Killing Your Darlings

I knew my first novel was a work of genius. It was obvious. So it was a bit disconcerting when my MA tutor suggested that, while writing it had been a good learning curve, it was time to put that book to one side and start another. Even more disconcerting was the experience of sending it out to agents. My sample chapters returned so fast the envelopes had scorch marks down the side.

I tried sending the novel to a book doctor. But when the report came they too didn't think it was a work of genius.  Humph - whoever wrote that report was clearly an idiot and their opinion was not worth considering. 

Rejection hurt.  A lot.  But above the pain of rejection I was genuinely baffled. How could they not spot the gloriously wonderfulness that was my novel?  I sulked. I sulked for six months. And through my grand sulking the notion gradually percolated - perhaps the novel wasn't so great after all.

I looked again at the book doctor's report. They'd seen a problem and suggested a solution that seemed complete madness. It was still a daft solution, in my opinion, but perhaps the problem they'd spotted concerning the four viewpoint characters had some validity. They wanted three of those viewpoints given more strength.  I knew that solution was wrong.  It was obviously wrong!  But how to deal with it?

I sulked a bit more. And then I came up with my own solution: what had been written from four viewpoints should be changed to a single viewpoint because, in truth, I was only interested in one of the stories I had interwoven. But that meant cutting about 50% of what I'd already written. I did some more sulking, and then went and sharpened my axe.

I lost 90% in the end, but once I'd made the decision to go for wholesale slaughter the process wasn't that bad. In fact, it was almost enjoyable. I knew the book wasn't a work of genius as if had been before, but I suspected I might have something publishable.  

The result? Well, when I sent the novel out again it took 36 hours from slipping the ms into the letterbox to have my first offer from an agent. Others followed, along with the publishing deal.  That book ended up being published around the world. 

Which only goes to show: sometimes mass murder is the right thing to do.

Book Doctors and Reading Services - Worth the Money?

The short answer is Yes. No. It depends.

What a book doctor or reading service can do is give you completely impartial feedback. They're not your friend, so they don't worry if they hurt your feelings when they reveal your novel is less than perfect. And their feedback will hurt if it's anything less than ecstatic. It's one of the reasons I personally avoid book doctoring as I want to be honest without upsetting people.

They should be experienced writers, editors or readers (you hope - see later on) so can give advice on the novel as a whole based on both their own writing and draft novels they've seen in the past. Because of their experience they should be able to pin-point problems and suggest solutions.

I used a book doctor on my first novel, Adultery for Beginners. The report identified two problems: 1) it was set in the countryside and, at the time of foot and mouth, they said editors were not buying country based novels and 2) it was written from four viewpoints and three of them were weak. The report suggested beefing up the weaker three and made suggestions as to how the plot might be changed to do this.

I did change the setting to a town - I'm not sure if their assessment was true as plenty of novels before and since have been set in the country. I took exception to the second point, thinking that the suggestions for 'improving' the plot were trite and cliched. However, after a long period of sulking, I did recognise that, while their solutions were wrong - for me - they had pin-pointed a problem. I re-wrote the book from one character's viewpoint, and that version was published.

I am concerned about who actually offers the feedback. If they are a writer or editor of your sort of novel then they should be able to offer useful feedback. A writer or editor in a different area may not understand the market for your genre. I also suspect that a lot of readers are unpublished MA Creative Writing graduates. I say this because after I graduated I received several round robin letters from companies recruiting readers via the creative writing department. So if you can, check out who is actually going to be doing the reading.

I don't think I would have been published without the report, because no one had ever given feedback about the weakness of the other voices which pushed me re-write. So, I'd say it IS worth the money, if you feel confident about the reader and their feedback and can make it work for you.