Treat your story as a gift

Photo courtesy of "anankkml"/Freedigitalphotos.net

The contract was signed and now we had to complete the final draft. Lion Fiction had kindly provided me with an experienced editor to work with to tighten the manuscript. In addition, I had to lose an additional 20% of it, that being 30,000 words or 60 pages.

It was now 8 years since the first 700-page draft. It’s incredible how many scenes and characters I’ve deleted including entire sub-plots. I hope one day some of those characters may make a re-appearance. In particular, there were a number of angels and demons that I let go. I think of this culling process like the casting call for a movie or TV show. Some actors get the nod, many don’t. Those that missed out were just not right for this publication but may well be in a future one.

My experience of working with editors has been exceptionally rewarding. Both Claire, who worked on the original draft, and Jan, on the latest one, took the opportunity to teach me how to write. They re-wrote a small sample of the manuscript, say a few pages, explaining why they made each change. I was then able to incorporate those methods in the rest of the manuscript.

Significant Re-work

Over the years the manuscript had passed through many “readers” of the various publishing houses who reviewed it, rarely was any comment made about needing to change plot or story elements. Typically all the queries related to the language and writing style. Accordingly, it came as somewhat of a surprise when I received Jan’s first five pages of review notes as they addressed the story, and the story alone.

Some very key elements of the story weren’t good enough.

Gulp.

I must have re-read those five pages and, the key scenes Jan was referencing, a hundred times that day. After swallowing my pride it soon dawned on me I had a lot of work to do. This wasn’t an edit. This was a re-write.

I was back at the beginning having to re-create scenes from scratch. So besides losing 20% of the manuscript I estimated I had to significantly amend 50% of the rest.

The final manuscript was due in Oxford by New Year’s Eve. Three months and counting.

I seriously questioned whether I could do it.

Let go of your story

One morning as I prayed prior to starting work on a particularly challenging scene that required major modification, I sensed this quiet nudge from the Lord: “Angelguard isn’t yours, Ian, it’s mine. I’ve invited you to write it. Do you think I’d abandon you now, this close to publication?”

Peace settled in my heart.

I can do this. Or more to the point He can do it. My executive editor is the Creator of the universe.

Hallelujah!

As the day passed and the new scene came together, I was able to reflect on the following:

“Our stories are His and He invites us to write them.”

This was incredible encouragement for me as I motored along each day. I was amazed how I was able to rapidly engineer new scenes, perform major surgeries on others plus modify characters with this fresh perspective.

I had set myself a target of mid-December so I could put the novel down for a few days before Christmas. Then give it a final read after Boxing Day before sending it off on 31 December.

It was a great feeling to reach that target.

If you’re struggling with your story may I encourage you to let it go. Thank God for the story by handing it back to Him. He might give it back. Maybe He won’t, because He has other stories in mind.  As challenging as that may be, press into Him and believe He will guide you.

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel, Angelguard, releases this month in the USA/Canada, UK in March and finally home sweet Oz, in May. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website and on his author Facebook page.