Interview with C.W. Gortner, Author of The Last Queen - Page 3

What type of scenes give you the most trouble to write?

Beginnings! I have an awful time with beginnings. I’ve been known to re-write them more than any other part of a book; I could literally spend years trying to craft the perfect opening chapter. It’s an OCD thing with me. I’ve had to teach myself that if I want to move forward at all when working on a first draft, I must ignore that lousy opening chapter. It’ll never be what I envision because I haven’t written the book: nothing is envisioned yet, except in my brain. If I can just dash out that opening chapter and keep going without looking back, once I’m finished with the first draft the opening usually resolves itself. I can see clearly how it should look, and nine times out of ten, it’s nothing like what I first “envisioned.” The framework of the novel itself clarifies where it should start. A hard lesson for me to learn, but one which has saved me hours of banging my head against the computer screen! 

They say authors have immensely fragile egos… How would you handle negative criticism or a negative review?

Oh, I’d be upset. I have been upset! There’s no use denying it; your books are like your children and you want everyone to think they’re as special as you do. But I’ve learned to be philosophical. Reading is subjective; we bring our own inner worlds to the experience and not everyone is going to like what every writer has to say. Reviews usually represent one person’s opinion; if I’ve done my best, then I try to accept that I just didn’t happen to please that person. If I got more than one negative review, however, and a theme emerges, then I’d definitely try to determine if there’s something I can do different the next time. Writing thrives with improvement. Sometimes, reviews can show us the flaws and teach us where we can learn as writers.

How was your experience in looking for a publisher? What words of advice would you offer those novice authors who are in search of one?

I spent thirteen years looking for a publisher. I wrote four novels in the process, including the earlier version of The Last Queen, and was under contract with three separate agents. None of them were bad agents; they just weren’t right for me. Like many writers, after sending out hundreds of queries and piling up pyramids of rejections, when an agent offered me a contract, I said yes. It wasn’t until I’d left my third agent after years of futile submission and spent the next year writing and trying not to dwell on my battle scars that I realized how much grief I could have spared myself if I’d interviewed my agents beforehand. I ended up cutting a deal with a POD publisher myself for my first novel, and that experience gave me confidence; when I finally met my current agent (who is the right one for me!) I could ask the questions I needed to and prepare myself for the rounds of submissions in New York. I studied how books sell while marketing my first novel and I came to understand publishing much better; my agent appreciated this and helped clarify her role and her process; she kept the faith when I started to lose it, and she finally sold not one, but two, of my books in auction. In today’s challenging publishing climate, your agent is your lodestone. No one will value your writing as much as the right agent. After that, the right editor is the next blessing in a writer’s life.

Article Author: Mayra Calvani

Mayra Calvani is the National Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com.

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