Getting a Manuscript Assessor

After nearly eight months of ignoring my novel and generally treating it very badly, I realized I missed my characters. I pulled myself together and decided to implement the changes suggested by my good friend some time ago. When I sat down to do this, however, I realized there was a lot I wanted to change. I opened a blank document and re-wrote my whole book from the beginning.

Then my city had a rather huge earth quake. It was brilliant. No work for a whole two weeks! (Hehe, someone has to look on the upside!). I poured myself into the re-write and acted like a complete hermit, except for emerging one Tuesday to help shovel mud, and twenty four days after that first blank page, I had my new finished draft (I call it Silver Hawk 3.1).

The problem then was who to give it to. All my friends and family have read some draft or other, so I was out of fresh pairs of eyes. Besides that, I also wanted a professional opinion. Was my book worthy of the 'real world' or am I way off the mark?

Thus I contacted Barbara at TFS (http://www.elseware.co.nz/NZAMA/) who put me in touch with Fleur Beale. Best move of my writing career to date! It was relatively expensive (for me on Cinema Attendant Budget) but so totally worth it to get her feedback. I sent it all off in a really big envelope along with a cheque for $500 and recieved back a ten page document outlining the ups and downs of what I had so far as well as specific pencilled comments through the manuscript. Some of the plot problems were easily addressed - I had simply forgotten to include that detail from a previous draft, but others provided a real challenge. My villian was weak and had no decent motivation... I had to acknowledge that this was true, and, in the process of delving deeper into that character's head, I realized I was thinking way too small. This completely revolutionized my ending and made everything about fifty times more exciting.

Conclusion: I am definitely getting Fleur to assess my future novels! (If she will take me back =P)

Now that the new final draft is completed (yes, 'final' is a running joke in my family), I am about to embark on a new round of queries to agents. I sent my first to TFS this morning and I'll keep you apprised along the way.