Well, tonight J and I did suggest that it's nice for a story to actually have a plot of some kind, even if it's a character-based or atmospheric piece.

You could always offer the lady a ritalin milkshake.

Or make her watch "Buckaroo Banzai", to see if she has any cracks in the existentialist glooooooom...

BTW, comment left in your lj, about alumni article, and general tone thereof.

I'm a little giddy. I just finished off a major chapter and sent it on and I feel like dancing.

Yo, all my writing peeps!

(Ahem.)

BUST magazine, which I adore beyond all reason, has an article on how to start your own business, including a link to a website called Seattle Writergrrls. I originally was going to post it and flag it to the attention of the Seattle peeps, but in poking around the site (particularly the Resource page), this Web site is EXCELLENT for any writer, not just those is Seattle, and not just grrls.

Check it out, yo. Especially the Resource page.

Thanks, Teppy!

I just re-wrote the "Alumni Voices" piece I posted friends-locked in my LiveJournal last night. It's nearly 500 words shorter, and, damn, I wish I could make my first drafts concise and spare myself all this word-butchery!

Up to page 78 in the rewrite (out of 298), which means that I'm approximately 1/4 done with the hand-revision phase. Only up to page ten in the committing the revisions to the electronic version (which means as I type in the corrections and read the resulting paragraph aloud, more changes get made) so there's a way to go there.

Post-and-run on my way out the door to writers group--I'll be back in a few hours:

Just got my manuscript back from Marlene, the agent Deb recommended. She said, in part, "Thank you for allowing me to consider Lucy and Mr. Wright, which I've now had an opportunity to review. While there is a lot I like about this story and feel the writing is strong, I had problems with the pacing. Please keep in mind that publishing is a subjective business and another agent may well feel differently."

I'm not heartbroken because I figure in the big scheme of things, pacing is fixable, and while Marlene seems really wonderful, I kinda got the impression from some things she said here and there that she had a different niche in mind for me than the one I'm picturing for myself.

So I figure my task for the new year is to, first off, send queries/partials to such agencies as look appealing to me (because while I think she's right about the pacing, I don't think the problem is in the first chapter or three, so I feel safe letting people see that much right away), and meanwhile giving it another editing pass. Any ideas how to edit for pacing? I've got a good feel for polishing lines and scenes, but this is obviously more of a macro level issue.

Susan, do you have an outline? I know the novel's done, but outlining it now might give you a better sense of the rhythm of the action. If all the exciting stuff happens in one section, for instance, that might be an indication that you need to work to beef up some other sections or move some stuff around.

That's a good idea. I was also thinking of taking some novels I really enjoy, but staying away from the rambling leisurely 19th century ones, and analyzing the pacing to get a feel for why they work.

Pacing is One Of Those Issues. But I'm glad she gave it the full read and you got the feedback. You're definitely on your way.

Definitely a challenge. I've never really given pacing much conscious thought, either as a writer or a reader. I don't think I want to write a sort of snappy, nonstop action, fast-paced book, because I don't even like to read those--I like to get immersed in the characters and milieu and have a good wallow in the story, y'know? But it's possible to write a leisurely page-turner. That's my goal, and I think if I can pull it off, I can sell my work.

It's a bit daunting to be faced with a potential problem I don't quite know how to fix--but OTOH, I think it is fixable. It's just a structural problem, not a sign of a lack of talent. And while I have no idea yet how to improve the pacing of Lucy, I'm pretty sure Anna, the new project, is going to be stronger, in that area at least. With Lucy I just sort of wrote and let it happen, and was relatively late in the process before I felt like I had any kind of grip on the scope of the project. But with the new one, I've still got gaps to fill in for the plot, but I have a much stronger sense of where I'm going and what it all means.