What I Wish I Was Told
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. There are several things I wish I knew when I decided to start writing this manuscript.
My end goal for this Substack is to offer hope. With any luck, there should be an announcement that a publisher has seen faith in my manuscript. That my book is on its way to shelves. While I do not know how far away, or how soon, that will be, there are things that I wish I was told that now act as timely advice to any budding author.
Build Up Your Manuscript
This may sound ridiculous, considering at last count that my manuscript totalled over 180,000 words (I thought it was excessive at 120,000 words). When I look over the manuscript, it feels complete. The narrative is there and it does not look like I’ve missed anything HUGE. Single and album releases are noted, so are monumental gigs and band splits. It tells the story of a music scene in full, from start to finish.
Publishers and literary agents will probably say that 180,000 words is excessive and that the edit will be painful. I disagree. In order to tell the story with enough detail, I think that total is just about right, though a little pruning would not go amiss.
Only you will know when the manuscript feels finished. I actually needed to be told that I should speak to more people, something I knew subconsciously but needed to be told outright.
Don’t Give Up Hope
This is one for me as it can be easy to lose hope. When you think you have created a great manuscript and are continually ignored by publishers and literary agents. Getting a book onto shelves is not easy, it’s a brutal business. Perhaps it should not be as harsh as it is, many literary agents have ignored my proposals despite the hours I spent over them.
One literary agent replied after nine months to say it wasn’t for them. Nine. Months. What harm is there in setting up automatic replies to ensure that prospective authors know that their proposal has been received? It isn’t hard to automate replies after six weeks to let people know that your proposal still has not been read.
Everyone has a book in them and that’s my salvation. Having given the manuscript to several close friends, I know it is publishable after going through the editing process. It is also a story that needs to be told, it simply needs someone to give it a chance. Make your manuscript the best it can be and don’t give up hope that someone will want to publish it.
Share Your Work
Authors can be extreme introverts who spend the vast majority of their time indoors in front of a laptop. Their work can feel intensely personal and it can prove difficult to share. That’s the conundrum when you realise that, in order to be considered an author, you have to share your work. It might look good to you on a laptop screen, or even on paper when you print it off. Until you share your work, you have little idea of how it will land with a potential audience.
Only a handful of friends have seen the manuscript in full. These are individuals that I know well and who I know were there at the same time as me. That’s another point, consider who you want to share your work with. Appreciate that the feedback could be brutal yet if it’s coming from someone you trust then take it with good faith.
Know Your Audience
A few months ago, I watched a video. Instagram knows me intimately well and a reel came up of an interview with an American director, Rick Rubin
He argued that a lot of movie executives tell you to imagine your audience. Find someone you know and mould your script to please them. WRONG.
“It turns out that when you make something truly for yourself, you’re doing the best thing you possibly can for your audience.”
He likens art to diary entries which makes sense for me. There’s a personal investment in my manuscript. Not simply the hours it took to create but the purpose of it, why I want to see it out there in the world. I’ve not compromised on what I imagine my audience to be, it’s a diary entry of the time.
It took me months to see this. My potential audience is not a mate of mine, it’s me. The director explained that, whatever it is you are creating, make it for you. Be honest with it, be happy with it, make it your own. That’s what I’ve tried to do with my manuscript. The starting point is defined by me and the interviewees were people I thought would be most appropriate to speak to. Even the font and the formatting are chosen by me because I like the look of it (though that may change at the whim of a publisher). The manuscript flows and I enjoy reading it, that’s enough for me.
Step Away, Once In A While
During the early days of the manuscript, I had a lot of time on my hands. Lockdowns came and went during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social restrictions were still in place and the social spaces I enjoyed frequenting were largely closed. Typing out my manuscript was an investment to keep me sane, something to do. I made wishlists of people I wanted to speak to and, eventually, I managed it. However, you can be too invested in writing.
I’ve taken months off working on the manuscript. Not because I thought it was done, but simply to get away. I’m now at the point where I know my manuscript probably too well. I know the quotes, I know the structure, I know the narrative. None of it surprises me anymore. It’s only when you step away and, maybe, hand it over to someone else, that you can fully appreciate it for what it is.