The Power of Negative Thinking (November Theme: No-vember)

Sometimes a “no” can be a force for good.

My second novel

If a string of editors hadn’t said “no” to my second attempt at a novel and if one of them had instead said “yes” and acquired it, I would be embarrassed today that my second published novel was so mediocre. Instead, those editorial “no’s” pushed me to improve my writing and led to a “yes” (on a different, better manuscript) from an editor who published that different, better novel and then seven more.

Lovely Lara

I was discouraged when I received polite but firm “no’s” from several agents I queried. But if one of them had said “yes,” I wouldn’t have kept looking. And if I hadn’t kept looking, I would never have found the perfect-for-me agent, Lara Perkins.

When Lara gently tells me, “No, that passage/character/theme/hook just isn’t working” I pout for a few minutes and then go on to write a stronger passage/character/theme/hook.

Writers are always told to say “no” to anything that distracts us from writing. But if I say “no” to my writing instead of to my distraction and take my dog for a walk or call a friend I’ve lost touch with or watch a TED talk, I return to my work re-energized. Usually.

I sometimes need to tell myself “no”: “No, this scene isn’t going where it needs to” or “I love this character, but no, she adds nothing to the story and has to go.” It hurts to trash hours or even weeks of careful work, but if I keep saying “no” to the sub-par stuff I know that eventually it will be worth the pain.

Pundits say “spew out a first draft without self-editing” and “outline before you start” and “stick to a strict schedule” but I say “no” to them and do what works for me.

So far, it’s been working; book no. 20 is coming out in July!