Thursday, September 4, 2008

Hypotheticals

Heh, my 200th post was an apology! Well, my 201st will be questions:

1. Do you think it's easier to revise a manuscript or write an entirely new one?

2. Which would you rather have happen: one huge bestseller that you know will never be topped (by you) or a life-long career as a mid-list author?

3. Let's pretend that I can tell the future with 100% accuracy (ha!). I read your manuscript, and I can tell you whether it will ever be published, or whether it won't. Do you want to know? Do you want to work on it, or do you want to move on to a new manuscript to start? (in other words, how much value is in revising a work that is unpublishable? at what point does revision become counter-productive?)

...and speaking of questions, I'd just like to announce:

Coming Soon!
Author Interviews!

I've got two author interviews lined up now, but if any of you have suggestions on where to dig up more, please let me know! :)

5 comments:

christine M said...

1) I think it's easier to revise
2) I'd rather write a lot and have a small following than just write once and get real famous.
3) If I really knew something was never going to make it - I'd shelve it and put my efforts into something else.

PJ Hoover said...

Fun!
1) Tricky! Write an entirely new one because revisions NEVER end!

2) If I'm JK Rowling, then OK - one huge hit then live in my castle and write whatever I want even though I know it will never be better than my best! But in general I'll go with the career because I love it!

3) No way in heck! Never! Knowing would almost equate to giving up. And even if something never gets published, we can learn tons by continuing to work on it and revise it - tons that may help us in the future!

Unknown said...

I should answer my own questions, shouldn't I? :)

1. I'd rather write than revise (big surprise!)...which I think is probably my weakness as a writer.

2. I'm on the fence with this one. I like your answer, Christine, but PJ, you have a point, too... a castle would be nice... :)

3. I think I'm with Christine on this, but I don't know if it is because I hate revisions, or because I really feel this way. Personally, I think if I knew a book would never make, I'd want to know and I'd want to quit...while I do think there is value in revisions, PJ, I also think there comes a point when you're beating a dead horse. (BTW, this isn't happening to me personally, I just got curious!)

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

1)Well, in theory, I'd say revise, but in reality, I keep re-writing it from scratch, but I think that's because it's technically still a first draft and I was stumbling upon things I had to fix in order to move forward. Once I finish this first draft, however, I will revise. Once I do that, I'll let you know which I think is easier...

2)This one is really hard... I think what it speaks to, the root of this question is do you want fame or longevity. I guess in my heart I want longevity, but I wouldn't mind if it came with a bit of fame and a dose of fortune as well... 8)

3)If you could tell the truth 100% (and my peers in my writing group do!) than I would absolutely want to know the truth and yes, I would work my ass off to revise and make it what it needed to be and keep giving it to you to see if you've changed your mind until I have exhausted all possibilities before moving on to a new book idea.

I would think the class of 2K8 would be a great place to start to look for debut authors who have a novel coming out and would love to be interviewed, like PJ (hi PJ) Barrie Summy, Kerri Mikulski, or other fellow bloggers who might not be a part of 2k8 but have books coming out like Danette Haworth, Angie Frazier...

Keri Mikulski said...

1. Write an entirely new one. :)

2. Life long career. Unless I'm writing under a pen name and I can live a lavish lifestyle without much intrusion and attend celebrity filled parties. :)

3. Yes, I want to know. But, I do think a lot can be learned by working on and revising manuscripts that are never published.

Great questions. :)