Learning the Craft: the Advanced Level

From the feedback I received from agents about my first novel, I decided I was a good writer but I was lacking that last bit of whatever needed to make my novels publishable. Writing advice books weren't saying anything new, so I decided on another route to learn what I was missing. I've been spending the last year reading a lot of novels (2 per week) of a variety of different genre.

I read mystery/suspense/thrillers in search of ones that made my heart pound and compelled me to read more to know what happened next. The ones that succeeded, I studied to identify what the author did to create that suspense. The ones that didn't, I tried to identify why they failed.

I read historical novels to discover how much detail was good, what type of detail created a sense that this story really happened, and what just bogged the story down or got skimmed over.

I read to discover how to engage the reader's emotions--how to make them feel what the characters were going through even if the reader isn't like that character in personality or values or even if a character didn't start out very likable.

I read to discover how to create atmosphere (though I probably won't do much of that), add humor, have nuance, and have those nuances effectively convey layered meanings. And so on.

So now I'm back revising my first novel, currently retitled From the Shadows. I'm not making big changes, and it's going quickly. I'm simply trying to add emotional and physical depth. I'm also trying what I didn't think I had the skill to do before: make an obvious antagonist into a nuanced, subtle conflict that creates curiosity in the reader instead of frustration.

We'll see how successful I am when I'm done and start querying it again. (I also changed the focus of my query from the physical events to the emotional journey.) Wish me luck!