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I am, by nature, a muller, which isn't very good for winning arguments, doing interviews, and coming up with brilliance when an editor's asking me questions. I had a phone conference with an editor not so long ago; she wanted to brainstorm with me ideas/stories that I wanted to write besides the proposal I had out. This was very exciting...an editor actually wanted to work with me!
The only problem was, during the call, my mind couldn't quite come up with a brilliant catchy idea that would make an editor breathless with excitement. I had my cache of stories but since I didn't have a plot per se, I could tell the editor thought writing about an ambassador sounded like the most boring thing in the world ;-).
Ah well. Spies have weaknesses, you know.
Anyway, I asked her what she wanted to read, as an editor. She told me the story in her head, which astounded me somewhat (she had a whole story!), and told me enough to have me saying that I wouldn't be writing that particular story. For one thing, the woman was estranged from her ex-husband and no, it wouldn't be a reunion story, more like a her-against-him story, because he'd taken her thirteen year-old kid when he'd disappeared. That's reason #2, btw. I didn't want to do a thirteen year-old kid. In my mind, there were "mothers looking for teenage sons" stories out there already, although in this context, the editor wanted a twist of the mother being trained by a spec. operative because the ex- was that good at hiding from her.
So I have been mulling. And mulling. These elements could be worked into a story but it has to be my story, you know? It's always a compromise in the publishing world, in spite of inner artistic vision and all those wonderful rights people assure me I have ;-).
In the Gennitaverse, there are always people searching for things, for the truth, and this female character is searching for the truth about someone close to her, and my mind whispered, "Not neccessary for him to be an ex-husband, right?"
My mulling is more of an inner connection with that odd place writers have to communicate with their world. I looked at my COS commandos and GEM operatives and know there is someone among them, peeking out somewhere, who will tell me a story that will perk my interest. But first, I have to distill the story the editor told me into very, very basic elements because I keep seeing those two Schwaggenegger movies in my head--the one with Jamie Lee Curtis (the housewife who found out that her disappeared husband was a spy) and Terminator Part II (with Linda Hamilton training herself to perfection). I don't want those stories, but the emotions they generate were similar to the whirling mass of ideas in my head.
It has to be someone close who's missing, I said to my men and women, and yes, yes, I know that doesn't help because you all have someone close missing in your stories, so that's no good. But this new main character mustn't be a COS or GEM operative...connected perhaps...but not so much. I looked around in my messy mind. Come on, I cajoled, you don't have to be a mom looking for a thirteen year-old (most of my agents don't understand that since they aren't very parental).
Finally, finally, someone stepped out. And boy, was she a proud bitch ;-). Her first line was "I'm looking for my twin brother but I don't need any help." Oh good, oh goodie. A missing twin brother. And I can now use a nice thirteen year-old. How about a whole missing family, with the brother suspected of being bad, like a turncoat spy? And with that I have a scene of the twin sister needing the training to rescue the brother? Of course she had to--she didn't believe her brother was really turncoat whereas the government had abandoned him to the enemies....
I looked at the woman who's been there all along. "Hey, you need my help looking for them. I know where they are!" (I have to be diabolical to get my characters to cooperate).
Immediately--and yes, it's my right of having an inner artistic vision stepping up here--I felt all the emotions I wanted. The urgency. The concern. The things a twin knows about her sibling. I have the beginning knowledge of what my new heroine would be like at her core.
"Where are we going?" she asked, rather too calmly, I thought. Oooh, nice, very nice...pretense is good in my book.
I have that location in my head for a month now for some reason. Now I know why. It's a perfect Gennita Low Location. "Turkey," I said.
My whole inner world groaned. Yeah, all my guys and girls like to do that with me. A babble of voices rose.
"Turkey?"
"Are you fucking nuts?"
"Here we go again--another language!"
"Do you know how hard it is to break anyone out of Turkey?"
I grinned. "Well, that's what I need a SEAL for!"
Bwahaha. Being a mad author is good. Now, the prayer will be that once the scenes and synopsis are written, the editor doesn't think I've gone out of my mind since the story doesn't read anything remotely like her premise....
Besides, my mind whispered, if I've written the synopsis exactly the way she'd wanted, she'd probably reject it because it didn't sound like a Gennita Low drama. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Ah well, there's spying, my friends, and there's the bureaucracy.
3 comments:
Hi SQ,
What does a development editor do? Curious. And yes, I do think my method of madness is pretty extreme since I pretty much write stream of consciousness and hope no one notices ;-). I find it easier to trust my characters to know where they're going than myself. Very telling!
Sorry to sound so dumb, but I've never heard of development editor, even when I talk to my pubbed writing friends. Generally, the author is the only person responsible for her work and she is under one editor who will read the finished manuscript when it's handed in at the agreed date in the contract.
There is no collaboration between the editor and writer in the sense of writing/developing the story, unless there is a multi-author series and there is a grand story arc that had to be adhered to carefully. Then, of course, the editor has input about the development of the story.
As for title, cover jacket, book binding, etc., most of the time, that is entirely out of the author's hands. It goes to marketing and production. Some authors are lucky enough to keep their titles.
Maybe this is different in a small press, I'm not sure. My editor doesn't chime in about what needs to be added or deleted based on readers reviews; the story is mine and mine alone, and she helps me make it better by pointing out things that didn't work for her as a reader. For example, a plot hole that I overlooked or if my hero/heroine acts out of character.
As far as I know, no one reads an author's first draft unless you mean one of those services that are helping an unpublished writer. Unless, of course, specified in a contract, an author's responsibility is to hand in a finished manuscript by such and such a date, and not a first draft, etc. Most of today's publishers wouldn't have the time to invest in developing an author's story, as far as I know, since they are tightening their belts every conceivable way.
Is it too nosey to ask at what publishing house you worked for? I'm truly curious about this. I've emailed several of my friends and they've never heard of this job titles. We all write our stories and hand them in, then wait for the revision letter, then hand them in again. The proposal to writing stage is up to us and us alone.
Thanks for answering my question!
Okay, the development editor's job description makes more sense to me now. It's always good to know stuff like this! thanks.
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