DONALD WILLERTON
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Overview
    • Novels >
      • Teddy's War
      • Smoke Dreams
      • The King of Trash
    • Mogi Franklin Mysteries >
      • 1. Ghosts of the San Juan
      • 2. The Lost Children
      • 3. The Secret of La Rosa
      • 4. The Hidden River
      • 5. The Lake of Fire
      • 6. Outlaw
      • 7. The Lady in White
      • 8. The Captains Chest
      • 9. River of Gold
      • 10. War Train
  • Press
  • Blog
  • Photo Blog
    • War Train
    • Teddy's War
    • Smoke Dreams
    • Ghosts of San Juan
    • The Lost Children
    • The Secret of La Rosa
    • The Hidden River
    • The Lake of Fire
    • Outlaw
    • The Lady in White
    • The Captain's Chest
    • River of Gold
  • Contact

Willerton Blog

Donald Willerton
Notify Me

Working For Message

10/15/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
 
I finished a final draft of a major (meaning 70,000 words or so, which is major for me) adult novel in April. This was the first adult novel that I’d done since finishing the Mogi Franklin Mystery series. I sent the manuscript to the publishing house that publishes the Mogi books to see if they would accept it for publication. Publishing an adult novel is wholly different from publishing middle-reader books, so it wasn’t automatic that they would be interested. They had to decide if it was a good book, if it fit their publishing house guidelines, and if they would expect it to sell.
 
They said yes and I started work with the senior editor. After he had read the manuscript, we met in July for a couple of hours. He had a list of comments, 90% of which I took to heart (I don’t remember the remaining 10%). After making several significant changes to the story, I resubmitted the manuscript in August. We exchanged emails in September discussing several specific aspects of the story, one of which was the need for clearly identifying the message of the book and how to present it to the reader.
 
Message? I needed a message?
 
Well, yeah, okay, what he was asking for was what I wanted the reader to be thinking about when they finished the book and, hopefully, afterwards. Why had I written the book? What did I want the reader to be left with? What was the bottom line? If it was the kind of story that expected to teach something, then what was the reader supposed to have learned?
 
Not having thought of it before, I realized that I did have something to say; I just hadn’t viewed the book from that perspective.
 
I don’t believe all books have to have a message or a theme or an underlying motif (I learned that word in high school; my English teacher would be proud). However, most good books do have a basic message or theme, even the big action/thriller types, and all good literature does. It can be as simple as “doing good is right”, or could be a morality play (religious belief, compassion, love,…), or be about personal conviction (courage, honesty, integrity,…), or societal (family, community, mutual support,…), or as complicated as a recurring image (the One Ring to Rule Them All). When a message or theme, or even a character strongly resonates with the reader, it can be a remarkable moment that lasts a long time (why does everyone know who Holden Caufield is?).
 
Most readers want either a message or foundational moral or some sort of personal part displayed by the hero or heroine that gives us encouragement or hope. They want a reason to remember the book and a reason for why they might recommend it to a friend – it makes it a better read, it gives more meaning to the story as they’re reading it, and makes the culmination of the story more satisfying.
 
My first step, according to my editor, was to make sure that the ending of the book clearly repeated the message that I had written about throughout the whole book. Therein was a problem: I had a story that I had made up as I went along and I hadn’t worried about significant themes or underlying meanings. Also, I had an ending that sucked. I mean, it was adequate, but even I was left unsatisfied. It certainly didn’t end with any meanings conveyed by the book, and maybe that’s why the ending sucked.
 
Now having realized that I actually did have a message and needed to be upfront about it, I wrote four different versions of the ending, each of them emphasizing, summarizing, or clearly articulating what I thought the book was about. It was a pretty interesting exercise. It took some soul-searching to understand what my story was about and took several changes across the book to make the message consistent within the story; I wanted it to be mindful but not interfering with the action or plot.
 
I finally wrote an ending that was naturally integrated in the whole story and made everything come together in the end. Even I was impressed. I sent my editor an updated manuscript a couple of weeks ago. He’s working his way through it and I’m waiting to see if I’ve been able to articulate the meaning with the strength that it needs.
 
I’ll keep you updated.
 
By the way, the book is already listed on Amazon. It will not be available until April 1, 2019, but it has a cover and a description. I didn’t write the description, by the way; my publisher did. Its name is The King of Trash, a novel by Don Willerton.  Look it up.
 
​

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Don Willerton has been a reader all his life and yearns to write words like the authors he has read.  He's working hard at it and invites others to share their experiences.

    Archives

    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017

    Categories

    All
    Author
    Book Ideas
    Courage
    Ghosts Of San Juan Photo Blog
    Mogi Books
    Mogi Franklin Mysteries
    Outlaw
    Persistence
    PhotoBlog
    Photo Blog
    Plot
    Readers
    River Of Gold
    The Hidden River
    The Hidden River Photo Blog
    The Lady In White
    The Lake Of Fire
    The Lake Of Fire Photo Blog
    The Secret Of La Rosa Photo Blog
    Writer
    Writing
    Writing Characters
    Writing Structure

    RSS Feed


Copyright 2017 - Donald Willerton
Donald Willerton Books
Donald Willerton Blog
Site Design by Artotems Co.
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Overview
    • Novels >
      • Teddy's War
      • Smoke Dreams
      • The King of Trash
    • Mogi Franklin Mysteries >
      • 1. Ghosts of the San Juan
      • 2. The Lost Children
      • 3. The Secret of La Rosa
      • 4. The Hidden River
      • 5. The Lake of Fire
      • 6. Outlaw
      • 7. The Lady in White
      • 8. The Captains Chest
      • 9. River of Gold
      • 10. War Train
  • Press
  • Blog
  • Photo Blog
    • War Train
    • Teddy's War
    • Smoke Dreams
    • Ghosts of San Juan
    • The Lost Children
    • The Secret of La Rosa
    • The Hidden River
    • The Lake of Fire
    • Outlaw
    • The Lady in White
    • The Captain's Chest
    • River of Gold
  • Contact