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Writing Advice from Dreamland

Thursday 4 February 2010

I had a dream last night in which one of the agents to whom I have submitted my novel Hedge Witch replied saying that she liked it very much and wanted to represent it, but that (a) it was too long and needed to be cut down from 100,000 words to 80,000 words and that (b) the chapters needed to be reordered. At the start of the book, the narrative follows two girls, one from our world and one from another. I open with the girl from the other world as this suits the flow of events but my dream-agent felt that it would be a more appealing book if I opened with the girl from our world.

Now I'm no believer in oneiromancy but I'm sure our own subconscious feelings and thoughts do sometimes manifest themselves in our dreams. I once had a dream-consultation with Gregory House (Hugh Laurie's acerbic doctor in the TV show House) in which he told me in no uncertain terms that the reason I was having so many headaches was all the caffeine I was consuming. I needed to cut down. He was really quite sarcastic. Unnecessarily so, I thought. I can still hear him now. Let me think, caffeine, headaches, caffeine, headaches, isn't there some sort of connection there? And, of course, he was quite correct. I needed to cut down and knew it. I woke up and decided it was time to switch to decaff.

So, is my subconscious telling me something important about Hedge Witch? I've been through numerous drafts of that book and had decided it was finished, done, as good as I could make it. Now I'm wondering whether it needs another redraft. Hmm. What I'm hoping is that a real agent gets back to me and says what the one in my dream said ...

Posted by Simon Kewin at 09:09

14 comments:

  1. Bruce Coltin4 February 2010 at 10:44

    For now, it is finished, done, and as good as you can make it. Until you decide (while awake, even on decaf) that it isn't.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Old Kitty4 February 2010 at 10:50

    Hi

    You never know! You might be psychic - you might!

    :-)

    I hope your dream does come true tho - fingers crossed.

    x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Simon Kewin4 February 2010 at 11:19

    Hi Bruce,

    You're right. I need to move on!

    Simon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Simon Kewin4 February 2010 at 11:19

    Old Kitty,

    Thanks for the sentiment - I really appreciate it.

    Simon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thomas Taylor4 February 2010 at 14:07

    There's no such thing as just a dream, Simon;-)

    For what it's worth, this sounds like a good change.

    ReplyDelete
  6. fairyhedgehog4 February 2010 at 14:12

    It's a very specific dream. It's hard to know if it's inner wisdom or inner fears surfacing!

    Fingers crossed that a real agent gets back to you with something positive.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Simon Kewin4 February 2010 at 14:27

    Thomas,

    Agh, but it's painful! I've made a deal with myself to leave things as they are but, of course, to listen to any non-dream suggestions I get ...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Simon Kewin4 February 2010 at 14:28

    fairyhedgehog,

    Yes, inner fears I *think*. An agent had just requested some chapters from the middle of the book and perhaps that was playing on my mind ...

    ReplyDelete
  9. KarenG4 February 2010 at 16:07

    Yes, 100,000 is too long for a YA novel. 80,000 is much better. And often changing around chapters can change everything. I think your dream agent is your dream agent and I would listen to her. Or him. I would definitely make the changes.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Simon Kewin4 February 2010 at 16:24

    Karen,

    I do agree about the chapters and they have been changed around quite a bit already. I take your point on the length though. We shall see ...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anita Saxena4 February 2010 at 18:57

    If your dreams diagnosed the cause of your headaches, then entertaining these changes to your book may be something worth considering.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Simon Kewin4 February 2010 at 19:02

    Anita,

    Thanks for the advice. I just hope I don't dream the book is perfect and I shouldn't change a word. Then I'll be really confused!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Theresa Milstein5 February 2010 at 20:33

    I agree with the commenters. Wait until you get feedback from agents before considering changing anything. I'm sure it's your anxieties.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Simon Kewin5 February 2010 at 21:06

    Theresa,

    Thanks for the advice. Yes. It's just my anxiety. Or perhaps I will soon hear from my "dream agent" ...

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to know what you think.