I know I’ve been a bad blogger recently, and I apologise. I’m trying to get a grip on the various calls on my time, and hope to see some improvement now that I have decided to cut down my work – my paid, day job as an anti-money laundering adviser – to four days a week from January 2018.
I have also set the publication date for “Plank 5” as Friday 9 March 2018, which means that I will start that scary countdown clock as soon as I have finished writing this post.
In other news, I heard this week that I have not been long-listed in the Mslexia Women’s Novel Competition 2017. (You may remember that I asked your opinion on which Plank should be submitted, and you chose “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”.) Mslexia sent a very helpful (standard) rejection email explaining what they were looking for, which I thought might be useful to other writers out there, so here it is:
The one thing that really made the judges want to read on was a central character they believed in, who was unusual in some way, and – absolutely crucial, this – was embroiled in some kind of dilemma, quest or conflict. Passive characters standing on the sidelines were less likely to engage our readers; however painful their internal lives may be, it’s vital that inner torment is expressed in action and plot of some kind. If this applies to your novel, you might consider rethinking your main protagonist, to give them a more powerful personality, or simply to give them more to do!
As in previous years, there was a complaint about the use of prologues: ‘almost always an unnecessary device’ that often delays entry into the story. This applied particularly to prologues set in a different time period, or featuring characters that didn’t appear in the main text. When someone is reading a lot of manuscripts in one sitting, as literary agents and editors always must do, the need to be gripped immediately becomes especially urgent. ‘My final selections tended to have a strong voice and plunged the reader straight into the story.’
Indeed all of our judges admitted regretfully that they had to pass over a great deal of exceptional writing because the pace was simply too slow. In some cases this was because the writer spent too much time spelling out the details of the setting (in the historical and speculative fiction manuscripts especially); in others the dialogue was rather long-winded and repetitive. And some marvellously creative texts seemed to meander or tail off, rather than propelling the action forwards.
Again as in previous years, many novels started either with the protagonist waking up, or with the words ‘It all began like this…’. Nothing wrong with those beginnings in themselves, but anything that smacks of cliché is going be a turn-off for a professional assessing manuscripts as part of their job – and it’s such an easy thing to avoid.
It’s disappointing, of course, but as Sam would doubtless say, we’re not doing this for reward and recognition. I hope he’s right!
Susan Grossey 
I have come to the conclusion that competitions are looking for the writing equivalent of the stuff that hangs in the Tate Modern. Keep doing what you are doing, it is superb and Sam has his loyal fans. I know it is hard to keep going sometimes, but now and then what you write touches a reader and brings them joy… and that is what we write for – hence I am, after 2 years of normality, throwing myself back into the melee of the writer’s life. If you are a writer you can’t run and hide, I have found – you just have to face the music and write 😉 Looking forward to the next Plank – to misquote Dory “Just Keep Writing” J x
You may be right, Janis – perhaps they are always looking for an innovation. I read recently (can’t remember where) a book review saying that the book was ground-breaking in its structure, hard to follow and at times impenetrable, but brilliant! Reminds me of those peculiar clothes you see on the catwalk: interesting to look at, but failing in their primary purpose as coverings for the body!
Like you, I cannot imagine not writing, so I will simply have to carry on with what I can do – and Sam would be horrified at the thought of being ground-breaking and impenetrable! Many thanks for the reminder and the encouragement.
As to pace, I made a real effort in my last novel to keep everything cantering – rather than drifting – along. As a reader I’ll get fed up of a story that is meandering.
Looking forward to #5 🙂
It may be a function of age, Roy – as a younger reader I had much more patience with meandering, whereas now I give it a few pages and if I’m not gripped, I give up. I figure that I only have about thirty more years of reading in me, and there are so many good books that the mediocre have to give way!
And “Plank 5” is coming along well now – planning for a publication date of 9 March 2018, so I’m hoping to get the first draft to you by the end of this year…
Dear Susan
Best of luck with your upcoming switch to a part-time role. I was very lucky to be able to make the switch to part-time working a couple of years ago now and I really appreciate having the extra time to do the things that I enjoy.
Very exciting news about the publication date being set for “Plank 5”.
Best wishes
Graham
Dear Graham
I’ve been tempted into it by a close friend and my husband both going down to 80% working this year, and they’re having all sorts of fun on their “day off” (not together, I should clarify!). I don’t think, given the amount of research I need to do to keep up with AML, that I could go much below 80%, but the 20% decrease seems possible. And what will I do with that time? Why, write of course!
Best wishes from Susan
The feedback made me feel rather weary. Does every book have to be angsty and fast paced? Is there no place for slow reading and gentle characters? It’s not as if the novel competition was for thrillers. One of the things that makes your Sam novels stand out is the sweetness of your central character. I should also confess that I love prologues both as reader and writer although I am aware there is something of a backlash going on about them. My last book had a sort of one but I didn’t call it a Prologue! And I’m sure the word begin/beginning was used about 55 times! It’s as if as life speeds up and attention spans shorten the same is expected of fiction. I am aware in my own writing that my chapters have shortened in the 20 years I’ve been writing. I am greatly looking forward to the next Sam – beautifully researched, wonderful, carefully delineated, gentle, reflective characters … March 9th can’t come quickly enough. Incidentally my own experience of entering competitions has been utterly woeful. I used to try short story competitions and then gave up because I got absolutely nowhere.
What kind and encouraging words, Victoria – thank you. I must admit that I was rather downcast at having to conform to modern writing expectations – have you been into a bookshop recently and counted up how many misery memoirs there are, and how many books about women being abducted, attacked, imprisoned and generally abused (all with watery blue covers and short titles containing the words “girl”, “gone”, “lost” or some combination)? I don’t want to read that stuff, and I certainly don’t want to spend months writing it! So I’m going back to sweet, reflective Sam, and bugger the competitions!