Start Again

Not Giving Up

If I believe my beta readers, which I do (they're amazing), I have a good story here that needs to be told. If for nothing else than the speech in the third act, which I'm really proud of.

The trouble is, my queries are being rejected by every agent I've submitted to. It is nice to have a reply, and some replies are really supportive, but I can't help but think the trouble is my novel itself. So, I have torn it apart and I'm rebuilding it bit by bit.

I know I can write better than some of the scenes in this book. I know that some scenes aren't as strong as others. There isn't enough at stake. I think, you could even say that my book is quite dull in some places. No one has said that, but it's what I'm thinking. I need something to happen, something to be at stake in most of the scenes.

I think it helps that I'm reading more than I've read for a long time. I'm identifying the inciting

incidents, the key events, the midpoint, crisis, resolution points in the books I'm reading and it's giving me a better idea of where I'm going wrong.

In those dark moments, it also has me thinking that there is no way I can write this well. But we don't talk about crippling self doubt, not when revision is going well.

Things that have changed since the last beta read: 

• I have cut out a few surplus scenes that didn't add to the plot, pacing or story
• I've changed what happens at all in the first half of act two. World building information is going to be delivered to the reader in a much subtler way from now on. 
• The midpoint is going to be considerably different and the following scenes related to it will look much different. 
• The crisis point is staying the same, but I'm going to make it more obvious and more heartbreaking. 
• The end of the book is currently staying mostly the same. 

I have also made changes and then immediately deleted them. Such as, instead of moving house with her loving mum, Lexi, my main character was going to spend the summer with an evil Aunt Polly. However, this character didn't add to the plot so I replaced her back with Lexi's mum. Instead, I swapped her beautiful new house to a run down derelict that doesn't have wi-fi. Almost as bad as an evil aunt. 

I've also made the sidekick more cowardly so that his character arc has further to go. I've made Lexi more thoughtless so that her character arc moves a great deal.

I've got to remember, being an author isn't about being nice to your characters. It's about giving them a goal and doing everything you can to keep it from them and generally be completely awful to your characters.

I think one of my problems is, I don't know what Lexi wants. Tim wants to go home, forget aliens exist and play computer games with his friends.

Lexi wants to spend time with the aliens, be involved in their world and learn  everything she can about them. That doesn't seem a tangible want, however. I can put obstacles in her way, such as she's not allowed in the alien Hub and the alien police will kick her out. She doesn't know alien customs so stands out as human and also, not allowed in there. That just doesn't seem enough.

After the midpoint, she has a real, tangible obstacle of the antagonist to contend with. Perhaps if I had more antagonists, aliens who want to make Lexi's life difficult. Something to think about.