One of the most common questions I am asked is, How long did it take you to write your book? The simple answer is I started The Kosher Delhi around July 2016 and we are still doing final edits on it now, in April 2019. But the heart of it I wrote in about a year.
I then submitted the novel to multiple agents before I was accepted by my publisher. Thereafter, I have been doing on-going changes and making minor tweaks as I have received more and more feedback from early readers (friends and family) and my publisher/editor, and as I learn and understand what is needed and what should be chopped out. (I will write a separate post about early readers, and another about severe editing…)
It is very interesting to look back at first drafts of two years ago and see how different the final manuscript is: the core characters are still there, but their journey, their adventures, and the order in which they experienced them have changed, some in minor ways, other instances quite dramatically. For example, a scene which was at the end of my original Part 1 is now at the start of Part 1; I removed an entire sub-plot from Part 2; and now one of my characters who was present in Manhattan no longer visits New York at all!
And as I am coming to the end of my editing, I am still finding that several elements from one of the character’s journeys may end up on the cutting room floor…
And how did I end up with RedDoor? I did spend a year sending my First Three Chapters and a Synopsis to a series of agents. But, although I received several Very Nice Rejection Emails (“your book stood out from the others, but…”, “there is much to be admired, but…”), none of them took me a stage further. And just as I was considering self-publishing, I discovered RedDoor, sent off my submission and, wonderfully, Laura subsequently asked for the full MS. Some weeks later, I had a contract.
It seems a longer journey than five paragraphs!
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