Rewrites and Rejections

By Alison Hill

“What do you like to read?” a writing mentor once asked me.

I answered quickly, “Horror. ”

“Why aren’t you writing horror then?” he said, in what was probably an exasperated tone. I’m pretty sure he sighed deeply.

It was summer, 2007, and a successful western author had just read the first page of a novel I was writing based on my real-life incident with OCD. I know, rookie mistake. He gently tore my work apart. Although painful, it was a great lesson. It’s not so much writing what you know but writing in the genre you like.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I dunno, I’m new at this. I’m a television producer, not a novelist.”

“Here’s a challenge,” he said. “Write the first draft of a horror novel in eight weeks.”

Mission accepted. 

The next morning, I sat down at my desk and started writing. Exactly eight weeks later, I typed The End and popped the cork on some cheap champagne.

How did I do it? I was newly unemployed. That helped. We had just moved to Asheville, NC, from Colorado, where I worked for PBS. I went from very busy to having no work. I needed a project.

I sat down at the same time each morning and wrote for 10 hours straight when I could. This was before I had a child, so I didn’t have to change diapers in between chapters. Words poured out after only a few minutes at my desk, like automatic writing. I didn’t plan or outline the book. I started with a few main characters and went from there. It was rather uncanny how they took over the story and how scenes developed organically.

I was focused and determined, easily getting into the zone. The world I created appeared around me the more I typed. I was there, in the scenes, directing the characters. Sometimes they listened.

My novel, The Night Crusher, is about Jenny Jenkins, a young newspaper reporter who becomes afflicted with sleep paralysis. Desperate to understand what’s happening to her, she discovers shocking truths about herself, her family, and friends. It’s set in Colorado and Eryri, Wales.

I actually suffered from sleep paralysis (SP) for many years. It’s a terrifying nighttime disorder. While scientists claim it is a treatable medical condition, cultures worldwide offer more sinister interpretations, blaming aliens and goblins, demonic entities, and even the devil himself. So, I had plenty to work with for a horror novel. Some of the descriptions of an SP attack are real. The Welsh setting is also (mostly) real, and the house in the book is really haunted — it’s where my grandfather grew up.

I was inspired, filled with the brash confidence of youth. I was going to become a famous novelist, with a bestseller in the can before I hit 40.

I wrote The Night Crusher almost 20 years ago, and it remains unpublished. It’s been close. My first query was to a prominent New York agent who replied within two hours, asking for the full manuscript and an exclusive reading period. This was back when you sent the printed manuscript via mail. She said my writing was “quite expressive” and called my descriptions “terrific.” It was a no, but she invited me to rewrite and send it back. Months later, there was a final no.

I can still taste the disappointment from those first rejections.

There have been many more. Everybody likes the concept, the story, the settings. “I’m on page 40 and loving it,” says one agent. But a nicely worded rejection quickly follows. It may be the wrong time, the pacing, or “I can’t get a feel for the character; go deeper.” Someone else “reluctantly” had to pass on it but offered some great advice; another needed faster pacing for a thriller. I wrote about all this in a Writer’s Digest 5-Minute Memoir article called Rejection with a Suggestion. It was a cathartic exercise.

My novel isn’t true horror or a thriller. It’s supernatural/horror. There’s a difference. I’ve reworked it enough. Before I was asked to write this TAF post on writing horror, I was going to burn it in a ceremony out back, rip it to shreds, or simply hit delete.

I almost replied, “Sorry, I don’t write horror anymore.”

But wait.

All those words. All that time. Why throw it away?

“Back in that saddle!” Screams the muse, angrily.

I started reading my own novel last week — it’s been a while — and hey, guess what? It’s not half bad. After judging hundreds of self-published books for Writer’s Digest, I know that much. In fact, it’s as good as some traditionally published works.

So, I’m off to Google “how to self-publish a novel.”

Wish me luck!

Alison Hill is a freelance writer, journalist, and Emmy-nominated producer. With a media career spanning almost three decades and two continents, she’s done everything from hosting PBS discussion shows and speaking on live BBC radio to filming undercover as a TV investigative journalist. She writes for various print and online publications, is a Writer’s Digest columnist, and author of The Writer’s Guide to Journalism. As a New York Times stringer, she’s reported live and contributed to news features covering South Carolina. She’s presented at the Writer’s Digest annual conference and Write Now! conference for TAF, and one of her articles was featured in Writer’s Market, 100^th Edition.

Alison grew up in a village in Wales and speaks fluent Welsh. She now lives in upstate South Carolina with her husband, 13-year-old daughter, two rescue cats, and a crazy dog. You can find Alison at www.AlisonHillMedia.com.