Shelly Frome - Writer and Novelist
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Shadow of The Gypsy
    • Miranda and the D-Day Caper
    • The Secluded Village Murders
    • Murder Run
    • Tinseltown Riff
    • Twinning Murders
    • Twilight of The Drifter
    • The Art and Craft of Screenwriting
    • The Actors Studio
    • Playwriting
  • Contact
  • Blog

In Pursuit of the final draft

12/6/2016

2 Comments

 

It goes without saying that agents and publishers continue to advise fiction writers to make certain their final draft is ready before making a submission.  
 
What this means, of course, is hard to say. Relying on the pointers listed in any of the sure-fire guides to perfecting your story is no guarantee of readiness. In fact, there’s even a “counter intuitive” book out that numbers among the secrets of success “a conflict that’s compelling and ironic before and after the surprise”--whatever in the world that means.
 
In an attempt to get a better handle on the market, I attended a major writers conference in Portland, Oregon and a smaller one in Orlando sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America. In Portland, an “expert in story engineering” offered a series of workshops claiming that attendees had no chance to submit a professional draft unless they followed his formula starting with a gripping opening that inevitably plays itself out. In Orlando, I asked noted crime novelist Laura Lippman why her tale started out with an embezzling father and his mistress on the lam and then shifted to the effect on the lives of the man’s family. She told me that’s what she was interested in: relationships and the aftermath, not the same-old story engineering.  
 
Perhaps that’s the key. What your story is really about and where it might fall short.  
 
Recently, after two “it’s not ready yet” responses, I decided that, before sending it out again, I needed a seasoned reader/writer who could experience my narrative for the first time and earmark those moments when she stopped reading because something didn’t quite jell. When, because at this stage in the process I’m much too close to it, it might have the same now-hold-on-a-minute effect on an agent or acquisitions editor.  
 
As a result, I found a seasoned colleague who offered to do a diagnostic reading for a small fee. After dealing with the underlying shortcomings she noted, I now truly have a final draft. The outcome, of course, is still out of my hands.

2 Comments
Theresa de Valence
12/9/2016 10:47:32 am

On step forrader . . . Good luck Shelly!

Reply
Patricia Gligor link
2/16/2017 02:58:04 pm

Shelly,
I can't begin to thank you enough for your kind words. What a wonderful description of my first Malone mystery, Mixed Messages! I am so glad you're enjoying it.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    AUTHOR
    Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, a former professional actor, and has written over twenty-five plays and novels. His latest is the New York caper       Murder Run 

    Archives

    December 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly