Starting a novel with a mission statement

I've realised something rather odd - I have a tendency to start my novels with a mission statement (for want of a better description). Now, I'm only on my second novel as we speak but it's happened both times so a pattern seems to be forming.

In both instances I've written a page or two that sort of sets out the themes and content in a slightly overwritten way that sounds reminiscent of a voice-over from the opening of a film. The mission statement disappeared from the first novel in the third draft, when I became comfortable with the opening. I'm starting to work towards ditching the one from the new book too.

It's an odd little habit that possibly says something about how little I know of what's going to happen in the book before I start writing.

Anyone else ever done this?
Cheers,

Matt

Why I'm not sending my novel to any more agents

I finished my first novel Not Falling Off in October and began the submission process. I drew up a shortlist of agents who represented authors whose work I love, read the Writers and Artists Yearbook carefully so I knew how best to approach the process (and what I needed in terms of synopsis, covering letter etc) and waited to be snapped up.

Now, seven months later, I can tell you there has been no snapping. I managed to get a few agents to read the first three chapters and got standard rejections from most. A couple came within 24 hours of me following up on the original submission so I'm sure they hadn't read it. Most, however, I think had. You can't blame agents for using standard templated letters with the amount of stuff they have to read.

Four asked for and read the whole thing. The response was pretty good overall. Words used included: interesting, authentic, well-crafted, evocative, engaging, touching - yet nobody wanted to take it on. I even bumped into one of the agents a month or two later and, unprompted, she introduced herself and spent 15 minutes telling me (in detail) all the things she loved about the book. I was a bit baffled. Still, onwards and upwards. Luckily I had an idea already bubbling away for book 2 so threw myself into that in the meantime while I waited for the last agent to get back to me.

The final 'no thanks' came early this week and, oddly, I was rather pleased. Let me explain why. A month ago I was lucky enough to do a three day Intensive Fiction Workshop course at the Faber Academy. By the end of the first day my head was spinning with all the insight we'd been given and I immediately knew my book was weak in places. That came as a bit of a shock. On the second day I explained this to one of the course tutors (Trevor Byrne) who said, if he was in my position, he'd just crack on with the book I was now writing. He was right. I already know this book will be better based on what I've learned since I finished the first and I'm actually glad nobody took me on.

Even better, a couple of the agents who read Not Falling Off and liked it have said they're happy to read book 2 when it's finished.

I will go back and look at Not Falling Off once I'm finished with this book but not before.

So, patience is the key. If you want a sustained career in writing (and we all do, right?) it might just pay to wait til your writing catches up with your ambitions. Maybe not, you might write a splendid first book - I hope so.

I've also listened to a couple of podcast interviews with other writers recently whose first novel (or novels) didn't get published and are, with hindsight, rather pleased. These include Chris Cleave and David Mitchell (not that I'm in any way comparing myself to two such amazing writers).

Lesson learned. I'm now 15,000 words into the new book so we'll see where that takes me.

Thanks for reading

Matt

A finished novel and an empty notebook

So, a few days ago I finished the novel I've been writing for the past 18 months. This is brilliant and scary in equal measures as now I have to send it off into the world and find out whether it's crap, brilliant or (more likely) any one of a million things in between. That's partly what it's about though, how we generally live in the between, so it makes sense.

On the very good advice of a mate (Phil Earle, whose brilliant debut novel Being Billyis published in January by Puffin) I'm sticking the manuscript of book #1 in a drawer for a couple of weeks and giving it a final read before it goes out. Seeing as the Frankfurt Book Fair is almost upon us there's a fair chance nobody would read it til the end of October anyway.

In the meantime I've bought a new notebook (just a cheap Ryman's thing, I think the quality of my writing would be likely to be inversely proportional to the fanciness of any notebook I was to buy) and am cracking on with the research and note taking for book #2.

I'll fill you in on any feedback I get once it's out there.

#17 Britten - Peter Grimes (Davis/Vickers)

Britten: Peter Grimes

I love Peter Grimes, love it - in the way Kevin Keegan would have loved it if Newcastle had beaten Manchester United (probably more so).

The first recording I owned was the Britten/Pears one and I loved it - still do. A couple of years later my wife bought me the John Vickers/Colin Davis recording on vinyl but, vinyl not being so portable, I ended up not listening to it as much. I finally got round to getting the CD a while ago and have spent the past few days listening to pretty much nothing else other than this (although I did watch the ENO Philip Langridge DVDyesterday).

It's wonderful to have more than one outstanding recording of any opera to listen to and it's especially great when the versions bring out very different sides of the drama as is the case here. Vickers' singing is much more muscular and brutal than Pears' and Davis conducts the score with an equal amount of conviction. The standout scene for me is Grimes' first entry after the Passacaglia ('Go there...') which hits you with the force of a gale and leaves you reeling.

Grimes features as a (relatively small) reference in the novel I'm currently writing, which is one of the reasons I've been listening to it so much - more on that later though.