Noon and Midnight Lands

[asakiyume]

Poor Noon and Midnight Lands: I really doubt it’s going to find an agent. It’s been glanced at by a number of agents, and it’s not something any are wild about. Or perhaps it’s something they think isn’t right for the market, and if that’s the case, they may well be right. I had the good fortune to have an editor at a quite respectable publishing house look at it, and although she kindly said that she “read with interest, as it is imaginative and nicely written,” she went on to say, “Regretfully in the end I'm afraid my enthusiasms aren't strong enough to support a publishing offer.” So if any agent were to fall in love with it, perhaps they’d have an uphill battle persuading a publisher to take it.

I could change it to try to make it more palatable to the publishing world, but I don’t want to. If I’m going to spend time on a novel, I’d rather start a fresh one. And The Noon and Midnight Lands, just as it is, is the story I wanted to tell. Then too, even if I did revise it—made it start more expeditiously, removed the our-world main character so that it wasn’t a crossover fantasy, etc. etc.—it still might not appeal.

But meanwhile, in some ways, I feel really blessed in the success I’ve had with it. The people who have read it seem genuinely to have enjoyed it, which has delighted me no end. They have liked the world the way I liked the world—it seems like it’s been real for them, the way it’s real for me. Opening up new worlds for people—well, it’s wonderful.

Which is all by way of a preamble to say that I’ve set a deadline for how long I’m going to try hunting for an agent for this book. And if I don’t find an agent by that date, then I’m going to find a way of making the story available online—after first registering my copyright. I’ll probably do some combination of offering it free and charging for it, but I haven’t really thought that far ahead.

For me it’s not either-or with regard to non-traditional and traditional forms of publishing. I have no qualms about doing a little bit of everything.

And, too, consider this list of best-selling novels of 1910. How many works are familiar to you? How many authors’ names do you recognize? There are a few well-known works and well-known authors, but there are also lots that I bet I'm not alone in not knowing. This isn't to say they aren't good--they may be wonderful. They were certainly popular at the time. But now... forgotten.

Then there’s the artist and and poet William Blake. He eked out a living as an engraver, self-published his stuff, and we still remember him today.

…not that I’m ever going to be a William Blake. It’s just good to remember that there are all kinds of ways of doing things, and all kinds of measures of accomplishment.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

*nods* It's true; there's no need to "rush to market" (as they say in my other life) with this. Though, like you, I'm not getting any younger... it's harder to follow that advice at 45 than it would be at 25.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hear ya. Maybe give yourself one more book?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

How about a bunch of short stories? LOL, no, I'm kidding. *sigh*

I'm just impatient, and I know it's not a good thing. My impatience has caused me problems more times than I can name. I always come up with justifications, at the time, for acting out of impatience, but then, in retrospect, I see how things could have been better if I took the time, waited, practiced, etc.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Well, you could maybe run the short stories behind a lock, and see if you get some good feedback. People are more likely to be polite and only sing praises publicly, and remain silent if they think the thing doesn't work at all, but it's worth a try!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You're right about things posted in public--I never expect (or even want, to be honest) feedback on the journal; when I want feedback, I send stuff to people privately. I figure then they can be more honest--they're not saying something with a bunch of invisible witnesses, they're talking to me privately. I feel more comfortable with that.

That's how I treat comments, too. Unless someone expressly says "Please tell me what's wrong with this and how I can improve it," I tend, in journal comments, to talk about the things I like. If something glaring strikes me, I send a private message.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Well, and here's the thing. Some people don't improve, for whatever reasons. You have been. Really fast. So much so that I will gamble and say when 2012 rolls around, and you look back, you will see marked difference in your craft.

Another thing, I keep trying to figure out how to start a crit community. The thing that holds me back is the usual stuff: nobody wants to spend their time monitoring it, yet who's to see that members aren't just demanding crits but not offering them, and checking to make sure the crits aren't 1) sloppy or 2) irritating rewrites of your material, rather than discussions and reactions.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'd like to participate in your crit group--I just worry I'd let people down. You know how erratic my time is...

I'm pretty good at not demanding more crits than I give because I have so little material to offer people to read....

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but you are a natural born editor.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Oh, no... too careless for that...

just an editor by profession--maybe a natural born reader, though.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

professional--how did I miss that? Argh. can't even blame the heat.

Wow, that explains your amazingly good eye. All I can say is, the problem would be, if you were in a crit group, everyone would be asking for you, and talk about a busman's holiday.

[core-opsis.livejournal.com]

I'm jumping into the middle of your thread here, but I would be very interested in a crit. group. I've participated before with some very good groups, but that was about five years ago....

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

I agree with Sherwood. Don't be to hard on yourself, asakiyume. I know of very few writers who got their first books published.

The advice I always hear is: write a book, submit it, and meanwhile, write another book. The balance of your universe does not rest on this one story. The next one you write will be even better, and the next one after that...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm not being hard on myself :-)

I know that the more I write, the better I'll get. I don't think that every last thing out of my mouth is diamonds.

... but can we sometimes share things that aren't diamonds... maybe can some things just not be diamonds?

Maybe not ask money for it, even. Just... share it? I've read stuff by novice writers, stuff that wouldn't get published, probably, but that was alive and interesting and fun, even though it had flaws. Yeah, best would be that the person one day, having improved, reworked the story and so made it better, and it got published. But what if that doesn't happen? I'm still glad I saw the story--my life is richer by one story.

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

No, I know. I didn't mean to imply that you thought everything was diamonds.

I just think...I don't want you to be impatient with this. I don't want you to shoot yourself in the foot before you've even really gotten started.

Like Sherwood said about you just starting out on your serious writing: there's still a lot of time and a lot of room. There's no need for things to happen *now*. You just need to write.

Your books will be shared. Others will read them. You write wonderful stories. But give them time.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

:-) Okay--I will take my time.