You've been braver than me, I think, Traveller. I've foolishly clung onto agents until I've found another, because I couldn't face not having one. And of course, if an agents failed to sell a novel, there's not much you can do till you've got a new novel to send out to possible new agents.

Myrtle, I've heard it said that one of the reasons that 'second' novels are so often unsuccessful is that they're often actually first novels, dug back out from under the bed. So, no, the other six won't ever see the light of day in their own form, but the one I'm about to start is a complete re-do of the people and ideas in number six with some elements of number four; number three evolved from number one; and as I said, Stephen, the MC of half of The Mathematics of Love, first appeared in number five, which was a re-think of number two. Number four is the only one I wouldn't blush to show someone now, not because it's wonderful, but because I think it's very much all-of-a-piece, rather than falling apart under the weight of me trying to do to much, which is what my novels are prone to doing.

Come to think of it, Stephen was actually born on a writing holiday in Skyros, as a 700 word in-class exercise. Someone started a thread on whether writing's a wasteful medium, and I think Stephen in all his incarnations proves that what you think is wasted at the time may well not be in the long run!

Emm

Wow Emma

I have to echo the person who said that you've earned your stripes. It's great that yours is a story with a happy ending. It gives me hope. I was also heartened by the amount you have gained from your previous novels. I am writing my first novel but I started writing or rather it came to me in 1998. I have spent all this time learning how to write what I always believed was a strong story. I think I am close to getting it right and I hope to start re-approaching agents soon. So far I have had 7 rejections. One of the nicest, most encouraging rejection was from Gillon. S

Yes, I think you can only learn to write novels by writing them - either the same one more than once, or more than one. I think maybe I'm just a very slow learner!

I haven't met Gillon himself, but I think many (not all) agents are being honest when they say they wish they could help promising-but-not-quite-there authors more. After all, working with writers is why they go into agenting, on the whole. It's nice to know that sometimes they really do try!

Emma

Emma,
Just stumbled across this thread and wanted to say how inspiring I found your story! I thought I'd had ups and downs (two, genuine I think, near misses with agents)but it does give me faith to hear this kind of story.
Thanks!
And the very best of luck to you, Issy.

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And Pad...got confused about who was the original poster for a mo there.

Wow, Emma - you have had bad luck with agents, though you've got a top one now, I believe. I've stayed with my current agent for many many years. He's continued to believe in me and I've continued to believe in him. He hasmanaged to get my work read by the people who need to read it. But it's the old story, you can lead a horse to water...

To return to the original subject, I find the best way to deal with waiting is to start work on something new. Perhaps that's why I've acccumulated so many unpublished novels. It helps take my mind off the emptiness of the unringing telephone like nothing else. As soon as I get into the next thing, I find I'm not so bothered about what happens to the last thing.

Roger.

Yeah Roger I agree, a good tactic is to work on something new, but I still check for that elusive email or phonecall. It's hard not to!

Yes, me too. I return from leaving a pile of large envelopes at the post office, and write Chapter One at the beginning of a new notebook.

Emma

Good grief, Emma! Just read your post about the evolution of your various novels. Funnily enough I was thinking about the subject this morning. I have three novels which I now believe will never be published. I'm not happy about this fact, and I just can’t bring myself to pull them apart to use for other stories… but how long does it take? How long do I have to hang on to their ashes before I can scatter them?

Dee

Dee, I haven't really pulled apart earlier novels. I don't even read them again, once their life (such as it is) is over. The only exception to that is a set of letters by a 19th century soldier called Stephen, which were the only manifestation of him in an otherwise contemporary novel. Those I did extract and use as a starting point for that strand of The Mathematics of Love. But I found it harder than I should have to re-work them and cut them pretty drastically, as was needed in the end.

But that's unusual, and only happened because by the time I'd written the letters, he was such a fully-formed person in such a particular situation that he begged for a narrative of his own that his letters were only part of. My re-workings are much more about that kind of process: a character or a situation that hangs around in the back of my head after that novel's done. Then years later I find myself thinking 'NOW I know how to tackle that long-lost-son situation that didn't work first time' or 'what if Una from that novel found herself in the family firm from that other novel?' and then I write the new novel from scratch, without getting the old ones out of the attic.

My previous go at the 15th century was full of research that I'm horribly tempted to go back and use, but I know I mustn't, or I'll end up looking at the text and thinking, 'well, that's OK, it's well written, it say what I want to say, why don't I uses it straight?' And that way madness (or at least a horrible, patchy, broken-backed novel) lies!

I don't know how long you have to wait: for myself, I wait until I'm itching to do something, and then rootle around in my mind for other things I'd like to have another go at. But do you have to think of it as pulling it apart? Can you not think of it like doing another production of a favourite Shakespeare play? Oh, great, now this is modern-dress, I can centre it on the idea of Richard III as a dictator. Last time, it was all about the horrors of deposing an anointed king. Different, but just as important.

Emma

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Actually - with my 15th century hat on - Edward V wasn't anointed, but never mind.

This is the most frustrating thing about novel writing - that it isn't a process that can be forced. It involves (for me anyway) the evolution of ideas over time and that can only happen naturally after false starts, experimentation and new experiences that shape the way you write. Sometimes I think a novel may be pre-determined, it's waiting for you to grasp it, but it won't reveal itself to you fully until you are capable of understanding it.

Caroline, thank you so much for your good wishes - have only just picked up this thread again, and apologise for my tardiness in acknowledging. (Am still in the waiting game and it is now 10 passes and 9 editors considering.)

Any news with regard to your own novel?

And yes, Emma, your story is one of amazing fortitude: six novels before some success is staggering.

It did take me 10 years to write my first one - or rewrite is perhaps the better description, though am down to just over a year on the next. None of this is easy