Comments on: How to Break Up with your Novel https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/ Sun, 28 Aug 2016 20:06:17 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 By: Martha Conway https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-47193 Wed, 17 Feb 2016 23:45:21 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-47193 In reply to Renee Harvey.

Renee,
Maybe you can talk to your beta readers about some of the changes you have in mind after they’ve read it. They’ll be a great resource for you. Of course, you might get wildly different suggestions … but you are the ultimate judge. Good luck!

]]> By: Renee Harvey https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-47187 Tue, 16 Feb 2016 18:58:00 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-47187 I’m still working on my first novel (already part of a planned trilogy because I love these characters too much), but I’m finding myself making minor changes and looking more towards publication and other stories. Thanks for the tip about not making major changes while the book’s with beta readers! I know there’s a section I want to change, but probably shouldn’t.

]]> By: Martha Conway https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-41359 Sat, 24 Jan 2015 03:36:32 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-41359 In reply to Susan Hughes.

Hi Susan,

You are so right, it is scary. I don’t feel like I’m a controlling person in general, but I get to be completely in control of my novel … until the time comes when suddenly I’m not. Good luck, and congratulations on writing your first novel! What a huge milestone.

-Martha

]]> By: Martha Conway https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-41358 Sat, 24 Jan 2015 03:33:45 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-41358 In reply to Alison Morton.

A series! That’s a great way to stay together. Wish I’d thought of that. 🙂 Have you kept the same characters? Any favorites you can’t part with?

]]> By: Susan Hughes https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-41264 Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:11:26 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-41264 Martha, your experiences have encouraged me to get on and make the break! This is my first novel and even post-edit with a cover chosen I keep tinkering around the edges instead of declaring it finished. I know why I am doing this: once I say it’s done, I am going to have to send it out into the world to find out whether other people feel about my characters as I do! Scary.

]]> By: Alison Morton https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-41256 Fri, 23 Jan 2015 07:03:49 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-41256 I completely failed to break up! In the end, I wrote a trilogy as I couldn’t pull myself out of the world I had created. Now, with book 4, it’s turning into a series…

But each time manuscript goes to somebody outside – the structural editor, a beta reader, the copy editor – it edges a little nearer the door. Then it packs its suitcase and leaves to be with the publisher. I weep and then turn to the new love, but that new love still inhabits the same country as the old one.

]]> By: Martha Conway https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-41219 Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:01:22 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-41219 In reply to Sally Wolfe.

Sally, thanks for your comments. And congratulations for breaking up with your novel. (I still miss mine, too!)

]]> By: Sally Wolfe https://booksbywomen.org/how-to-break-up-with-your-novel-by-martha-conway/#comment-41197 Thu, 22 Jan 2015 17:44:51 +0000 http://booksbywomenorg.netfirms.com/?p=12897#comment-41197 I broke up with my novel a while back but I still miss it! Such a companion. How I loved having a long-term project to nourish and dive into every day! Now I have short ones (articles) and the beginnings of a new book about the writing process itself. Not as interesting as writing a story, but a goal I’ve set to grow my editing business. Thank you so much for your perspective–breaking up is hard and right now it seems that getting to know (and birth) a new book feels even harder.

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