20 September 2005
Artefact
A novel is an artefact - it's something that someone has made. A big problem for a novelist is that sometimes people do not want what you make.
And it isn't a question of quality of work. In fact, most novels are sweated over by perfectionists, as writers tend to be a little obsessive about their sentences. I know of several editors who have told me that authors' last minute corrections often add a significant cost to the printing process for no real improvement in the readability or pace of the text.
Of course, these things are easy to say and less easy to put into practice. Every time you re-read your story, you find things you wish you had said and things you wish you hadn't. Sometimes you find yourself adding back in things you have previously cut. It is a little like spiralling round a plughole but never falling through.
So, you finish your script and think to yourself: 'That is as good as I can get it without losing my reason.' Your book goes off to the publisher and, after a few tweaks suggested by your editor, out into the marketplace. And that's when you find out if anyone wants it.
My novel Labyrinth has been exceptionally lucky - great agents, marvellous publishers, terrific work by marketing and reps. It has stayed in the Sunday Times best seller list for twelve weeks. That means that the people I always thought would be inclined to enjoy my adventure story have been found and persuaded to give it a try.
This last week I have been on a trip to Belgium and Holland to speak to TV, radio and print journalists about the Dutch language publication of Labyrinth from Unieboek. It's a lovely production job with a highly regarded translator - my novel Eskimo Kissing was also translated into Dutch quite a few years ago. The Dutch professionals I have been working with have been wonderful, appreciative, attentive and intelligent.
It is a terrible cliché of course, but a stroke of good fortune does so help in life. When Greg and I are teaching at West Dean College, I always tell the participants on our creative writing courses that in order to be the right person in the right place at the right time, they have to finish their work and get it out there.
There is no alternative to finishing your novel - no alternative to sitting down to write.
I hope you find the centre of your Labyrinth.
