Hey cats and kitties.
My enthusiasm after coming off a morning of writing has cooled, having been back in the office for about an hour and a half, but what a glorious morning it was! I wrote the first draft of my Substance outline for Taos, read through all the comment posts that I’d gotten, and started the proof read and revise the Taos entry. I won’t be making substantial changes, but I have lots of ideas for them based on initial feedback and the outline.
I’m feeling pretty good. I just completed a rough draft of another novel, and I have definite goals for the moment that I’m reaching. I’m also excited about Substance again, after having taken a month off of it and seeing it with fresh eyes.
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A few months ago, I was watching many people I know publish short stories and wishing I could be doing that. I have always enjoyed the longer form of the novel, but I have learned to work on short stories as well, and have gotten fairly good at writing them and getting the ones I’ve sent out accepted this year. Which is, by the way, why I don’t have many circulating at the moment. The two I’ve recently written fell right into their intended markets, leaving me only one to ship around.
I felt like I was spinning my wheels writing novels, and I wanted some immediate gratification. I would still like to have more out there circulating, but this, this post is about why I am buzzed about writing novels, and why I will probably devote my time to making the two longer drafts I have in progress better.
Hello. My name is Catherine and I’m a novelist.
And here’s why:
1. Novels are the most marketable form of fiction at the moment. Short stories can lead agents to you if you’re good, but in order to have a career these days publishing with the houses, you need to write the novel. So it seems. You can do anything you like if you self pub, but the novel is what most readers are out to buy, and publishers are out to sell. And this is what I’m trying to do, so I should write novels.
2. A novel is an awesome long term project you can get excited about! I’m not the kind of person who looks for immediate gratification. I like working on a project for a long time, and making parts of it the best they can be. A novel means I can have a long affair. A short story is a brief fling in Paris.
3. If an agent wants me, they’ll want me to write novels. I need to write novels. I need to get better at writing novels. I need to know the best ways to write novels.
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I know how it is. I watch people publishing short stories, and I know I’ll do some of that, but I want to be telling some great long stories, well researched. That takes time. I must remember this. It takes time. I forgo the immediate gratification for the long term reward. I’m not saying that short story writers don’t get the long term reward. But I’m not sure how many short story writers get into the agent/big house publishing game without the novel either.
I find that once I get into the groove of it, I love the time it takes. It is a question of the journey, not the destination.
And I am becoming a bigger proponent of switching long projects up. I want to get Abigail Rath and Substance done. Working on AR helped me get excited about working on SoS again. So, I guess Seanan McGuire is on to something. Works for me anyway.
I plan to write a variety of things, but right now I’ll be working in my own happy writer verse, enjoying the characters and the world shaping. And hopefully if you’re writing a novel, you’ll feel a bit more like this is what you should be doing. It’s hard sometimes taking the long road, but you do build endurance, and you’ll love the view when you get there.
As always, your mileage will vary.
Cath
