El Andalous - Preparing "Space Shapes" for Submission

The Waiting Game

I’ve been spending a lot of my time writing. This is what I came here to do (in addition to swim) and with the virus keeping me at home for longer than usual, it’s the perfect time to get round to it.

I actually have three novels now in various states. The first one I wrote was Time Tells, but has since become my second novel. I gave it to people to critique some years ago now and it needed more changes than I’d anticipated. It’s in pretty good shape now, but still needs work. The second one, which is now my first one (do you follow?), is Space Shapes. And the third one (Phantom Parts) I’ve only just started and am still waiting to see if it will turn into something worth pursuing.

Anyway, my aim when I moved back here was to get Space Shapes off to a literary agent. So, I’ve been polishing the manuscript (there is no end to this!). I was pretty happy with it when I sent it out to my awesome friends for feedback (I don’t want them to have to do too much work). But much as I thought I had a polished manuscript, I also knew there would be a host of unseen errors and improvements to be made. I can trust my friends to help and not to hold back!

It’s always amazing when you get critique. You think you’ve done so well and then you discover all these things that could be so much better. It’s great taking in the feedback and seeing the novel progress to a new level. I don’t think anyone can spot all their own failings / mistakes / typos, so it’s an invaluable step. And each reader brings something different to the table, because all readers read a slightly different book (as in, they bring different backgrounds and interpretations with them). An absolutely huge thanks to all of you.

So, I made the changes. I sometimes find that I need to let some comments “rest” for a little while until they sink in (maybe I’m sulking, maybe I suddenly understand that there is a problem but not quite where they said it was, maybe I just need some temporal distance to see the issue that my reviewer saw). I let it lie a while after taking in the comments, and then I edited it again.

I was trying for a long time to find teenage readers (my audience), but the feedback I got from one parent was that his teenager said that she “wasn’t so desperate during coronavirus that she’d resort to reading a book”. I thought everyone would be reading, but actually many are finding it hard to concentrate. I suspect there’s an underlying stress for everyone these days. Anyway, bottom line is, it was difficult to find a teenage reader.

It was tempting to skip the teenage feedback, since I’d had responses from a ten year old, a twelve year old, and quite a few adults. However, there were some things I wanted specifically teenage feedback on (e.g., appropriateness of the tone of the novel, use of Mother Space, accuracy of school setting) that no adult or younger person could provide. And so I persevered, even though this was taking literally months of searching and trying to call in favours.

Eventually, a colleague of a friend of mine said his daughter (in the US) would read it. She gave it to four other friends and the idea was that they’d set up a Zoom meeting and give me feedback. Perfect! It turned out that only two of them got round to reading it, but that was enough. I’d been dreading a last-minute cancellation. It was great to see them on the video link. I had a whole list of questions ready to shoot at them. I found it all really interesting, but I had a vested interest, of course. Anyway, I got a couple of pieces of excellent feedback, but fortunately nothing major (I was worried they would suggest I remove Mother Space, which would mean the whole novel would fall).

I made the changes and again, the novel took another leap forward. I’d already prepared a blurb, an elevator pitch, comparators, and a synopsis, so once the changes were taken in, I was ready to start submitting to literary agents.

This is likely to be a long journey; many people take years over this and submit to hundreds in the end. But I’ve sent the letter, synopsis and sample material (first three chapters) to six agents. My little toe is finally in the water!

I’ve had a reply from one saying he’s no longer taking Young Adult novels (he was accepting them two months ago, so I wasn’t being a total idiot, I hasten to add). I received an acknowledgement from another agent who happened to have the same name as my main character. At first, I had the weird sensation that my character was sending me an email! And, strangely, I feel more nervous about my character being rejected rather than about me (well, my writing, of course) being rejected. I hope this doesn’t mean that I’m pathologically dissociative!

Meanwhile, I can’t resist just another little edit while I wait for responses (submitting suddenly brings you yet another level of objectivity). The next milestone, if I ever get there, will be for an agent to request to see the entire novel.