The Narrative

As defined by the dictionary, narrative is the storytelling, the way the author relates their tale. 'Didn't fall in love with the narrative' is a point where both Kirsten Manges and Elise Proulx agree. Two rejections on a partial because they did not fall in love with the narrative.

There's something so hazy, so nebulous, about the phrase. The idea of the story was intriguing enough, based on the query, but start in on the actual novel and there's no love. What's the budding author to do? If you can't tell a story, you can't write, isn't that it?

I've been analyzing and tearing apart one novel after another, to learn the craft. I write, get critiqued, and have become very aware of POV changes, continuity, a level of suspense, but now I'm wondering if I've crafted my way into dullness. Does the prose now drag because it's become ordinary and boring? Have I learned too much and gone stilted in an attempt to craft something polished?

Could be that I've got a style of writing, the 'voice', that isn't everyone's cuppa. I've read novels that spend reams of paper in descriptions and details, and that's not the sort of narrative I love, but clearly some literary agent goes for it.

Impossible to second guess or figure out what the rejection is suggesting, if it suggests anything at all beyond no thanks. This being the dog days of August, there's little chance of getting a response to a query anyway, so it's back to waiting for the shorter days of autumn to hunt down someone who will fall in love with my prose. And then there's always the off chance that I'll get the historical fiction rough draft finished and polished, tack on a happy ending, and send it off. Rumor is, there's a demand out there for good historical romance.