Dec 28 2010
Mystory (Lessons Thereof)
Cross-posted from Speculative Faith.
(Someone once told me that “history” is called “history” because it’s HIS story, meaning God’s. Dunno if that’s true. But if it is, then my own personal story can be called “mystory.” In this case, I’m writing about the story of my stories, so that’s … “mystories”? But I digress. Ridiculously.)
I am a writer; in fact, I am a novelist. I get to call myself that, even though I do not have a single book published by a trade publisher, because I have been writing novels since I was 13ish. I’ve self-published five in various forms, and people read them, review them, and otherwise interact with them, so I figure that I’m doing what novelists do, and that’s good enough to claim the title.
In fact, this past week I finally finished a trilogy I have been working on for nearly ten years. In 2001 or thereabouts, I wrote a book called Worlds Unseen, which told the story of a handful of people who were curious enough — and gripped by longing enough — to explore beyond the boundaries of the world-as-they-knew-it and discover the truth about their history and future. As in our world, the truth is obscured by the machinations of evil. If discovered, it will set people free — but only if they’re willing to side with the ancient King and cast off the “safe” life they’ve always known.
Worlds Unseen helped me break through a few personal blocks as a writer, and I followed it right away with a sequel, Burning Light. I knew the story was supposed to be a trilogy. But back then I didn’t do outlines, and the third story wasn’t readily to hand like the first two had been. I was out of steam and content to let it rest.
So I did. Someday I would write a book called The Advent and finish the trilogy. Maybe.
In the meantime, I wrote a bunch of other books and became published as a freelance writer for various online and print magazines. In 2006 I entered the exciting waters of POD-enabled self-publishing, and in 2007 I looked fondly at Worlds Unseen and Burning Light and thought, why not? I have moved on to pursuing publication for other books. I could get these out into the world and start building readership. To the printing press!
This will have applicability to you shortly; keep reading . . .
Well, I did publish Worlds Unseen and Burning Light, and they began to accrue fans. They opened doors for me to get into all sorts of discussions with people about books and writing and my faith. They collected some good reviews. Worlds Unseen in its Smashwords-ebook form has been downloaded over 13,000 times.
But there was trouble. You cannot publish the first two books in a trilogy without eventually, someday, somehow, finishing the series. Readers made that clear. The third book needed to come out. And it didn’t want to.
The Advent turned into my life’s worst case of writer’s block. Dogged and determined, I wrote it. Hated and scrapped it. Wrote a different story with the same title. Scrapped most of it. Changed its name to Coming Day and kept going. Seven or so almost-complete rewrites later, I finally, finally wrote the book that finished the trilogy appropriately and in a way I could be proud of. It was like pulling teeth the entire way.
But now it’s done. I’ll be making it available to the world just as soon as the cover art is finished. And I can move on to new adventures, new worlds, new stories, and of course, marketing.
I share this bit of mystory with you because it highlighted two lessons for me.
1. Even when you think you know the cost ahead of time, anything you do will require commitment. Writing stories, like pulling a tooth or doing ministry or navigating a tricky relationship, requires a commitment that transcends how we feel at the moment. The upside of this is that commitment eventually yields fruit, and the fruit likewise transcends how we may have felt during the process.
2. Publishing, in any form, creates relationship and responsibility to readers. Don’t take that lightly. Like any relationship, it will cost something. It will require work and follow-through. And it will also create its own rewards. We are all, writers and readers both, engaged in one great conversation that truly impacts lives. And that is the best reason to pursue publishing in the first place.
I’d love to hear more about yourstories. Anybody?
P.S. If you’d like to read more about my trilogy, the website is www.worldsunseen.com.
From etymonline.com:
history: late 14c., “relation of incidents” (true or false), from O.Fr. historie, from L. historia “narrative, account, tale, story,” from Gk. historia “a learning or knowing by inquiry, history, record, narrative,” from historein “inquire,” from histor “wise man, judge …”
I love studying word histories … er, wordstories. :-)
Congratulations on finishing Book #3 of the trilogy. I look forward to reading it!
Oh! Reading this post, I laughed out loud with sympathy. This got me started: “You cannot publish the first two books in a trilogy without eventually, someday, somehow, finishing the series.” And from that point on, I felt I already knew how the story was going to go … and I was right! I had the same issue with MY third book too. Is the third book ALWAYS a nightmare to write and publish?!?
Reading your story made me think of my story – and how it was, to the point of getting my three books DONE, a meandering journey that didn’t have publication as the goal, but was guided by God every step of the way. It’s interesting how that’s worked for both of us – as if God looked out of heaven one day and saw a couple of girls delighting in using the gift for words He’d given them and wanting to do life with Him for Him delight and glory … so He led them into using the gift in bigger ways for that reason. Of course, I think it was His plan all the time, but it’s interesting the way He makes us aware of His plans – little bit by little bit.
I also really like your “definition” (?) of authorship that goes beyond publication with a trade publisher! :)
Rachel, if I may make a suggestion for a future post, I’d love to hear more about your self-publishing journey. I’m trying to learn as much about publishing as I can, and while it seems pretty easy to gain a working knowledge of the traditional publishing industry, I would really like to hear more specific details from authors who’ve gone with different forms of self-publishing.
What a fabulous mystory, Rachel! It’s strangely inspiring to know of the incredible amount of work and time that you have put into your books. I think this is why you are such a good writer – because you’re okay with not being good enough, scrapping the whole thing (even seven times! wow!), and pressing on until the finished product is worthy of publication.
Here is a question that might make for an interesting discussion. How do *you* know when your writing is good? I have received so many articles for editing that I look at and think, “Really? Do you really think this is well-written?” I suppose that’s why they have whole courses on how to become a good writer, but I just wonder if there are some key things that a writer could ask himself to objectively evaluate the quality of his writing. Do you have any specific questions you ask yourself? Or is it more intuitive for you?
Anyway…I really enjoyed this post and pray God’s continued blessing upon your writing! May you be filled with inspiration and fortitude in the coming year!
Natalie’s question is intriguing – I imagine all of us who are writing are wondering, “Hmm! How DO I know when my writing is good?!?” I’m pondering anyway! :)