Debut Author Interviews

How did you know you were "done" with your book and ready to submit it?

• Melissa Marr on...Completion
• Paula Chase on...Completion
• Joni Sensel on...Completion
• Kelly Bingham on...Completion
• A.C.E. Bauer on...Completion
• Ruth McNally Barshaw on...Completion
• Greg R. Fishbone on...Completion
• Carrie Jones on...Completion
• Stephanie Hale on...Completion
• Marlane Kennedy on... Completion
• Sundee T. Frazier on...Completion
• Sarah Aronson on...Completion
• Eric Luper on...Completion
• Jay Asher on...Completion
• G. Neri on...Completion
• Rebecca Stead on...Completion
• Laura Bowers on...Completion
• Thatcher Heldring on...Completion
• Jeannine Garsee on...Completion
• Rose Kent on...Completion
• Sarah Beth Durst on...Completion
• Judy Gregerson on...Completion

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

This is such a tough question for everyone, I suspect. (So— What a good question!)

I had a request for the full manuscript from an agent before I was done writing the novel. This caused stress & excitement in equal parts. I had final exams to grade, end of term essays, & was still in revisions. I wanted to be done Right Away, but each day I re-read it I found myself tweaking & changing.

I decided that I needed to be at the point of “less than a scene” and “no major adds.” Once I reached that point, I walked away for 2 weeks to verify that I wasn’t just tired of it. When I went back and made no major changes, I printed it & mailed it. While I waited, I polished my query letter & sent out my first batch of queries to the agents on my list.

There’s no perfect formula for testing done-ness, no toothpick in the cake, but I believe that walking away is a useful strategy. It helps develop fresh eyes.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I’ve always said, there’s done and there’s DONE.

Initially, I was very ignorant to the process. I went it alone with no crit partners or groups. Once the manuscript was finished, I began subbing to agents. No walking away and coming back or anything - just said, “Okay, it’s finished” and mailed it off.

I was fortunate to get an agent to work with me - no official representation - for a year, right away.

The manuscript went through a lot of changes in that year. And eventually the agent officially declined to represent me.

A few more tweaks later, I knew my manuscript was done (enough to re-sub to agents, anyway) after having it professionally critiqued. I used the critique service of a former editor and current YA author whom I trusted, and let her critical eye have at my novel. After taking a majority of her advice, I tweaked my manuscript one last time and began a fresh round of agent subs. I secured my agent a few months later.

Now, three years, later the manuscript is thisclose to being DONE. It’s in the copyedit process, as we speak.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

Oh, I’m not sure I really believe in the concept of “done” any more — just abandoned. I’m sure I’ll find things in the printed version of REALITY LEAK that I’d like to change or improve. As I grow as a writer and change as a person, I want the work to evolve, too.

That said, I reach a point of temporary “doneness” on any of my manuscripts once I’ve done a few drafts, incorporated resonant feedback from others, set it aside for a few weeks, then can read it again on a glissade — that is, I can slide into and through the story without speed bumps, abrupt “huh?”s, or sneaky inconsistencies, and without wanting or needing to change more than a word here or there for aesthetics’ sake.

But the same manuscript will be “not done” again as soon as a few months pass. I suppose that’s because writing is, for me, organic, not architectural.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

All I can say is, I finally reached a point where I felt there was not one more thing I would or could do to the manuscript—I was proud of it and my character’s story felt “complete.” Naturally this was after thousands of rewrites, but still—I finally made it.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

Like everyone else, I think I’m done, and then there’s something else. “Done” for me usually means that I’ve reached the point that I’m satisfied with the structure; satisfied with my characters; satisfied with the language, the flow and the rhythm; and my tweaks consist of changing words and then changing them back. Wait a few months however, and all bets are off.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

An agent asked to see ELLIE McDOODLE before it was finished, and told me she’d be out of town for two weeks. I sent whatever I had, when she came back.
I think it was about 54 pages of graphic novel-ish manuscript and art, posted to a secret website.
I didn’t even have an ending yet, just a rough outline of where the book was going.

She loved it and emailed it out to a publisher before even formally signing with me.
As she was sending it, I was frantically finishing the book and uploading new pages so that when an editor finally had time to look at it, the book was done.

I expected to be told to make revisions, but that came much later.

The way I know a manuscript is “done” is when nothing bothers me about it anymore. All the niggling little issues are handled, and it’s the best I can do.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

My books are never done, ever, ever, ever. THE PENGUINS OF DOOM was written and rewritten over a period of years, accepted for publication, edited, edited again, extensively copyedited, and it’s still not done. Just today I came up with an idea that absolutely has to be put into the book. It’s the curse of being a perfectionist.

I’ve had to learn how to submit books knowing that they’re not yet done, and that I’ll probably think up a dozen small changes five minutes after I’ve closed the mailbox flap. That’s just the way it is.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

This is what happens to me when I write a book:

1. Finish the first draft of book and then revise it.
2. Put book away for AT LEAST one week.
3. I look at the book. I revise it again.
4. I revise it again.
5. I think, “Oh, this is done.”
6. I realize it will never be done.

With TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (ex) BOYFRIEND, I skipped steps four and five. I just sent it out. I thought, “Hhmmm. Let’s just see what happens.” Andrew Karre picked it up, asked me to add about 10,000 words. I added about 30,000 by the time I was completely through with it.

Now I feel it will never be done. Not really. Not in the sense of the book’s universe. The book, is basically done, but the scenes beyond it, the themes behind it, the emotions within it, they still rotate around, waiting for readers to take that extra step beyond the book.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

Oh, you’re supposed to be DONE before you submit? Whoops! :)

Just kidding! I did everything exactly the way you AREN”T supposed to. I had partials out for a different book I wrote but I was getting all rejections (positive, but still) then I got a request for a full. I knew in my heart that REVENGE was different but it wasn’t really finished. I hadn’t deeply revised and polished it. Like the implusive idiot I can sometimes be, I sent an email query on REVENGE to my dream agent. Why did I do this you ask? I was afraid I would get an offer for representation on the second book by someone who wasn’t my dream agent and I knew REVENGE was better so I was taking a chance. Yes, I know playing with fire!

Dream agent loved the concept and my voice but thought the story needed more plotting which I already knew! She said if I wanted to revise and resubmit she would love to read again. Yours truly spent a month’s worth of naptimes and bedtimes adding 20,000 words and doing a massive revision. Dream agent said I was her dream client and would love to take me on. Okay, not those EXACT words, but I know she was thinking them! :)

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I never consider a manuscript totally “done” when I submit. I think there is a myth out there that manuscripts have to be perfect before submitting, but all manuscripts go through revisions (and copyediting!) after they are accepted. I do spend a great deal of time, though, combing over a manuscript and making changes before I’m ready to send it out. A manuscript may not have to be perfect, but it certainly has to be polished until it shines! Usually I know it’s ready when I finally read through the manuscript and make only small changes—a word here and there.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

After three years of writing scenes (that will never appear in this book — maybe others!), changing my main character’s gender (Brenda to Brendan) and the point of view (third to first), writing up very rough plot outlines (multiple times), and plenty of input from my writing group and a writing mentor, I felt I had done all I could do. I sent it to an agent and she accepted and sold it, but then the editor had still more significant changes for me (create a new character, cut another, add a hobby for my main character that required more research …).

Figuring out this aspect of our writing is partly intuitive (and I think writers in generally are pretty intuitive people), but I’ve learned that I’m way more impatient and undisciplined than intuitive when it comes to knowing whether my manuscript is done! To me, writing is a solitary act accomplished with the help of many others. We need others to see the hard truth (“this isn’t done”) and not just what we want to see.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

Writing is rewriting. It is hard for me to let my manuscripts go.

Writing HEAD CASE was a lot like a human explosion. I wrote most of the first draft when my son was recovering from appendicitis. Lucky for me, I was at Vermont College. I was able to show my work to an advisor. I explored character, form, tense, and made many changes.

Before I had an agent, I relied on my critique friends to assure me my work was ready. This is another great reason to have an agent.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I was at a conference once and I heard Avi speak. He said he never rereads a novel he’s already had published because it’s too painful. He said he can’t read his own work without wanting to edit the heck out of it.

Back then, I thought he was a loon. I love Avi’s stuff and I couldn’t imagine making some of his work better.

Now that I have a novel of my own, I can identify completely. I’m in the process of reviewing my first page proofs and the pen is always in my hand. After I got over the fear of marring the beautiful copy (I mean its the first time I’m seeing what the pages are going to look like!), I’ve gotten chest deep in edits. I can’t imagine ever reading this book without wanting to change something.

So, Avi, I feel your pain!

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I knew my book would never be “done” in my mind. There would always be nitpicky things to change or better ways to say things. But if I ever wanted teens to read my book, at some point I needed to just stop.

I realized it was time to stop when, during the revision process, I could no longer find anything exciting about my book. What I intended to be suspenseful sounded dull. What I once thought was clever sounded cliche. At that point, I knew that any changes I made would work against the book and I needed to just suck it up and send it off.

Of course, my editor pointed out plenty of dull and cliche moments that I missed.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

Sometimes you are your own worst critic. With my newest book, Surf Mules, I worked it to death. By the 3rd draft, I was trying to make it brilliant; I must have written the first chapter 60 times in an effort to make it so good, you had to read the whole book. But I got too close to it. So close, I could not tell what was good or bad about it anymore.

I was toying with putting it away. My critique group told me I was full of it and it was ready to go out. I hemmed and hawed. I literally couldn’t read it. I was talking to an agent but was putting him off till Surf Mules was perfect. But another client convinced me it was better to show him now and revise with his fresh eyes because clearly, I would never finish it on my own.

Everyone was convinced it was great except me. I agreed to show it to the agent, but upon finally reading it before sending it off, I swear I thought the first half was dreck. I gave it to him anyways.

But the agent loved it. Loved it so much, he thought he could sell it as is. He had a handful of notes that were totally do-able. I did them in 5 days. Then he sent it off to five of the best editors in the biz. That’s how good he thought it was.

So now I am waiting to see. He thinks it’ll go fast, but what do I know? I’m just a writer.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

For me, it wasn’t really ever “done.” It was more that I was ready for a break.

The truth is that there is always more you can do. I’ve had significant changes with every turnaround, even after the advance reader copies were printed, and I’m sure that when I have the printed book in my hands I’ll still be editing it mentally.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

It’s funny, really. You edit, edit, edit, and edit and finally, after shedding a ton of blood, sweat and tears, you think … by God it’s done! It’s DONE!

And then a week or so passed and it dawns on you. I’m not done. I’ll NEVER be done.

With BEAUTY SHOP FOR RENT, I met an editor at an October 2003 conference who requested to read a full manuscript after critiquing the first two chapters. I finished the book, went through several rounds of editing, and by February 2004, sent it to the editor. I was like, you know what — I’ve done all that I can for this book for now and it’s simply time to let it go before I go totally nuts.

Two months later, I sent the same version to Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio who offered me representation one week later. The editor did reject me shortly after, so after another three rounds of edits, Rosemary began to submit my book to editors in November. In May, 2005, I was offered a contract by Harcourt, and went through another four or five rounds of edits during the next year and a half.

So when was I actually done? Once my editor said time’s up, no more editing. And now, I’ve decided to never again read the book, no matter how much I love the characters. There would be just too much I’d want to change!

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I agree with the prevailing sentiment. Like a funny cat story, there is no such thing as “done”. I sent in my manuscript when I thought I had begun to do more harm than good. When you trim the fat, you don’t want to cut too deep, right? And I think I was right to get the book off my desk when I did. Because what I have found is that the material I have come to loathe the most in a story, the gunk that makes me cringe, will be the stuff the editor likes best. It works the other way, too. Sometimes I think the sentence I am most proud of is the first one I should delete. Especially if I wrote it at four in the morning. It goes on and on. I’ll be getting ARCs soon and I’ve already asked my editor if I can make some minor changes.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

When I can read it, and say: “WOW!”—then I know it’s done.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I knew it was done when a little voice inside my head said, “Stop, Rose” ever time I fiddled with the story. So I listened to that voice.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I knew I was done once I started obsessing over semicolons.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I knew I was finally, forever done with my book when I was so sick of it that I wanted to throw up. I actually begged my publisher not to ask for any more changes because I was sure I’d become sick and die if I had to rework another sentence.