I think we all have story ideas we have started and for one reason or another have abandoned. Whether we became disinterested in the idea, the idea fizzled out, or it had gotten rejected one too many times.
An editor recently mentioned to me she might be in need of historical series ideas and would be interested in seeing what I might have. No guarantees.
If an editor says this, you bet your booty I’m going to send her something as quick as my daughter’s woodpile cat can disappear. He may be big but he is lightening fast. :-)
Starting a series from scratch takes a long time, even to just get the overall idea then each individual novel in the series.
The key words with a time sensitive project are recycle, reuse, and resurrection. Since this editor didn’t need chapter samples from me, just the synopses, the work was cut in half, but still a lot of work. By recycling, reusing, and resurrecting, my work was again cut in half.
One.
Two.
Three.
And they were off. One I recycled a series idea and tweaked it for this different market. One I reused a single story idea and built on it for the other two stories I wanted to propose in the series. And one, I resurrected a story that had previously been rejected as a single title.
In a short time, I was able to send off three series proposal to this editor. Now I’m waiting to see if she bites on any of them.
What ideas do you have lurking or hiding in a drawer (or computer file) that need a facelift to give them new life? Go mining for gold.
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