The Lifecycle of a Novel, Part 2

In ‘Lifecycle of a Novel, Part 1’ I detailed what it took to bring my novel, Exuberance, to conclusion, including the week spent at Varuna, The Writers' House as a result of being shortlisted for the Varuna Awards for Manuscript development. This was 2005 and I had spent the best part of three years nurturing a small army of characters, watching them develop their own personalities, face their demons, reveal their secrets and unfold their lives on the pages of my manuscript.

Writing that last chapter also brought about the end of a chapter in my life: the completion of my first novel, the birth of my metaphorical child, and the end of my relationship with a whole array of fictitious, dear friends (strange as that might sound). Parting ways with Angie, Jimmy, Tiger, Sinead, Norah and Elena wasn't exactly easy, but I knew the time had come.
Of course, this wasn't the end of the journey at all, but merely the beginning. That first draft was 85,000 words long, but it was still a draft. It had a soul, but it also had flaws, and it was too close to my heart for me to see them objectively; which is why I enlisted the help of a friend who is a professional editor. 

Elizabeth was editing textbooks at the time (this was before she joined a major publishing house); editing a novel was a refreshing change and it showed – she did a fabulous job. We had fun discussing errors such as the use of the word ‘bold’ in this sentence: ‘While pondering all this, Angie sees a bold man enter the restaurant out of the corner of her eye’. How did Angie know he was a ‘bold’ man, by simply glancing at him? Naturally, I had meant to write ‘bald’. 
The second draft incorporated the feedback and suggestions I received not only from Elizabeth, but also from my partner, my family, a faithful group of friends and a fellow writer, Michelle, who returned my manuscript with several pages of observations only another author could make. 

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Once re-written, corrected and fleshed out, it was time for the second draft, bolder (not balder) and healthier than the first one, to venture out into the world. Its first stop was the desk of the Hon Jeff Kennett AC, then Chairman of beyondblue. I wanted to ensure this work of fiction presented a realistic portrayal of mental illness. Mr Kennett not only took the time to read it, but also wrote back saying that he found it to offer ‘a well-constructed account of bipolar’. He also offered to list it, once published, on beyondblue's website of publications.
The chapter samples started doing the rounds at publishing houses and literary agents and the rejection slips started pouring back. I am not one to wallpaper my house with rejection slips as other authors are known to do, so I didn’t keep track of how many there were. I wasn’t discouraged by the rejections; what was discouraging was that most publishers in Australia no longer seemed to be accepting unsolicited manuscripts, and fiction seemed to have gone out of fashion. 
And then, an agent in Victoria took me on as a client! She asked for the entire manuscript and read it thoroughly, giving me invaluable ideas to improve its ‘saleability’. She gave me feedback about structure, storyline, strengths and weaknesses. A qualified psychologist, she had genuine interest in subject of mental illness, and I will always be indebted to her for her contribution. She believed it was ‘a serious story dealing with important and complex issues which will hopefully get published.’ There were no fees involved unless the book was sold. 
Thus began the writing of the third draft, and some major decisions had to be made. My writer friend, Michelle, had said ‘I love the fact that your novel is not linear. I like that as a reader I felt I was putting together a jigsaw puzzle and that again shows your mastery of the craft. I find novelists usually achieve this mastery with their third and subsequent novels.’ The agent, on the other hand, said ‘in the first section, the chopping and changing in times is quite confusing and I wonder about telling the story as it happens.’
I ended up rewriting a great deal of the first section using a more linear approach, whilst leaving a number of flashbacks. This involved a revising the tenses and reshuffling chapters. I had to ask another friend to proofread the entire draft to ensure consistency. The process took almost a year, and perhaps this meant some of the momentum was lost. Still, I didn't know that – I handed Exuberance to my agent’s capable hands, and focused on my next project. 
When I contacted the agent a year later, she seemed to have forgotten about my book. The reality was that by then the GFC had hit, and no publisher would touch an unknown author even if she came recommended by an established agent. She made a few attempts, and sent me back a few more rejection notes for my non-collection, and then the whole thing fizzled out.
In the intervening years, every time I ran into the acquaintances that had read Exuberance in one of its many incarnations, I kept hearing the same two questions: Did your novel get published? Why not?
Fast-forward to 2013, when I read an article about Amanda Hocking, the young writer from Minnesota who was broke and desperate after receiving countless rejections for each of her many manuscripts. Worse, she had heard that an exhibition about Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, was arriving to Chicago in a few months’ time and she didn't have the $300 she needed for the plane tickets. She decided to self-publish one of her novels as an e-book, to raise the $300. Within six months, she had earned $20,000. She has now sold over $2.5 million worth of e-books.
This made me consider self-publishing an e-book as an option. What was there to lose? It doesn't require an investment; just paying a percentage of the royalties to the distributor. I certainly didn't expect to have the same success as Amanda Hocking, for two main reasons:

•  Although the word zombie, as in ‘the living dead’ does appear a few times in my book, in reference to the effect that depression can have upon a person, it is not a book about zombies.
  
• Although some of the characters in Exuberance might appear in the second novel I am writing, it is not a seventeen-book series.
  

In preparing my book for e-publication, which involved changing the format, I was able to make one more major revision – the fourth draft! After a five year hiatus, I could do this a lot more objectively. 
The lifecycle of this novel is by no means complete, but it’s now out there, in the wide, wild world, waiting to be found by those who will enjoy it, benefit from it and learn something from reading it. It doesn't claim to be a literary masterpiece, but I know with confidence that it is well written, well edited, it has a good structure and it tells a good story, dealing with important matters. It has heart, soul, blood and bones, and will hopefully enjoy a long, well lived life.
Exuberance is available for sale ($2.99 USD) at all major online book stores– click here for details.

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