Trunk novel question

If you became extremely popular I bet it could be published. Look at Tolkien: everything he ever wrote, even his Christmas letters to his kids, has been printed. But IMHO the first novel will likely stay in the trunk if you abandon it and write another one.

"But they pass on it--essentially, as I understand it, because it's not innovative and marketable enough. It fits very obviously into the traditional fantasy category."

Did they specifically tell you that? How many agents have you contacted?

I believed Stephen King published some of his "trunk novels" after he got insanely popular...

Write a new novel and start sending it around.

After it (or your third, or your fourth...) is sold, you will have fans and a reputation. At that point, your first novel may have enough of a reader base to make it commercially viable, and you'll be able to sell it.

OR

You may re-read it, and send flowers to all the agents and editors who rejected it.

No way to tell from where I'm sitting which is more likely.

I have a novel I shopped around a long time ago like that---I read the rejections now and think why were they so nice--it was trash, I tell you, trash.

Shawn

Wandering Sensei said:

But they pass on it--essentially, as I understand it, because it's not innovative and marketable enough. It fits very obviously into the traditional fantasy category.

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If they say it lacks innovation, and you say it's traditional, maybe it's too predictable?

It sounds like you've got the writing skills and you understand the Genre, but maybe your own voice - your own charming slant on things - isn't coming through.

I am on a similar boat. I wrote a mainstream novel, but it was way too long to be marketable. It was hard to even get it read by an agent due to its length and my lack of experience.

So, here is my gameplan. I wrote a middle grade sports (baseball) book and a YA novel. Since there is a market for these two books, I am concentrating on getting them published. Then if I find success, I may be be able to get my first novel in print.

But, even while I am waiting, I am writing. I am about halfway through another (shorter) mainstream novel. And when I finish that one, maybe I can find publishing success.

I wouldn't give up on your first book, but it doesn't hurt to keep writing or working on another project. Maybe something else you write will make it and you can use the success of that as a stepping stone for getting your first book published.

Speaking as someone who has a few trunk novels and half-starts hidden away...safely far away...

Yes, there is always the chance you may want to publish your early creation once you have established a name. However, you will probably see in your work a change in your voice from when you started writing. You aren't the same person you were when you started the work. What you wrote about then may not be what floats your boat now, thematically speaking.

For me, I love my early stuff dearly. It was fun to write the stories, and everyone has to start somewhere. However, I just know in my soul that these books are wretched creatures that should never see the light of day unless there could be some way I could gut them and make them readable.

(My Robin Hood-themed book really needs to be burned, but I just can't bring myself to do it)

I guess that for me, I am willing to keep this stuff shoved into the back of the closet until I'm dead and then it won't matter to me...I'll be lucky if anyone can decipher my handwriting...

YMMV!

Karen

Wandering Sensei said:

It's too much standard fantasy fare, I guess. (Hey, I write what I like to read. ) I guess my writing voice is still hemming and hawing. (Cough! Ahem! Mi-mi-mi!)

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Well, I wouldn't give up on it yet. I could be full of poop for all you know.
But, as long as I'm here, why not venture another bit of armchair philosophy?

Don't simply write what you like to read, write the one you always wanted to read, but never found on the shelves. Write the one nobody else could have written.

Perspective

This may or may not pertain to your novel, or anyone else's for that matter, but here's a link I keep handy to remind myself that the opinion of agents, publishers, and editors is subjective.

http://users.erols.com/veritas/CR.HTM

Mari