I finished editing Captive Illusions, which is book 1 of the novel series The Candy Saga that I’m writing. I am finally ready to share it with my friends.
For the most part, the book feels to me like it’s done. I’ve found my voice–the tone of the third person omniscient narrator. I know the personalities of my four main characters well enough to know how they speak–to get in character without much difficulty when I write dialog. But I want critical observations from other people–I know I need test readers. I am sending the book to some friends for review, and will seek other test readers. I think this is the stage at which I’m ready to seek out an agent, and perhaps editor, so as to eventually secure a publisher. I will have to look up more about the specifics of these processes. Time to scour back through those late-night bookmarks of agents’ websites saying, “Here’s a great query; here’s a terrible one.” Etc.
The genre of Captive Illusions is young adult science fiction romance, though I aimed to make it appeal to adults as well. It is short for a novel–58,000 words, just within the standard length range for a first time writer’s debut YA novel. I’ve found some sources that say first-time writers should aim for 50-70K for YA, and some that say 55-75K. I have already completed a draft of the (much longer) sequel, and just started the third book.
I started writing this book in the summer of 2002 when I was 18 and had started art college a few months before. Originally I drew character sketches and the page layout for an introduction–it was going to be a comic book. As my idea grew more complex, I realized that writing it would probably be quicker than drawing it. Over the next year and a half, I came to re-discover the love I had had for writing as a kid. I finished the first draft of Captive Illusions in October 2003, a month before I turned 20, when I was still a teen, like the characters in the novel.
Within a few months after I started writing, however, I envisioned a much longer plot, which necessitated writing either several sequels, or a first novel of maybe 400K words. (So far, the first two books are roughly 200K). So after I finished the first draft of Captive Illusions, I started the next book, Hide and Seek. I have usually been hesitant to show anyone my work, because I knew it wasn’t yet as good as I could make it, but a few people have read parts or much of it and given me valuable feedback.
I haven’t been writing for the last 11 1/2 years straight. I let the project stagnate for much of that time. From maybe 2006-2010 I barely wrote a thing–opened up my digital file from time to time and edited a few parts, but had written my characters into a proverbial trench. I knew the main plot events for the rest of the series, but could not think of how to move the plot forward from where I was. My main problem, of course, was time. I was not stagnating in my own life–from when I was 18 until now, I went through and graduated art college, started a career in my chosen field, struggled with maintaining a career in my chosen field, practiced guitar and formed and performed in a metal band with my brother and some friends, found more work in my chosen field, had many jobs, made many friends, had many relationships, and moved around the country several times.
I’ve certainly grown intellectually and emotionally in the last decade plus (at least, I hope). I think that my writing has grown as well, but after dozens of edits, I hope the initial passion of the idea I thought of when writing about teens just a few years younger than I still shines through. I honestly don’t *feel* much different as a 30-year-old writing about teens than I did as an 18- and 19-year-old writing about teens. I actually relate to my characters far more now than I did back then, because I know them better. Over the last decade plus, I have grown with them and watched them change and learn and sometimes regress. They have opened themselves up to me in ways I had not previously envisioned. I just hope that as I explore their lives and journeys, my inner idea of how kids of their age and lifestyles would talk and act and react is still believable to kids who are that age now, and believable to future readers who are not yet teens. I hope I’m writing something that adults can enjoy but that will be helpful to people who are teenagers currently. When I was a teen, reading sci-fi helped me through troubled times. It helped me learn psychology and sociology, encouraged me to critically analyze my environment, and made me excited about the future. I want to be able to do the same for others.
At some point in the early-mid 2000s, in my early 20s, I lamented, “At this rate I won’t finish my novel until I’m 30!” Age 30 was a joke far-off time, because of course I would finish my novel before then! But I set it aside for a long time, until my mid-late 20s, when I lamented (re: stressed/freaked out), “OMG how can I possibly finish my novel by the time I’m 30?!” I took some steps back, considering everything else that I had done with my life, and that writing was (and still is) a labor of love, not something that makes me any money, and decided that having a solid edit of Book 1 agent-ready by age 30 was an acceptable goal. The more I read about the business, the more I realized that it would be silly to write a 400K word epic and expect to have any hope with an agent. So…my 30th birthday was a few days ago. I finished editing book one late at night the next day. I indulged myself by playing with fonts and formatting to make it look prettier than the 10-pt Times New Roman I use in my working master file, and exported a PDF to make myself feel all spiffy. But I convinced myself to do one more read-through for proofreading, so I loaded it on my phone so I could read it while lying in bed next to my sleeping girlfriend. I should point out that she has been extremely supportive of my writing endeavor, and helpful. I have been reading my novel to her aloud. She is interested in the story, and is also honest in her feedback, both positive and negative. I have now read her more than anyone else has read, and it is extremely relieving, and conducive to the writing process, to have someone to talk about my characters with. Until recently, they mostly lived only in my head.
So now I have proofread Captive Illusions, which is a good thing because I cleaned up a bit more prose in the process, clarifying certain events, adding or subtracting phrases here and there to ensure consistency. I’ll be awaiting feedback, while researching the business and continuing with the sequels. It’s not exactly what I envisioned when I was 18, but I can still say with honesty…I just turned 30 and I finished writing my first book and it feels good.
Jarien's words 