{"id":11,"date":"2008-10-03T11:56:17","date_gmt":"2008-10-03T15:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/2008\/10\/03\/siren-song\/"},"modified":"2008-12-12T12:40:59","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T16:40:59","slug":"siren-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/?p=11","title":{"rendered":"Siren Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Last week\u00a0I had the unusual experience of reading the comments an editor made while passing on my novel.\u00a0 The Queen’s Pawn<\/em> is being looked at by editors in nine houses in\u00a0New York. Three of these houses have passed so far, which is to be expected. I have been at this awhile, so I am never surprised by rejection. I am, however surprised by compliments.<\/p>\n

Last week’s pass was particularly surprising. The editor, a well respected woman at a house I have always\u00a0hoped to work with, was so pleased with my style\u00a0that she would read\u00a0the same novel\u00a0again with an eye toward buying it, if I were to\u00a0make major changes.<\/p>\n

I am still\u00a0considering her comments. To hear anything complimentary in the subjective and often acidic business of publishing is rare. I will admit that I\u00a0am tempted.\u00a0Temptation is a new concept for me; this is the first time someone has asked me to modify my original vision to this extent.<\/p>\n

The comments offered by the editor would add strength and dimension to the novel, would take it into different territory than I ever conceived for it. It would be a different book.<\/p>\n

While this is not a bad thing, I hesitate. I\u00a0have a pact with the protagonist to tell her story to the best of my ability. To make changes that\u00a0might take\u00a0the novel\u00a0away from her would\u00a0defeat the purpose of writing the\u00a0book in the first place.\u00a0(Alais, for those interested in historical fiction, is the\u00a0young French\u00a0princess\u00a0who makes a small appearance in both the play and the film, The Lion in Winter<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Like\u00a0most women in history,\u00a0Alais was silent during her lifetime. No one makes movies about her, or write books\u00a0or plays in her honor, as they do for the people who\u00a0surrounded her:\u00a0Philippe Auguste of France, Henry II of England, Richard the Lionhearted, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. She lived and died in silence, her reputation\u00a0forged in the fires of the actions of others.<\/p>\n

In The Queen’s Pawn<\/em>, I hope to give\u00a0Alais some semblance of a voice. It is not possible to speak for the dead, but I hope to honor her.<\/p>\n

But I digress. The question remains, to change the novel, or to leave it intact?<\/p>\n

It is a question I will have to answer. But if I make changes\u00a0to The Queen’s Pawn<\/em>, the novel will remain Alais’ story. She and I have been partners in the work for two years. The story will remain hers, no matter what else is added to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Last week\u00a0I had the unusual experience of reading the comments an editor made while passing on my novel.\u00a0 The Queen’s Pawn is being looked at by editors in nine houses in\u00a0New York. Three of these houses have passed so far, which is to be expected. I have been at this awhile, so I am never …<\/p>\n

Siren Song<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}