Vlog: On Trunking Novels

While I've talked about false starts before, I thought it important to focus on what happens when you put away a manuscript you've written, possibly for good.


RELATED LINK:


What do you think? Have you ever trunked a manuscript?

 Twitter-sized bites: 
"I stopped looking at trunked MSs as failures...[&] started looking at them as learning experiences." (Click to tweet) 
"Sometimes manuscripts need to be written just for you: the writer." #writetip (Click to tweet)  
Have you ever trunked a MS? @Ava_Jae vlogs about her experience with putting (many) MSs in the drawer. (Click to tweet)

6 comments:

  1. LeandraDecember 9, 2014 at 6:24 AM

    I've trunked one(and yes, it was my first book) and I'm thinking I might be getting ready to trunk a second. I'm at 80+ queries w/this one, and while I've had requests, none of them have offered that golden ticket, so... I was pretty sad about it for awhile(I thought this was the 'one') but now I'm starting to get excited about my next book. It's finished, now I just have to revise it and hopefully start querying next spring or so. It was nice to watch this video, as this is sorta exactly where I'm at! =)

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  2. Fida IslaihDecember 9, 2014 at 6:52 AM

    I've trucked my manuscripts before. I think new writers, including myself were once scared to truck them was because they thought they couldn't go back to them. At least that's what I thought.

    But you're rigjt some are just for your eyes. For your own pleasure and maybe to help you go through something.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Mirjana V.December 9, 2014 at 2:41 PM

    I've written five manuscripts and trunked four... granted I never really queried with any of them. I guess I just figured they were mine, and to be honest I'm glad I never did anything with them, looking back. I haven't yet given up on the one I'm working on right now (by FAR the one that has taken me the longest...), but sometimes I wonder if I'll ever like it enough to finally query. It's a scary process! Putting yourself out there and risking rejection? Not my forte. And it always seems like there is more work to be done, to make the story even better. I'm afraid I'm going to publish it and then in a few years cringe because my name is on the front and I could have done so much better if I had just waited a few years. Am I the only one who has this fear?

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  4. Ava JaeDecember 10, 2014 at 3:00 AM

    I don't know if you have critique partners, but if you don't, I highly recommend you get some. Why? Because they can provide you with some really great outside feedback to help you determine when your manuscript is ready to be queried.


    The nice thing about traditional publishing is by the time your book reaches the shelf, you've had a lot of people working on it and giving it the thumbs up. First, is your agent, who has to like your MS enough to want to represent it, and may very well put you through several rounds of revision before going on submission. Then is your editor, who, like your agent, has to like your book enough to want to acquire it, then will also put you through several rounds of revision. There's also a copywriter, and probably other steps I'm forgetting about/don't know about, but the point is, by the time your book gets out there, it's going to be a version of your book that is really really really well-revised and edited. :)

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  5. K. J. FarnhamDecember 10, 2014 at 1:18 PM

    I didn't even know it was called "trunking"! LOL. I've simply been calling it "giving up." I like the sound of trunking much better. : )

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  6. Ava JaeDecember 11, 2014 at 8:24 AM

    Trunking has a better connotation, I think lol. I tend to associate "giving up" with not finishing the draft versus trunking where you've written the whole thing, THEN put it away. But that might be just me.

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