When Your Writing Journey Becomes the Plot of a Novel

Two years ago, Judy Mintz introduced me to Victoria J. Coe at the NESCBWI Conference. Months later, we wound up moving about four blocks away from one another in the same town as Judy. Vicki is a talented writer, treasured critique partner, and friend... and she's got one heck of a story. 

When Your Writing Journey Becomes the Plot of a Novel

By Victoria J. Coe

You’ve read it before – a determined heroine sets out on a quest, fails, tries again, fails harder, hits bottom, has an “Aha!” moment, overcomes her character flaw, tries a third time and ultimately succeeds… or becomes the victim of a tragedy. When I first wrote my middle grade novel, I thought – that is, I hoped – my happy ending would come at the end of Act 1. Ha! Who would want to read a story like that?

              I spent ten months writing and revising. My first readers, including my critique group, teacher and classmates at Grub Street Boston, and critiquers at New England SCBWI helped me work on a huge number of issues. Everyone agreed the character and voice were special. I began to believe.

            I researched agents, whipped up a query, and started sending out batches of ten. All in all, I queried 50 agents and got five full requests. The first four were kind enough to offer comments, but it was obvious my manuscript wasn’t a good fit.

            At the bottom of the alphabet, Marietta B. Zacker of the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency ended up in my fifth batch. After researching the authors and books she represents, reading her interviews, and learning how highly-regarded and overall impressive she is, I was ecstatic when she became my fifth full request. I held out hope.

            Less than a week later, Marietta sent me the longest, most exciting rejection ever. She gushed about the character and the voice. She used the word “love.” Clearly, there was a connection.

But, she also said the plot and story development needed work. She made suggestions. She said she’d be more than happy to read a revision. She offered to talk if I had questions.

            In further emails and a phone conversation, Marietta and I shared a vision of what the story could become. I was determined to rewrite the manuscript and blow her socks off.

We kept in touch as I rewrote. With the help of two SCBWI critique groups, I revised again. Five months later, we all agreed it was ready. I sent the new and improved manuscript back to Marietta with sky high hopes.

Waiting was torture. 
Then, almost two months later, the email came. And it was bad news.

She agreed I’d dug out a stronger plot. She praised the changes I’d made. But, she said the story still wasn’t working. She actually said it pained her to write the words that she had to pass.

Talk about feeling devastated. It was the best chance ever with the best agent ever and then it was over. Just like that. After all that work.

Numb, I had no idea how to react. But I knew I had to thank Marietta for her incredible generosity and encouragement. She kindly responded that she’d be open to future submissions. And she’d even read this same manuscript again should I decide to revise a third time.

Yeah, right. How could I revise if I didn’t know what wasn’t working? And if it wasn’t working for Marietta, the agent who loved my character and my voice, it wasn’t going to work for anyone. I had two choices: 1) Give up, or 2) Get professional help.

This part of the story is called the cliffhanger. 

Tune in next week to find out what happens!

Writers, what has made you shelve a novel? 

What has made you stick with a novel?