkle in Time introducing me to Madeline L’Engle. When I was in high school he brought back Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. But when I read the most was in my childhood. That was when I realized that words can be powerful.

One thing I always appreciated about my parents is that they let me read them. (At one point I also owned almost the entire Star Trek Voyager book series. I wish sometimes that I still did!) I grew up in a Christian household so I often heard of the debates on the series from other parents in church, at school and on the radio. While Harry Potter does, of course, have the “mystical” elements to it so did the entire Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. We viewed Harry Potter that also taught lessons as well being a well-written story. If you focused all your energy on one negative aspect, your mind can become closed to the other elements also in a story. That “negative aspect” was that some parents felt that the Harry Potter series greatly encourage kids to believe that they too were witches and wizards, poltergeists and goblins.

But is that not what good writing is supposed to do? A good show or film is supposed to do? Not discourage imagination but encourage it, as long as we know it is not real?

But is that not what good writing is supposed to do? A good show or film is supposed to do? Not discourage imagination but encourage it, as long as we know it is not real? That is why it is more than okay to take your time writing your first novel. You want your work to inspire, encourage and entertain. Every writer aims to have that ripple effect – the one where your breakout story will be latched onto by every reader the instant it is picked up. The one where your publisher cannot keep the bookstores’ shelving stocked because it is in such high demand. For most writers it is amongst their first thoughts with the initial keystrokes, ink on paper and pinned post it to a corkboard. The dream is in each word that is misspelled, scratched out and rewritten. The dream is in each scene or action sequence rephrased, completely deleted or moved to another chapter. The dream is in each step of the writing process and with each one of those the worry is there.

That brings me to the other point of my title – Don’t Worry. If you believe in your dream others will see it reflect in you. They will see the hours of hard work you put into it and books of research read. Writing is an art but it also takes time to hone and shape that art into something you know you can be proud of. Don’t doubt yourself because sometimes that is harder to pull yourself out of and you know you will never finish. Don’t worry about all that extra stuff and just WRITE. While networking, finding a publisher and putting yourself out there are all important things, don’t let all that extra stuff get in the way of what you initially started to do: WRITE. Write as though you are not aiming for publication but to begin and end a story. That’s the first step. The other steps will come later but for now work on your craft and don’t let others discourage you. You are your own greatest enemy.

You can do anything you set your mind to, regardless of if you are a seasoned writer or novice prose enthusiast.

The Dream that Star Trek Gave Me

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I began this journey when I was ten years old. At least, I believe I was around ten. It seems that most of my memories from childhood come from between the ages of seven and ten, and I probably blocked most of my middle school years from memory because that was not the greatest time for me. I hated school. I hated that I couldn’t just read all the time. Yes, I was that kid. The wallflower who would rather read than play during recess. The introvert who preferred to write but not show anyone what she had written. Back then the teachers were “concerned” because I never socialized. And when I did it was with a few people in a one-on-one situation. I was always “that kid” who believed everyone else around her was, well, childish. But apparently now being a writer is cool. I believe everyone can agree that Reading Rainbow and Levar Burton greatly encouraged my generation to read and write and dream. I may not have been the most social kid, but you really can have a balance between the two. As a preteen I never saw that as a possibility, but being in my 30s looking back on childhood, I almost wish that were the case.

I have a confession. I used to write fanfiction. Little did I know that what I would write actually had a name, but my life revolved around science fiction. I adored Star Trek. We would also watch X-Files with Robert Patrick, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. I distinctly remember hiding behind my dad’s armchair at some of the scenes, deeming them too obscure and gross for my eyes. Let’s face it, I did the same with The Dark Crystal and some Star Trek episodes. I distinctly remember greatly disliking “The Thaw” episode where takes place inside their minds. A program that was supposed to just entertain the crew placed in stasis became sentient, and I did not want them to kill off my favorite character played by Garrett Wang. It was only season 2! All that aside, I saw something in Star Trek that made me want to write. So I wrote. I wrote short stories, when I got older I joined communities that discussed and debated tech and trek, and made a few friends I still talk with to this day.

There are many themes presented in Star Trek, but I will leave just a few with you today. One: hope. Star Trek encompasses the very ideals that, as a human race, we need to constantly have hope. One of the greatest debates between those who like Star Wars and those who like Trek is that Trek is too “intellectual” to be good viewing. On the flip side there are those who say that Star Wars is just the dumbed down version of Star Trek. Now before I cause a rumble, there are good points to both. With the resurgence of JJ Abrams’ and Simon Pegg’s Trek in the 2000s, I am given hope that a new generation of kids are being inspired by the hope that this genre brings.

In second place comes the theme of dreaming. When Star Trek: The Original Series aired in 1969 the United States was in the midst of a space race with the rest of the world. Even our landing on the moon is a highly debated topic, but space travel was fresh in the minds of everyone, creating the perfect time for a show of Trek’s nature to air. While Lost in Space can be credited with being one of the first to hit airwaves along with Great Britain’s Doctor Who series, Star Trek rocketed (pun somewhat intended!) to popularity.

Fun fact: William Shatner was not the original Captain Kirk. They had aired one pilot episode with Jeffrey Hunter playing the role, so they re-aired the pilot with Shatner as the new Kirk. I wonder if Hunter regrets giving up that role… Just one of the many things a Trekkie such as myself contemplates!

Finally, Star Trek brings to mind the theme of equality. It was common sense when a show about alien races and exploring the stars was dreamt of. Why would they also not include the theme of everyone being on the same playing field. Just look at the original cast – DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, James Doohan – the cast that was put together by Gene Roddenberry reflected his dream of an equality. The first interracial on-screen kiss took place on Star Trek, and to this day every crew from The Next Generation to the 2009 Star Trek reboot has carried this them.

Hope. Dreams. Equality. All this, along with my own faith, helped shape the person I am today. You can’t have one without the other. As a quiet kid it encouraged my imagination and showed me that if they can do it, anyone can. For a while I gave up on my dream of being a published author, and even though I will be 31 next month it is never too late to pick right back up and conquer it. It may take a while with two jobs to accomplish now, but I hope you will join me on this journey as I work on my historical novel, The Girl Made of Coal. It is in its infancy stages, but as it grows I will have more to share! So for now I will leave you with this:

Keep Calm and Star Trek On!