Shu-Ling Chua

A publisher recently declined my manuscript but provided helpful constructive feedback. I cut the first two-thirds (from ~35,000 words to ~13,000 words) and split the last essay across the beginning and end. I replaced essay titles with numbered chapters, which forced me to focus on sequencing/arc. Over the following days, I re-inserted essays that supported the new structure. It now sits at ~27,000 words, ~29,000 if I include autofiction. Cutting the essays from Echoes  gave the manuscript room to breathe and importantly, momentum. I now realise that I was getting hung up on linking my new essays to the old. I have a synopsis, for the first time, and five new essays to write. * In an attempt to shake up my writing, I took a craft seminar with Isle McElroy on how novel (!) beginnings convey the arc of the book to follow and read Wonderlands by Charles Baxter, a collection of craft essays on fiction. Here are a few of my favourite quotes: By exposing the ethical obligations that w...