The scariest part of the writing process
THE GHOSTS OF GADOLIN - publishing purgatory
Dear readers,
I finished writing The Ghosts of Gadolin with my coauthor Sam Clamons! This is a young adult (YA) science fiction/horror novel with themes of neurodiversity and ecological justice. We have now entered the scary part of the writing process, just in time for Halloween.
Before I explain what the scary part is, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to my storytelling performance at The Narrators on Oct 16. I told the true story of my long on-again, off-again relationship with biological research and why I broke it off for good last year.
I don’t have access to the recording of my performance at this time. If it goes up on The Narrators podcast in future, I’ll definitely share it with y’all. In the meantime, if you are interested in reading it, message me and I’d be happy to share the transcript with you.
THE GHOSTS OF GADOLIN - We’ve written it; now what?
So, what is the scary part of the writing process? For me, it’s the WAITING. Sam and I are waiting for two things simultaneously: literary agent responses and feedback from beta readers.
The first step in the traditional publishing process is to secure a literary agent, who will later attempt to sell your book to publishers. To get an agent, you have to submit “queries” to them that describe your book and demonstrate why you’re the person (or people, in our case) to tell this story. If the agent likes the pitch, they’ll request the full manuscript. If they love the book and think they can sell it, they might offer you representation. But the agent search is extremely competitive—to give you an idea, I’ve heard some relatively junior agents say they get upwards of 700 queries per month. And most list 6-12 weeks as typical response times.
So, while we wait for those responses, we’ve sent the book out to beta readers: people who read the manuscript and tell us where the story confused or bored them so we can tighten it up.
I’m much more nervous about getting the beta reader feedback than the literary agent feedback, and here’s why: If we don’t get an agent, we can still publish the book ourselves, but if the beta readers aren’t enjoying the book, we’ve got a LOT of revision work ahead of us. I’m most nervous to hear from the kids aged 13-18, because this is technically our target audience.
We could also use more beta readers in this age range. If you know any kids 13 years old and up who read fiction, are interested in science, and don’t mind a little psychological horror, please let me know—we would love to get them an ebook copy in exchange for feedback. Here’s the back-cover blurb to give them an idea of what they’d be reading:
Ana Varela is an aspiring ecologist, not an astronaut, and definitely not a paranormal detective. But Azimuth Navigation is recruiting her to help investigate the disturbing behaviors and mysterious wounds afflicting their settlers on planet Gadolin.
They say Ana’s one of the few people who can help since she’s got the rare ‘jump gene’ that enables safe travel through spacetime. And, okay, that must be true, because she’s still intact after being abducted four hundred years into the future. But her technical inexperience isn’t the only problem.
Ana doesn’t do teamwork. At least, not well. She’s still reeling from her autism spectrum diagnosis, and her “inability to work well with others” just cost her the letter of rec she needs for college applications.
On the other hand, what self-respecting ecologist would turn down a chance to explore an alien ecosystem?
But the mission—and its social dynamics—may be more than Ana’s bargained for. And the idea of opening up and navigating through conflict feels even scarier than flesh-eating subterweed and whatever’s possessed the settlers. If Ana runs away instead of facing her fears, it’s not only the lives of her teammates at stake, but all life on Gadolin.
And here’s our placeholder book cover image:
Of course, I’m not just sitting around, waiting for agent responses and beta reader feedback. I’m working on my next book, and volunteering, and attending events like MileHiCon—Denver’s science fiction & fantasy convention, which just concluded yesterday. Here’s me at my book signing session:
A few MileHiCon highlights:
I met my fave young adult science fiction author, Charlie Jane Anders (the Unstoppable series).
I was on a panel called “The Year in Science” with Annalee Newitz (who co-hosts a Hugo award-winning podcast called Our Opinions Are Correct with Charlie Jane).
I got a signed copy of A Hunger With No Name, a new eco-themed science fantasy novella by one of my writing mentors, Lauren C. Teffeau. Can’t wait to read it!
When attending science conferences in the last few years of my PhD, I used to quickly burn out on socializing, and I’d sneak away as often as I could to hide in the bathroom. But science fiction & fantasy cons… they’re magical. Everyone attending is socially awkward, so we get each other, and we’re all into science and speculative fiction so we never run out of things to talk about. At least, that’s how it feels for me.
Thank you for reading and for believing in me. A little encouragement goes a long way in this writing business!
Love,
Rachael
Oh, I believe in you♡