Monday, September 24, 2012

Falling Again

Ever fall in love with your manuscript all over again? It's been a while since I've felt passion flaring for Fire and Ice. When you've been working on one manuscript on and off for a few YEARS, the desire to delve back in again sort of just wears down to little nubs of frustration. For a while I've gone 'meh' and I couldn't put my finger on why I wasn't super excited about working on it. Again, it's been years in the making, so I guess ups and downs are to be expected, but it's been on the down side for a while. Ever get the feeling there's something wrong with your manuscript but you can't quite put your finger on it? Something has been nagging me about Fire and Ice for a while. In the beginning I sent it out to agents way too soon (thankfully only to a handful of them, but that still doesn't make me feel any less embarrassed that they had to endure the atrocity that was my first query letter). I thought I was ready, it thought the manuscript was ready. Boy was I wrong.

When I reread and revised Fire and Ice I knew it had potential, but I didn't know how to make the most of that potential, I didn't know where else I could take it. I'm finally at the point where I KNOW what wasn't working (thanks in part to my CP) and am going through the whole thing all over again to fix it. And I'm loving it. Not to say I don't get stuck every now and then, but I'm happy to be stuck, to think on how to fix things as I go ahead. The passion has been reiginited. I falling in love with my characters all over again, starting to get IT. All you writers out there know what IT is, I know you've felt it too. It's totally refreshing to have that desire to work and make my manuscript stronger push me at me. It makes my writing stronger and it makes this whole experience fun. What about you guys? Is there a manuscript you couldn't quite get right, but weren't ready to give up on? How did you overcome the downs?

10 comments:

  1. I know exactly what you're talking about. Sometimes if I put something aside that I'm having trouble with my subconscious will kind of work on it, and when I go back to it, I'll just get it. Of course, having another set of eyes look it over helps, too. Good luck!

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  2. Yuppers :)

    I know exactly how that feels, and the frustration of not being able to figure out what isn't quite right...

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  3. So glad you are falling back in love with it. I think sometimes we just need time apart from something. Often I find that I'll come back to something and feel reignited to work on it!

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  4. I have some manuscripts on the backburner that I keep thinking I'll go back to. But for now, I focus on the ideas that excite me. If those other manuscripts never see the light of day, well, at least I learned a lot while writing them.

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  5. I love that falling again feeling!

    I can't say I have a manuscript I couldn't get right, but wasn't ready to give up on. The ones I've happily shelved need edits so overwhelmingly huge, that I'm happy for them to stay there. :)

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  6. SO true!! Sometimes CPs and time are just what you need. My first manuscript is hidden in a hard drive somewhere because it was so terrible that I knew I had to walk away. Glad you're back with yours! So exciting!!

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  7. Oh, I know what you mean! It's my last year as a college student so that means...heavy major subjects and thesis. :) And no more time for my writing. But I cheated. Last week I got home early, opened my laptop and opened my sekrit project folder. I read the 1st chapter again and edited it. And I had this feeling that 'oh my god, it's all coming together.'

    Wonderful post! :)

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  8. I can definitely relate to your post! :)

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  9. You know what, I've experienced this before and it seems like a little time away from the MS does wonders. Taking time off (sounds like a bad love song) and coming back to it with fresh eyes and an open mind always seems to help me:)

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  10. I have a manuscript right now that isn't working, so I'm setting it aside to work on something else. Hopefully I'll get the spark back, since I've loved the book for so long. :)

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