They say writing a novel takes a lot of time and dedication. I'm here to tell you that they're 100% right (unless you're James Patterson, but I'm still not convinced that he isn't actually 40 authors in a trench coat).
The project I'm working on has been in various states of realization for the last 9 or so years. I can't remember exactly when the ideas for the first book initially entered my mind, other than that they hit me after writing an exam in university.
I was at my computer in the evening when I realized I had some thoughts I had to jot down. The characters came first, namely Alison, Albert, and Maria (originally named Amanda until I realized I had too many "A" names in the principal cast). Over the next few weeks, the first scenes popped into my head, and over the next few months, I started to write.
My first draft took me a long time to write, upwards of a year, from what I can remember. Outside of balancing school and debilitating mental health issues, I kept getting stuck at places in the story and having absolutely no idea where to go next. There were also plot holes, oh so many plot holes. I ventured to cover these up as I edited my draft dozens of times. In the end, there was only so much makeup I could put on the pig.
At some point in 2017 or 2018, I decided I was "done" (I wasn't) and that my story was ready to see the world (it wasn't). I approached a local publisher who was kind enough to sit down for tea with me. As she mostly published non-fiction, she said she would show my manuscript to a few friends. The anonymous feedback that I received from said friends utterly broke me. I could look up the email I received that quoted them exactly, but I don't have it in me. The gist of the comments was thus: the piece is so utterly terrible it won't ever see the light of day, nor should it.
While I am someone who takes things overly personally, there was no room not to take these comments at their blunt face value. They were all criticism and zero construction. I remember sitting in my orange armchair at home and weeping. I was convinced that my oldest dream would never come to pass, that I was simply a horrible writer. These comments affected me so deeply that I shelved my story indefinitely.
Fortunately, I didn't give up writing altogether. I continued to hone my craft through university writing courses and running the writing club at work. When 2020 rolled around, I gave myself a shake and decided it was time to revisit the story I couldn't stop thinking about.
While I had tried the "pantser" method the first time around, it was time for me to be a "planner" (the method I have since learned is truly the gold standard for me). Before I set my fingers to the keyboard, I endeavored to plan out as much as I could about the world I was writing. This mainly involved rounding out my cast of characters, constructing a timeline (a necessary thing when you've got time travel involved), and creating a road map for the trilogy as a whole. These preparations allowed me to go into Book 1 with the bigger picture in mind. This made all the difference as by the spring of 2021 I had finished writing and editing my second version of the manuscript.
Then came my first attempt at querying. I went into it expecting poor results but receiving no answers or declines from every agency I hit up left me discouraged nonetheless. In hindsight, I didn't query that many agents. As it turns out, this may have been a blessing in disguise.
In late 2023, I decided to hitch up my socks and give The Archivists one last, real try. This meant doing an updated run of editing and revision before getting a professional to look at my work. When I receive the professionally edited manuscript back next month, I will look over the suggestions before sending my baby off for agents to look at. Here's where the blessing comes in; had I queried everyone on my list the first time around, I'd have no one left to query now. It's funny how things work out sometimes.
The agent game is extremely unforgiving, so I will likely send my manuscript to a few independent publishing houses as well. In the end, I could easily see myself self-publishing. I am determined that Alison's story will see the light of day and that Winnie's and Diana's will follow suit.
As a reward for reading through all this, I present to you my three protagonists as I created them in the Sims 4:
On another note, this article should have been posted yesterday, but I didn't write it until yesterday on account of a migraine. I hope to be back to my schedule of a post-a-week-less-a-day next week. Fingers crossed!
How long have you spent on a project? Did you give up on it only to return to it down the road?
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