Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Art or business?

You know I have always prided myself for looking at my work as a business. I am a freelancer who gets ton of assignments. The editor tells me what to do and I do it. I like the give and take of CP groups. I like an agent who says, let's do this, this and this. So imagine my surprise when I felt myself balking at more rewrites on my wip. I don't mind cutting here and there. Adding this and that. But I am feeling like the first three or four chapters are pretty good. I'll change the synopsis, but there are things in the story that add the heart. My protagonist is a deaf girl, for crying out loud. I don't want to lose the fact that she is deaf and has had more struggles than most of us have ever known or dreamed of. I am not sure if I want her to be slick and packaged.

I hesitate to call my work art. (In fact, I am going through a my work sucks kind of week) But how much should we change our vision to meet market criteria? It would be easier if I were published, I think. More confidence.

So I am going to have to figure out what I am going to do now.

Had a great idea for a new work that I am going to pitch my agent this week. Do some more plotting for it.

Other than that, I am in nonfiction hell with more interviews and outlining than I can possibly mention. Why did I take so many assignments this month, Lord, why? Oh, right, the money.

Better get started.

3 comments:

Shannon McKelden said...

YOu know, what you said about your protagonist being a deaf girl and not wanting to lose the heart? THAT is what you tell Jenny when you get to the point where you have revised your last revision. When you have made the story as close to their vision as you can, you don't give up your own vision, you remind them that not all books have to be completely edgy and that you don't want to lose your character's personality/struggles in the midst of an edgy plot. THAT is your reasoning. It will work.

Shannon

Rachel Vincent said...

I won't actually published for another nine months, so I can't really speak about that giving anyone more confidence. But I can tell you that making a sale didn't give me more confidence. I wish I could say it did.

Selling made me happy, and continues to do that most of the time, but now I feel like a very small fish in an ocean full of whales. I'm just starting out, and I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm supposed to do/allowed to say, and I don't know how to find out, other than to ask my editor or agent, but I feel like I'm bugging them both all the time as it is.

I hope you feel much more confident and professional when you sell than I do. And you will sell.

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