Louella Bryant's Blog - Posts Tagged "titanic"
Strapped to the Rack
I'm in the final edits of a new novel titled Sheltering Angel: A Titanic Story. It's a roman a clef, which is fiction based on a true story, and involves my husband's great-grandmother who survived the Titanic sinking and saved her steward from the frigid North Atlantic while she watched her beloved husband go down with the ship.
I've known for a decade that I should write this story, but no matter how many books I have in print, I approach each new manuscript as a beginner. I have the same trouble with plotting, character development, basic structure, and those inevitable and annoying repetitions of any first draft. I've probably written twenty drafts (or more) of the current book and still tremble at having anyone read it. I have a publisher who has asked to see the manuscript, and I'm dragging my heels about sending it. How do you push your precious fledgling, the baby you've handled and sheltered, from the nest?
Here's how. You take a deep breath and pack it up with the best cover letter, summary and sample pages you can put together. And you drive to the post office or you hit SEND. And you wait for the response that never comes. Or the dreaded rejection. If a rejection pops into my inbox, that means I go back to the pages and see where I can improve the story.
Writing is like being strapped to the rack until I spill my confessions and am set free. Then there is great relief until the next story idea crosses my mind. I know writing the story will mean going back to the rack. But stories need to be told and need to be read, so we're in this business together, dear reader. Without you, what would be the point of writing at all?
Be well,
Louella
I've known for a decade that I should write this story, but no matter how many books I have in print, I approach each new manuscript as a beginner. I have the same trouble with plotting, character development, basic structure, and those inevitable and annoying repetitions of any first draft. I've probably written twenty drafts (or more) of the current book and still tremble at having anyone read it. I have a publisher who has asked to see the manuscript, and I'm dragging my heels about sending it. How do you push your precious fledgling, the baby you've handled and sheltered, from the nest?
Here's how. You take a deep breath and pack it up with the best cover letter, summary and sample pages you can put together. And you drive to the post office or you hit SEND. And you wait for the response that never comes. Or the dreaded rejection. If a rejection pops into my inbox, that means I go back to the pages and see where I can improve the story.
Writing is like being strapped to the rack until I spill my confessions and am set free. Then there is great relief until the next story idea crosses my mind. I know writing the story will mean going back to the rack. But stories need to be told and need to be read, so we're in this business together, dear reader. Without you, what would be the point of writing at all?
Be well,
Louella
Does anyone still care about the Titanic?
My next novel, Sheltering Angel, A Titanic Story, is based on the true story of wealthy New Yorkers who found an ancient connection with the Scottish steward who served them in first class aboard the ill-fated ship.
Is anyone still interested in reading about the Titanic? Let me know because I'm looking for a publisher.
What's intriguing about the story is not only the obvious warnings of ice in the navigational route, a coal fire in the furnace room, and White Star Line’s desire to set a speed record from Southampton to New York. There also were subliminal messages that New Yorker Florence and steward Andrew picked up. Both of them had misgivings about Titanic's maiden voyage, but their concerns were dismissed as silly. How could such a magnificent ship founder?
But, as we know, founder it does. And what became of Florence and of her husband Bradley and of Andrew? Let's hope readers will want to know.
Is anyone still interested in reading about the Titanic? Let me know because I'm looking for a publisher.
What's intriguing about the story is not only the obvious warnings of ice in the navigational route, a coal fire in the furnace room, and White Star Line’s desire to set a speed record from Southampton to New York. There also were subliminal messages that New Yorker Florence and steward Andrew picked up. Both of them had misgivings about Titanic's maiden voyage, but their concerns were dismissed as silly. How could such a magnificent ship founder?
But, as we know, founder it does. And what became of Florence and of her husband Bradley and of Andrew? Let's hope readers will want to know.
