Publishing with health issues

[Oxman]

I have a query and wonder if anybody has any information or advice, especially if they have been in a similar situation.

I'm at the stage where I have a manuscript ready for sending out to agents. I just need to tidy up the synopsis. It's my second book; the first was universally rejected although I did get a couple of polite criticisms in a "thanks but no thanks" way along with the standard rejection forms and I think I have since learned a lot with regard to the writing of the second book.

My issue is that as of June, I was diagnosed with liver and bowel cancer. Not the ideal situation for a thirty-year old, especially when the doctors said that if I did nothing I had two to three months to live. Having opted for surgery, the results were partially successful: they removed my primary cancer from my bowel, but the liver was too advanced to operate on. Following that (after a short post-surgery recovery spell), I began a course of chemotherapy. This initially began to affect the liver tumours, but stopped working by the third cycle. During this time, I had no real inclination to write anymore, nor was I particularly well.

I began a different type of chemotherapy and, having now had four doses, am feeling considerably better and blood tests have indicated that this treatment is working and I may be getting the cancer under control. Oncologists are very positive about this news and are encouraging me to start returning to a normal life. I've felt so well, I'm looking to return to work a couple of afternoons a week and while at home have been writing productively on my third book, achieving between 1,000 and 2,000 words a day. I cannot say whether this chemo will shrink my tumours enough to embark upon curative surgery, or how long it will maintain a measure of control, but I’ve remained positive throughout and remain hopeful and happy.

So my query is: should I mention this to agents? Obviously, the book is the important thing and if it isn't the standard or style that agents are looking for, then it's an irrelevance, but would mentioning it put people off? Or would NOT mentioning it make me appear dishonest and untrustworthy should the manuscript be picked up for further examination?

If the worst came to the worst, I've briefed my wife with my ambitions and she would be happy to continue pushing my work, so an agent would still have a point of contact and access to any of my other writing.

Any kind of feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Gary Compton]

Hi Oxman,

Thanks for sharing your story with us, and I'm sure all Chrons members will be saying a prayer for your swift recovery.

It sounds positive, your prognosis, so keep being positive!

I personally wouldn't mention your health issues. Let your prose do the talking and leave the rest to fate.

LOL Gary

 

[Culhwch]

I share Gary sentiments, both in wishing you the best from here on out, and in not mentioning it. The caveat being I have zero professional experience in the field. But my feeling is this is something that you'd bring to an agent's attention at the point where they've shown a positive interest in you. I think putting it out there in the submission might turn some people off - thinking that you're playing the sympathy card, and having that overshadow their opinion of the work at hand.

My thoughts anyway, for what they're worth. My best with everything, though!

 

[The Judge]

I echo Gary and Culhwch in both respects. I sincerely hope that you have turned the corner with your health and my best wishes to you for the future. As to your writing, I wouldn't mention your health in the first submission letter, but I think you should if it gets to the stage of the agent speaking to you. Whether to tell him/her at the point when the full m/s is requested or wait until it progresses further, I'm in two minds about.

My only caveat is that if this is SFF you are writing, publishers are looking for sequels from new writers. I'm afraid that if it appears you're not in a position to write follow ups, no one is likely to take you on. I'm sure your wife could do an admirable job on the publicity front, but I don't think that would be sufficient unless you had a host of books of equal standard to submit.

In any event, good luck.

 

[BookStop]

I agree with the others here. If the book is good, eventually someone will want it (even if eventually can turn out to be a heck of a long time ..so it goes), and you keep your attitude ont he positive side of the line, and the docs are feeling good about it, hey, probably won't be an issue. You certainly don't need the stress of thinking any other way.

Glad to hear you are gaining some ground on your cancer.

 

[mygoditsraining]

First off, I'm really glad surgery and chemo are producing a positive outcome for you, and that your prognosis so far sounds good. I hope it continues to go well for you.

To the topic. Perhaps I'm being overly cynical, but I honestly can't think of a way to present it in a cover letter that wouldn't result in the reader (a complete stranger) seeing it as a "ploy" as opposed to a statement of fact.

There's no doubt that you would have to broach the topicwith an agent or publisher, but it would be better done once the initial response of interest is shown; once you've hooked them with your writing, then introduce your health as a logisitical issue.

FWIW, I'm not published, nor am I a publisher. It just seems like something that would be better held back to a follow-up conversation.

Best of luck!

 

[Ian Whates]

I'm going to echo others here. First off, every best wish for your continued good health.

Next, no point in mentioning your condition at this stage. Agents reject far more manuscripts than they accept, so why reveal something this personal to somebody you might never actually have a business relationship with? Also, as mygoditsraining points out, it could be seen as an attempt to get the sympathy vote.

Seems to me your best approach is to submit, and, if your work is accepted by an agent, then consider explaining your situation along with a positive prognosis and a firm conviction that it won't interfere with your work.

Good luck on all fronts.

 

[Oxman]

Firstly, thanks for all the good wishes and messages of support. They are very appreciated.

It seems the general consensus is to not mention my illness when I submit. Going through everybody's posts, this seems the most sensible course of action; let the work stand for itself. The chances of rejection are so high, unless an agent sees something really special (and commercial) in my work, then why should I over-complicate the issue of getting the book out there?!

Good point about the "sympathy vote" too. I honestly didn't see it that way, instead wondering whether it was just best to be open and honest up front. I can now see how the situation could be seen as a "tugging at the heartstrings" when of course I want my work to be judged on its own merits!

Judge, you raise an excellent point in that agents and publishers want books with sequels or, even better a series, and though I've got notes for 5 books in this series, notes do not make a book! That's a bridge I'll cross if and when I get to it!

Thank you all again.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Blimey, this is some thread...

Best of luck, Oxman!

 

[chopper]

broadly agree with all the posters above, Oxman, and wish you continued luck and health.

one member of our writers' groop is currently undergoing chemotherapy on a condition that has returned for the third time. without wishing to be so crass as to say that i understand how it affects you, i can see how it does stop you writing. my friend identifies strongly with Wile E Coyote, the character that always gets smacked down and always gets back up again. a lot of his writing is about hope and is always humourous, even when it covers his fight against cancer.

best of luck!

 

[Ursa major]

Best of luck with your health, Oxman. And best of luck with finding an agent to represent you.


I agree with what has been said already: what an agent wants to know at the beginning is whether you can write something that they believe they'll be able to sell. Your health, and its possible impact on your output (if any), should be for dicussion (and thus mentioned) only when an agent is genuinely interested in representing you and your work.

By the way, I'm assuming that this, your second book, is a standalone novel, and does not require a sequel, as opposed to providing scope for follow-on books.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Assuming, as Ursa says, that it is a stand-alone book, I agree with what everyone else has said. Not the agent's business until and unless.

However, if this is a book that is the beginning of a single story told across several volumes, my advice would be not to submit it until you have the whole series written. Yes, writing a whole series on spec sounds scary. Probably (I haven't done it yet) it is scary.

But here is my reason: I've been facing some significant health and family issues from just about the time I turned in the first volume of the trilogy I am writing now. (My situation was not nearly as serious as yours, but I was operated on for colon cancer, too, a year and a half ago. And there have been other health problems as well, but I won't go into them here.)

And I have found that the crushing stress of trying to complete a book that my readers and my publishers expected to see but I was too ill to write at that time had a very bad impact on my health. Not just that, but the stress added to my inability to write, thereby creating a vicious cycle. (Not having anything like the number of readers of a G. R. R. Martin, I knew that my publishers and probably not all of my readers were going to wait forever.) I have, myself, resolved to submit only completed books and completed series from now on.

You may be the kind of person who can ignore that kind of stress; you may not let it effect you. You sound like you are a much braver and more optimistic person than I. And, of course, your books may not be so closely related that it matters when you turn the next one in. But you did ask for input from other writers with serious health issues.

 

[Oxman]

Again, thanks for the messages of luck and goodwill. Brave? Certainly not! Optimistic? Definitely, perhaps pig-headedly so at times! My real strength is drawn from my friends and family, particularly my wife who is an infinite model of the positive mental attitude. The way I look at it, you either face your fears and live life to its fullest, or curl up in a ball and die - and I'm not prepared to do the latter!

I love the idea of using Wile E. Coyote as an inspiration or role model. He is, as you say, Chopper, nigh on indestructible and I'm pleased to say deliciously dastardly and persistent too! Everybody loves a good baddie!

Ursa and Teresa, the novel I've written is perfectly stand-alone, should I never finish its sequel. There are a few dangling threads, but nothing that would affect the core story. The plan is that each of the other four books would be stand-alone too, but if you read all of the books, you see things such as the hints of one character's descent into alcoholism before it happens, as well as a very slow burning romance developing, which initially is little more than subtle sexual tension. The craft of course, is pulling this off successfully, but I think I know the characters well enough to do it.

Off topic slightly, I do wonder how to manage conveying introductory information into subsequent books without a big info dump or boring readers who have read the earlier books, I don't want a "previously" section - that defeats the object of the stand-alone idea. This has been touched upon in the critiques section, so should perhaps be discussed there, but I think that crime novels do this quite well, introducing the series regulars each book before embarking on a stand-alone case.

All of your input has been invaluable, and Teresa, I hope you have got your own health issues at least under control.

 

[ctg]

However, if this is a book that is the beginning of a single story told across several volumes, my advice would be not to submit it until you have the whole series written. Yes, writing a whole series on spec sounds scary. Probably (I haven't done it yet) it is scary.

Thank you Teresa for this insight, as it solves the question that has been doing rounds in my head for a very, very long time. It is a scary prospect to write loads and then try to get published, but in the long run, it might be better to do so then get bogged down by the deadlines.

 

[Ian Whates]

Thank you Teresa for this insight, as it solves the question that has been doing rounds in my head for a very, very long time. It is a scary prospect to write loads and then try to get published, but in the long run, it might be better to do so then get bogged down by the deadlines.

I think, again, this comes down to the individual and to circumstances.

I've sold two series to two different publishers, both of which I'm currently writing (alternating with a novel for one, then a novel for the other... and I'm not that quick a writer -- three novels every two years seems to be my maximum output at present). For one, I had the first novel written and an idea of where the second volume was going; for the other, I had a synopsis of the first novel and the first chapter down. That was it.

I'd far rather be confident that there's a market for what I'm investing so much time and effort to produce. Yes, I write for pleasure, but if it also pays, I can then afford to spend a great deal more time doing so.

 

[ctg]

I think, again, this comes down to the individual and to circumstances.

I've sold two series to two different publishers, both of which I'm currently writing (alternating with a novel for one, then a novel for the other... and I'm not that quick a writer -- three novels every two years seems to be my maximum output at present). For one, I had the first novel written and an idea of where the second volume was going; for the other, I had a synopsis of the first novel and the first chapter down. That was it.

I'd far rather be confident that there's a market for what I'm investing so much time and effort to produce. Yes, I write for pleasure, but if it also pays, I can then afford to spend a great deal more time doing so.

Yeah. In my case, I don't believe there is ever going to be a market that will read my prose, but then again, I keep thinking that the publishers might be more interested on my material if I can present them for example a trilogy that I can expand later on twice or three times.

Yet, you're saying the same thing JJ said me a year ago, as in it would be a waste of time and money if I would write the trilogy without having an interested publisher. But all in all, I'm so afraid of deadlines that I won't think that my ability to produce between 750 to 3000 words per day is enough. Therefore I think it's better to write the trilogy and then get bogged down with the details.

PS. I wish I could have a collaborator writer, who I could collaborate in return (ie. rub each others backs).

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think, again, this comes down to the individual and to circumstances.

Oh, I agree. Some people are good with deadlines. When I was younger and in better health they didn't intimidate me and they often managed to get me to kick things into high gear. (Although even then I was sometimes late.) Some people need deadlines. For some people a multi-book contract can mean freedom to write.

But the subject here is writing with health issues. And for people who have such issues -- or who know they are not good with deadlines in other areas of their lives -- it might not be a good idea for them to put themselves into situations where they have to be creative under pressure.

It turns out that Oxman isn't writing that kind of series, so that particular problem shouldn't come up.

Everyone should evaluate their own situation, and if they have a choice, act accordingly.

 

[ctg]

Well, let me put the thing in this way. You say you're getting older, and Oxman in other hand is saying he's closing the eternal gates. Stieg Larsson wasn't an old man when he died and left behind two books and many unfinished ones. But what he had done was that he'd finished two books and were working on the third one when ... well you know what happened to him.

Now, I don't want to sound harsh, but what happened to Mister Larsson can happen to any of us, and if Oxman has strength and will then maybe he could keep on writing and try to finish the trilogy before trying to submit to anyone. In that way he could have a chance to follow Larsson's footsteps and become an immortal. Although, the odds are that it might not benefit him, but it might make his work appealing to the publishers, and it might even be positive angle in the publicity game.

 

[Montero]

But - he might write the whole series then have an agent/publisher say - like your writing, but don't quite like the scenario.... Do you have anything else?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes, that's why writing on spec is intimidating.

When you have health or emotional issues, it's a case of pick your poison.