Over to you Emily...
Facing “The Fear”
Have you ever had a nightmare where you are walking naked
down a crowded street and everyone is laughing at you? How did you feel?
Ashamed, humiliated, wanting a sinkhole to appear in the road and swallow you
up?
Multiply that by a few thousand. Now you’re pretty close to
how I felt about letting someone read my novel.
The thing is, the whole point about being an author is that
people are going to read your books and (quakes at the thought) some of them will
write a review.
So why, I ask myself, do I want to do this? Why romance? The
genre is generally frowned upon even though it takes just as much effort to
write and just as many people (if not more) enjoy reading romance compared to
other genres.
Many authors will probably say the same – it’s just
something I have to do.
My problem was, when I had written my novel, what comes next?
This is where the wonderful Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) came in.
Sometime in March 2014 I stumbled across a website for
professional writers, the RNA, which has a New Writers’ Scheme (NWS) for
unpublished authors, restricted to 250 members each year. NWS members enjoy
most of the benefits of full membership, eg access to events, a quarterly
magazine, plus a full critique of one novel from an experienced author. Perfect!
Sadly, all 250 places for 2014 were filled. My naïve reaction was “but it’s
only March!”
Never mind - I cracked on with the draft of another novel
and waited till the end of the year when applications opened for 2015. Huddling
over my computer at just after midnight January 2 2015, I pressed the “send”
button the moment my clock registered 12:02, jumping for joy when I received
confirmation of my success a few days later. Little did I realise how lucky I
was. A fellow NWS member told me she missed her alarm in 2014 and sent her
application at 5am, but the places had all gone. The NWS is heavily
oversubscribed and I can understand why.
So what has the NWS done for me? Through membership of the
RNA’s online forum I connected with a fellow NWS member who set up a critique
group which now has a range of members at different stages in their career – newbies
like me and more established authors. Being in the NWS is like going back to
University where I’m a 1st year undergraduate with “graduation” to
full membership, ie a publishing contract, an indeterminate number of years
away.
The critique group was and is an invaluable source of
support and advice, not only on writing, but how to cope with twitter, websites
and blogs – all the essential skills an author needs in addition to being able
to write books. Being an online group I never had to look any of my critique
buddies in the eye, but The Fear still gripped me when we started to share
chapters and extracts for comments. But the feedback I got was great – really
constructive tips on editing and pacing as well as encouragement to stick to my
own writing style.
So when I finally submitted my manuscript in mid-2015 to the
NWS for critique I knew I had something that was at least better than the first
draft. At this point, other than the odd chapter and a few passages shared
among the critique group, I had not let anyone read the whole novel from start
to finish (cue images of being pelted with rotten fruit and vegetables as I
continue to walk down that street – Cersei Lannister, anyone?). The Fear
gripped me again - images of feedback such as “what on earth do you think
you’re doing”, “stick to the day job”, “this is a pale imitation of a cheesy
bodice-ripper” flashed through my mind.
When my report came back, not more than three weeks after I
sent the manuscript off, my blood pressure spiked. It was like those
end-of-year university exam results which determined whether or not you’d get
kicked off the course for being too stupid.
Needless to say the lady who critiqued my novel was
positive, constructive and gave excellent editing advice. I assume she’s a lady
– the NWS critique panel are anonymous. This makes sense because writers can be
a feisty lot. I have heard stories of rejected authors parading up and down
outside an agent’s offices yelling obscenities and someone once told me an
author sent an agent a cake with a begging message iced on the top; so I can
understand why reviewers want to be protected by the veil of anonymity.
Artistic temperament + negative feedback = ugly meltdown.
But it’s a shame I don’t know my reviewer’s name because I’d
like to give her a big hug! By giving me feedback on the bits that needed work
she has helped me improve and prepare my manuscript for agency submission. By
her positive feedback on the plot and characterisation she has begun to
convince me that my book doesn’t suck and that if I persevere at it I have a chance
of getting that elusive publishing contract. And finally, by being the first
ever person to read my book in its entirety without spontaneously combusting at
the awfulness of it she has helped me to conquer The Fear.
If I don’t manage to secure a publishing deal in the short
term the silver lining is that I have many more years to look forward to in the
NWS, knowing that there’s a very supportive community in the RNA as a whole and
some talented authors and reviewers to help me understand what works in a novel
and what doesn’t. I can’t recommend the RNA/NWS enough and would urge any
budding romance authors to join.
I just need to make sure I set my alarm for 12:02 next
January. Oh, and write a decent book!
Bio:
Emily grew up in Sussex where her love of all things
Medieval made her nag her parents to take her to Bodiam Castle at every
opportunity. She loves romantic novels with lots of conflict and hardship and
characters with a dark edge. She is currently writing gritty medieval romances
but has outline plans for other historical settings as well as contemporary
romances. She now lives in rural Scotland with her husband, children and
menagerie of dogs, chickens and snakes (often to be found on her lap when she’s
writing). Emily Royal is the pen name of Sally Calder. She is in the process of
setting up a website but can be found at:
@eroyalauthor
www.facebook.com/eroyalauthor
www.facebook.com/eroyalauthor
