Sunday, January 6, 2013

Winnowing Words and Pitches


On January 14, I’m entering the Amazon/CreateSpace novel-writing contest. This past Wednesday I posted the salient points about it on my other blog. Most—if not all of you—follow that blog. If you don’t or if you haven’t had time to read that posting, you might want to click here so as to appreciate the contest requirements.
         I’m entering with a manuscript entitled The Reluctant Spy. Regular followers of this blog have already read several postings about the nineteen drafts of that manuscript I completed as I worked on it the past thirteen years.
         Since Wednesday, I’ve been editing, cutting, and polishing the nineteenth draft. In my Wednesday posting I mistakenly said it was 127,000 words in length. When I actually started working on it, I used “word count” and discovered it was 130,979. Publishers today, or so I’ve read, like a debut novel to be around 120,000 words, so The Reluctant Spy is a little long.


         Given this, I was surprised to learn, when reading the contest rules, that Amazon/CreateSpace will accept manuscripts up to 150,000 words. Nevertheless, I’d like to get the text down to about 122,000 words so that if the judges eliminate it in any of the five rounds of judging, I’ll have a better manuscript to pitch to agents in the coming months.
         During the past few days, I’ve been able to delete around 5,000 words; the manuscript is now down to 125,962. I have another week to work on deleting—if possible—about 4,000 more words and on composing the “Pitch,” which is an essential part of the entry. For myself, I think that writing the 300-word pitch will require more skill than writing a 122,000-word manuscript.
         Why?
         Because crafting an intriguing pitch that will entice the contest judges into reading the 3,000 to 5,000-word manuscript excerpt requires an ability to get to the novel’s essence. That’s not a skill I’ve honed. Poets do this all the time; I circle around the periphery of a topic, getting closer and closer to essence, but taking a multitude of words to hit the bull’s-eye. As a storyteller, I’m more of a gestalt writer.
         If you’d like to read some sample 300-word pitches from past winners of the contest, please click here. Then you’ll understand why I’m a little stressed about pulling this off.
         Today and for the next week, I’m asking for your visualizations, thoughts, prayers as I work on this pitch. I plan to write a first draft tomorrow—Monday—and fine-tune, fine-tune, fine-tune for an hour or so each morning until the contest entry date of the 14th.  The rest of each of those days, I’ll work on getting the manuscript ready.
         During the month of February, the contest judges will read the submitted 10,000 pitches and winnow them down to 2,000. That’s the first cut, which will be announced at the end of the month.

Winnowing rice in India.

         During March, they read the 2,000 excerpts to arrive at 500 promising ones. During April, they read the 500 completed manuscripts and narrow them down to 25. During May the count goes from 25 semi-finalists to 5 finalists. And finally, with the help of Amazon readers like yourself, to 1 grand-prize winner in late June.
         I’d be pleased—truly—if I made even the first cut. The pitch can make that happen. So I have my work cut out for me. I’m going to print the words Essence, Summary, and Intrigue on a post-it note and stick it to the top of my computer as a reminder of what I’m trying to do!
         Peace.

The two photographs are from Wikipedia.

22 comments:

  1. YOU CAN DO IT--I have no doubts!!

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    1. Dear Fishducky, your belief in me is such a gift. Thank you. Peace.

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    1. Dear Linda, thank you. I want to tell you that your book remains in the stack of those I'm going to get read. I so admire you for all the work you put into it and the cover intrigues me each time I see it. Peace.

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  3. You are the BEST! So you can do it. Of course you can, fishducky says so. And so do I. Hugs!

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    1. Dear Inger, well if Fishducky says it, then it must be so!!!!! I worked from 10 to 5 today on the manuscript. Then I stopped, took a nap, and read the newspaper. Now I've watched the first episode of season three of Downton Abbey and I feel quite content and ready to get up tomorrow and begin to work on the pitch! Peace.

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  4. i too believe you can do it, Dee. To me the pitches in the link read like what we in the UK call the blurb on the back or inside cover of a book. Something punchy and intriguing, not telling the whole story, but just enough of it to catch the attention of a browser and make them want to read further.

    Prayers coming you way, dear Dee.

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    1. Dear Perpetua, I'm humbled by all of you believing that I can do this. And you are right that the pitch is the book-jacket blurb on the paper flap of the inside cover. It's got to be both "punchy and intriguing" as you said while it hints at plot possibilities. I'm going to start working on it tomorrow morning for maybe three hours and then work in the afternoon on the manuscript editing. I plan to do that for each week day. Thank you for your prayers. That means so much to me. Peace.

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  5. You'll come up with the perfect pitch! I'm so excited for you ;-)

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    1. Dear Elisa, thank you for both your belief and your excitement! Peace.

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  6. I'm already praying for you, my friend. Without a doubt, I know you can do this, and great things are going to come out of this. Take some deep breaths- and I know we'll be hearing good news from you on this.

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    1. Dear Shelly, those deep breaths do help. I get so engrossed in the words that time slips by while I'm walking the shore of the Sea of Galilee or sitting among the fields watching the eagles soar the Valley of Doves there. I do so hope that I get into the contest--they cease to accept submissions when they pass the 10,000 mark--and then that I make the February cut. It's so exciting--and a little nerve racking. Peace.

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  7. I am sending you good juju, Dee, and I know you can do it. Let's concentrate on making that first cut! I sure hope this works out for you... fingers crossed, too! :-)

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    1. Dear DJan, that's what I need---a good juju!!!! Yes, I need to concentrate on making that first cut. I plan to work on the pitch each morning of this coming week for about three hours: writing, cutting, editing, pruning, writing more, etc., etc., etc!
      Thanks for crossing those talented fingers of yours that have typed and edited and pulled a rip cord and held a staff when walking the mountain trails of Washington. Peace.

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  8. Dee - I am joining the chorus of true believers. You can do it, and we will all be unstable as we cross everything for you. There is a river of positivity flowing your way from around the globe.

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    1. Dear EC, you're right, these comments do sound like a Greek chorus of support. I'm seeing you crossing knees, elbows, fingers, toes--a real pretzel down there in the Southern Hemisphere. Thank you for your belief in my writing. Peace.

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  9. Best of luck, Dee! Editing is difficult and time consuming, but you are really doing a bang up job of it. Sounds like this was just the motivation you needed to work on this book. Hugs! :)

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    1. Dear Rita, yes, this has motivated to right daily again. After I've completed the pitch and manuscript and get them entered in the contest (at least I hope the last thing will happen), I'm going to turn right away to my next novel, which takes place in Bronze-Age Greece. The first third of that book is already in about fifth draft and I know right where I need to go next with it. Thanks for the virtual hugs! Peace.

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  10. Onward and forward! :-) You can do it! You can be very focused when you have a goal. I've seen that!

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    1. Dear Debra, I'm wondering how you've seen that. I seem to take so much time off from blogging so often that I'd think most readers would believe I have little focus at all. So I'm glad if you see I do. Peace.

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  11. You have my visualizations of success, positive thoughts, and loving prayers.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Dear Janie, thank you so much for your support. Your loving prayers mean so much to me as do the visualizations of success and the positive thoughts. I need them all. Peace.

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