Nuisance emails from Margot & Ryan

Hello writers, we have TWO tasks in this week’s email. If you want to take part in this week’s Feedback Friday, keep reading to find out how to get involved – Jericho Team

Superquick housekeeping to start off with: My How To Write A Novel in 6 Weeks course kicks off NOW. Anyone taking the courses gets a weekly video, an assignment, and peer-to-peer feedback via Feedback Friday.

The first module (on planning) is free to all. I hope you get stuck in and make maximum use of it. More information in the PSes below about what to do next.

After this first module, you’ll need to be a Premium Member to complete the course. If you’re not a PM and want to take part, check out our membership options here. I hope you join us.

Righto.

And today, I want to start with a simple question: What do you want to get out of writing?

Don’t give me the ‘in your wildest dreams’ answer. We all know what you dream of: agents stalking you, publishers sending you limos with huge bunches of flowers, a bestseller list electrified by your presence, surging crowds at festivals, your own skincare range, Margot Robbie pestering you with requests to be in your movie, Ryan Gosling inviting you to his island birthday bash …

And, OK, I’m sure that’s all bound to happen, but let’s have a sober version of your aspirations too.

If you want to answer just that simple question, then do. We’ve put together a Townhouse forum, and please – everyone, not just Premium Members – get involved. The short version of the question is just this: What do you want to get out of writing?

If you want to be more discursive (and please do!), then you might want to address any of the following questions which seem relevant to your situation:

1. Do you think your basic idea for a book is strong enough?
2. Are you going to finish your book?
3. Do you intend to get help with the book (eg: via a manuscript assessment)?
4. Do you intend to get help with your skills (eg: via a writing course)?
5. If you’ve finished your manuscript, do you think it’s strong enough to market as it stands?
6. What’s your preferred publication outcome: Big 5 traditional publication? Niche trad publication? Digital first publication? Self-pub?
7. What will you do if you get your book out there and agents aren’t interested?
8. What will you do if your self-publish your book and sales are miserable?
9. What financial outcome would make everything worth it to you? Give us a figure.
10. What other factors would make everything worth it? (eg: seeing your book in a bookshop. Holding a book in your hand. Getting some emails from readers.)
11. Does critical acclaim feel important to you?
12. Does feedback from readers feel important to you?
13. Do you intend to write more than one book? If yes, then will you be writing in your current genre or multiple ones?
14. Do you want to make a full-time career as author (ie: earn enough to live on from books alone.)
15. Do you want to make a substantial part-time career as author? (Like loads of the team at JW, in fact.)
16. Does a film / TV adaptation feel important, or is that just fantasy-land stuff for you?

Don’t feel confined to that list. If there’s something I’ve missed that seems relevant, add that into your answers.

And …

Well, when I started writing, I definitely wanted a big 5 publisher. I definitely wanted an agent. I definitely wanted to make meaningful money.

But I think the biggest thing for me was simply being a writer. I’d wanted to be an author since I was about 10 years old; I just always assumed that’s what I’d do. So being a writer for me was mostly about becoming me; anything else would have felt a bit strange, like having been born into the wrong body.

I have had my work adapted for TV. That didn’t make a big difference to me, either emotionally or financially.

I have had my work sold all over the place. That’s been gratifying, for sure, but not in an especially deep way. It’s fed my ego, not my soul, and these days my ego isn’t that fussed either.

I’ve generally had very positive reviews from critics, but, honestly, that means less to me now than it might have done once. I feel that I know reasonably well how good or bad my books are. I’m not massively affected by what some third-party thinks. If someone doesn’t like my book, that’s as likely to be a matter of personal preference as it is to be something more fundamental.

Getting really committed, insightful communications from readers? Well, that’s always been special and it’s become much more frequent in the internet age and (especially) with a bit of self-publishing.

I’ve always enjoyed trad publishing (though it has also, often, frustrated the heck out of me) but I’ve always liked self-pub too (which has been much less frustrating and more reliable in terms of income.)

I like writing fiction and non-fiction, but fiction is definitely harder – a lot harder, in fact.

I definitely want to publish more books, but I don’t have the same fever around it as I used to. (Nor, admittedly, the same financial pressure.)

I’ve never taken a writing course, but I have done courses on self-pub (well worth it) and no book of mine has ever been published without deep, professional editorial input.

So: those, roughly, are my answers.

What are yours?

Write down your answers and actually give them some kind of sense check. If you have things like “Explore merchandise range to accompany my middle grade novel”, then ask yourself how many authors you know who have successfully done this. If your answer doesn’t get further than ‘JK Rowling’, you may want to reconsider things.

The fact is that writing is hard. Getting published is hard. Not getting published is more common than getting published … and getting published in a small way is more common than getting published at scale.

So, what’s the point of all this? Well, we’re not in the business of daydreaming. I want you to think practically about your writing future. If you have a goal in mind, it’s much easier to reach if you

1. know what that goal looks like and
2. have concrete steps that will bring you closer to achieving it.

Ask yourself: what does that journey look like? What can you do today, this very minute, to bring you closer? This could be any number of things but some ideas include: 

• Clearing a set space in your week for writing
• Improving your home-writing set up to remove niggles or distractions
• Finding beta readers (Try Townhouse)
• Getting formal expert feedback (Try a manuscript assessment, but do this only after you’ve worked hard at self-editing your work. It doesn’t pay to rush in.)
• Really structuring what your book is trying to be. Getting specific about things like your elevator pitch, your plot outline, your character plans, and so on. (That means writing things down, by the way. Thinking about these things while walking dogs won’t achieve the same thing.)
• Cultivating a writing community (Feedback Friday is a great place to start)
• Improving your writing craft. Why not dip your toe with this week’s How to Write lesson? If there’s another area you need bolstering, hit up our Masterclass library (available to Premium Members). There are also more rigorous, structured options like our flagship writing course. It really depends on where you are at and where you want to be.
• Doing the scary stuff. Not sure if your manuscript is ready to be marketed? Try sending it out to agents. See what response you get. Or book an agent one-to-one and ask for direct, truthful feedback

For now though, that first step could be as simple as writing out your answers to the above questions and making sure every goal has a first step you can realistically make in the near future.

Post your writing goals and next steps here. Don’t want to share with the wider world? Reply to this post and let me know.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: HOW TO WRITE / MODULE #1 / PLANNING

Watch this video (this is the first lesson in the How to Write a Novel course. It’s free to watch, the rest of the course is for Premium Members)

Do your assignment:

1. Your pitch in <20 words
2. Write 1 short paragraph of plot summary
3. Write 1 paragraph on everything else (notably character.)

Upload the result to Townhouse here. I’ll see you there. Everyone welcome.

Til soon.

Harry