Writer to writer: From think to ink - Gail Carson Levine 2014
The writing and publishing clock
Underpinnings
Blog readers have expressed curiosity about my process and how my manuscripts become books. Here’s a comment from Charlotte: “I was wondering if you could give us a breakdown on how long it takes you to write an average novel, from the inklings of an idea to the first draft to the printing to promotion, etc. What takes the longest? Do different books take significantly different amounts of time? Do you have deadlines?”
How long it takes me to write a book depends on the book. Some are easier than others. The longest was eight years for Dave at Night, but I didn’t work on it regularly (I wrote Ella Enchanted in the middle). I spent the most continuous time on Fairest, because I couldn’t get the point of view right. Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg took about nine months, quick for me. Most of my Princess Tales consumed only a few months, because they’re shorter than my other novels; the quickest of them, The Fairy’s Mistake, took an astonishing eight days! I was so happy! That one began life as a picture book, which was rejected by a zillion publishers. My editor for Ella liked it and asked me to turn it into a short novel and write two more—the start of the series. When I expanded it, I already had the story and knew exactly what I was doing.
I don’t think the books that were the longest in the writing are the best or the worst, just the hardest. Some authors are much speedier than I am, and some are much slower. They’re not better or worse writers; their processes are just different. Don’t blame yourself for being fast or slow. The proof is in the pudding, not in how long it cooked. The reader doesn’t know if we spent a decade laboring over a book or a fevered eight days. He can’t tell if we revised a hundred times or if it went from our computers to the printer after an editor didn’t change even a comma (Rosemary says this never happens).
If a writer misses a deadline, the book gets rolled over to the next season. My editor assures me this wouldn’t ever be a problem, but I suspect otherwise. Editors move to other publishing houses (publishing companies are called “houses”). Publishers change direction. It’s best to be on time if we can.
If you’re writing against a deadline, when you’re actually writing (not taking a shower or walking the dog), put the deadline out of your mind. It’s a distraction. You’re doing the work, which is hard enough without also worrying.
Revision deadlines can be tight, but I’m a revising warrior and I blast straight through. I’m known for meeting deadlines, which, I think, gives editors a nice comfort level.
But meeting any deadline comes second to making the story as good as you can make it, and often that can’t be rushed.
On the publishing side, a novel takes about a year to a year and a half from when I submit a manuscript to Rosemary to its publication. I’m involved in some of what happens and have a rough idea of the rest, but I’m not an expert. For insight from an expert, you might like to read Harold Underdown’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books, which has it all.
Soon after I submit a manuscript, I start biting my nails. Will Rosemary like it? Often she phones or emails to reassure me, which is very kind. Then, after a few weeks, when she’s had time to turn the book over and over in her mind, she sends me an editorial letter by email and by snail mail along with the manuscript, on which she’s written her first round of edits. The letter always starts with what she liked and goes downhill from there, although she puts her criticism in the kindest possible light. My usual reaction is Yikes! Can I fix it? This process, editorial letter and manuscript edits, is how Rosemary and I work together, but some editors do the initial work in a phone call or a meeting. An editor may not mark up the manuscript at this point; he may just suggest a direction the writer should take in the revision. I prefer receiving written edits. If Rosemary says my MC needs to be more likeable, for example, I need to see the places in the manuscript where she isn’t or I won’t understand.
Here is one difference between an editor at a publishing house and a teacher: when an editor gives you an edit, you’re at liberty to make the change or not to. It’s your book, and the final decision is up to you. Not so when your editor is your teacher.
Having said that, I take my edits very seriously. Rosemary and I have the same goal, to make the book better, and she has the advantage of objectivity, which I’ve lost by living and breathing my book day in and day out.
When I finish the revision, I email it back. After she goes through the new version, Rosemary sends me a blessedly shorter letter and her second edits. If things are looking pretty good after that round, she gives the manuscript to the copy editor, who looks for the nitty-gritty mistakes, like grammar, punctuation, and consistency. An example of consistency would be this: A character is twelve at the start of a book and two years pass, and when I mention his age again I say he’s fourteen. The copy editor would be looking out for this. If I said he was fifteen, she would catch it. We writers rely on the eagle eyes of copy editors! However, I still try to get the nitty-gritty right myself, and so should you. Mistakes are unavoidable, but too many make the manuscript seem sloppy, as if we weren’t paying attention.
While all this is happening, more internal publishing action has begun, and the internal side continues until publication. First of all is the decision about when the book will come out. Publishers have seasonal “lists,” meaning the group of books that will be released over the course of several months.
Deadlines are attached to the list decision. If I were late with a revision, the book might be pushed to the next list. Other things have to happen on time, too. For example, the cover art has to be commissioned and finished.
Back to me. Rosemary sends me the copyedited manuscript by email with e-edits in the margins. I e-write my responses and return them by email. If any questions remain, Rosemary emails me.
Galleys come next. They aren’t a book yet, but the pages are designed as they will be in the book, and the typeface is what it will be, which is not up to me. It’s chosen by the book designer, although Rosemary and the art director supervise. Once there are galleys, electronic editing is over. Changes are made on the physical page again.
The first version of the galleys is called the first pass. It’s read by the proofreader, Rosemary, and me. By the time I get it, I see brief discussions among the others here and there in the margins. I love that. It’s proof that getting a book right is important!
Everyone’s changes are incorporated into second-pass galleys. The book is in good shape by now, but I look at second-pass galleys because I’m a chronic fiddler.
First-pass galleys are also bound, so that they look like a paperback book even if the real book will be released in hardcover, and even though they don’t contain the final changes. A paperback is sent to me, not to work on, just to have, because this is the magic moment when I see my story as a book for the first time, and it never fails to be a thrill. I celebrate, dance around, and show it to my husband and to our Airedale, Reggie, who enjoys the jubilation.
The bound galley paperback is also mailed to reviewers and to important people in the world of children’s literature who can help the book. It’s sent out even though it still has mistakes, and readers are warned that some of the words may change.
Other things happen behind the scenes. A decision is made about the size of the print run (the number of books to be printed initially). Publicity and marketing plans are developed. The book is integrated into the programs that the publisher uses to market and promote every book. Editors present their books to the sales force, the people who will sell it to independent and chain bookstores and to online booksellers. Sometimes a book tour is organized.
Oh, and the book is printed! Then it’s sent to distributors, who receive the orders and fill them. And it’s turned into an ebook and made available in that form, too.
After all this, and more, on the publisher’s side, it’s a wonder that the process takes only about a year.
Writing time!
• Write from the point of view of a newbie author meeting his or her editor for the first time. Make it go marvelously well. If you haven’t been published yet, make it a dream come true.
• Along the same lines, write a chapter or two in your future memoir about yourself as a writer, whether or not you expect writing to be your career. What got you started writing stories? Go into your real past, but also imagine the future. What has been a turning point or what will be? Describe your greatest past writing triumph (possibly a story or poem you’re proud of or one that received praise) and your greatest upcoming one.
Have fun, and save what you write!