We've all got 'em. And (unless we're Stephen King) they'll never see the light of day. But what makes them special? I mean, sure they've got problems, but if we managed to stick it out to the end there they must have some redeeming qualities, or else why spend that much time writing them?
Maybe a novel doesn't turn out like you anticipated. Maybe the audience has changed--or the genre--to something you can't quite define, and furthermore have no idea how to query.
Maybe there's a plot problem, and you know how to fix it, but the idea of yet another overhaul doesn't exactly excite you.
Maybe it'd sound better in third person. Never know until you try, right? ;)
Whatever it is, these are the novels we loved, and now that--for one reason or another--they just sit there gathering dust, we love to hate. Betas despise them, agents won't touch them, but we have a soft spot for those pages of manuscript that equal countless hours of our lives.
What's so special about your trunk novels? Or, is it not so much a "love-hate" kind of thing, but more like a "see you in Hell" kind of thing?
Blog Members
Name: Andrew CarmichaelAge: 20
Writes: urban/dark/occult fantasy, mainstream literary and commercial
Likes: reading, writing, orange/vanilla/raspberry flavored things, cake, ice cream, soda, fries, languages music
Dislikes: chocolate
Extra: I support Finger Hearts.
Name: April
Age: 16
Writes: YA, especially: fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, thrillers, suspense, contemporary.
Likes: Life and its benefits.
Dislikes: Hardly anything.
Extra: I never give up. I love dancing in the rain.
Name: Vanessa Concannon
Age: 18
Writes: YA, Adult fantasy, romance, contemporary
Likes: Orgasmic music, Grace Slick, crowning achievement sweaters, Greece, stream of consciousness
Dislikes: Nasty crap
Extra All right, friends, you have seen the heavy groups. Now it's time for morning maniac music, believe me.
Name: Trish Doller
Age: *mumble*
Writes: YA
Likes: music, (particularly ska, punk and reggae), reading, sailing and DIY projects around Mango Villa
Dislikes: cookies 'n' cream ice cream
Repped By: Kate Schafer
Extra: I live in Florida and I own The Cutest Dog in the World
Name: Ryan Gebhart
Age: 26
Writes: dystopian, absurdist humor
Likes: scratch-off lottery tickets
Dislikes: I'm not a hater.
Extra: Current WIP - The Tyrant's Son
Name: Bethany Griffin
Age: Too old to be a YA, not too old to write it
Writes: Realistic Contemporary, once in awhile I throw in a little speculative stuff...
Likes: Books, loud music, dark chocolate
Dislikes: country music
Repped By: Maya Rock- Writers House
Extras: handcuffs is available now!
Name: Amanda K. Morgan
Age: 23
Writes: Straight-up YA and non-fiction
Likes: music, particularly country, playing the guitar, cats, watersports, volleyball, handbags, shoes, and, of course, reading and writing
Dislikes: driving on ice, excessive football on TV, bad photos
Extra:Current projects include The Intern (YA), Nashville Hit List (YA), and Backstage Book (NF).
Name: Hannah Moskowitz Esq. (I have no idea what esq. means, but I like it.)
Age: 18
Writes: Contemporary coming-of-age
Likes:Young writers, hardbacks, existentialism, and Fight Club.
Dislikes: Paperbacks, pretension, and responsibility
Extra: Website!
Name: North
Age: Anti-aging product aisle old
Writes: Tween fiction, report cards, query letters
Likes: my mini-van, sleeping in, orthopedic insoles
Dislikes: too many probing questions, trying to remember, shaving
Extra: Current project is Welcome to Donnegal, an urban fantasy
Name: Sage
Age: 27
Writes: Urban fantasy, YA fantasy, YA (very) soft sci-fi
Likes: Music, especially singing it; novels; anime and manga; ice cream, especially coffee-flavored; chocolate; anything by Joss Whedon (so far); cats
Dislikes: Fruit; most country music; way too many things I can't think of right now
Extra: Current WIPs I'm working on: AFTRLYF, HEVN SNT, DownLoad and Love Sucks
Name: Amanda Thrasher
Age: 20
Writes: YA fantasy, high school survival
Likes: Molskine notebooks, world music and religions, mocha frappuchinos, the smell of the mountains after a rain, having no schedule
Dislikes: Determined closemindedness
Extra: My NYR: start no riots in 2008
Name: Sasha Vivelo
Age: 35
Writes: contemporary YA, adult romance, new age fiction, metaphysical nonfiction
Likes: forests, ocean mammals, yoga, live acoustic music, running, qigong, writing, reading, and the smell of apples
Dislikes: not being able to do everything all at once
Extras: Check out my adult romance novel here.
Name: Sophie Wereley
Age: 17
Writes: Fantasy
Likes: new book smell, puppies and kittens, boa constrictors, power tools and boats
Dislikes: heights, exploding microwaves, math and hydroponics
Extra: I enjoy smushing flowers.
Name: Suzanne Young
Age: 31
Writes: YA Romance (Yes. YA can be romantic)
Dislikes: Now is that good Karma?
Extra: Suzanne's debut YA series THE NAUGHTY LIST will be released from Razorbill/Penguin in Spring 2010.
7 comments:
My trunk novels taught me that I had a hell of a lot to learn about everything from the basics of grammar, to how to string a cohesive plot together. They will never see the light of day.
On the other hand, they also taught me that I come up with some kick-arse ideas and characters, and that I had some modicum of talent. Knowing what I could achieve if I worked harder made me keep at this writing gig.
And I'm still totally in love with one of my (gary stu) creations. So There.
I only hold onto the idea of mine because the idea is Beauty and the Beast. And well, that is my favorite, basically.
Taught me about Mary-Sues, careful plotting, and layers of meaning. Taught me about research, and how it's better done sooner than later.
Also, taught me how I had been limiting myself to what's been done. I don't think I do that so much anymore.
My first novel will remain in the trunk forever, I hope. I was so attached to it then, but it was SO fatally flawed.
My second novel was for NaNoWriMo and was a blast to write, but very much deserves its spot in the dark, never to emerge.
With my trunk novels (and LORDY are there a lot of them) I think mostly is... well. They sucked. There may have been some great parts to them but everything else was so lacking that they couldn't be saved.
And this is why I'm a cannibal. Can't let these good things go to waste.
I call them "sentimental novels," but its the same thing.
Mine taught me that I could write a whole book, and that it could be a book I could be proud of.
It also taught me that not everyone agrees with my taste, that I've got to work more on craft and "publishability" and that if I want to make a career of this writing thing, I've got to move on.
I have a couple of trunk novels and several "trunk" fanfics (novella length). I think the main thing the fanfics taught me was that I could write a story. An interesting one. And as I wrote more, I got better at it.
The trunked novels then taught me I could write in my own universe and finish the novel. I also learned a lot about editing on my first trunked novel. The other one was a NaNo project that I didn't take as seriously as I've taken my later ones.
I still love the novels, love the characters, but both would require a major overhaul to be publishable and with my later writing, I can see that. So, trunkage :-)
My trunk novel started out as Civil War historical fiction, but I lost interest when I decided I didn't want to write love/sex scenes between the MC and her love interest.
Since I started writing YA, I've decided to pull out that old idea, dust it off, and see if making it a YA might breathe some life back into it. I think it will.
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