Expectations

I was asked by a friend of mine for the manuscript of A Soldier's Ghost. He had read another of my novels, enjoyed it and wanted to read something else. My reaction was to smile, "Sure, I'll send it off to you in a couple of days".

I had stuff to do, you know real life stuff, so I couldn't do it immediately. What a relief! Not his asking, the real life stuff, because now I'm looking at the book thinking "Oh, shit, I did the mark-ups but didn't change the copy!"

I never actually thought anyone would want to read it. It is the second book I wrote. The first, The Saracen's Alchemist is, needless to say, terrible. Oh, the idea is great, it's the execution that's sadly lacking. This one isn't going to win any awards either. It's a better book, yes, but needs much work before anyone else sees it.

Yes, I gave it to my niece to read, she's twelve and thought it fabulous. She loves me, warts and all, and in her eyes, I can do no wrong. That's scary in itself. But for adults to read? No. Nuh-uh. No way. Not until I think it's ready for viewing and commenting.

It's a shorter piece, about 300 pages, and going to get shorter once I've put through the edits. Some of it will need re-writing, characters are going to need the smugness wiped off, there will be more description, better dialogue, the emotional impacts are going to be beefed up. I'll find a lot more to do to it.

I'm not going to apologise for the lateness of the work, he's a friend, not an editor and his request came out of the blue. I'd expected him to chose something else, or nothing at all if he didn't like the first one I gave to him.

Why am I not treating this as if an editor has asked to see my work? It's the lack of pressure. A friend won't mind, an editor would and before I send stuff to the professionals, I want input from friends, critiquers and a re-read myself to make sure it is the best it can possibly be. Hell, I need the practice. Yes, this book.

I can make it better, smarter and smoother and there is no reason why it can't be a professional book, even if it is the second one I wrote. It's not automatically excluded because it might be poorly written, or not as good as my later work.

The ideas are solid, the characters will be more engaging, it will be interesting. I am bringing what I've learned since this book was written to bear on a story I like. I want them all to be up to standard, and what better way to do that than to practice on what I first accomplished?