Jump.

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back; always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would not otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man would have dreamed would come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it"

-William H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Today's Accomplishment: Splurge

Today's accomplishment so far: spending my birthday bookstore gift certificates. (They lasted MORE THAN TWO WEEKS! CRAZINESS!)

I'm on a chick lit kick this month, so:

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff 

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle Brown

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg

The Beach House by Jane Green

Where should I start?!

Notes From The Evaluation Archives

Notes From The Manuscript Evaluation Archives is a new feature I'm trying out here at the Murdock Editing blog. 

Today's Edition: Backstory in Memoir


Think about your favorite contemporary novels or non-famous-person memoirs (classic literature should not be included in this thought experiment – writers and readers in days gone by could get away with all sorts of things that our modern readers will not stand for). Do you know everything there is to know about every character's history? Where they were born? What their parents were like? If it is a story with an adult protagonist, you may know a few details as they pop up in the general narrative, but you most likely don't have chapters devoted to the past.

It is very difficult to cut our own pasts out of our memoirs. You know that your past made you who you are today, and you probably have very strong opinions on how certain things affected you. And you want your reader to understand you as a person, so you feel that you have to include everything.

Don't. Like a fiction writer, you know everything there is to know about your protagonist (you). But you don't include it all. So much about a person is under the surface – we only ever see the tip of the iceberg – but if you show us the iceberg, if you really let us come up close and see the tip, we'll know that there is more below the surface. When it comes down to it, the way that your characters speak, the way they behave, the way they interact with each other and react to the events happening to them in the present of the story will mean so much more to the reader than anything you tell them about your characters' past. 

And backstory isn't just limited to telling us about the past – too much background included in a scene or "explaining" can be just as detrimental to your story. One of the great joys of reading a book is finding the connections between events, discovering the motivations of the characters, and using our own experiences and understanding of the world to understand the characters and their actions. If you constantly spell out for us why someone did something, or that this means that this will happen, or that happened because of this other thing, you lose the joy of discovery and the power of whatever is happening in the moment. You are telling the reader far too much – if you're doing this, you'll find notes such as "essaying" and "pontificating" and "over-explaining" throughout the marked MS. When you are essaying, you're telling us too much instead of letting us just live it and discover it with you. Find your moment, stay with it, and trust the reader to find his or her own connections.

 

Shopping for Clients: Fun with Publishers Marketplace

While I await your questions and to-be-critiqued first pages and the manuscript from my February 1 client, I'm going shopping.

Not real shopping, since I've already blown through my book budget for the month (recommendation: Jen Lancaster's Bitter is the New Black and Brunonia Barry's The Lace Reader). I'm going client shopping.

I do this about once a year, sometimes twice if the summer slowdown adds enough wiggle room to my schedule. Ninety percent of my clients find me through Google or other search engines, friends, coworkers, or members of their critique groups. The other ten percent come my way through the various online and offline writing and publishing groups to which I belong - fellow members whose writing seems like a good match for my services and background. And once in a blue moon I'll work with a client I've "met" through my Operation Rescue the Craigslist Writers (in which I skim through the writing gig listings and respond to authors looking for agents with a link to Preditors and Editors), although that isn't really the point.

But every now and then I go looking for a manuscript that is exactly what I feel like working on right now. Sometimes I'm in the mood to work on Chick Lit. Sometimes I'm in the mood for some crazy vampires. Sometimes I really want to read a good mystery or a psychological thriller. Sometimes I'm looking for something sweet, subtle, and thought-provoking. Sometimes I'm just waiting for something to jump out at me. So where do I go to "shop"? Publishers Marketplace Offerings.

I love reading the listings - both those coming from agents (it's fun to see who is selling what at any given moment) and those coming directly from the authors. It's like a clearinghouse for completed manuscripts and the creative minds behind the big ideas. It's like strolling through the aisles of Brookline Booksmith (my favorite bookstore), except the books (manuscripts) here are raw and ready to be transformed and refined and shaped into what their authors always hoped they could be - agent-landing manuscripts. I tend to get lost in these listings for hours (okay, once for an entire business day). Because I know it's there - that one (or those two) manuscripts that I really want to work on - those authors who I really want to work with and to help succeed.

It has been nearly a year and a half since my last trip through the Publisher's Marketplace Offerings. So if you don't hear from me for the rest of the day (and maybe tomorrow), you'll know where I am. And if you do hear from me, then I probably found you on Publisher's Marketplace, and I want to read your book.

UPDATE: Found two!

Grand Reopening

Welcome to the Grand Reopening of Murdock Editing, with your host and editor, Lindsay Murdock!

If you're a long-time reader and somehow still have this poor neglected blog on your blogroll, welcome back. If you're a writer who I've had to turn away over the past year, welcome back. And if you're just joining us for the first time, nice to meet you! I'll be posting a most-read posts list tomorrow afternoon. 

A few points of business.

(1) I do apologize for closing my digital doors to some outstanding writers over the past year. I experienced an overwhelming (and gratifying!) surge of queries and requests from authors in 2009. Although I've considered partnering with other editors, I'm still a one-person show, and I only have those measly 24 hours in a day, and every once in a while my family actually makes me stop working to do things like cook and change the cat litter. The nerve! Once the Murdock Editing waiting list stretched to cover 7 months worth of manuscripts, it was time to put the brakes on things.

(2) I'm back, but at half capacity. As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm currently developing and testing an online course system using Google Wave. My first test class (Get it Down on Paper, OR ELSE: A Guide to Writing The Book You've Always Meant to Write) begins next week. To ensure that ALL clients and students get the attention they deserve, I will only be taking on TWO (2) clients at any given time. 

(3) Because I'm a big fan of fresh starts (and giving myself time to breath now and then), there is no current waiting list. The next available slot is March 15. I've decided that 5 months is the longest I'm comfortable allowing the waiting list to get, so there are 10 slots available as of now. Want to discuss making one of those slots yours? Shoot me an e-mail at editor@murdockediting.com. 

(4) The blog is back. Really. No, I mean it this time! Let me know what you want to read about here. What are your questions? Would you like to see/offer your first pages up for sample critique? I look forward to hearing from you!

Where Oh Where Has Your Editor Been? Google Waving, and waving, and waving, and waving...

As some of you know, I've been working on a modified schedule of late. I am not currently accepting new clients until March, or, more likely, April.

So what am I up to?

I am continuing to work with several of my talented clients on their revisions, as well as one new voice whose premise was too good to turn away.

Most of my time, however, is currently going toward creating/developing two online courses that will be held in the magical world of Google Wave. The first course, Self-Editing for First-Time Novelists, will most likely begin in April or May. The second course, Writing Your First Draft Now, will be held this summer (assuming all goes well in the first class, of course!).

So, if you happen to pop by here and notice not much is going on, or have trouble accessing my main site (www.murdockediting.com, which will hopefully be undergoing an overhaul over the next several weeks), never fear, I'm still here! Just buried in a new project. Please continue to feel free to e-mail me with editing- and publishing-related questions, and if you found your way here looking for a manuscript evaluation, I'm happy to provide referrals to other editors who are currently taking on new clients.

And finally, for the most exciting part of the post: Want to be part of my test class? If all goes as planned, the course will be held in March. It will be free, with only 5 students, and a Google Wave invite if you need it. You'll learn the basics of self-editing, and I'll get to hone my online teaching skills - it's win-win! If you'd like one of the 5 spots, please e-mail me the query letter for the novel you'll be bringing to the class, plus the first ten pages (sorry, only writers who have a completed manuscript will be considered).

Happy Holidays!

Weekend Work

Sorry things have been a little slow here at the Murdock Editing Blog. I'm already booked for manuscript evaluations for the summer, and just starting to take queries and complete sample evals for slots in September and October.

Today (and yes it's the weekend, and yes, I "should" be taking some time off) I'm sitting out on my back porch in the middle of a spectacular summer thunderstorm working on a manuscript evaluation. Why? Because it's that good. Because I don't WANT to stop reading. Because I'm willing to bet price of this eval that if the author sticks with it, I'll be seeing some iteration of this manuscript in bookstores within the next two years. In fact, I'll lay down that bet now. May 24, 2011 - if this book hasn't sold, I'll donate my full editing fee to First Book. Check back with me and hold me to it.

Just one of those days when I truly love my job.