Clarion Write-a-Thon: Birth of a novel

[mount_oregano]

As I said in the last post, when I was at Clarion in 1996, I did an exercise to begin a story involving a special kind of wall, and I thought the story might go somewhere. I had done some research about the scientific questions involved in the plot two years before. When I got home, I began writing.

In April 1997, I finished a short story called "Adaptation" and began sending it out. After nine rejections, I sold it to a magazine called LC-39 in May 1999, and it was published that fall. I hadn't read the story since I'd written it, so when I was editing the proof, I saw it with fresh eyes and decided I liked it and could expand it into a novel.

I had various projects to finish in the meantime, like moving to Spain, so I began writing the novel in April 2001. The short story became Chapter 1. I finished Transplants in November 2004 and begin sending out queries to agents and publishers — 39 agents and publishers. Finally, in March 2010, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing offered to buy it.

It's scheduled for publication in 2012.

Moral of the story: Sometimes dreams take time. I hope all these years have aged Transplants like fine wine into a work with intoxicating depth and complexity.

I also hope you're now in awe of my meticulous record keeping.

Sponsor me to help more people attend Clarion:
http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=4354

— Sue Burke