Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Rewrites

I'm currently rewriting one of my more recent finished manuscripts, Young Nostradamus. This one's about a teenager who discovers he's a clone of Nostradamus, created by the US government to help them predict terrorist attacks. I thought it was pretty darned good, but when I sent it to Flux, they rejected it. Too much like the last book, they told me. Plus, do I always have to write about the kid who gets picked on by school bullies?

I do that a lot, I've noticed. I like writing about the picked-on people who become heroes. You could say it's a theme of mine. However, Flux didn't want another one of those stories, and felt it didn't suit the character or the story, anyway. I looked back over the book, and discovered they are right. Some things you just don't see unless someone else points it out to you.

Flux is willing to take another look, provided I make a few changes. My agent has already sent them the first three rewritten chapters, and I'm hard at work revising the rest of it.

Writing is a continuing learning experience, and I'm very lucky to be working with people who are willing to give me the feedback I need to hear.

4 comments:

Bill Cokas said...

Good grief, man, how many manuscripts do you have kicking around? Every time I read your blog, it's about another different book! Is your middle name "King," as in "Stephen?" Sounds like a good idea, by the way. And if Flux didn't want it as-is, who's to say someone else wouldn't?

Timothy Carter said...

Indeed they might, but I've learned to trust the guys at Flux, and want to give them another chance at it.

I have a lot of manuscripts, actually. I can't ever stop writing, so they keep piling up.

Bill Cokas said...

Must be nice!

PippaW said...

You must be a real volcano of ideas if you have so many manuscript and always new ideas coming. I guess that is what makes a writer a writer. I mean not only the ability to write but also the impulse to do it, and most of all, having so many ideas to put down in words. Am I saying something obvious? I guess I'm not writer then ;-)