First Drafts and Feedback

I’m not going to lie to you, writing a novel is a long and difficult process. There will be moments of elation and despair and everything in between but when you finally have your finished manuscript, the feeling of achievement is amazing. 

That feeling lasts until you realize that your novel isn’t really finished at all and what you actually have is a first draft. The bad news is that unless you are the rare exception to the rule, first drafts are not that great. If you don’t believe me, read the chapter in Anne Lamott’s ‘Bird By Bird’ entitled, ‘Shitty First Drafts.’

Above all, do not be tempted to send your work out to agents and publishers in the form of a submission (a covering letter, synopsis and the first three chapters). It’s too soon and too unpolished and there is a crucial step I would urge you to take first: get professional feedback.

Along the way you may well have asked family and friends to read and comment on chapters and they will tell you they love it, but that’s because they love you. Perhaps you belong to a writing group and have shared excerpts with them, eagerly jotting down their responses and advice and trying not to look crushed if your work isn’t unanimously praised. But if you are serious about being a professional writer you need professional, objective feedback on your work, and for that you need a literary consultant.

If you Google ‘Literary Consultants’ you will be presented with a long list, but The Writer’s Workshop advice on the subject is a good place to start. It explains what Literary Consultants do and why you need one. They offer their own consultancy service and like many others, additional services such as mentoring, proofreading and short courses.

I used two consultancies to review my first novel, Learning To Speak American. The first was Cornerstones who liked it so much they considered referring it on to an agent, before deciding it wasn’t quite ready. I can’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed but I also knew that I was nearly there. I made the revisions they suggested and some others that they didn’t.

I wanted a fresh perspective on this new draft and was recommended to a smaller but perfectly formed consultancy—The Manuscript Doctor. The agency’s founder, Wanda Whiteley, also loved it and after some minor revisions, asked if she could send it to an agent? The Eureka moment. The moment that made all those solitary hours with my laptop worthwhile. Yes, was my reply.

So five years after deciding that I would write a novel, I was signed by Robert Kirby of United Agents and less than a year later, I had a two-book deal with Bonnier Publishing’s new imprint, Twenty7 Books.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a long hard road between a first draft and a published novel, but if you are prepared to seek out constructive advice and act upon it, you might just get there.