Still revising Vol 1 - and on the whole it isn't bad... I've been tweaking a bit, but the narrative is as it is - and now that I'm about 2/3 of the way through, I can see I have turning points in all the right places... I worry that (a) it is too ordinary MOR writing - or (b) that it is too over the top - religion, conscience, unconsumated marriage... not popular subjects. At supper Ned said "if it's completely different from everything else then it great - it's original...." is that really what "the Market" wants? Or maybe it's original in the wrong way?
I like it - I just can't see it as others see it. But then again, a romantic novel from a man's POV - that's a bit different? Still worrying about too much narrator... I'm not too worried about the final chapters, think they will be broadly all right - since I wrote them slowly - but the last 4,500 words were taken at a bit of a gallop - so I expect to have to do a fair amount of work and expansion on those.
As for submissions, I did one, but am saving the rest until I've finished the re-write. I would like some movement, but I would rather finish the re-write before anyone asks me for the rest of it.
So the plan is: finish re-write, do submissions, get feedback on TRF and then give it a final prune...and resubmit. I still haven't worked out the logistics of re-submitting TRF while Vol 1 is still doing the rounds, I think the fantasy is that Vol 1 will be taken in, and I can then push TRF at the putative agent... but we'll see. After that, I think a solid 3-6 months of research on life at the front, story lines etc. to enable me to write Vol 2. That pretty much takes care of the year up to the summer hols - barring the unforeseen.
I like it - I just can't see it as others see it. But then again, a romantic novel from a man's POV - that's a bit different? Still worrying about too much narrator... I'm not too worried about the final chapters, think they will be broadly all right - since I wrote them slowly - but the last 4,500 words were taken at a bit of a gallop - so I expect to have to do a fair amount of work and expansion on those.
As for submissions, I did one, but am saving the rest until I've finished the re-write. I would like some movement, but I would rather finish the re-write before anyone asks me for the rest of it.
So the plan is: finish re-write, do submissions, get feedback on TRF and then give it a final prune...and resubmit. I still haven't worked out the logistics of re-submitting TRF while Vol 1 is still doing the rounds, I think the fantasy is that Vol 1 will be taken in, and I can then push TRF at the putative agent... but we'll see. After that, I think a solid 3-6 months of research on life at the front, story lines etc. to enable me to write Vol 2. That pretty much takes care of the year up to the summer hols - barring the unforeseen.
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